What factors affect lesion distribution in multiple sclerosis and experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis?

Funding Activity

Website
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/102408

Funding Status
Closed

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Funded Activity Summary

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a common neurological disease which affects about 10,000 people in Australia. In MS, a persons own immune system starts to attack specific parts of their brain and spinal cord, causing lesions that prevent nerve impulses from passing from the brain to other parts of the body. The symptoms that people with MS develop can vary from one person to another, depending on where in the brain or spinal cord the lesions occur. Some parts of the brain and spinal cord seem to be much more susceptible to this attack than others, and the question that this study will address is why do lesions occur where they do in MS? Some preliminary results strongly suggest that there is a link between carrying particular genes that control immune responses, having immune cells that can attack one particular protein in the nervous system called PLP, and developing lesions in parts of the brain that control balance. This will be investigated further, and we will also look for other links between immune cells that can attack other proteins and development of lesions in particular areas. If such links can be identified, they would be very important for improved diagnosis of MS and it would enable more specific treatments for MS to be developed. We will also use experimental models of MS to investigate the exact components within the nervous system and within the immune system that play a role in directing the attack to particular sites.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2000

End Date: 01-01-2000

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $56,797.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Neurology And Neuromuscular Diseases

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

T cells and antibody | brainstem lesions | cerebellar lesions | disease progression | encephalomyelitis, allergic/immunology/pathology | magnetic resonance imaging and lesion localization | multiple sclerosis | myelin proteolipid protein

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