Journal
MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS JOURNAL
Volume 18, Issue 11, Pages 1640-1643Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD
DOI: 10.1177/1352458512464282
Keywords
Multiple sclerosis; natalizumab; fingolimod
Categories
Funding
- Biogen Idec
- Merck Serono
- Sanofi-Aventis
- Bayer Schering Pharma
- Biogen-Idec Italy
- Bayer- Shering
- Genzyme
- Novartis Farma
- Italian Ministry of Public Health
- University of Padova, Interarea [CPDA 099394]
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Clinical and/or neuroimaging evidence of disease reactivation has been described in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients after a break from natalizumab. Whether fingolimod might be a therapeutic option following natalizumab needs to be evaluated. Twenty-two relapsing remitting MS patients having JC virus antibodies (JCVAb+) in serum were shifted from natalizumab to fingolimod after a three-month washout period. Neurological evaluation with the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) was performed monthly for a mean follow-up period of nine months. In 20/22 patients, brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was obtained within one month after therapy initiation. Disease reactivation was observed in 11/22 (50%) patients: clinical relapses in six patients (four patients within the first month of therapy) and MRI activity in a further five patients (three patients within the first month of therapy). Clinical and/or MRI signs suggestive of disease rebound were observed in three patients. Our data indicate that fingolimod does not exert clinical activity quickly enough to stop MS reactivation after a break from natalizumab.
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