Iron accumulation in multiple sclerosis: an early pathogenic event

Abstract

Evaluation of: Al-Radaideh AM, Wharton SJ, Lim SY et al. Increased iron accumulation occurs in the earliest stages of demyelinating disease: an ultra-high field susceptibility mapping study in clinically isolated syndrome. Mult. Scler. doi:10.1177/1352458512465135 (2012) (Epub ahead of print).

Iron has been shown to accumulate in deep gray matter structures in many forms of multiple sclerosis (MS), but detecting its presence early in the disease course (e.g., clinically isolated syndrome [CIS]) has been less clear. Here, we review a recent study where MRI scanning at 7 T together with susceptibility mapping was performed to assess iron deposition in CIS and control subjects. Susceptibility indicative of iron deposition was found to be increased in the globus pallidus, caudate, putamen and pulvinar of CIS patients compared with controls. The findings suggest that iron deposition is a pathological change that occurs early in the development of MS. Identifying the mechanisms of iron accumulation and determining whether iron promotes pathogenesis in MS are important areas of future research.

Keywords::

• caudate
• clinically isolated syndrome
• globus pallidus
• iron
• multiple sclerosis
• pulvinar
• putamen
• susceptibility-weighted imaging

Financial & competing interest disclosure

SM LeVine has ongoing communications and a grant/contract in development with ApoPharma, Inc. and current funding from the Heartland Border Walk for MS. SG Lynch is an investigator in multicenter trials and receives support from Biogen IDEC, Genzyme, Teva, Novartis, Actelion, Hoffman-La Roche, Genentech, Accorda and Opexa. SG Lynch also receives support from grants from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the NIH. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.