Clinical cases

Immune reconstitution – Clinical aspects: available and future treatment

The keynote lecture highlights the Immune reconstitution therapy (IRT), that offers a time-limited, high-efficacy approach to MS by inducing durable disease control through targeted depletion and reconfiguration of immune cell populations. Drawing on clinical evidence and long-term cohort data, Prof. Patrick Vermersch highlights key predictors of response, essential safety considerations, and the emerging role of biomarkers in refining patient selection for optimal therapeutic outcomes.

Immune reconstitution therapies are reshaping modern MS management, offering periods of lasting disease control without continuous immunosuppression. In this thought-provoking session, Prof. Patrick Vermersch, leading MS clinician and clinical trial expert, examines how IRTs work in real clinical practice, what drives long-term success, and how to navigate risks, patient selection, and treatment timing.

Drawing on decades of research and clinical experience, Prof. Vermersch provides a clear and clinically meaningful framework for understanding cladribine, alemtuzumab, HSCT, and other reconstitution-based strategies, highlighting when these therapies can be transformative and where caution is essential.

This session is essential for neuroscientists seeking a deeper, evidence-based grasp of IRT and its evolving place in MS treatment strategies,

Key Insights from the Lecture:

How immune reconstitution therapy differs fundamentally from continuous immunosuppression.
Clinical predictors of good IRT outcomes: EDSS thresholds, disease activity, and timing.
Real-world experience with cladribine, alemtuzumab, and HSCT, including durability of effect.
Safety considerations such as secondary autoimmunity, infections, and long-term malignancy signals.
Understanding treatment failures and how to identify the right patient profiles for IRT.
How evolving biomarkers and patient stratification may refine IRT use in the future.
Practical guidance from a high-volume MS center on sequencing, monitoring, and shared decision-making.

“Immune reconstitution – Clinical aspects: available and future treatment“.

Please subscribe to watch.

Log-in or subscribe

About the speaker:

Patrick Vermesch

Vice-president of Research in the fields of Life and Health Sciences at the University of Lille

Patrick Vermersch studied medicine at Lille University Hospital (France), where he graduated in Neurology. Between 1990 and 1994 he pursued his training in basic research fields, mainly in cellular biology, obtaining a PhD addressing biochemical abnormalities associated with Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. He also conducted research related to the characterization of post-transcriptional anomalies of tau proteins. His research interests then turned to multiple sclerosis (MS).

Prof. Patrick Vermersch is head of one of the University of Lille’s departments of Neurology which deals with MS and other neuroinflammatory diseases. The department is primarily concerned with neuroimmunology and markers of disease evolution.

Prof. Patrick Vermersch is currently vice-president of research in the fields of Life and Health Sciences at the University of Lille. In 2000, he and colleagues created the first MS network in northern France to improve MS care and research. His current areas of interest are prognostic markers in MS and neuroimmunology in general. He participates in many treatment protocols for MS. He has authored or co-authored approximately 380 scientific papers. His H-index (Web of Science) is 54.