Anti-interleukin-12 antibody: potential role in preventing relapses of multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory demyelinating disorder of the central nervous system. Immunological evidence from patients with multiple sclerosis and experimental models suggests that the cytokine interleukin-12 (IL-12) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory demyelination. In experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, an animal model of multiple sclerosis, antibodies that block IL-12 can prevent relapses of the disease. Anti-IL-12 antibodies present a novel approach for preventing relapses in multiple sclerosis.