title: Proteomics of a conundrum: Thoughts on addressing the aetiology versus progression of multiple sclerosis.
abstract: Currently in the field of multiple sclerosis (MS) research there is an ongoing debate concerning the cause of the disease. MS is widely considered to begin with an autoimmune dysregulation. The disease does have a prominent autoimmune component however this may be representative of a secondary effect. There is growing evidence that the disease may be initiated by an underlying degeneration of oligodendrocytes. In our viewpoint, we discuss the potential differences between the aetiology and progression of MS. For the most part, proteomic analysis has focused on the autoimmune component of the disease. We suggest that proteomic analysis should be applied to investigating oligodendrocyte degeneration. We discuss the potential of the cuprizone animal model of demyelination and its usefulness in understanding oligodendrocyte degeneration. Immune suppressive therapies are effective at reducing clinical symptoms and improving quality of life. However, a cure is still lacking and as such the disease does still progress. We suggest that if the initiating cause is poorly understood, then curing MS is unlikely.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Physiology, School of Medicine, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, NSW, Australia.|Molecular Medicine Research Group, School of Medicine, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Melissa A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Partridge
authors.affiliation: Molecular Medicine Research Group, School of Medicine, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, NSW, Australia.|Neuro-Cell Biology Laboratory, School of Science and Health, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Simon J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Myers
authors.affiliation: Molecular Medicine Research Group, School of Medicine, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, NSW, Australia.|Department of Neurology, Campbelltown Hospital, Campbelltown, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Sumana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gopinath
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Physiology, School of Medicine, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, NSW, Australia.|Molecular Medicine Research Group, School of Medicine, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Jens R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Coorssen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003471:Cuprizone / Q000494:pharmacology; D003711:Demyelinating Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000378:metabolism; D004681:Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental; D006801:Humans; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D040901:Proteomics / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D003471:Cuprizone
keywords: Cuprizone; Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis; Mitochondrial dysfunction; Oligodendrocytosis