Immunotherapies, anti-cancer treatments that enhance the immune system's ability to kill cancer cells, have made notable advances in oncology and survi | Cancer
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Daytime cortisol patterns track cognitive decline but not Alzheimer’s disease risk
In 3,895 older adults, moderate daytime cortisol variability was associated with better cognition and slower decline, while the highest daily cortisol exposure was linked to poorer cognition and faster decline. Cortisol patterns differed between Black and White participants, but their relationships with cognition were similar, and none predicted incident Alzheimer’s disease.
Comorbidities and Outcomes in People with Functional Neurological Disorder
In this cohort study, we retrospectively analyzed a large FND cohort using TriNetX, a federated health research platform aggregating electronic health records from approximately 160 million individuals across 143 health care organizations in 17 countries. Diagnoses follow standardized clinical coding. Reporting adhered to the STROBE guideline. This study was exempt from IRB review and informed consent given the use of deidentified data, according to the Common Rule (45 CFR §46) and UK regulations from the Health Research Authority.
Demographics and lifetime comorbidities were extracted for patients with an initial F44.4-F44.7 diagnosis between 1995 and 2024. Clinical outcomes were compared between matched cohorts with an initial diagnosis between 2015 and 2024 to reflect contemporary care for all FND vs multiple sclerosis (MS; G35), FND-motor vs MS, and FND-seizure vs epilepsy (G40), controlling for age, sex, race, and ethnicity via propensity score matching, testing 2-sided z tests on absolute risk differences at a significance level of P .05 after Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons, and calculating odds ratios with 95% CIs. Data extraction and analyses were performed in April 2025 on the web-based interface TriNetX LIVE. Full methods are described in eMethods 1 to 3 in Supplement 1.
Targeting EpsteinBarr virus (EBV) for treatment of multiple sclerosis
Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) is now recognized as an essential causal agent in the development of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). MS is a chronic autoimmune disease resulting in demyelination and neurodegeneration in the central nervous system (CNS). EBV is a ubiquitous human γ-herpesvirus that establishes long-term latent infection in a small subpopulation of memory B-lymphocytes. While EBV and B-lymphocytes are known to be drivers of MS autoimmune disease, it remains enigmatic how a small population of EBV-infected cells trigger and drive MS pathogenesis in some individuals. In this review, we discuss the known biology of EBV and its role in MS and other disease, including cancers, where EBV is an essential driving factor in disease progression. We review some of the conditions and cofactors that increase the risk of EBV infection leading to MS and the potential of pharmacological, biologic and vaccine approaches to more selectively target EBV to treat MS.
Keywords: EBNA1; Episome; Latency; Multiple Sclerosis; Therapeutics.
Copyright © 2026. Published by Elsevier B.V.