NCTalks at AAN 2017: Michael Pender on a new multiple sclerosis treatment targeting Epstein-Barr virus

Inflammation, immunology and immune disorders Injury, trauma and infection Interviews Neurodegeneration and degenerative disease

Whilst at the American Academy of Neurology’s Annual Meeting (Boston, MA, USA, 22–28 April 2017), we sat down with Michael Pender (University of Queensland, Australia), who was presenting  promising interim findings from a Phase 1 study investigating a novel treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS) at the meeting.
In this interview, Dr Pender discusses the relationship between MS and the Epstein-Barr virus; a link that has been observed in recent studies, and which forms the basis of this most recent clinical trial. In the Phase I study, researchers removed the T cells from six patients with progressive MS, stimulated the T cells to increase their ability to recognize and destroy Epstein-Barr virus-infected B cells, and the injected these T cells in infusions every 2 weeks over a 6-week period. At this interim point, three participants have showed improvement, with one showing “striking improvement”. In the interview, Dr Pender, lead researcher of the trial, discusses the key findings of the trial, and the next steps following these exciting developments.

You can find further information on the relationship between MS and Epstein-Barr virus in the publications below: