Investigating Indirect Mechanism of Neuroprotection of Tecfidera® (Dimethyl Fumarate) in RRMS and Progressive Patients

Summary

The purposes of this study is to identify types of bacteria that reside in the intestine of healthy individuals and compare them to individuals with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). There has been a lot of research in other autoimmune diseases which has demonstrated the importance of stomach "gut" bacteria because it has an important relationship with the immune system, but this has never been studied in MS patients. In this study investigators aim to show differences in the gut bacteria between healthy individuals and those with MS, to provide a basis for future research studying how diet can affect MS through its effects on the "gut" bacteria. Additionally, this study will be looking at the effects of dimethyl fumarate on cerebrospinal fluid, plasma and MRI in MS patients taking dimethyl fumarate as compared to those with MS not on dimethyl fumarate or other disease modifying therapy and those who do not have MS (normal controls).

Timeline

Start

2015-02

Primary completion

2018-12

Completion

2018-12

Publications

• Background Kim JY, Shen S, Dietz K, He Y, Howell O, Reynolds R, Casaccia P. HDAC1 nuclear export induced by pathological conditions is essential for the onset of axonal damage. Nat Neurosci. 2010 Feb;13(2):180-9. doi: 10.1038/nn.2471. Epub 2009 Dec 27.
• Background Vidaurre OG, Haines JD, Katz Sand I, Adula KP, Huynh JL, McGraw CA, Zhang F, Varghese M, Sotirchos E, Bhargava P, Bandaru VV, Pasinetti G, Zhang W, Inglese M, Calabresi PA, Wu G, Miller AE, Haughey NJ, Lublin FD, Casaccia P. Cerebrospinal fluid ceramides from patients with multiple sclerosis impair neuronal bioenergetics. Brain. 2014 Aug;137(Pt 8):2271-86. doi: 10.1093/brain/awu139. Epub 2014 Jun 3.

Drugs

Indications