Novel Molecular Leads for the Prevention of Damage and the Promotion of Repair in Neuroimmunological Disease

Neuroinflammation is a prominent pathological feature of all neuroimmunological diseases, including, but not limited to, multiple sclerosis (MS), myasthenia gravis, neuromyelitis optica, and Guillain–Barré syndrome. All currently-approved therapies for the treatment of these diseases focus on controlling or modulating the immune (innate and adaptive) responses to limit demyelination and neuronal damage. The primary purpose of this review is to detail the pre-clinical data and proposed mechanism of action of novel drugs currently in clinical trial, with a focus on novel compounds that promote repair and regeneration in the central nervous system (CNS). As the most recent advances have been made in the field of MS research, this review will focus primarily on this disease and its animal models. However, these compounds are likely to be effective for a range of indications with a neuroinflammatory component. Traditionally, MS was thought to proceed through two distinct phases. The first, predominantly inflammatory stage, is characterized by acute episodes of clinical relapse, followed by periods of partial or total recovery with an apparent absence of overall disease progression. In the vast majority of patients, this relapsing-remitting disease subsequently progresses into a second more chronic, neurodegenerative phase, which is characterized by oligodendrocyte damage and axonal destruction leading to brain atrophy and an accumulation of disability. Recent work has shown tha...
Source: Frontiers in Immunology - Category: Allergy & Immunology Source Type: research