Benzon Symposium No. 49
Multiple Sclerosis:
Genetics, Pathogenesis and Therapy
Copenhagen,
August 18-22, 2002
Organizing committee:
Arne Svejgaard (Copenhagen), Alastair Compston (Cambridge), Rikard Holmdahl (Lund), Per Soelberg Sørensen (Copenhagen), Lars Fugger (Århus)
Synopsis
Benzon
Symposium No. 49 is devoted to multiple sclerosis (MS). It is a
chronic neurologic disease characterized by demyelination in the
brain and spinal cord giving rise to a broad spectrum of
neurological symptoms including paralyses and impaired sensory
functions, which eventually leads to complete disability in about
half of the cases. MS affects 1:100,000 and is the most common cause
of disability in young adults. The etiology of MS is unknown, but
genetic factors are clearly involved as evidenced by the association
between MS and certain factors of the HLA system, i.e. the major
histocompatibility complex. However, it is probably a polygenic
disorder because studies of affected sib pairs indicate that non-HLA
genes are also involved in the pathogenesis. Indeed, MS appears to
be a multifactorial condition since environmental factors also seem
to play a role. The HLA involvement supports the assumption that MS
is an autoimmune disorder.
Present
research in MS involves a variety of scientific fields: neurology,
neurophysiology, epidemiology, genetics, molecular biology,
immunology, and microbiology. Experimental studies in animals play
an increasing role; in particular, the development of humanized
murine models of MS is expected to provide powerful opportunities
for the development of new therapeutic strategies.
Invited speakers
Giancarlo COMI - Alastair
COMPSTON - George C. EBERS -
Joan GOVERMAN - David A. HAFLER - Rikard HOLMDAHL
-
Vijay K. KUCHROO - Juan. J. LAFAILLE - Hans LASSMANN
-
Roland MARTIN - Gianvito MARTINO - D. H. MILLER
-
Stephen D. MILLER - John H. NOSEWORTHY - Tomas OLSSON -
Cedric S. RAINE - Neil RISCH - Moses RODRIGUEZ -
Jonathon D. SEDGWICK - Lawrence STEINMAN -
Jack L. STROMINGER - Howard L. WEINER - Hartmut WEKERLE -
Jerry S. WOLINSKY - David C. WRAITH
Scientific Programme
Arne Svejgaard: Introduction
Session I - Multiple Sclerosis: The disease
Chairmen:
John H. Noseworthy & Per Soelberg Sørensen
John H. Noseworthy:
General Clinical Introduction
D. H. Miller:
Application of cerebral magnetic resonance
techniques to observe in vivo pathology and
elucidate the natural history of multiple sclerosis
Cedric
S. Raine:
The expanding MS lesion: novel pathogenetic
mechanisms
Hans Lassmann:
Heterogeneity og pathogenetic pathways in multiple
sclerosis: pathological evidence and clinical
implications
Morten
Blinkenberg:
Cortical cerebral
metabolism correlates with MRI lesion load and
cognitive dysfunction in MS (Poster No. I-1)
Hanne Flinstad
Harbo:
A
genome-wide linkage disequilibrium screen in
Scandinavian multiple sclerosis patients shows
association with chromosome regions at 1q (D1S1601)
and 11q (D11S1986) (Poster No. II-5)
Jenny
Karlsson: Studies of
Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL’s) on chromosome 15
that control susceptibility to murine models of
human inflammatory disorders (Poster
No. II-7)
Eva
Åkesson: A
study of 432 sibling-pairs with multiple sclerosis
showing suggestive linkage in regions on chromosome
10 (Poster No. II-12)
Session II - Genetics
Chairmen:
George C. Ebers & Alastair Compston
George Ebers: Family studies
in Multiple Sclerosis
Alastair Compston:
Genetic Analysis of Multiple sclerosis in EuropeanS
(GAMES)
Neil Risch:
Search for genetic determinants
Poster session (Posters Nos. I-1-11; II-1-15)
Session III -
Pathogenesis
Chairmen:
Gianvito Martino & Lars Fugger
Lars Fugger: A functional and structural basis for T cell receptor crossreactivity
in multiple sclerosis
Hartmut Wekerle:
Immune responses in the brain
Lawrence
Steinman: Large Scale Transcriptional and
Proteomic Analysis of MS Tissue Yields New Targets
for Therapy
Roland Martin:
Autoreactive T cells in MS - their role in the
induction or relapses and pathogenesis of disease
Bente Finsen: Remyelination is not a simple
recapitulation of primary myelination (Poster No.
III-4)
Andreia
Gomes: Apoptosis Mediators CD95, CD95L and cFLIP are
upregulated in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in
Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (Poster No.
III-6)
Finn Sellebjerg:
CD4 T cell activation correlates with disease stage
in early multiple sclerosis (Poster No. III-8)
Guus
Wolswijk: Changes
in the Paranodal Region of Myelinated Axons in
Chronic Multiple Sclerosis (Poster No. III-11)
David A. Hafler:
CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells in patients with
multiple sclerosis
Session IV -
Animal models I
Chairmen:
Hartmut Wekerle & Rikard Holmdahl
15:20-15:45
Rikard
Holmdahl: Genetics of EAE
16:00-17:30 Poster session (Posters Nos. III-1-12)
Session IV -
Animal models II
Chairmen: Hartmut Wekerle & Rikard Holmdahl
Vijay K. Kuchroo:
Autoimmune T cell response to myelin antigens:
Induction, regulation and tuning
Tomas Olsson:
Genetics and pathogenesis of rat neuroinflammation;
MOG induced EAE and experimental neurodegeneration
Joan Goverman:
MBP-Specific TCR Transgenic Mouse Models: Multiple
mechanisms of Tolerance, Immunoregulation and
Autoimmune Disease
Juan J. Lafaille: Regulatory T Cells in mice
Bent A. ‘t Hart: Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis; a new
multiple sclerosis model for therapy development
(Poster No. IV-4)
Yu-Min Huang: Therapeutic potential of IFN-g-modified
dendritic cells (IFN-g-DC) in acute and chronic experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE)
(Poster No. IV-7)
Robert
Weissert:
Prevention
of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis by a
nonapeptide totally unrelated to the encephalitogen
(Poster No. IV-13)
Shahram Lavasani: CD1 gene regulates chronicity of CNS
inflammation in experimental autoimmune
encephalomyelitis (EAE) (Poster No. IV-14)
Session V - Tolerance I
Chairmen:
Jack L. Strominger & Lars Fugger
Jonathon D. Sedgwick:
Inhibition of inflammation: Activating and
inhibitory receptor-mediated regulation of microglia
and myeloid cell function
Stephen D. Miller:
Molecular mechanisms of initiation and
immunoregulation of virus-induced autoimmune disease
Poster
session (Posters Nos. IV-1-20)
Session
V -
Tolerance II
Chairmen:
Howard L. Weiner & Arne Svejgaard
Howard L. Weiner:
Oral tolerance
David C. Wraith: Immune Regulation in MS and
EAE
Session VI -
Other immune therapies
Chairmen:
Giancarlo Comi & Per Soelberg Sørensen
Jerry S. Wolinsky: Currently approved
immunomodulators: Status Report
Moses Rodriguez: Myelin repair with the use
of human monoclonal antibodies
Arthur A. Vandenbark: TCR-specific T cells possess Treg activity (Poster No.
V-3)
Hanspeter Waldner: Role of antigen presenting cells in self-tolerance and
genetic resistance of EAE (Poster No. V-4)
Signe
Humle Jørgensen: Treatment of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis with intravenous
immunoglobulin
(Poster No. VI-4)
S.J.Karlik: Further evidence for very long-term efficacy in
interferon beta1b in relapsing remitting patients (Poster No.
VI-6)
Jack
L. Strominger: Novel synthetic amino acid
copolymers that inhibit autoantigen-specitic T cell
responses and suppress experimental autoimmune
encephalomyelitis
Poster
session (Posters Nos. V-1-7; VI-1-8)
For abstracts click here
