ABSTRACT
I. INTRODUCTION Since the initial observations more than 10 years ago that type I interferons (IFNs) have some beneficial effect on the relapse rate in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) (1), there has been a multifacetted discussion on how these polypeptides might interfere with the immunopathological process underlining the disease (reviewed in ref. 2). This issue is currently being addressed in many editorials and reviews, which comment on the results of two recent multicenter clinical trials in relapsing-remitting MS with recombinant forms of IFN-/3, which significantly reduced the relapse rate (3,4).
