9 - Multiple Sclerosis Flashcards
How can gadolinium based agents be used for diagnosis of brain disease (like Multiple Sclerosis)?
Can only cross the blood brain barrier where it has been pathologically affected
Reveals scattered lesions
True or false? Multiple sclerosis can be transmitted genetically as shown by parents increasing heredity and increased heredity in twins.
True
Why are Na channels redistributed in early stage of MS?
Demyelination at nodes of ranvier
Redistribution is a ‘rescue attempt’
What are the four stages of oligodendrocyte life?
- Migration
- Proliferation
- Differentiation
- Myelination
What is the key signalling molecule between oligodendrocytes and axons?
Fyn kinases
A non-receptor Src-family tyrosine kinase
How do miRNA influence the development of oligodendrocytes?
- High miRNA expression leads to differentiation into mature myelinated oligodendrocytes
- Low miRNA expression leads to proliferation
How can monoclonal antibodies treat MS?
- Blocking the migration of lymphocytes across the blood brain barrier
- 45% reduction of relapses
What is multiple sclerosis? LInked to what? Where is pathology localized to?
- Immune mediated demyelinating disease of the human central nervous system
- Linked to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II
- Pathology is localized to white matter, where inflammation causes local demyelination, degeneration of myelin forming cells (oligodendrocytes) and axonal degeneration
How many people have MS in North America and Europe?
2.5 million in North America and Europe
How many lifespan years does MS reduce?
Approximately 10
Magnetic resonance imaging after injecting ____ is one of the methods used for the diagnostics of disease progress and also to evaluate effects of MS treatment
gadolinium (Gd)-based contrast agents
What are the two main groups of symptoms in multiple sclerosis patients?
- Motor, sensory and cognitive impairment (easily detected)
- Cardiovascular system, sexual impairment, dysphagia (difficulty swallowing), respiratory problems and pain are often overlooked
What makes the detection of MS difficult?
Scattered lesions resulting in a variety of symptoms
What is often the initial symptom of MS?
- Blurred or double vision
- Red-green colour distortion (or colour blindness)
- Abnormal sensory feelings (numbness, prickling or pins and needles)
- Muscle weakness and difficulty with coordination and balance
- Partial or complete paralysis
What are the four forms of multiple sclerosis that progress over time?
- Clinically silent MS
- Relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) - 85% of cases, early onset (29 yo), 2x more females and 1-2 episodes a year
or - Primary progressive MS (PPMS) - 15% of cases, late onset (around 39 years), males:females, sometimes observed is progressive relapsing MS (PRMS)
- Secondary progressive MS (SPMS), occurs after 8-20 years of RRMS
True or false? Multiple sclerosis is heritable. What do children of MS affected parents show?
False, not heritable.
Children of MS affected parents have 20-30x higher risk to develop MS
What two vitamin deficiencies are risk factors for MS?
- Vitamin D
- Vitamin A
Is tobacco smoking a risk factor for MS?
Yes
What two things evidence a possible viral connection to MS?
- The Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV), also called human herpesvirus 4 (HHV-4) infection is a risk factor in developing MS. Not known if it is cause or result of disease. 90-95% are infected worldwide, mostly asymptomatic.
- An MS animal model (experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE)) uses attenuated rabies virus, which triggers T cell-mediated destruction of myelin
Why might MS pathology be induced by endogenous retroviruses?
- Approximately 8 percent of the human genome is comprised of retrovirus-like sequences.
- Polymorphism of x-linked viral locus HERV-Gc1 (human endogenous retrovirus) was found to be associated with remitting/relapsing and secondary progressive form of MS
What is a axonal retraction bulb?
A swelling that forms at proximal end of transected neurons, this can survive for some time without myelin, but eventually degenerates
Seen in multiple sclerosis, caused by transection during cortical demyelination
What is the estimated total axonal loss in chronic MS lesions?
70%
How do most demyelinated axons react at the beginning of MS?
- Survive
- Recover
- Redistribute Na channels
What does reduced myelin trophic support from MS cause intracellularly?
disorganization of the cytoskeleton and eventual axon degeneration
What are the three types of demyelination lesions in the cortex caused by multiple sclerosis?
- Type I lesions (white and grey matter)
- Type II lesions (small perivascular areas)
- Type III lesions (pial surface into the cortex, often demyelinating multiple gyri)
What are the four stages of an oligodendrocytes life? What are they called at each stage (5)
- Migration (precursor)
- Proliferation (progenitor)
- Differentiation (pro-oligodendrocyte and immature oligodendrocyte)
- Myelination (mature oligodendrocyte)
These steps are critical for remyelination of MS affected axons. All transcription factors and cytoplasmic regulatory proteins and receptor must be present for this to occur successfully.
What does myelination in CNS mostly occur?
During postnatal development, but continues into adulthood
What is the key mediator between neurons and oligodendrocytes? What is the consequence of knockout of this protein?
Src-family tyrosine kinase Fyn
Knockout of Fyn kinase causes abnormal oligodendrocyte development and hypomyelination
What are the 3 things that Fyn does intracellularly in oligodendrocytes upon binding to axonal cell adhesion molecule L1?
- Morphological differentiation
- Cytoskeleton recruitment
- Local protein synthesis
- Fyn signalling regulates Rho GTPase (RhoA), which is involved in oligodendrocyte differentiation
- Fyn mediates binding of tubulin and the microtubule associated protein Tau (regulates assembly and stabilization of microtubules)
- Fyn activation in response to binding of axonal cell adhesion molecule L1 facilitates the site specific translation of myelin basic protein (MBP) by phosphorylation of transacting factor heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A2 (hnRNP A2)
Explain Fyn tyrosine kinase binding to axonal cell adhesion molecule L1 causes cytoskeleton recruitment
Fyn mediates binding of tubulin and the microtubule associated protein Tau (regulates assembly and stabilization of microtubules)