Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Scientists make new discovery in search for multiple sclerosis treatment

‘This is an incredibly important discovery – one we believe could finally bridge the gap in MS treatment’

Shaun Lintern
Health Correspondent
Wednesday 05 August 2020 07:19 BST
Comments
MS sufferers can become disabled because of damage to their nerve cells
MS sufferers can become disabled because of damage to their nerve cells

Scientists say they may have discovered a new route to protect nerve cells in mice, which, if it can be replicated in humans, could prevent multiple sclerosis-related disability.

Researchers have already identified an existing, readily available diabetes drug, pioglitazone, which can trigger the natural process in mice cells and could become a potential treatment to halt the progression of the disease.

MS sufferers can become disabled because of damage to their nerve cells, which are stripped of the protective coating called myelin. Over time patients can find it harder to walk, talk and eat.

More than 130,000 people live with MS in the UK.

A team from the University of Edinburgh, funded by the MS Society, has discovered a natural process in mice that can protect nerve cells and with the help of medication ensure nerve cells have enough energy to function.

Dr Don Mahad, senior clinical lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, said: “Although our understanding of MS has vastly improved over the last two decades, new therapies still do not protect nerve fibres. Such protection is the Holy Grail in MS treatment – not only for the relapsing form of MS, which has various options available, but for progressive forms too, where treatment continues to lag behind.”

He said the discovery showed nerve cells respond to damage by sending mitochondria, the powerhouse of cells, to the area of damage and using the diabetes drug the team were able to enhance the response.

Dr Mahad said: “This is an incredibly important discovery – one we believe could finally bridge the gap in MS treatment.”

Prof Paul Matthews, director of the UK dementia research institute at Imperial College London, and who was not involved in the study, urged caution over the findings.

He said: “This is a well-designed set of experiments that provide interesting new data consistent with – but not independently establishing – benefits for a metabolic therapy for MS. It adds usefully to the literature, but is not itself the ‘game changer’ or ‘Holy Grail’.”

He added: “This new research demonstrates that damage is reduced in an experimental nerve model after chemical treatment to strip off the myelin coating by the common diabetic drug pioglitazone. It provides a possible explanation for earlier preliminary observations of possible benefits of the drug for people with multiple sclerosis (MS). Further well-designed studies of this relatively safe drug in people with MS seem well warranted.”

There are more than a dozen effective treatments for people with the relapsing form of MS but medication to prevent damage to nerve cells and repair damage already done has proved elusive.

Last year, another study showed the diabetes drug metformin could help encourage regrowth of myelin and regenerate cells.

MS Society assistant director of research, Dr Emma Gray, said: “This represents another important stride towards our goal of stopping MS – and we believe that MS treatment could in the near future look completely different.

“People with MS will be prescribed a combination of therapies that work on every aspect of the condition: stopping immune attacks and relapses, protecting nerves from damage, and regenerating lost myelin. It will mean no one needs to worry about their MS getting worse.

“Currently, there are no effective neuroprotective therapies available for MS, but Dr Mahad’s research demonstrates we are getting closer – and finding treatments for everyone with MS is now a very real prospect.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in