|
MS
Society-funded Researchers Identify Key Component in MS-like
Disease
Medical Update Memo
March 19, 2004
Summary
Researchers at McGill University Health Centre have identified
a key enzyme that triggers MS-like disease in an animal model
for multiple sclerosis. They also found that blocking the
enzyme may play a critical role in preventing disease development
and continued relapses. The Multiple Sclerosis Society of
Canada funds the research, which was reported in the February
4, 2004 issue of Neuron.
Details
Multiple sclerosis is a disease in which the body’s own
immune system attacks myelin, the insulating substance that
surrounds nerve fibres. MS and an MS-like animal model called
EAE are thought to result because of attacks by T-cells in
the immune system on central nervous system tissue (the brain
and spinal cord). How and why this process occurs is not fully
understood.
The MS Society funded research carried out
by McGill University researchers Dr. Samuel David and his Ph.D.
student Athena Kalyvas suggests that a particular enzyme may
be a key part of this process, which leads to patchy inflammation
(lesions) within the brain and spinal cord. They found that
in a mouse model of MS the amount of an enzyme called cytosolic
phospholipase A2 (cPLA2) is increased in spinal cord lesions.
They also found that when they treated the animals with a chemical
inhibitor they were able to block the development of disease
in some mice. In addition, those who developed MS-like disease
had milder symptoms. In another experiment, they were able
to prevent the occurrence of additional relapses in animals
in which the disease had already been introduced. While this
inhibitor cannot be used in people, it gives researchers valuable
information to design drugs that might safely target and block
the enzyme in humans.
Dr. David points out that while these findings
are very encouraging, he cautions that not all treatments that
work in animal models of disease work in humans. Another hurdle
is that in the mouse, the inhibitor worked only with the relapsing-remitting
form of disease and not in animals with a progressive form.
The researchers are now working on identifying
more specific inhibitors that can block the enzyme. Dr. David
noted: “We cannot say how long it will take such treatments
to go to clinical trial. What we have discovered is another
piece of the puzzle of how the disease process can be triggered
within cells in the spinal cord.”
The Multiple Sclerosis Society of
Canada has funded Dr. David’s research since 2000.
Click
here to view or print this bulletin in its
original format.
Disclaimer
The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada is an independent,
voluntary health agency and does not approve, endorse or
recommend any specific product or therapy but provides information
to assist individuals in making their own decisions.
|
