For Immediate Release
Could the Gut Microbiome Be a New Therapeutic Target for Multiple Sclerosis?
Contact: Kathryn Ryan
914-740-2250
kryan@liebertpub.com
New Rochelle, NY, July 6, 2016—An increasing number of clinical studies are pointing to a link between the autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis (MS) and the composition of microbes in the human gut, sparking new research on the gut microbiome as a potential target for MS treatment and prevention. A comprehensive review article examining the proposed role of gut bacteria and the viruses that infect them in the development and progression of MS is published in Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research (JICR) from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the JICR website until August 6, 2016.
In the article "Emerging Concepts on the Gut Microbiome and Multiple Sclerosis," coauthors Justin Glenn and Ellen Mowry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Baltimore, MD) discuss the mechanisms by which altered levels of bacteria in the human gut—or the activity of bacteriophage, viruses that attack bacteria, or of bacterial toxins—can affect the immune system and possibly have a role in autoimmune disorders such as MS, in which the body attacks itself. Understanding these mechanisms could lead to the identification of novel drug targets and preventive strategies.
“This informative review presents the facts behind the notion that the nature of the intestinal microbial population may influence the development of autoimmune diseases, such as MS,” says Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research Co-Editor-in-Chief Ganes C. Sen, PhD, Department of Immunology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
About the Journal
Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research (JICR) led by Co-Editors-in-Chief Ganes C. Sen, PhD and Thomas A. Hamilton, PhD, Department of Immunology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published monthly online with open access options and in print that covers all aspects of interferons and cytokines from basic science to clinical applications. Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research is an official journal of the International Cytokine & Interferon Society. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the JICR website.
About the Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Viral Immunology, AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses, and DNA and Cell Biology. Its biotechnology trade magazine, GEN (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News), was the first in its field and is today the industry’s most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm’s 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.