News for the Multiple Sclerosis Community

EAE labeled "misleading model of MS"

The medical journal "Annals of Neurology" recently published a review critical of the reliance on the mouse model EAE ( experimental allergic encephalomyelitis) in understanding and treating MS. The authors propose that the use of EAE be reconsidered, especially in the realm of therapy development. It will be interesting to see what reactions this critique provokes -- there are a lot of people working with EAE out there!

EAE is a disease that is induced in mice that is used to study MS. When you read a newspaper account that says 'mice with MS,' this is what they are talking about. Mice do not actually get MS.

If you do a search on Behan and Chadhuri you can find a lot of literature pointing out the problems with the EAE model. They are both doctors at the University of Glasgow, Edinburg. Behan also appears to be quite prolific in submitting items for NINDS. Basically, the first paper called "the pathogenesis of MS revisited" was published in Nature back in 1999. It made the case the EAE was really a model for ADEM or rabies. checking on these two doctors plublished research makes for refreshing ideas and approaches on what MS is. It would be nice to see people acknowledge this work, verify or refute it with evidence.
In my purely non-professional opinion, using eae seems like looking for your car keys under a street lamp even though you know you dropped them in the dark somewhere.
art's picture
You are not the first person to make that comparison...