A phase 2 clinical trial of rituximab in the treatment of multiplesclerosis reported by Hauser et al. in this issue of the Journal(pages 676–688) provides important insights into the biologyof the disease. The study showed that rituximab reduces diseaseactivity in patients with relapsing–remitting multiplesclerosis; patients treated with rituximab had a substantialreduction in the number of clinical relapses and the numberof contrast-enhancing lesions detected on magnetic resonanceimaging (MRI).
It is generally accepted that the MRI equivalent of an acuterelapse is the disruption of the blood–brain barrier evidencedby increased signal after the . . . [Full Text of this Article]
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Dr. McFarland is a senior investigator in the Neuroimmunology Branch of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Bethesda, MD.
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