Disease-Modifying Drugs and Stem Cell Therapies for the Treatment of Myelin Degeneration due to Multiple Sclerosis
Myelin, a modified plasma membrane wrapped around axons, is an essential part of signal propagation in the nervous system. Formed by oligodendrocytes in the central nervous system (CNS) and Schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system (PNS), myelin lowers the amount of energy needed to send or receive signals. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune, hyperinflammatory disease that attacks the nervous system, specifically myelin. MS is characterized by three types of lesions in the brain and along the blood brain barrier, making it very difficult to diagnose through conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and even more difficult to treat. It has an unpredictable pathophysiology that cannot be cured by current drug therapies. Stem cell therapies have been heavily researched in recent years to try to combat the autoimmune disease by stopping demyelination and recovering lost function through the regeneration of differentiated cells