We have collected blood and cerebrospinal fluid from untreated people with different clinical subtypes of MS and related disorders, as well as in MS patients pre- and post- initiation of disease modifying therapies (DMT). The goals of these studies are to: (i) identify biomarkers that correlate with MS disease activity and/ or are predictive of therapeutic responsiveness to individual DMT, (ii) gain insights into the immunopathogenesis of MS, and (iii) identify novel therapeutic targets.
Ongoing Projects:
- Analysis the phenotype and functional properties of B cells, T cells and NK cells in individuals with MS pre- and post-initiation of ocrelizumab or rituximab therapy
- Assessment of plasma and CSF levels of eotaxin as biomarkers of CNS tissue damage, cognitive deficits, and physical disability in people with progressive forms of MS
- Assessment of myeloid-related growth factors as biomarkers of MS disease activity.
Related Publications:
- Huber AK, Giles DA, Segal BM, Irani DN. An emerging role of eotaxins in neurodegenerative disease. Clin Immunol 2018; 189:29-33. PMID: 27664933
- Carbajal K, Mironova Y, Ulrich-Lewis J, Kalkarni D, Grifka-Walk H, Huber A, Shrager P, Segal BM. Th Cell Diversity in Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis and Multiple Sclerosis. J Immunol 2015; 195(6):2552-9. PMID: 26238492
- Segal BM. Stage-Specific Immune Dysregulation in Multiple Sclerosis. J Interferon Cytokine Res 2014;34(8): 633-40. PMID: 25084180
- Huber AK, Wang L, Han P, Zhang X, Ekholm S, Srinivasan A, Irani DN, Segal BM. Dysregulation of the IL-23/IL-17 axis and myeloid factors in Secondary Progressive MS. Neurology 2014;83(17): 1500-7. PMID: 25253754
- Gardner AM, Atkinson JR, Wilkinson NM, Jerome AD, Bellinger CE, Sas AR, Segal BM.
TAM receptor signaling dictates lesion location and clinical phenotype during experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. J Neuroimmunol. 2023 Feb 15;375:578016. PMID: 36708633 - Atkinson JR, Jerome AD, Sas AR, Munie A, Wang C, Ma A, Arnold WD, Segal BM.
Biological aging of CNS-resident cells alters the clinical course and immunopathology of autoimmune demyelinating disease. JCI Insight. 2022 Jun 22;7(12):e158153 PMID: 35511417