Scots docs leading the fight to cure MS
Scientists hope to unlock secrets of the disease
GROUNDBREAKING work by researchers based in Scotland could eventually lead to a cure for multiple sclerosis.
A team of scientists at Glasgow University have been investigating how the wiring of the nervous system becomes damaged in MS patients.
They also hope to explain why Scotland has one of the highest concentrations of the disease in the world – and aim to develop a new generation of treatments.
The body’s “wires”, called axons, allow connection between nerve cells. When they are impaired, it contributes to the symptoms MS patients suffer.
With MS, the myelin sheath – similar to the plastic coating around an electrical wire – is broken down and leaves the axon open to attack and vulnerable to injury by the immune system.
A generous donation by an MS patient allowed study leader Dr Julia Edgar to set up a threeyear project to discover how the axon is injured and involves examining materials just 1/100th the thickness of a human hair.
Dr Edgar said: “We are looking at how the myelin-forming cells feed the axon and what causes the other cells of the immune system to become injurious.
“We are trying to understand the mechanics by which the cell feeds the axon. Ultimately the hope would be to find a cure but that is still a long way off.”
Professor Chris Linington said: “We know cells within the brain are resposible for anything going wrong.
“If we can find out how the human cells disrupt this area of the myelin sheath involved in feeding the axon, the hope is it will lead to specific therapies.”
Current treatments involve targeting chunks of the immune system which may stop the progression of the disease but can leave the patient vulnerable to illnesses such as meningitis.
The aim of the research is to reveal which part of the immune system is responsible for MS. Dr Edgar said: “If we could remove the teeth of that tiny bit, it will no longer chew up the myelin.”
The research could also help reveal more about other auto immune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.
Scotland has one of the highest concentrations of MS on Earth, with one in 500 people suffering from the disease. Orkney, where one in 170 women have MS, is a particular hot-spot.
Professor Linington said: “We don’t know what causes it but we believe it to be a mixture of genes and environment.
“Unfortunately, we don’t know what the genes are and we don’t know what the environmental factors are. While MS is rarely fatal in itself, it is a severe debilitating disease which has a huge socio-economic impact.”
Dr Edgar said: “There is no animal disease which reflects MS. It doesn’t appear in monkeys or rats. It is a human disease.”
Dr David Schley, of the MS Society, said: “Dr Edgar’s research will enable us to have a better understanding of the nerve cells becoming damaged.
“This could contribute to the development of interventions to minimise the damage that leads to disability in MS.”