[Multiple sclerosis: role of growth factors and remyelination]

Multiple sclerosis is a frequent and often disabling neurological disease. Its aetiology and treatment remain to be discovered. It has been demonstrated in multiple sclerosis brains that remyelination can occur after the myelin damage. This myelin repair is achieved by oligodendrocytes, which are the myelinating cells of the central nervous system or by oligodendrocytes precursors still present in adult central nervous system. Several recently discovered growth factors can stimulate oligodendrocytes precursors migration and proliferation, or act as survival factors for mature oligodendrocytes. These glial growth factors may represent a new therapeutic approach in multiple sclerosis, aiming at the stimulation of the endogenous capacities of remyelination.