Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system becomes reactive to the protective cover of nerve fibers, or myelin sheath, in the central nervous system (CNS). MS presents itself with sudden loss of neurological function, typically affecting vision, walking, bladder function and sensation. The disease typically results in progressive disability over time.

Many MS prescription medications address symptoms or the duration of symptomatic attacks. Symptoms of these attacks are usually caused by local swelling within brain or spinal cord tissue and disappear when swelling resolves. Available medications do not affect the underlying cause, which is the inflammatory response responsible for myelin damage.

Based on the current understanding of the mechanism underlying MS, symptoms are caused by inflammatory lesions in the CNS, and lesion formation results in damage to myelin, and often the underlying nerve fibers, or axons. In MS, white blood cells infiltrate the CNS by crossing the blood-brain barrier, leading to inflammatory damage of neural structures, including myelin and axons. This migration of inflammatory cells is regulated by chemokines, and most prominently by chemokines interacting with the CCR2 receptor. ChemoCentryx may conduct a proof-of-concept trial evaluating CCX140 for the treatment of MS.

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