By ParadigMS Foundation
ParadigMS faculty participated in the Pre-MENACTRIMS Symposium on Thursday, 10 November, 2022!
The Pre-MENACTRIMS Symposium brought together a high number of health care practitioners participating, by offering a learning experience that can positively impact their clinical practice. Polls, and question and answer sessions were used to encourage participants to get involved and reflect on their daily practice.
This Pre-MENACTRIMS Symposium was dedicated to the role of microglia in MS.
Microglia are a class of innate immune cells in the central nervous system (CNS). In the space of just a few years they have become a major focus of attention in multiple sclerosis (MS) research and as a therapeutic target to prevent disability progression in persons with MS.
In this 90-minute symposium presented by experts from ParadigMS, an overview was given by Prof. Laura Airas of the critical functions of microglia in the healthy brain, and how aberrant microglial activity can result in neural damage underlying the MS pathology. Prof. Celia Oreja-Guevara discussed the relevance of microglia as a potential therapeutic target. In this way, re-establishing a homeostatic-like microglial phenotype is a major therapeutic goal, with several Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors currently in clinical development to achieve this aim. By bringing the aberrant microglial activity under control, it may be possible to prevent neuronal damage, axonal transection, demyelination, and synaptopathy. Prof. Carlo Pozzilli discussed the role of microglia in propagating gradual cognitive decline, and how cognition could serve as a marker of disease progression. If new therapies in clinical development can exert their effects within the CNS, then improved disability and cognitive outcomes could become a clinical reality.
Watch the on-demand webinars, on: