Multiple sclerosis – the primary cause of youth disability

MS (Latin: sclerosis multiplex) is most commonly diagnosed in people between 20 and 40 years of age, but it is also experienced by people in their advanced age, as well as children and youth. According to the National Health Fund, there are approximately 45 thousand people with MS in Poland.

Interference on the circuit

According to the best-confirmed scientific theory, multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease. It develops due to incorrect development of immune cells, which recognise the protein of their own nervous tissue as foreign, attack and destroy them. These are the proteins of the myelin sheath, which isolates the nervous fibres and much like the isolation of an electrical system facilitates the transmission of signals among the neurons.

The destruction of the insulator-myelin causes serious disturbances in the nervous system – electrical signals are transmitted at a much slower rate and much less effectively. Destruction of the myelin is also accompanied by the inflammation of the nervous tissue and neuron atrophy.

This produces such disease symptoms as speech disorders, vision defects, hearing disorders, tactile dysfunction, motor coordination disorders, balance issues, stiffening and tightening of the muscles, limb paresis, trouble walking, and chronic fatigue. In every case, MS has unique progress and may cause a different set of symptoms.

Forms of the disease

There are four forms of MS. 80 percent of the patients are diagnosed with the relapsing-remitting form, the symptoms of which include the appearance of the so-called “flare-ups" or relapses of the disease, and periods of remission, when the symptoms decline.

In certain patients, this can transform into the so-called secondary progressive form, which is characterised by systematic deterioration of the patient’s health and progressing disability. The less common forms include the primary progressive form and the progressive-remitting form, in which also constant escalation of the symptoms is also observed.

The disease is incurable, may lead to disability and handicaps, particularly when it is untreated or inadequately treated. The Polish Multiple Sclerosis Society (PTSR) estimates that one in two people in wheelchairs in Poland suffer from MS.

New forms of therapy provide patients with opportunities

Thanks to proper treatment and rehabilitation, it is possible to slow down the progress of the disease considerably and prevent the associated disability in some of the patients.

The classic immunomodulating drugs available from the 1990s (mainly interferon beta) provide good therapeutic effects in one-third of the patients. However, many new drugs have appeared in recent years, which modify the actions of the immunological system in various ways and show increased effectiveness in reducing symptoms of MS in comparison to classic medication.

However, they are currently foreseen for patients with the most common and mild form of the disease, i.e. relapsing-remitting. Patients with more aggressive forms, for whom there is no registered medication, may be subject to experimental transplants of own bone marrow stem cells. Research shows that the results of such treatment are positive.

There are ongoing tests of new drugs, which would treat the cause of the MS symptoms. An example is anti-lingo 1, which aims to stimulate the reconstruction of the damaged myelin in MS patients.