MRI reveals sex hormone/tissue damage link

The fact that more women than men develop MS, along with other phenomena such as lower relapse rates during pregnancy strongly suggest the involvement of sex hormones in the disease. Now a team of Italian researchers have found additional evidence for this connection in a study (full paper here) of sex hormones and disease activity as measured by MRI and clinical evaluation. In this study of men and women with relapsing-remitting MS, disease activity was associated with levels of both the "male" hormone testosterone and the "female" hormone estradiol. For example, testosterone levels were lowest in the female MS subjects with higher numbers of gadolinium-enhancing lesions. Other correlations were found between hormone levels and measures of clinical disability and MRI evidence of brain damage. Now we need to find out exactly how hormone levels affect (and/or are affected by) MS disease activity. art: a news story on the study is here