The immunological basis of current and novel therapies of multiple sclerosis.

The etiology and the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis are not yet known. There might be a role for genetic susceptibility, for environmental factors and for inflammatory and immunological changes. Most of the actual therapies are based on the latter two phenomena. We review here corticosteroids, interferon beta and copolymer 1 as the current drugs of choice and compare schematically the immunological basis of the mechanisms of action of these three substances with those of experimental or other treatments.