How progressive MS is being tackled in all 4 nations of the UK

Description

A new understanding of myelin repair from Northern Ireland

Dr Yvonne Dombrowski from Queen’s University Belfast shared her research on inflammasomes. Inflammasomes are a type of protein that can sense when tissue is damaged and alert the immune system. They're linked to the destruction of tissue and to our body’s response to the damage. But until now we didn’t know what their role was in MS.

Yvonne showed that some of the chemicals produced by inflammasomes are really important to myelin repair. You can see them in areas of the brain where myelin has been destroyed and areas where myelin repair is taking place. When some of these chemicals are present, myelin repair is more efficient. When they aren’t there, the repair doesn’t work as well.

By better understanding what affects our natural ability to repair myelin, we'll be more able to design treatments that help it.