Momentum - Fall 2012

Now
Engaging the best
and the brightest

by Timothy Coetzee, PhD

We’re truly fortunate to have expert scientists who volunteer their time to the Society to help us to identify the best research projects in which to invest. They recently recommended more than $19 million in strategic research commitments, supporting researchers who are eager to stop multiple sclerosis in its tracks, restore function in people living with multiple sclerosis and end the disease forever. Here are just a few of the exciting new initiatives that launched this summer.

Myelin stressors

The myelin sheath that surrounds nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord is damaged by repeated immune attacks in MS. Understanding how the damage occurs is key to stopping it.

Judith
Grinspan, PhD
(University of
Pennsylvania
School of
Medicine),
has previously
found that bone marrow
proteins (BMPs) are also found
in myelin, and increase during
myelin damage. With a new
grant from the Society, her
team is investigating whether

BMPs are increased because of “oxidative stress”—a potentially toxic situation involving molecules that contain oxygen—and whether reducing oxidative stress lowers BMP levels and increases myelin repair. Small clinical trials of antioxidants—nutrients that help minimize oxidative stress—are already under way in people with MS, so this research could help lead to new approaches for stopping MS damage and improving natural myelin repair.

Picturing repair

Common MRI scans may reveal
immune activity or myelin
damage, but don’t provide
enough information about
the health of
nerve fibers.
Dr. Robert
Naismith
(Washington
University in
St. Louis) is
mining a wealth of data from a
study that originally compared
Betaseron to Copaxone, and
is now using it to evaluate two
advanced MRI techniques
that can detect the condition
of nerve fibers. His team is
comparing monthly scans with
information about individuals’
progression of disability and the
treatments they were using. The
results will show whether these
imaging techniques may be
useful in tracking effectiveness
of repair therapies for MS.

A gut response
Looking at environmental factors
may hold the key to ending
the disease
forever. Lloyd
Kasper, MD
(Dartmouth
Medical School,
Lebanon, NH),
is looking at
the potential role of a molecule
produced by common bacteria in
the intestines.

Each of us has more than 1,000 different types of bacteria living in our guts. Most are harmless, or help with digestion, but some actually influence the activity of immune cells. With his new grant, Dr. Kasper’s team is examining the effects of a molecule called polysaccharide A (PSA), which is released by some gut bacteria and can reduce symptoms of the MS-like disease experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in mice. His team is investigating how PSA affects immune cells taken from people with and without MS for clues to how this molecule may actually help to regulate disease.

It is thrilling for the Society to partner with the best scientists to launch new studies that will lead to more breakthroughs, and move us ever closer to a world free of MS. n