Axonal Injury and Disease Progression in Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system (CNS). Approximately one million people are affected worldwide and women outnumber men 2:1. MS is a major cause of nontraumatic neurological disability among young adults. The etiology is unknown, although the disease commonly is regarded an autoimmune process triggered in susceptible individuals by an early environmental exposure. A majority of MS patients exhibit a relapsing-remitting course (RR-MS) for 10 to 15 years, which later transform into a secondary-progressive course (SP-MS) characterized by irreversible neurological deficits. ¹