ReviewBiomedicines2023
From Animal Models to Clinical Trials: The Potential of Antimicrobials in Multiple Sclerosis Treatment.
Review in Biomedicines, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 4 citations in OpenAlex.
- Shining a Light on Selenium: a Meta-analysis of Supplementation in Multiple Sclerosis.Biological trace element research · 2024Pooled it
- Infectious Agents in Multiple Sclerosis: Viral Triggers, Antibody-Mediated Autoimmunity, and Parasitic Immunomodulation.Biomolecules · 2026Review
- Broad-spectrum antiviral brincidofovir inhibits Epstein-Barr virus and related gammaherpesvirus in human and nonhuman primate cells.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2026Article
- Dysbiosis and Therapeutic Modulation of the Gut Microbiota in Multiple Sclerosis: A Narrative Review.Health science reports · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, autoimmune, demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS). Microbes, including bacteria and certain viruses, particularly Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), have been linked to the pathogenesis of MS. While there is currently no cure for MS, antibiotics and antivirals have been studied as potential treatment options due to their immunomodulatory ability that results in the regulation of the immune process. The current issue addressed in this systematic review is the effect of antimicrobials, including antibiotics, antivirals, and antiparasitic agents in animals and humans. We performed a comprehensive search of PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus for articles on antimicrobials in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis animal models of MS, as well as in people with MS (pwMS). In animal models, antibiotics tested included beta-lactams, minocycline, rapamycin, macrolides, and doxycycline. Antivirals included acyclovir, valacyclovir, and ganciclovir. Hydroxychloroquine was the only antiparasitic that was tested. In pwMS, we identified a total of 24 studies, 17 of them relevant to antibiotics, 6 to antivirals, and 1 relevant to antiparasitic hydroxychloroquine. While the effect of antimicrobials in animal models was promising, only minocycline and hydroxychloroquine improved outcome measures in pwMS. No favorable effect of the antivirals in humans has been observed yet. The number and size of clinical trials testing antimicrobials have been limited. Large, multicenter, well-designed studies are needed to further evaluate the effect of antimicrobials in MS.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.