Recent advances in immunology in multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system that is of possible autoimmune origin. This article is divided into three parts, reviewing recent advances in three selected topics regarding the immunology of multiple sclerosis. The first part addresses the consequences of T cell and oligodendrocyte death in the inflammatory lesions. The second covers the recent experimental evidence favouring the involvement of infectious agents in the pathophysiology of central nervous system autoimmune diseases. The third part concerns the mode of action of interferon-P in multiple sclerosis. These new advances have lead to a better understanding of the immunopathology of multiple sclerosis and therefore open new therapeutic possibilities. (C) 1998 Lippincott-Raven Publishers.