Contribution of peptides to multiple sclerosis research

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease associated with chronic inflammatory demyelination of the central nervous system in genetically susceptible individuals. Because of the disease complexity and heterogeneity, its pathogenesis remains unknown despite extensive research efforts, and specific effective treatments have not yet been developed. Peptide‐based research has been important in attempts to unravel particular aspects of this complex disease, including the characterization of the different molecular mechanisms of MS, with the goal of providing useful products for immune‐mediated therapies. In fact, in the past decade, peptide‐based research has been predominant in research aimed to identify and/or develop target antigens as synthetic probes for specific biomarkers as well as innovative immunomodulating therapies. This review presents an overview of the contributions of peptide science to MS research and discusses future directions of peptide‐based investigations. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers (Pept Sci) 84: 349–367, 2006 This article was originally published online as an accepted preprint. The “Published Online” date corresponds to the preprint version. You can request a copy of the preprint by emailing the Biopolymers editorial office at biopolymers@wiley.com