New therapeutic approaches in progressive multiple sclerosis (Reprinted)

Multiple sclerosis (MS) therapy made huge progress during the last years due to the development of new medications for the relapsing-remitting phase of the disease. The development of therapies for progressive MS was, however, less successful. New medications are the B-cell depleting antibody ocrelizumab, authorized for primary progressive MS with inflammatory activity and the sphingosine-1-receptor modulator siponimod, which is under development for secondary-progressive MS. Pathomechanisms of progressive MS comprise chronic inflammation with activation of T and B cells and microglia with release of reactive oxygen species, age-dependent accumulation of iron and neurodegeneration. In this review, we will discuss the knowledge about the pathogenesis of progression and potential therapeutic approaches in different stages of development.