An international research team, including experts from Karolinska Institutet, has published a groundbreaking study in the journal Neuron, creating a gene expression atlas of brain cells in multiple sclerosis (MS).

This comprehensive study examined over half a million brain cells from deceased MS patients, allowing researchers to analyze individual cell resolution.

The researchers identified four distinct groups of brain cells based on their gene expression profiles, which suggest varying responses to treatments.

These findings pave the way for more personalized MS treatments by enabling the identification of specific patient subgroups based on their unique brain cell profiles.

Professor Anna Williams from the University of Edinburgh emphasized the goal of developing blood tests that can categorize MS patients, facilitating tailored clinical trials.

While current MS treatments primarily target immune cells in the blood and are effective in the early stages of the disease, there is a pressing need for therapies that act directly on brain cells, especially for progressive cases.

MS is a chronic inflammatory disease that predominantly affects individuals in their 30s and 40s, leading to a wide range of symptoms and varying levels of disability.

Despite advancements, there remains a limited understanding of how brain cell impacts MS, highlighting the variability in patient experiences with the disease.

Professor Gonçalo Castelo-Branco from Karolinska Institutet stressed the importance of personalized treatment approaches based on the genetic signatures identified in this research.