Investigations in multiple sclerosis patients with coexistent autoimmune thyroid disease

多发性硬化症（MS）是一种常见的慢性神经系统疾病，影响着全世界超过100万人。多发性硬化症通常被认为是一种自身免疫性疾病，患者自身的免疫细胞开始攻击大脑和脊髓的组成部分。然而，人们认为并非所有患者都有相同的成分受到攻击，并且导致MS的途径因人而异。因此，为了制定成功的MS治疗策略，有必要寻找患者MS的临床症状和体征以及其他特征中的模式，这些模式可能会为导致该患者疾病的特定途径提供线索。一些患有多发性硬化症的人还会患上其他自身免疫性疾病，或者在患多发性硬化症之前已经患有这些疾病，或者有其他家庭成员患有其他自身免疫性疾病。我们最近发现，患有多发性硬化症和自身免疫性甲状腺疾病（AITD）的相同组合的人表现出类似的多发性硬化症的临床症状，并且往往在神经系统的相同区域有损伤（病变）。这表明这些人可能有相同的潜在途径导致多发性硬化症的发展，这个项目将调查同时患有多发性硬化症和AITD的人，以及他们的家庭成员，看看我们是否能找出同样的自身免疫性疾病组合和神经系统特定部位的病变之间的联系。它将提供导致多发性硬化症发展的途径的信息，从这项研究中获得的信息可能最终用于开发更特异性的治疗药物，通过根据患者的临床和免疫特征为特定的多发性硬化症患者量身定制治疗方法。

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a common chronic neurological disease affecting over one million people around the world. MS is generally thought to be an autoimmune disease, in which a person's own immune cells start to attack components of the brain and spinal cord. However, it is thought that the same components are not attacked in all patients, and that the pathway that leads to MS varies from one person to another. Therefore, in order to develop successful treatment strategies for MS, it will be necessary to look for patterns in the clinical symptoms and signs and other features of a person's MS that may give clues as to which particular pathway is leading to disease in that person. Some people who develop MS also develop other autoimmune diseases, or have these other diseases before they develop MS, or have other family members who have other autoimmune diseases. We have recently found that people who have the same combination of coexistent MS and autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) show similar clinical signs of MS, and tend to have damage (lesions) to the same areas of their nervous system. This suggests that these people may have the same underlying pathways leading to the development of MS, and that they may be a very informative group in which to look for immune or genetic abnormalities that might explain why they develop MS. This project will investigate people who have both MS and AITD and other members of their families to see if we can work out what the links are between having the same combination of autoimmune diseases and developing lesions in particular parts of the nervous system. It will provide information on the pathways that lead to the development of MS, and information obtained from this study may eventually be of use in developing more specific therapeutic agents, by tailoring therapies to specific people with MS, depending on the clinical and immunological profile of that person.