Are Medical Mouse Studies Worth Reporting?

Prefer to hear this information right off the bat! Even though the research might not come to anything, I think we all like to know what's going on out there and then make up our minds.

Great post. That's the first thing I look for. Were results from a mouse trial or not? If they are I dismiss the "potential breakthrough". As someone who has MS, anything pre-phase three doesn't move the needle.

Wait until studies on people have something to report. I'm not a mouse.

If people are reporting mouse studies and their results as possible cures or benefits for ms, this is wrong. People just need to be aware that at best these are just experiments and are far far away from proving anything. However neurology has benefited greatly from such experiments.

I think it is worthwhile to write about mouse EAE research. At the molecular level we're pretty much the same. It's just that people might have false hope that there is going to be a disease modifying therapy as a result of the research in time to prevent their disease from progressing or reversing their disability. So it must be emphasized that while the research is relevant there will not be a disease modifying therapy as a result of it for years.

I assume when MS has taken most joy out of life, sufferers like myself temporarily forget we're reading about a mouse trial because we're desperately searching for hope and want to justify holding on to life and what little of our dignity is left.
Personally I think pseudo help is better than no hope and eventually the real thing will come along.

I would rather not hear about mice results. I was diagnosed 10 years ago with PPMS. Since then I found out that I also have relapses. I want to hear every result as long as it is from a human trial. It's too easy to get your hopes up when you hear positive results from a study. It should be a human study, though. I'm 61 and was diagnosed 10 years ago so even if they find a cure tomorrow it probably won't help me, but it would help my children's generation. I don't need to hear any results on mice that may not hold up in trials. I do want to hear any results on human clinical trials.

I want to hear more phase three results due to the word "HOPE". I believe every MS patient holds onto the word and wish. I want to know that a change is being made to eradicate the disease and not just modify the causes.

I don't follow twitter or facebook, but I do read this daily posting. I agree with Heathers, that mouse studies are akin to pointing to a pile of supplies and implying a cottage will materialize. Mouse studies are important to researchers, and to those who follow every last bit of MS info. I never pay them much attention as they will not impact my immediate circumstances. Realistically, much research is just exploration of theories. Sometimes leading to a conclusion. Sometimes not. Mouse studies are not particularly important to me.

I am very interested in this topic. It is good to have hope and I like being informed. But it is frustrating to follow a story based on a mouse study and never hear more about it. I'd like to hear the results, too. Good or bad. For me, bad news is easier to take as a journey in bite sized pieces I can process and not a smack in the face bottom line conclusion. Getting my MS diagnosis was easier to take as I researched the possible causes of my symptoms and narrowed it down with my doctor. Instead of just waiting for the bottom line result. Report mouse studies. Just report all the results of a story you are reporting on--the good and bad. I want to be educated along with the researchers. It helps me make informed decisions.

It seems that almost everything works on the EAE model used on mice. I think that this is not an appropriate model. I am waiting to hear that water works on mice.

It's fine to report them, but I'd like to see stories qualified as mouse studies in the headline or lede. As it is, I do a search for "mouse" before I read it.

Mouse would be fine if the news media would not run away with it as a breakthrough. since that is not the case, people studies only for me Thank you.

I totally disagree with mice studies (and any animal testing) - it is cruel and many have totally different results once tested on a human group.
A lot of money is wasted on animal studies which don't get further than phase 2
Animal testing is not required anymore and more accurate results can be observed in a lab without the use of animals.

Please, enough with the mouse studies. Especially when it comes to MS. The simple fact of the matter is MICE DON'T GET MS! The studies all involve mice who are induced to get an allergic reaction that destroys their myelin, something that bears absolutely no resemblance to the MS disease process in humans. At least in cancer studies involving mice, the mice actually get cancer.

The percentage of mice multiple sclerosis studies that eventually translate into anything usable in humans is something on the order of less than .01%. So, basically worthless when it comes to informing current patients with the disease about anything that might impact their illness.

There is value in studying neurodegeneration and nervous system damage in mice if simply to understand the nature of the mechanisms of nerve damage and possible strategies for neuroregeneration and remyelination, but these are strictly for research purposes only. Again, MICE DON'T GET MS, so even basic biological mechanisms studied in the little rodents are a far cry from what goes on in the human body.

Hope is the basic currency of all patients suffering from progressive debilitating diseases, but false hope is, I believe, worse than no hope at all…

I like to know what kind of research is going on to help us MSers, but I think the mouse study's can give us false hope. I'd rather know what kind of research is being done on humans.

As a spouse (caretaker) of a man diagnosed with PPMS at age 54 Years, after being guessed about and tested for 5 years (he was too old, he was a man, etc.) was finally given the name of the problem -- MS. The Mayo Clinic was not afraid to finally put the name to it, kissed him on the forehead (so to speak) and sent him out the door with the news that there was nothing possible to help him. Obviously "progressive" means "progressive" -- the only "hope" has been through a conference (about 10 years ago) reporting on stem cell research and the prediction of a cure within 5 years... The "humane" use of mice just might be considered better than test subjects used in past years (asylum or prison residents). My job in this adventure is to help sort through what is pertinent to his situation and help latch onto the "HOPE" being offered, finally, to his type of MS. As I understand it, there are 3 steps to FDA approval -- the first being the presentation of the research and its conclusions. I enthusiastically want to read these reports, wait for the FDA approval to continue the process and wait for the next step and wait for the help he and all deserve.

I agree that mouse studies are at best a screening tool, or filter. The history of MS drug development is littered with promising treatments that further studies proved them either ineffective or at worst, making MS worse. One example was a study that showed cigarette smoking, namely nicotine and carbon monoxide “cured” EAC mice bred to mimic MS demylinization. The danger is, especially with supplements that don’t require a prescription, us folks rush out and buy them an turn ourselves into “human mice” - I have done this myself. At best a waste of money, at worst having a bad impact on you ms or causing other health issues or side affect or neutralizing drugs that do work.

Does it really matter what we prefer?
Researchers will publish what and when they deem it necessary.
You decide what to do with the information.