Promising multiple sclerosis treatment can help increase neuroprotection
Tuesday 6th December 2011
Researchers in Germany have developed a promising treatment that can help protect against multiple sclerosis.
The team at Ruhr-Bochum University have found that the orally available synthetic compound known as Laquinimod triggers immune cells within the central nervous system, to produce and release brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), contributing to the repair or survival of neurons which can limit brain damage.
In a clinical study, a significant BDNF increase occurred in the patients that were given Laquinimod and an 11-fold increase in BDNF serum levels was observed in individual patients.
Jan Thöne, MD, of the Department of Neurology at St Josef-Hospital Bochum and the university said: "Our data is indicative of a direct and sustained effect of laquinimod on the up-regulation of bioactive BDNF in patients with RRMS. Additionally, we demonstrate that laquinimod targets monocytes and skews the phagocyte population towards a regulatory phenotype, which in turn mediates immune modulation in vivo."
NHS figures show that 100,000 people in the UK have multiple sclerosis, with 20 per cent of sufferers having a shortened life span.
written by Mathew Horton
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