Pharmacological targets in multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is the most frequent chronic inflammatory, demyelinating and neurodegenerative disease in young adults, but has no definitive pharmacological treatment. It is a heterogeneous disease from the immunological, neuropathological and clinical point of view, as well as in terms of its response to different therapies. Over the last two decades, pharmacology has focused on developing drugs that are capable of modifying the course of this disease, with the aim of reducing the frequency of the outbreaks and the speed at which the disability produced by the disease progresses. Nevertheless, today, there are no drugs that are capable of offering a curative effect that can fully stabilise the disease, and neuroprotective and neuroreparative strategies are still in their early stages. In this work we carry out a critical review of the different pathogenic paths involved in multiple sclerosis and we discuss the different pharmacological approaches that have been followed, based on the clinical trials that are currently being conducted. In the near future it is to be expected that, first, we will manage to stabilise the disease completely and, later, recover some of the functions altered by this disease. Research is being conducted at such a rate that we have to be optimistic and think that soon we will be able to improve the situation of those who suffer from the disease.