Ongoing
Over time, people with MS develop more physical complaints and can have problems with their thinking (cognition). These two characteristics of MS have a major impact on a patient’s quality of life. Why do people with MS continue to deteriorate? How can disease progression be stopped? The researchers at the MS Center Amsterdam want to find answers to these questions.

MS Cohort Amsterdam

The MS Cohort Amsterdam is a group of 350 people with MS who have been tracked since 2004 in an endeavor to study the progression of MS. Several measurements (blood, imaging, eye scan and questionnaires) have been performed at various timepoints during their illness to investigate their course of disease.  

Brain network

Advanced MRI measurements and analyses look at the changes in the brain networks of MS patients over time. These analyses show, for example, that changes in the cerebellum (the brain network that coordinates our movements) have a predictive value for deterioration after five years.

Brain pathology and culture models

Brain pathological analysis is used to study cellular interactions that are disturbed in MS. This program also examines at a molecular level which processes are involved in nerve damage, glial activation and vascular inflammation as seen in MS and thus play a role in disease progression. Cell cultures can represent various MS disease processes and such platforms can be used to study the beneficial effects of potential new treatments.

Clinical studies

In addition to projects that mainly provide more understanding of the progression of MS, the effect of treatments on the progression of MS is being investigated. These are both drug treatments and physical training programs. It is also being examined whether we can identify biomarkers that have a predictive validity on the progression of MS.

Researchers involved