Multiple sclerosis: treatment Tuesday, May 31, 2011, 11:30 – 12:30 Safety and efficacy of rituximab in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder M. Radaelli, L. Moiola, D
Until recently, neuromyelitis optica (NMO) was considered to be a sub-type of multiple sclerosis (MS), which has a strong predilection for Caucasian populations, whereas NMO is more frequent in non-Caucasian individuals.
In order to clarify the immunological characteristics of multiple sclerosis (MS) and neuromyelitis optica (NMO), we analyzed CD3, CD4, CD8, CD20, CD4(+)CD25(+), CD4(+)CD29(+), and CD8(+)CD11a(high) cells in peripheral blood from patients with MS (16 stable, 6 active) and NMO (15 stable, 7 active), as well as 9 with NMO spectrum, 6 with clinically isolated syndrome (CIS), and 13 with other neurological diseases using flow cytometry. Significant decreases in the numbers of CD8(+) CD11a(high) cells were observed in stable and active MS and CIS
BACKGROUND: Under the therapeutic point of view, neuromyelitis optica (NMO) poses major challenges. Patients with NMO manifest severe disability from recurrent demyelinating lesions and the therapies are only partially effective. We performed a retrospective analysis of the records of patients followed at our institution and provide suggestions for management of acute relapses and preventive therapy.
Background: Recurrent myelitis (rM) represents a pathogenetically heterogeneous group of inflammatory diseases with a selective involvement of the spinal cord. The recent description of NMO Ig-G antibody, the specific biomarker for Neuromyelites Optica (NMO), also in patients with recurrent myelitis with longitudinally extensive transverse spinal cord lesions (LETM), has brought to consider this disease an incomplete form of NMO (NMO Spectrum of Disorders). Methods: we retrospectively selected patients (pts) with rM attended our neurological department between January 2000 and March 2010