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## Meet the editors

Prof. Uday Kishore is a passionate and translational researcher, an inspiring, engaging, and inclusive teacher, an academic leader with a wide research network internationally and across higher education, charity, pharma, and biotech sectors, and an inventor of biologics for clinical trials. He is a teacher and a scientist with a special interest in innate immunity. He was the founder-director of the Centre for Infection, Immunity and

Disease Mechanisms, Brunel University London. He obtained a BSc from S.P. Jain College, Sasaram, Bihar, India; an MSc from Hindu College, Delhi University; and a Ph.D. from the Department of Zoology, University of Delhi and CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Delhi, India. After spending a year at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, California, USA, Dr. Kishore moved to the University of Oxford for the major part of his post-doctoral training, first at the MRC Immunochemistry Unit, Department of Biochemistry, and then at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital. He is the recipient of fellowships from NASA (USA), Wellcome Trust (UK), and Alexander Humboldt Foundation (Germany). He is the recipient of the MRC Investigator Prize, European Commission Young Scientist Prize, and Mother Teresa Excellence Award. He is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Biology UK (FRSB) and the Royal College of Pathologists (FRCPath London). Dr. Kishore holds several adjunct, visiting, and honorary professorial positions nationally and internationally. He has authored nearly 300 research papers, book chapters, patents, and books. His research focuses on how innate immunity plays a crucial role in human health and disease. He has extensive experience researching autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus and myasthenia gravis.

Dr. Abhishek Shastri is a consultant psychiatrist for a busy London dementia service. He graduated with a degree in medicine from Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bangalore, India, in 2010. He obtained a postgraduate diploma in psychiatry from Cardiff University, Wales, and secured an MPhil in Neuroinflammation from Brunel University London. He then trained in Bournemouth and Poole where he obtained

membership in the Royal College of Psychiatrists and subsequently completed his higher specialist training in Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster. Dr. Shastri has published numerous articles and book chapters on neuroinflammation and dementias. He is a clinical and educational supervisor for core and higher trainees in psychiatry for the Health Education London training scheme.

## Contents



Preface

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurological condition that affects the central nervous system (CNS). A diagnosis of MS can mean a lifelong illness that ranges from mild to severely debilitating. There is no known cure for the disease. Over the years, extensive research has been carried out to fully understand its etiology and pathogenesis, alongside robust clinical trials being conducted to develop effective therapeutic avenues. Research, as well as clinical trials, continue to take place across the world to help find a cure for MS. There is a very close interplay of immunological mechanisms in the

This book brings together the latest, cutting-edge research findings along with expert commentary on epidemiology, genetics, biomarkers, etiology, pathogenesis, immunology, neuroimaging, and clinical treatment modalities of this chronic inflammatory disease affecting the CNS. The book begins with an introductory chapter about MS that provides an in-depth understanding of the latest developments in disease-modifying therapies, stem-cell therapies, and neuroimaging. The next chapter delves into the interesting sphere of biomarkers for MS that may be helpful as diagnostic and prognostic markers of treatment. This is followed by a chapter that explores the impact of genetics and environmental and lifestyle factors that are of significant importance in MS. We then move on to an excellent piece of original research on ocular imaging in patients, and its usefulness in understanding the progression of MS. Following this, we examine the potential and role of artificial intelligence in the management of MS and in improving MS research. In the next section, we examine the impact of cognition and brain health on MS disease progression. The book ends with an in-depth assessment of the role of innate immunity in the pathogenesis of MS to help understand the disease and inform treatment modalities. We hope that readers find the book useful in helping improve their understanding of MS, as well as in furthering their interest in MS

**Uday Kishore, Ph.D., FHEA, FRSB, FRCPath**

**Abhishek Shastri, MBBS, Mphil, MRCPsych**

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust,

Department of Veterinary Medicine,

Al Ain, United Arab Emirates

London, United Kingdom

UAE University,

development and progression of MS.

research and its clinical aspects.
