The use of the immunosuppressive drug Mitoxantrone (MX) in people with multiple sclerosis (MS)

MS is an immune-mediated chronic disorder of the central nervous system (CNS) characterized by multiple areas of inflammation and demyelination. MS is among the commonest causes of neurological disability in young people. Steroids, interferon and other drugs have been used to treat specific symptoms. This review determined that MX, widely used for treatment of breast cancer and leukaemia, was moderately effective in the short-term treatment of MS. The most frequent side-effects are transitory amenorrhoea, nausea and vomiting, alopecia, urinary tract infections and transitory leucopenia. However, caution must be exercised when interpreting these results, because of the heterogeneous quality and characteristics of the included trials, which are different in terms of treatment schedule and type of enrolled patients. Moreover, there are little information on the long term effects of MX, especially as regards the risk of cardiotoxicity and therapy-related acute leukemias, which is increasingly reported in the literature.