ECTRIMS 2022 | CNS resilience as a major determinant of outcome in MS

Adil Harroud, MD, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, describes the several lines of evidence implicating the central nervous system (CNS) as a determinant of the severity of multiple sclerosis (MS). Firstly, the genetic variants identified as being genome-wide significant were highly enriched in oligodendrocytes, and genes implicated in MS severity were enriched in CNS tissue. Additionally, genetically predisposed individuals exposed to longer education and higher educational attainment had lower MS severity, showing that education has a protective effect, which can be interpreted as the influence of neurocognitive reserve. Altogether, those findings suggest that MS severity is mainly determined by neuronal/glial responses that determine how well the brain copes with injury from MS, but also aging and potential comorbidities. This interview took place at the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) Congress 2022 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

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