Multiple Sclerosis: Where Do We Go From Here?

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common cause of neurological disability in young populations after trauma and represents a significant personal, social, and economic public health burden. The clinical course and response of MS to therapy is highly heterogeneous, but most patients progress from a relapsing-remitting disease course, in which patients may respond to immunomodulatory drugs, to a steady progression and neurodegeneration that is unresponsive to any currently available treatment. In the last few years, novel disease-modifying therapies for MS have become available but the aetiology of the disease remains an enigma. The search for clinical biomarkers that are able to stratify MS patients and allow the personalisation of treatment strategies, has developed greatly in recent years though only a few have been integrated into routine clinical practice.