| • | Can MS Be Treated?
There is as yet no cure for MS. Many patients do well with no therapy at all, especially since many medications have serious side effects and some carry significant risks. |
| • | Immunotherapy
As evidence of immune system involvement in the development of MS has grown, trials of various new treatments to alter or suppress immune response are being conducted. |
| • | Therapy to Improve Nerve Impulse Conduction
Because the transmission of electrochemical messages between the brain and body is disrupted in MS, medications to improve the conduction of nerve impulses are being investigated. |
| • | Therapies Targeting An Antigen
Trials of a synthetic form of myelin basic protein, called copolymer I (Copaxone), have shown promise in treating people in the early stages of relapsing-remitting MS. |
| • | Cytokines
As our growing insight into the workings of the immune system gives us new knowledge about the function of cytokines, the powerful chemicals produced by T cells, the possibility of using them to manipulate the immune system becomes more attractive. |
| • | Remyelination
Some studies focus on strategies to reverse the damage to myelin and oligodendrocytes (the cells that make and maintain myelin in the central nervous system), both of which are destroyed during MS attacks. |
| • | Diet
Over the years, many people have tried to implicate diet as a cause of or treatment for MS. |
| • | Unproven Therapies
MS is a disease with a natural tendency to remit spontaneously, and for which there is no universally effective treatment and no known cause. |
