Abstract
Background: Contrast enhancing lesions (CELs) in MRI represent inflammatory events in multiple sclerosis (MS). IFN-β-1b decreases the formation of CELs. However, the ability of IFN-β-1b to reduce the size of CELs arising during therapy has not been extensively investigated. Methods: Thirty patients with relapsing-remitting (RR) MS were followed for a 3-month pre-therapy phase then for a 6-month therapy phase during which treatment with IFN-β-1b at a dosage of 250 μg subcutaneously injected every other day was employed. Each patient underwent monthly clinical and MRI examinations. For all patients, CELs were identified on postcontrast T1-weighted MRIs. CEL number, size, and volume were computed using Medx software. Results: The average number and total lesion volume of CELs visible during the therapy phase were significantly lower than the number and total lesion volume of CELs observed in the pre-therapy phase. However, there was no significant reduction between pre-therapy and therapy phases in the mean size of individual lesions arising during the respective phases. Conclusions: Since size of CELs has been related to severity of tissue damage, the lack of size decrease during therapy suggested a limited therapeutic effect of IFN-β-1b if a blood-brain barrier breakdown has occurred.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1823-1829 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Expert Opinion on Biological Therapy |
Volume | 8 |
Issue number | 12 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 2008 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Contrast enhancing lesions
- Interferon beta 1-b
- Lesion size
- Magnetic resonance imaging
- Multiple sclerosis
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Pharmacology
- Clinical Biochemistry
- Drug Discovery