Fight to beat MS gains momentum
THE worldwide effort to halt multiple sclerosis has received a major financial boost – with three pioneering UK projects among those getting cash backing.
Dr Clare Walton, head of research at the MS Society, said: “We already have over a dozen licensed treatments for people with the relapsing form of MS, and some emerging for early active progressive MS.
“We believe we can stop MS and these projects will bring us one step closer to finding treatments for everyone.”
Professor David Baker, from Queen Mary University of London, will explore how to protect nerve cells from becoming dangerously overexcited. Overexcited nerve cells can die, and nerve cell death plays a big part in MS progression.
Prof Baker said: “If we can use our new chemical to control this function and protect nerve cells from death in the process, it could be a complete game changer for MS treatment.”
Dr Don Mahad and his team, based in Edinburgh, discovered last year that the diabetes drug pioglitazone could be another piece in the puzzle of stopping MS, through its ability to protect nerves from damage.
Oxygen treatment
Dr Mahad said: “We’re now able to take our findings forward to see if what we’ve found in mice is also true in brain tissue from people with MS.”
At University College London, Professor Ken Smith will explore when the fatal injury that leads to nerve cell death in progressive MS happens.
His team will look at whether targeting oxygen shortage in the inflamed nervous system affects the subsequent accumulation of disability.
As well as the three UK projects, scientists in the USA, Italy, Australia, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Canada, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland and France will be awarded funding from the International Progressive MS Alliance.
Among some of the most exciting international projects are Professor Francesco Bifari’s work in Italy, which will test whether particular nutritional supplements in mouse models of progressive MS can increase cellular energy and mitochondria function in nerve and immune cells.
And in Germany, Professor Ludovico Cantuti-Castelvetri will explore if a new antibody can help to clear damaged myelin out of the brain, and in turn slow brain damage.