The Webcast can be seen
here.
I watched it. For the most part the panelists were saying what is already known--that not much is available to help people with progressive forms of MS but the researchers are working hard at finding some solutions.
One point was made rather emphatically--that it is now known that the inflammation seen in early MS is profoundly different from the degeneration seen in progressive MS. Therefore prescribing RRMS therapies for people with progressive MS, as has been done for a while now, hasn't been helpful.
Some matters were cleared up for me by listening to this Webcast:
Stem cells are unspecialized cells that are a sort of internal repair system. They can turn into more specialized cells, and one type of stem cell can be derived from your own skin. A study done with mice at the University of Rochester resulted in "beautiful-looking myelin" in unmyelinated mice by transplanting these stem cells into the mice.
However, there are roadblocks to translating this process for humans, the panelists made clear. But the goal is to prevent myelin destruction and replace damaged myelin.
The shiverer mouse has been turning up in research studies for many years, and now at last I have a vague idea why it has its name. An unmyelinated mouse is called a shiverer mouse because it shivers all the time.
Question for anyone who might be reading: Does having little or no myelin make an organism particularly sensitive to temperature? Is that why the mouse shivers?
Dr. Fox is interested in oligodendrocytes (cells that put myelin on the nerves) and what might be blocking them in MS. He stated that the oligodendrocytes are still present in MS but they're not doing their job. He is working on the drug ibudilast with the goal of possibly unblocking this important oligodendrocyte activity.