ADVANCES IN MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS.

Advances in Multiple Sclerosis is composed of reviews that cover topics associated in the main with recent advances. It is divided into five sections covering genetics, immunology, magnetic resonance imaging, treatment and the organization of care in multiple sclerosis.It opens with `What the specialist in multiple sclerosis needs to know about genetics', and achieves this in a concise up-to-date overview. A short summary on the genetic control of EAE follows that adds little to our understanding of multiple sclerosis. However, such research is likely to have future relevance in understanding and identifying genes in polygenic diseases in general.The Immunology section is highly recommended, containing a selection of stimulating topics. Complement and its relationship to oligodendrocyte injury is an area that has recently been focussed on and this summary includes a lot of the authors' own considerable contribution to such research. Cytokines and cerebrospinal fluid is a difficult area to summarize due to the many, and often contradictory, observations that have been reported; moreover, it is difficult to unravel what is cause and what is effect. A good overview follows on the important subject of the immunological findings in multiple sclerosis at clinical onset, i.e. when the chances of identifying aetiological mechanisms for the …