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Abstract
This Podcast features an interview with Mari Shinohara, senior author of a Research Article published in the 22 May 2012 issue of Science Signaling. Interferon-β (IFN-β) treatment can slow the progression of multiple sclerosis (MS) by reducing inflammation in the nervous system, but it is not effective in all patients. Mari Shinohara’s group studies the effects of IFN-β therapy in a mouse model of MS to understand how this protein can inhibit the inflammation that leads to neurological dysfuntion in human patients. They found that IFN-β therapy is only effective in treating symptoms in the mouse model when development of the disease depends upon the NLRP3 inflammasome, suggesting the possibility that this might also be the reason for the failure of IFN-β therapy in some human MS patients.