ABSTRACT
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating autoimmune disease of the central nervous system whose precise etiology is still obscure. The disease primarily affects young adults and is quite heterogeneous with respect to clinical manifestations, disease course, brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) fi ndings, composition of lesion pathology and response to treatment (Noseworthy et al., 2000). The main characteristic features of MS include recurrent episodes of MS plaques which include destruction of myelin sheath, oligodendrocyte damage, axonal damage, glial scar formation and presence of infl ammatory cells such as T cells, macrophages, microglial cells, astrocytes, and mast cells, which in turn incite a pro-infl ammatory reaction leading to local tissue injury (Bar-Or, 2005; Morales et al., 2006; Pittock and Lucchinetti, 2007). Based upon the clinical course of the disease, MS is divided into three
1 Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115.
