MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Myelin Repair, MS Blood Test, Comparing DMTs

Myelin-producing Brain Cells Regenerated Using Stem Cells in Early Study

We know that when the myelin coating of our nerve axons is destroyed, MS symptoms result. So a process that halts or reverses that destruction is the goal of a lot of MS research. This is a report on one of those studies, still in its early stages.

Researchers, using two different kinds of stem cells in rats, were able to regenerate oligodendrocytes — myelin-producing brain cells that are defective in multiple sclerosis (MS). They were also able to grow adult neural stem cells (NSCs, immature cells of the nervous system) in laboratory cultures and prod them to develop into oligodendrocytes.

The study, “Human mesenchymal factors induce rat hippocampal- and human neural stem cell dependent oligodendrogenesis,” was published in the journal Glia.

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Targeting Blood-clotting Protein Can Restore Brain’s Potential to Repair Myelin Layer, Study Shows

Here’s another example of research that could result, someday, in myelin repair. The scientists studying the fibrinogen protein speculate that if it prevents myelin from being produced that the process may also be able to be reversed, and used to create and repair myelin. It’s more hope for MS disease reversal in the future.

A blood-clotting protein called fibrinogen prevents myelin production and blocks the neuron remyelination repair process in mice, a study finds.

The study, “Fibrinogen Activates BMP Signaling in Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Cells and Inhibits Remyelination after Vascular Damage,” appeared in the journal Neuron. Its conclusions offer new insights and open new therapeutic avenues for multiple sclerosis (MS) and Alzheimer’s disease, among other illnesses.

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Diagnostic Blood Test May Be Able to Distinguish Between RRMS and PPMS, Researchers Say

This study focuses on exosomes, tiny packages that virtually all cells release as a means of rapid communication. It’s thought that exosomes may give doctors a method of looking at diseases, such as MS, in the brain. And that, in turn, may make it possible to develop a blood test that would help diagnose MS or track its progression. 

In the future, a blood test may make diagnosing multiple sclerosis (MS) much easier, thanks to newly identified biomarker patterns that distinguish between MS patients and healthy people.

The test could also correctly detect primary progressive MS (PPMS) in patients who also had relapsing-remitting disease (RRMS).

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National MS Society, Corrona to Launch Registry Comparing Approved MS Therapies

How well do MS therapies work? There has never been a database created to track and analyze DMTs side-by-side. But one is now in the works.

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) officially announced its collaboration with Corrona on the launch of the Corrona Multiple Sclerosis Registry to compare the safety and effectiveness of approved therapies in multiple sclerosis (MS).

Corrona, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, conducts observational cohort studies, offering analytic expertise for longitudinal clinical data, patient-reported measures and others to compare effectiveness, post-market safety reporting and commercial applications.

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