Promoting Remyelination and Preventing Demyelination New Research Goals in Finding a Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis

Recent Multiple Sclerosis (MS) research has made it apparent that demyelination has further consequences than its primary effects of inflammation and impaired conduction. It is now well understood that demyelination leads to significant progressive axonal and neuronal degeneration. This finding explains why patients receiving immunosuppressive therapies still show disease progression – they have unremitting demyelination because sufficient remyelination does not occur, leaving axons exposed and constantly susceptible to damage (1). Consequently, there has been a push towards researching neuroprotective and myelin repair strategies as new therapy requirements for MS patients (2). This review will focus on recent advances in promoting remyelination and preventing demyelination, with specific attention directed towards methods that utilize endogenous oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) rather than the transplantation of exogenous ones.