research

One of my favorite cartoons features Pepé Le Pew, a skunk who becomes infatuated with a cat named Penelope, who accidentally gets a white stripe of paint and is mistaken for a skunk. Pepé blissfully chases after Penelope while she frantically tries to escape. The chaos that follows is pure…

Acute attacks of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) may be worsened by web-like structures released by immune cells that normally help fight infection, a study suggests. NMOSD patients experiencing disease attacks had higher blood levels of markers of these web-like structures, called neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), relative to healthy…

An international team of researchers identified a self-reactive antibody that may explain cases of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD)-like disease that test negative for known NMOSD-causing antibodies. Self-reactive antibodies against the protein modulator VRAC current 1 (MLC1) were identified in multiple people with NMOSD-like disease who lacked known disease-causing…

Researchers have identified a mechanism by which the adult brain can replace astrocytes, the neuron-supporting cells in the brain that are attacked and lost in people with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD). Using mice with NMOSD-like disease, the researchers found that surviving astrocytes around lesions will replicate their DNA…

Children with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) are more likely to have severe vision problems and incomplete visual recovery than those with the related condition myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease (MOGAD). That’s according to a review of published studies involving children with NMOSD associated with antibodies against the aquaporin-4…

A short-course of Soliris (eculizumab) treatment during relapses may help people with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) recover faster when standard therapies fail, a small study in China suggests. Patients who saw little or no improvement after corticosteroids, with or without plasma exchange, experienced meaningful gains in mobility…

People with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) may experience gradual shrinkage, or atrophy, of the brain even during periods without relapses, according to a new study that challenges the long-held view that most neurological damage in NMOSD occurs mainly during relapses. The researchers also found that starting biologic therapies earlier…

Even if they don’t have disease relapses, people with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) tend to experience abnormal atrophy, or shrinkage, of the spinal cord over time, a new study shows. According to the researchers, “spinal cord involvement … accounts for significant disability in up to 80% of patients…

MIL62, an injection therapy approved exclusively in China for neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD), was found to keep most NMOSD patients free of relapses for up to two years, while being generally safe and well tolerated. That’s according to data from the Phase 1b portion of a single-center…

An international team of researchers has identified three genetic variants significantly associated with higher odds of developing neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) with self-reactive antibodies against the AQP4 protein. The data also suggest that, in terms of genetic risk factors, AQP4-positive NMOSD is more similar to systemic autoimmune diseases…