第一章 “美女病”與奧巴捷

因為患有多發性硬化，天才大提琴家杰奎琳·杜普蕾（Jacqueline du Pré）28歲便不得不離開心愛的音樂舞臺，42歲溘然辭世，她的故事后來被改編成電影《她比煙花還寂寞》（Hilary and Jackie）。多發性硬化是一種因自身免疫系統病變引起的大腦神經髓鞘的破損和剝落，患者表現出多種神經性疾病的癥狀，如肢體麻木、肌肉痙攣和抽搐等，嚴重影響正常的生活與工作。因為患者人群中20～40歲年輕女性的人數遠遠高于男性，所以它又被稱為“美女病”。小分子口服藥物奧巴捷（Aubagio）于2012年獲得FDA（美國食品藥品監督管理局）批準，2013年獲得歐盟批準，它通過對患者免疫系統的調控，延緩和阻止神經髓鞘的進一步衰變。

Because of Multiple Sclerosis (MS), virtuoso Cellist Jacqueline du Pré left her beloved music performance stage at the young age of 28, and passed away at the age of 42. Her sad story was adapted to an Oscar nominated movie Hilary and Jacky. MS is a seriously debilitating autoimmune disease, which causes damages to myelin sheath of nerve fibers in the patients' brain, and has typical symptoms of neurological diseases, such as numbness of limbs, muscle twitching and spasms, etc. Since MS affects woman aged 20—40 much more than any other age and sex groups, it is often referred to as “pretty women's disease.” Luckily, a small molecule oral drug Aubagio is now available to MS patients. Through down regulation of related immuno-reactivities, Aubagio inhibits the further damage to myelin sheath of nerve fibers.