March 30, 2022 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD National MS Society Details Steps to Achieving Pathways to Cures The National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) has detailed its Pathways to Cures Roadmap and potential ways of addressing gaps and advancing each of the pathways, with a final goal of finding a cure for multiple sclerosis (MS) in all its forms. Details were in the report, ā…
January 4, 2021 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD Boosting Cholesterol Recycling in Brain Facilitates Myelin Repair, Study Says New research in mice suggests that poor recycling of cholesterol in the brain impairs the repair of myelin, the protective coat surrounding nerve cells that is lost in multiple sclerosis (MS). Pharmacological stimulation of cholesterol synthesis by brain immune cells ā called microglia ā boosted the regeneration of myelin,…
October 29, 2020 News by Teresa Carvalho, MS Newly Discovered Type of Immune Cells May Be Key in Treating MS A recently identified group of immune cells saved damaged nerve cells from death and promoted nervous system repair, a new study suggests. This finding may represent new promise for treating neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The study, “A new neutrophil…
October 6, 2020 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD Pathway and Its Proteins Found to Control Myelin Repair, Renewal A pathway controlled by three proteins ā Daam2, Nedd4, and VHL ā was identified by researchersĀ as a key regulator of myelin production during central nervous system development and regeneration after injury. Myelin,Ā the protective fatty layer that covers nerve fibers and helps to speed transmission of signals between nerve cells,…
January 14, 2020 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD New Mechanism Boosting Myelin Regeneration May Ease MS Symptoms, Mouse Study Shows Blocking a protein called PAR1 may enhance the regeneration of myelin, the protective fatty layer that covers nerve fibers and isĀ damaged in multiple sclerosis (MS), a mouse study shows. Therapeutic targeting of PAR1 may promote remyelination and delay MS progression, according to the study, āBlocking the Thrombin Receptor…
January 6, 2020 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD Brain Regeneration Impaired in Progressive MS, Unaffected By DMTs, Study Reports Regeneration in the brain is reduced in people with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS), but enhanced during disease activity in those with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS), a study reports. The results also show that regeneration is unaffected by treatment with disease-modifying therapies (DMTs), as shown by the levels…
August 20, 2019 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD In Brains Damaged by MS or Age, Cells Can Be Tricked to Promote Remyelination, Study Suggests Our brains ā much like our joints ā stiffen with age, causing brain stem cells called oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) to lose their ability to proliferate and transform into oligodendrocytes,Ā the cells that produce myelin, an essential component for nerve cell communication, a study found. But tricking OPCs into sensing a…
January 28, 2019 News by Jonathan Grinstein Altered Oligodendrocyte Diversity Contributes to Multiple Sclerosis, Study Suggests Subpopulations of oligodendrocytes ā cells that produce the myelin sheath that protects nerve fibers ā are altered in patients withĀ multiple sclerosis, a study shows. These findings suggest that oligodendrocyte diversity and the different functions of these subpopulations might have a greater role in the disease than previously thought. The severity of MS varies greatly, and the patient's disability level does not correlate well with the degree of myelin loss. This suggests that other factors contribute to MS severity. One such factor may be that oligodendrocytes are heterogeneous ā diverse in makeup and function. For example, oligodendrocytes in mouse spinal cords are known to naturally produce longer myelin sheaths than oligodendrocytes in the mouse brain. Additionally, individual oligodendrocytes have been shown to have different molecular makeups. However, the extent of human oligodendrocyte diversity and its possible contribution to MS pathology remains unknown. Researchers from the Karolinska Institutet and the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine studied the differences of individual human oligodendrocytes from healthy and MS brains to assess their diversity. Specifically, the team examined oligodendrocytes from the white matter areas of post-mortem human brains both from MS and non-MS patients. The team examined the RNA content ā the messenger molecule carrying instructions from DNA for the production of proteins ā from individual oligodendrocytes. Researchers identified groups of RNA molecules that defined features of oligodendrocytes from healthy human white matter. Some of these groups match those that defined oligodendrocytes in healthy mice. Strikingly, some of these RNA molecules in healthy brains were under-represented in oligodendrocytes from MS brains, whereas others were more prevalent. āWe found that oligodendrocytes are a diverse population of cells and that different types are likely to have different functions in the brain,ā Charles ffrench-Constant, the study's co-lead author, said in a Karolinska InstitutetĀ news release written byĀ Katarina Sternudd. These differences in oligodendrocyte RNA content may indicate different functional states of oligodendrocytes in MS lesions. āThe proportions of different resident oligodendrocytes in the lesions are changed, along with their properties, suggesting that they might have important roles in MS,ā said Eneritz Agirre, PhD, a study co-author. Furthermore, the researchers believe that this altered diversity in oligodendrocytes in MS may be important to understand disease progression and develop therapeutic approaches. āUnderstanding which types of oligodendrocytes are most beneficial in repairing myelin will be crucial for maximizing the chances of developing much-needed treatments for MS,ā said Anna Williams, PhD, study co-lead author. The team concluded that theĀ changes in different oligodendrocyte subpopulations in MS suggest "a more complex role of these cells in the pathology of the disease, but also in regeneration of new cells,ā said GonƧalo Castelo-Branco, PhD, another study co-lead author.
January 3, 2019 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD Excess of Single Transcription Factor Appears to Hinder Myelin Repair by Oligodendrocytes, Study Finds Unusually high levels of a transcription factor called paired related homeobox protein 1 (PRRX1) in human oligodendrocyte progenitor cells hinders their ability to respond to the loss of myelin and to transform into mature, myelin-producing oligodendrocytes, a new study shows. These findings suggest a new potential way of treatingĀ …
January 9, 2018 News by Patricia Silva, PhD Cholesterol Buildup Limits Regeneration of Nerve-cell-protecting Sheath, Study Shows The nerve-cell-protecting myelin sheath’s failure to remove cholesterol after the membrane has been damaged limits its ability to regenerate, German researchers report. Their finding has important implications for multiple sclerosis because a hallmark of the disease is nerve cell deterioration stemming from damaged myelin. Cholesterol is a waxy, fatty substance…
December 12, 2017 News by Patricia Silva, PhD Protamine, Anticoagulant Blocker, Seen to Aid Remyelination in Mice Within Limits Protamine āĀ an agent used to stop the anticoagulant effects of heparin ā was seen to trigger remyelination in mice with myelin damage. But while pointing a way forward for studies of myelin regeneration in multiple sclerosis (MS), the research team underscored that protamine itself is not an optimal treatment candidate.
October 30, 2017 News by Patricia Silva, PhD #MSParis2017 – Aerobic Exercise Seen to Quickly Strengthen Brain Connections in Patients Aerobic exercise strengthens brain connections in people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, Jan-Patrick Stellmann, with University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in Germany, reported at theĀ 7th Joint ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS Meeting in Paris that ran from Oct. 25ā28. According to Stellmann, "aerobic exercises are considered to improve mobility, fatigue, depression and cognition in MS," and also to "promote neuroprotective or neuroregenerative mechanisms." For the study, the team used MRI to examine how exercise affected different types of brain connections. They recruited 57 RRMS patients and 30 healthy controls to the study. Women made up more than two-thirds of the patient group, which had a mean age of 39. Patients only had mild disability, with a mean score of 1.5 on the Expanded Disability Status Scale. Researchers randomly assigned about half the group to a supervised and individually adapted aerobic exercise program, consisting of 22 sessions of up to one hour each. Others were assigned to a waiting list ā with the intent of taking up exercise after three months ā and served as a control group. MRI scans at the study's beginning revealed that patients had more so-called functional connections, but fewer structural ones, than healthy controls. It is known from earlier studies that most RRMS patients show abnormalities in functional connections, but some researchers find increases while others decreases in these connections. Functional and structural connections appear on different types of MRI scans ā ones that make use either of blood flow changes or of the properties of water molecules in the white matter of the brain. The deviations were particularly pronounced in highly connected hub regions, the researchers said. After three months, functional connections increased across the entire brain among exercising patients, but decreased in those on the waiting list. Structural connections also increased among patients who exercised, while no change was detected among control patients. Researchers also noted that exercising patients grew more local connections, mostly in hub regions, compared to those who did not exercise. While it is generally accepted that aerobic exercise promotes neuroprotective and regenerative processes within the brain, the study demonstrated that exercise, in only three months, did indeed affect how the brain is wired. "Short-term aerobic exercise increases functional and structural connectivity,"Ā Stellmann concluded. "Already after three months, exercise lead to functional and structural reorganization of brain networks." The researcher highlighted the difficulties in obtaining financial support for trials on exercise. And he emphasized that patients should be encouraged by their doctors to exercise regularly.
October 13, 2017 News by Patricia Silva, PhD Common Allergy Treatment Restores Protective Neuron Coating in MS, Trial Suggests Scientists have been trying to find a way to restore a protective covering around nerve cells whose loss leads to the neuron damage associated with multiple sclerosis. A team at the University of California, San FranciscoĀ may have found a way to do it. And perhaps surprisingly, the possible solution…
August 21, 2017 News by Patricia Silva, PhD Mouse and Human Myelination Research Might Improve Success Rates for New MS Treatments of the neurons.
July 26, 2017 News by Patricia Silva, PhD Q Therapeutics Approved to Start Trial of Cell Therapy Aiming to Restore Myelin A cell therapy intended to boostĀ myelin regeneration ā Q-Cells byĀ Q TherapeuticsĀ āĀ has received aĀ green light from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to proceed with a clinical trial in patients with transverse myelitis (TM), a disease that likeĀ multiple sclerosis is characterized by myelin damage. FDA approval of the companyās Investigational New…
May 11, 2017 News by Patricia Silva, PhD National Multiple Sclerosis Society Commits to $17 Million for 43 Research Projects The National Multiple Sclerosis SocietyĀ is pumping $17 million intoĀ 43 research projectsĀ that represent almost half of its $40-million research funding commitment in 2017. Among the projectsĀ are trials evaluating intermittent fasting as a way to harness inflammation and stem cell research. A growing number of studies indicate thatĀ stem cells can slow…
April 13, 2017 News by Patricia Silva, PhD 3D Laboratory Cell Growth System Should Speed Up MS Remyelination Research A physical scaffold that allows lab-grown brain cells to grow in a three-dimensional manner is giving scientists a whole new way of studying the regeneration of myelin, nerve coatings whose damage is at the heart of multiple sclerosis. The scaffold is allowing researchers to test large numbers of compounds for…
March 16, 2017 News by Patricia Silva, PhD Discovery of T-cells’ Role in Myelin Regeneration Could Lead to Therapies That Mimic Processes Regulatory T-cells in the central nervous system trigger the maturation of stem cells that increase the production of myelin at injured neurons ā a discovery that places the idea of regeneration in multiple sclerosis (MS) in a whole new light. Myelin is a substance essential to the functioning of the…
February 27, 2017 News by Patricia Silva, PhD #ACTRIMS2017 – Epigenetics’ Role in Myelin Renewal Is Focus of Research The absence of epigenetic factors in myelin-producing oligodendrocyte cells make sure that myelin production is switched off in the adult brain. Targeting these factors may be a way of triggering myelin regeneration in multiple sclerosis (MS), and a step towardĀ personalized medicine for this disease, Dr. Patrizia Casaccia said in aĀ talk…