"Discovery could halt MS progression"

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CureOrBust
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"Discovery could halt MS progression"

Post by CureOrBust »

Any Ideas what this is about?
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaki ... 6338953415
MELBOURNE researchers may have found a way to block the progression of multiple sclerosis (MS).

Blocking a specific protein responsible for nerve damage acted as a hand brake to progression of the disease, researchers from RMIT and Monash Universities have discovered.

The findings, published this week in the international journal Brain, could provide hope to sufferers of MS, one of the world's most common neurological diseases.

...

When the modified protein, or the communication between the two proteins, was blocked, disease progression was halted.
...

"We define it as a 'hand brake'. It (the therapy) halts it, (and) then the body in its own right can actually repair."

Dr Petratos said the clinical method used to block the proteins had already been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration to treat other conditions.

"This should mean that clinical trials - once they start - will be fast-tracked," he said.

He said if clinical trials on humans started within a few years, it was hoped a therapy could be available in a decade.

Scientists from the University of Toronto and Yale University in the United States were also involved in the research.
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sou
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Re: "Discovery could halt MS progression"

Post by sou »

Searching for other papers from Dr Petratos, I can't help but say that the whole research smells like EAE. This is not an optimistic indication, because we know that EAE is totally unrelated to MS. Only the future will tell.
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cheerleader
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Re: "Discovery could halt MS progression"

Post by cheerleader »

Hi Cure--
The protein they're blocking is CRMP 2
http://www.dailypioneer.com/home/online ... rosis.html

What the researchers fail to mention is that this protein is found in neurodegenerative diseases and ischemic stroke.
Collapsin response mediator protein2 (CRMP2) is a brain-specific protein involved in neuronal polarity and axonal guidance, and phosphorylation of CRMP2 regulates the function and the activity. CRMP2 has shown to be implicated in several neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy and ischemia)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21333637
http://www.springerlink.com/content/l32u81587278q64t/
http://www.landesbioscience.com/journal ... 1947614191
http://www.springerlink.com/content/t822327418652p81/

I'm kind of sick of these research press releases that mention MS, and not the other associated diseases where these "NEW discoveries" are also found....where is the collaborative effort to understand WHY there is ischemic injury in the MS brain?

Here's a study on modulating CRMP 2 in Alzheimers
In another study, we have recently found that CRMP-2 interacts with Specifically Rac1-Associated protein (Sra-1/CYFIP1) (43a), which directly interacts with actin filaments (45). Thus, CRMP-2 may associate with actin filaments through Sra-1 in growth cones. In this study, Rho kinase-induced phosphorylation of CRMP-2 had no effect on the actin binding ability of CRMP-2. CRMP-2 is a highly conserved phosphoprotein, and its phosphorylation states alter upon NGF-induced neuronal differentiation or in the formation of degenerating neurites in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease (12, 33). These findings raise the possibility that other kinases up- or down-regulate CRMP-2 activity and mediate actin reorganization in the Rho family GTPase-mediated signal cascade. Further studies characterizing the protein kinases may shed some light on other functions of CRMP-2.
http://mcb.asm.org/content/25/22/9973.full

and I don't think the full role of CRMP 2 is understood just yet. The Australian MS study used EAE in mice (sou was right) and the human brain is different....it has a purpose.
Since CRMP-2 is present in adult and aged brains, there is reason to speculate that it may have a role in neuritic and axonal growth and regeneration and thus contribute to a high level of plasticity in adult brains. In some disease states, CRMP-2 has been shown to be reduced, such as in Down syndrome fetal brain, epilepsy brain hippocampus and areas of traumatic brain injury. In Alzheimer’s disease, CRMP-2 has been shown to be associated with the paired helical filaments (PHF) in degenerating neurons. This PHF-associated CMPR-2 has been shown to be highly phosphorylated. This hyperphosphorylated form of CMPR-2 may lead to its inactivation and may accelerate the neuritic degeneration in Alzheimer’s disease.
http://www.swimmunology.com/crmp-2-c.htm

but the headline sure looked good, huh?


cheer
Husband dx RRMS 3/07
dx dual jugular vein stenosis (CCSVI) 4/09
http://ccsviinms.blogspot.com
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scorpions
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Re: "Discovery could halt MS progression"

Post by scorpions »

Great find Squiffy!! It seems like scientists are looking at how blocking a number of different proteins may either slow down or halt the progression of MS. Although to read once again that it may take ten years for this discovery to translate into some type of therapeutic treatment is frustrating at least it gives me hope that the next generation of people with MS will have it better then we did!
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