Multiple Sclerosis

Research Works

Principal investigator: Jean Pelletier

One of the crucial therapeutic challenges in MS is to identify new strategies to promote myelin regeneration and protect CNS. There is a strong clinical relevance to better understand the mechanisms involved in inflammation, demyelination, remyelination and irreversible neuronal damage to propose new therapeutic strategies, and to follow up their efficacy over time using in vivo monitoring tools.
The MS Research projects developed by the MS Team at CRMBM/CEMEREM for more than 20 years, aim at providing relevant innovative in vivo and non-invasive MR parameters for the better understanding of the pathophysiology and dysfunction accompanying MS impacting public health.
MR techniques have provided important clues for the better understanding of disease progression in MS, now considered to be underlined by progressive neurodegeneration related to focal and diffuse inflammation and demyelination of the CNS. At this time, one important topic is the definition of imaging markers evidencing demyelination and neurodegeneration, now highly supposed to be related to irreversible clinical deficit. In addition, using Ultra High Fields, the ability to detect focal microvascular component specifically related to inflammation and demyelination will be increased. Assessing the focal and diffuse damage of white and grey matter will help to perform in vivo phenotyping. Our new clinical trials and cohort following early stage MS patients include these new markers applied to brain and spinal cord.

Representative recent publications

Grey-matter sodium concentration as an individual marker of multiple sclerosis severity. Maarouf A, Audoin B, Gherib S, El Mendili MM, Viout P, Pariollaud F, Boutière C, Rico A, Guye M, Ranjeva JP, Zaaraoui W, Pelletier J.Mult Scler. 2022 Oct;28(12):1903-1912. doi: 10.1177/13524585221102587. Epub 2022 Jun 20

Delayed access to conscious processing in multiple sclerosis: Reduced cortical activation and impaired structural connectivity. Has Silemek AC, Ranjeva JP, Audoin B, Heesen C, Gold SM, Kühn S, Weygandt M, Stellmann JP.Hum Brain Mapp. 2021 Aug 1;42(11):3379-3395. doi: 10.1002/hbm.25440. Epub 2021 Apr 7.

Evaluation of the Sensitivity of Inhomogeneous Magnetization Transfer (ihMT) MRI for Multiple Sclerosis. Van Obberghen E, Mchinda S, le Troter A, Prevost VH, Viout P, Guye M, Varma G, Alsop DC, Ranjeva JP, Pelletier J, Girard O, Duhamel G.AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2018 Apr;39(4):634-641. doi: 10.3174/ajnr.A5563. Epub 2018 Feb 22.

Metabolic counterparts of sodium accumulation in multiple sclerosis: A whole brain ²³Na-MRI and fast ¹H-MRSI study. Donadieu M, Le Fur Y, Maarouf A, Gherib S, Ridley B, Pini L, Rapacchi S, Confort-Gouny S, Guye M, Schad LR, Maudsley AA, Pelletier J, Audoin B, Zaaraoui W, Ranjeva JP.Mult Scler. 2019 Jan;25(1):39-47. doi: 10.1177/1352458517736146. Epub 2017 Oct 24.

Increased total sodium concentration in gray matter better explains cognition than atrophy in MS. Maarouf A, Audoin B, Pariollaud F, Gherib S, Rico A, Soulier E, Confort-Gouny S, Guye M, Schad L, Pelletier J, Ranjeva JP, Zaaraoui W.Neurology. 2017 Jan 17;88(3):289-295. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000003511. Epub 2016 Dec 14.