Personalized therapy in multiple sclerosis: state of art and future perspectives

Abstract

ABSTRACTIntroduction: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory central nervous system disease that causes disabling physical symptoms, involving different functional domains. Because MS can be unpredictable, devising a treatment approach can be challenging. There are no tests that can reliably predict whether a specific medication will work well or poorly for any patient.Areas covered: In this review we will focus on the recommendations and decisions in MS management, considering how much far we are from a concept of personalized therapy. Personalized medicine is a medical approach that separates patients into different groups with medical decisions, practices, interventions tailored to the individual patient.Expert commentary: A personalized approach in MS therapy should be based on several factors, including: recent MS activity (in terms of severity and recovery); severity of lesion damage on magnetic resonance imaging; patients’ preferences regarding type of therapy and adverse side effects of the MS drugs.