Multiple Sclerosis Is Not an Autoimmune Disease

diagnosticcriteria.TheMSplaquehas a well-defined edge and a scant lymphocyticinfiltratethatisabsentinone third of all plaques. In patients with MS, the normal-appearing gray and whitematterarealwaysinvolvedwith thediseaseprocess,extendingwellbeyondthebordersoftheplaqueasseen in the T2-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) brain images. In the diffusion tensor MR imaging, there is a progressive decline in fractional anisotropyextendingfromthenormalappearingwhitemattertotheplaque withthemostextensivechangesseen at the center of the plaque paralleling the decrease in the magnetization transfer ratio. 4 White matter abnormalities in ADEM are different, however, and do not extend beyond the focal areas of injury. Unlike MS, themagnetizationtransferratioofthe uninvolved brain and spinal cord in ADEM is identical to that of normal tissue. The evolution of the plaques in patients with MS as seen in MR spectroscopyisdifferentfromADEM. Extrapolation of EAE data to MS is guided purely by faith rather than by science. Even the most exhaustiveexperimentshaveyieldedinconclusive results. Autoreactive T-cell