14 DAY TRIAL // A team of Canadian researchers found a new target for multiple sclerosis (MS), a disease that affects millions of people worldwide.
MS is a disease caused by damage to the protective covering wrapped around the nerves of the central nervous system (CNS), called myelin.
Prior research has shown that certain white blood cells (part of the immune system), called leukocytes, infiltrate the CNS and cause damage that contributes to MS symptoms.
The leukocytes enter the central nervous system with help from a family of molecules called MMPs.
During their research, Canadian scientists used a mouse model and found that there is a molecular switch called EMMPRIN, which also plays an important part in MS.
They analyzed the way that EMMPRIN affects MMPs and the entry of leukocytes into the CNS triggering the disease, and found that targeting EMMPRIN in MS patients could reduce the injury to the brain and spinal cord, caused by the immune cells.
Dr. V. Wee Yong, a professor of Clinical Neurosciences at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute at the University of Calgary's Faculty of Medicine and the study's principal investigator, explained that they “inhibited EMMPRIN and noticed a reduced intensity of MS-like symptoms in mice.”
Besides the results from animal models, the researchers also discovered that there were very high EMMPRIN levels in the brain lesions of MS patients, which means that the switch has a important role in the disease.
Dr. Jack Antel, Professor of Neurology at McGill University, said that “the authors have extended our knowledge of the molecules that regulate the trafficking of immune cells into the nervous system as occurs in multiple sclerosis.
“The current study identifies a new factor that can serve as a potential target of MS therapeutics.”
“This study has identified a new factor in MS, the blockade of which resolves disease activity in an animal model of MS,” added Dr. Smriti Agrawal, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Yong's lab and the lead author of the study.
“The results are exciting as they offer new insights into the MS disease process.”
The study results are published in the January 12th issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.