Arijit Bhattacharya, B. Tech & M. Tech in Biotechnology

KIIT School of Biotechnology, Odisha, India

We all have a god gifted defence mechanism in our body, our immune system. When it feels something wrong entered our body it directly attacks them, but sometimes it also makes some wrong judgment and attacks our healthy cells and organs. This results in autoimmune diseases.

This blog is all about one of those rare autoimmune diseases, Multiple Sclerosis.

Where our very own immune system attacks our brain and spinal cord.

What is Multiple Sclerosis?? 

Multiple Sclerosis is a neuro-immunological condition where our immune system attacks the protecting cover of our nerve cells, myelin sheath and causes scars or sclerosis in multiple places. The degeneration of myelin sheath makes it a progressive disease by causing permanent nerve damage and disruption of neural signalling and communication. The severity of the disease depends upon the amount of damage in the nerve cells of the central nervous system. Sometimes in-between the attack, symptoms may disappear completely though the permanent damages stay as it is.

Symptoms: 

Multiple Sclerosis affects the nerves of the CNS, so the disabilities can occur at any part of the body. The symptoms may differ from a person to person. Numbness and muscle weakness in one side of the body can be an early sign of Multiple Sclerosis. Although fatigue is considered as one of the main symptoms of MS, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) 80 percent of people with MS experience fatigue. The secondary stage of MS has a more diverse range of symptoms such as vision problems, speech problems, dizziness, and cognitive issues. If left untreated MS shows an adverse range of symptoms starting with Lhermitte’s sign, where a person experiences a short electrical shock-like sensation passing down the spinal cord and radiating through the limbs.

Treatment Options:

Till now there is no cure for Multiple Sclerosis but treating it symptomatically can decrease its severity. There are many treatment options available that can slow down the progression of this disease.

Disease-Modifying Therapies (DMTs) is one of the effective ways to treat MS, it can slow down the relapses and the damages caused by MS. They have also been shown effective to reduce lesions on the brain and spinal cord. Apart from DMTs, symptomatic medication and treatment can also reduce the further progress of this disease.

Conclusion: 

We need to remember that Multiple Sclerosis is not fatal, there are many treatment options available to reduce the severity of this disease. Good knowledge about MS is very important to catch the disease in its earlier stage. Most people diagnosed with MS learn to manage their symptoms and they lead full and active lives. In recent years scientists have made excellent progress in developing many drugs and medications for MS. Hope that soon researchers will find some more effective treatment options to cure MS completely

Reference and Resources:

1. Multiple Sclerosis (MS): Early Signs and Common Symptoms, Medically Reviewed by Carol DerSarkissian, MD, [Last Accessed: 20^th Oct 2021, 10:00am BST]
2. National Multiple Sclerosis Society, [Last Accessed: 20^th Oct 2021, 10:00am BST]
3. Multiple Sclerosis Review, NHS UK, [Last Accessed: 20^th Oct 2021, 10:00am BST]
4. Medical Encyclopedia, Multiple Sclerosis, NIH U.S. National Library of Medicine, [Last Accessed: 20^th Oct 2021, 10:00am BST]
5. Ghasemi N, Razavi S, Nikzad E. Multiple sclerosis: pathogenesis, symptoms, diagnoses and cell-based therapy. Cell Journal (Yakhteh). 2017 Apr;19(1):1.
6. Koriem KM. Multiple sclerosis: New insights and trends. Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine. 2016 May 1;6(5):429-40.