Journal
NEUROLOGY
Volume 64, Issue 8, Pages 1336-1342Publisher
LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS
DOI: 10.1212/01.WNL.0000158329.30470.D0
Keywords
-
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The symptoms, severity, and course of multiple sclerosis (MS) vary among patients, leading to complex treatment issues. In recent years, research has focused on specific adhesion molecules that participate in the activation and function of lymphocytes, especially the migration of these cells to sites of inflammation. In particular, the integrin, very late activation antigen (VLA)-4, has been implicated in mediating adhesion and migration of immune cells through interaction with its ligand, vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM)-1. VLA-4 is comprised of alpha 4/beta 1 and is critical in mediating Th-1 cell migration in the animal model of MS, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, and has been the target of several recent clinical trials in MS. The humanized monoclonal antibody to alpha 4 integrin, natalizumab (Tysabri, Biogen Idec/Elan), was recently approved in the United States for the treatment of relapsing MS. The authors discuss the mechanisms by which alpha 4 integrins alter lymphocyte function as a rationale for anti-alpha 4 integrin use in MS.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available