Has anyone read (or previously commented) on this story?
http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/healthday/080218/new-ms-drug-target-shows-promise.htm
Finally a study aimed at improving current function, as opposed to
irritating daily injections, only intended to prevent future
relapses. Apparently, the two drugs mentioned (Hirulog, an anti-
coagulant protein fragment derived from leeches; Xigris, a recombinant
form of activated protein C, for use against severe sepsis) are
already FDA approved (albeit for other illnesses) My question is -
When is the next trial and how does one apply to participate? If this
is as promising as it sounds, then whats taking so long?? Who and
where do we petition to get some action on this?
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New MS Drug Target Shows Promise
By Jeffrey Perkel
HealthDay Re****ter
Monday, February 18, 2008; 12:00 AM
MONDAY, Feb. 18 (HealthDay News) -- A high-tech molecular fi****ng
expedition has led researchers to two potential therapeutic targets
for the treatment of multiple sclerosis.
The data implicate a pathway more typically associated with wound
healing -- the blood clotting cascade -- than in the development of
multiple sclerosis (MS).
"There is no coagulation component to MS," explained Patricia
O'Looney, vice president of biomedical research at the National
Multiple Sclerosis Society.
But coagulation factors also play a role in inflammation, which is a
component of the disease, she noted.
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"If you can use this pathway and engineer some new drug therapy that
will turn on the anti-inflammatory pathway, that could benefit people
with MS," O'Looney concluded. "So, this perhaps reveals new
therapeutic targets."
The research was published Feb. 17 in the advance online edition
ofNature.
In the study, a team led by Dr. Lawrence Steinman of Stanford
University School of Medicine grouped MS brain lesions from six
autopsied human subjects into three cl***** based on histological
criteria. They then probed those samples, along with samples from two
healthy controls, using a technique called mass spectrometry, which
essentially identifies the proteins in a tissue based on their mass.
The result was a "proteome" -- a sort of protein index of the tissues.
Of the 2,574 proteins the team identified from all the samples, they
found a few hundred that were unique to MS. More than half of those
proteins were of unknown function, but five were known players in
blood coagulation -- a pathway not previously recognized as being
involved in the origin and development of the disease. All five were
found in a single type of lesion, called a "chronic active plaque."
Puzzled by that observation, Steinman's team then tested whether drugs
that targeted two of the five coagulation pathway members, called
tissue factor and protein C inhibitor, could alleviate the symptoms of
MS in a mouse model of the disease.
They seemed to have succeeded: Mice formerly paralyzed by an MS-like
illness regained walking ability after the treatments, the researchers
said. "They went from paralysis involving hind limbs to a much more
functional score," Steinman said. The effect lasted at least two
months, he added.
According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, MS affects at
least 400,000 Americans. The disease results from loss of the
insulating myelin sheath that surrounds nerve fibers, thereby
disrupting nerve transmission, and causing damage to the nerve fibers
themselves. Symptoms vary from patient to patient but can include
blurred vision, slurred speech, loss of coordination and paralysis.
Disease course can also vary, with four distinct disease forms
recognized, the most common of which is relapsing remitting MS.
According to O'Looney, that variability is "the biggest challenge" of
the disease.
"The symptoms may vary from person to person, the disease course will
be variable, and we don't understand why there is this difference
among people with MS," she said.
"And so," she added, "what is terrific about this study is that it
compares the different forms of MS."
Six MS treatments have been approved for use by the US Food and Drug
Administration, but there is as yet no cure for the disease, according
to O'Looney. The two drugs Steinman used have been approved by the FDA
for use in treating other diseases, however. Hirulog is an anti-
coagulant protein fragment derived from leeches; Xigris is a
recombinant form of activated protein C, for use against severe
sepsis.
Those approvals should give researchers a head-start in getting these
compounds into clinical testing for MS, Steinman said. "We can already
jump past toxicity testing, because they are already approved," he
noted.
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But that doesn't mean doctors should administer these drugs to their
MS patients right now, Steinman cautioned.
"It needs to be tested in clinical trials. We need evidence, and these
drugs have serious potential side effects," he said. "But organized,
well-run clinical trials should be done, because these drugs may be of
immense potential benefit to people with MS."
Praising the study's use of donated human samples, O'Looney added
that, "it's a perfect example of how we can learn so much from the use
of tissue samples. We are so indebted to people with MS who leave the
message that their bodies are available to researchers. So, this is
the perfect example of how valuable that is. That's what drove this
study."
SOURCES: Larry Steinman, M.D., professor, neurology and neurological
sciences, and chair, Interdepartmental Program in Immunology, Stanford
University School of Medicine; Patricia A. O'Looney, Ph.D., vice
president of biomedical research, National Multiple Sclerosis Society;
Feb. 17, 2008, advance online publication,Nature
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