Clinical guidelines for the use of dimethyl fumarate in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic demyelinating and neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system, in which autoimmune inflammation and oxidative stress play essential pathogenetic roles. Activation and infiltration of immune cells in brain tissues, lipid peroxidation products, mitochondrial dysfunction, defective antioxidant protection, and many other pathological factors result in demyelination, axonal injury and death, and apoptosis of oligodendrocytes and neurons, all of which causes constant progression of the disease. The new oral agent for the treatment of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), dimethyl fumarate (DMF), helps change the pathogenetic mechanisms of the disease, thus decreasing the rate of exacerbations, slowing down disease progression, and reducing the risk of radiological progression of the disease.