title: Towards a pathogenetic definition of multiple sclerosis in terms of integrative transformation of generic pathologic processes.
abstract: The multiple sclerosis disease process is presented in the light of a generic pathobiologic phenomenon on equal terms with such other phenomena as ischemia, neoplasia, infection and congenital malformation, with the added improviso that it would also constitute a true form of integrative resolution of these other generic phenomena towards a real transformation of events in terms of both cellular forms of injury and also in terms of pathogenesis and evolution. Perhaps, in the final analysis, a putative infectious agent is implicated in multiple sclerosis whose peculiar attributes are reflected in a distinctive immunologic response beyond even the conventional concepts of either hypersensitivity or of immunologic surveillance. In a sense, perhaps, a particular patient immunologic constitution in an environment conducive to exposure to a putative agent results in a form of integration of this agent leading to persistent demyelinative relapse of the affected oligodendrocyte on an essential background of a distinct plaque centered on a specific vessel of supply. The recognition of the oligodendrocyte as a specialized astrocyte might in itself strictly characterize such a generic demyelinative process of multiple sclerosis in terms of its essential remitting/relapsing course.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, St. Luke's Hospital, Gwardamangia, Malta. lagil@um.edu.mt
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Agius
mesh_terms: D001369:Axons / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D009186:Myelin Sheath / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D009836:Oligodendroglia / Q000473:pathology