Blacks continue to be underrepresented in clinical studies for multiple sclerosis (MS). It’s a discouraging fact but there may be even more to discover when it comes to the central nervous system disease.
According to a recent study, a new subtype of MS has been identified by researchers, and the discovery changes the understanding of the disease.
MS has long been considered a disease of the brain’s white matter, where immune cells destroy the fatty protective covering (myelin) on nerve cells. The destruction of myelin (demyelination) is linked to nerve cell death that leads to progressive disability in MS patients.
However, the newly identified subtype of MS – called myelocortical MS (MCMS) – features the loss of neurons but no damage to the brain’s white matter.
In the study, researchers analyzed brain tissue from