Patent ID: 8415314

Claim:
A method for decreasing or inhibiting the accumulation of new active brain lesions, decreasing or inhibiting an increase in the volume of gadolinium-enhancing brain lesions, and reducing relapse rate in a human subject afflicted with a relapsing form of multiple sclerosis, comprising periodically administering to the human subject a pharmaceutical composition comprising a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier and a therapeutically effective amount of an oligonucleotide having the structure: 5′- Me C Me UG AGT Me CTG TTT Me U Me C Me C A Me U Me U Me C Me U-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 1) wherein a) each of the 19 internucleotide linkages of the oligonucleotide is an O,O-linked phosphorothioate diester; b) the nucleotides at the positions 1 to 3 from the 5′ end are 2′-O-(2-methoxyethyl) modified ribonucleosides; c) the nucleotides at the positions 4 to 12 from the 5′ end are 2′-deoxyribonucleosides; d) the nucleotides at the positions 13 to 20 from the 5′ end are 2′-O-(2-methoxyethyl) modified ribonucleosides; and e) all cytosines ( Me C) are 5-methylcytosines, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt of the oligonucleotide, so as to thereby decrease or inhibit the accumulation of new active brain lesions, decrease or inhibit an increase in the volume of gadolinium-enhancing brain lesions and reduce the relapse rate in a human subject afflicted with the relapsing form of multiple sclerosis.