New hope for MS patients
Monday January 9th, 2012
British scientists are hoping they can stop the chronic decline suffered by patients with multiple sclerosis, it was announced last night.
Researchers
at Cambridge University say they have found a way to tackle the impact
of the disease caused by ageing.
So far the theory has only been tested on laboratory mice. This has identified cells that could be used to restore "youth" to the brain - enabling it to heal the disease.
The findings are reported in the journal Cell Stem Cell.
The disease is caused by damage to the myelin sheaths that protect nerve fibres in the brain. In younger patients, the body can repair this damage, limiting the impact of the disease.
But the process of repair, known as remyelination, slows with age.
The technique involves using inflammatory cells, known as monocytes, from young animals to trigger the repair process.
The scientists believe the technique may prove easier than seeking to use stem cell transplants.
Professor Robin Franklin, of the MS Society Cambridge Centre for Myelin Repair at Cambridge University, said: "What we have shown in our study, carried out in collaboration with Dr Amy Wagers and colleagues at Harvard University, is that the age-associated decline in remyelination is reversible."
Fellow researcher Dr Amy Wagers, from Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, said: "Ageing impairs regenerative potential in the central nervous system. This impairment can be reversed, however, suggesting that the eventual development of cell-based or drug-based interventions that mimic the rejuvenation signals found in our study could be used therapeutically."
Rejuvenation of regeneration in the aging central nervous system. Cell Stem Cell January 6 2012
Tags: Brain & Neurology | UK News
Printer friendly page