Multiple sclerosis is a chronic autoimmune condition in which the immune system mistakenly targets and breaks down the protective coating of nerve cells, called the myelin sheath. This impairs the body's ability to transmit electrical nerve signals quickly, and results in movement and balance issues, pain, fatigue, vision impairment, numbness, and other symptoms. Approximately 1 million Americans have multiple sclerosis.
Researchers have linked genetics, cigarette smoke exposure, infection with Epstein-Barr virus, being female, and growing up in latitudes far from the equator where there are lower vitamin D exposures, with an elevated risk of developing MS.
The body's ability to repair damaged myelin degrades naturally with age, and though MS patients may initially be able to repair some of the myelin breakdown, severe inflammation in the course of this disease can permanently damage nerves, leading to progressive disability and loss of function. The disease has no cure but existing medications and lifestyle choices may control symptom flare-ups and slow disease progression. New drugs that would assist with remyelination and boost related cellular activities are a current research focus.
Hours of research by our editors, distilled into minutes of clarity.
Disease-Modifying Drugs calm the body's inflammatory response to help stave off relapses—when new or existing MS symptoms show up for a day or longer. Avoiding smoking, exercising, reducing stress via mindfulness, checking for vitamin D deficiencies, drinking more water and eating well, all can slow disease progression.
When your immune system targets the nervous system, this can cause new or worsening symptoms and the development of scarring or damage within the central nervous system. Relapsing-remitting MS is the most common type of the disease—it includes progressive bouts of attacks that occur months or years apart.
Recent research scouring blood samples from 134 people with MS, both before and after their diagnosis, found that about seven years before these patients were diagnosed, there was a spike in a protein called myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein—indicating disease-associated damage to the protective myelin around nerve fibers.
A Harvard study with data from more than 10 million US military personnel found that people that contracted Epstein-Barr virus had a roughly 32-fold increased risk of developing multiple sclerosis. The work, published in 2022, found that Infection of the virus preceded MS onset by a median of five years, raising questions about better Epstein-Barr virus management and potential disease prevention.
As many as a quarter of MS patients have antibodies in their blood that bind to both a central protein in Epstein-Barr virus and a protein made in the brain and spinal cord that—when attacked—leads to a breakdown of protective nerve fiber insulation. This suggests the immune system's primed to attack the nervous system after mounting a defense against Epstein-Barr.
This PBS documentary traces a filmmaker's personal journey with MS after being diagnosed at age 26. It encompasses both his efforts to stymie the disease's progression and his search for answers about the disease, when, statistically, he seemed at low risk due to his gender, lack of known family risk, and other factors.
Though the disease is more common in women, men's symptoms progress more quickly, with men more often diagnosed with progressive MS and men's cases typically resulting in more severe symptoms—perhaps due at least partly to more delayed diagnosis—and more severe disability over time.
Latitude—and related vitamin D exposure—seems to affect MS risk. People who migrate from a high-risk MS latitude (like northern Europe or the northern US) to a lower-risk latitude (like tropical areas) before age 15 tend to adopt the lower risk of their new country—suggesting there's a critical window for environmental exposure.
The components of the smoke itself are associated with these significantly increased risks, so it's something beyond nicotine itself that drives that risk. What's more, smoking also increases the risk of developing antibodies to MS-treating drugs.
Researchers believe that a combination of factors can elevate MS risk, including a lack of vitamin D exposure in different locales, genetic history, cigarette smoke exposure, and Epstein-Barr virus infection.
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