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All treatments for MS come with benefit as well as potential side effects. By dampening the immune response to reduce brain inflammation, one of the downsides of these medications is that the risk of infection is increased. Another issue with MS treatment is that it is difficult to know whether a medication is working or not until someone has a relapse.
Everyone responds to MS medications differently, so an important research goal is to devise a method for early identification of response to treatments: both suppression of MS activity, and infection.
In this project Professor David Tscharke and his team are looking at people treated with the disease modifying therapy, cladribine. This treatment works by temporarily reducing several cell types in the immune system. Professor Tscharke will analyse RNA in the blood of people with relapsing remitting MS treated with cladribine. RNA is genetic material made by the DNA in cells, and it shows how these cells are responding. Viruses and bacteria also make RNA, so by looking at specific RNA in people’s blood, this group will be able to simultaneously track how the immune system is functioning and the presence of infections.
Professor Tscharke and his team have completed their collection of blood samples from people with and without MS. The team has been analysing blood samples for about 270 proteins and showed there are differences between people with MS and without MS in their “protein profile”. From this work, it may be possible to produce a protein fingerprint that is associated with MS.
The team will be analysing RNA in the blood samples of the participants. The team is also looking for other markers (signs) in blood that show the effects of treatment with cladribine and markers that are associated with any infections that could be a problem.
Updated: 31 December 2023
$25,000
2020
1 year
Current project
