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Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 4:37 am
by Lyon
oo

Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 8:47 am
by bromley
Bob, The brain shrinks because of the loss of white matter and grey matter. You often see the term tissue loss. In a trial of lamatrigine which is taking place in the UK, they are trialling the drug on SP patients (when atrophy starts to ramp up). To test the drug they measure the shrinkage of the brain compared to patients not on the drug (or a placebo).

Neuro-protective drugs should slow down atrophy and you often see the term tissue repair (By growth factors or stem cells).

Here is a view of an expert.

http://www.msanswers.ca/QuestionView.aspx?L=2&QID=35

My MS nurse and hospital neuro (not Dr G or Dr C) always say that I have taken the diagnosis badly. Atrophy is the reson for this.

Ian

PS One of the reasons I have opted for Campath (hopefully starting in November) is set out in the Campath research below:
From 1991-2002, we treated 58 patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) using the humanised monoclonal antibody, Campath- 1H, which causes prolonged T lymphocyte depletion. Clinical and surrogate markers of inflammation were suppressed. In both the relapsing- remitting (RR) and secondary progressive (SP) stages of the illness, Campath-1H reduced the annual relapse rate (from 2.2 to 0.19 and from 0.7 to 0.001 respectively; both p < 0.001). Remarkably, MRI scans of patients with SP disease, treated with Campath-1H 7 years previously, showed no new lesion formation. However, despite these effects on inflammation, disability was differently affected depending on the phase of the disease. Patients with SPMS showed sustained accumulation of disability due to uncontrolled progression marked by unrelenting cerebral atrophy, attributable to ongoing axonal loss. The rate of cerebral atrophy was greatest in patients with established cerebral atrophy and highest inflammatory lesion burden before treatment (2.3 versus 0.7 ml/year; p = 0.04). In contrast, patients with RR disease showed an impressive reduction in disability at 6 months after Campath-1H (by a mean of 1.2 EDSS points) perhaps owing to a suppression of on-going inflammation in these patients with unusually active disease. In addition, there was a further significant, albeit smaller, mean improvement in disability up to 36 months after treatment.We speculate that this represents the beneficial effects of early rescue of neurons and axons from a toxic inflammatory environment, and that prevention of demyelination will prevent long-term axonal degeneration. These concepts are currently being tested in a controlled trial comparing Campath-1H and IFN-beta in the treatment of drug-naive patients with early, active RR MS.

Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 10:35 am
by Lyon
oo

Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 11:19 pm
by Brainteaser
Hi Ian,

I have read the background to Dr Giovannoni. His credentials sound very impressive. Would you happen to know what drugs he will be trialling for neuro-protection of progressive MS?

Regards,
Phil.

Posted: Mon Sep 25, 2006 7:33 am
by sh8un
Deleted :lol:

Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 2:17 pm
by Brainteaser
Hi sh8un,

As you can see, I immediately amended my post when I could see it was creating a distraction. I thought you might follow suit by withdrawing yours. For some reason you want to leave it out there. So I should explain.......

Aussies and South Africans enjoy a healthy, friendly rivalry, centred around the national and international sports of Rugby and Cricket. Brits and NZers are usually part of this too. I can see that my comment may have perplexed the uninitiated. Unfortunately, your enquiry has taken the focus off the real purpose of the question which was to seek info on the drugs being trialled by Dr Giovannoni.

I hope this helps and I'll be more careful about being light-hearted on this site, in the future.

Regards,
Phil.

Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 3:23 pm
by Lyon
oo

Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 5:57 pm
by Brainteaser
Thanks for your vote of confidence, Bob.........but the last time I looked, South Africa was comprised of many races, just like numerous other countries, including your own. So clearly, I was not being 'racist'.

Regards,
Phil. :)

Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 7:01 pm
by Lyon
oo

Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 7:18 pm
by Brainteaser
That's fine, Bob. So the next time there's a bit of banter between you North Americans, we'll know not to bring out the yellow card!
Cheers,
Phil. :)

Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 7:28 pm
by Lyon
oo

Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 9:01 pm
by sh8un
Wow...Brainteaser...first of all thanx for the explanation. Secondly, I just read this thread so I hope you don't think that I left my comment up there and did not respond to you. You seem like a very intelligent person (I have read your previous posts) and I was surprised by your comment. Yes there are many races in Africa, but I had no idea who the Dr. you were referring to was. I apologize for my ignorance about the sport rivalry. I had never heard of that. I am sorry I jumped to conclusions. Your comment just sounded bad to a person who obviously had no idea what you were talking about.
NN

Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 9:05 pm
by sh8un
Ok...I don't know how to delete my comment. I went to edit and deleted the whole thing but it would not let me post it that way. If someone can let me konw how, I would be happy to get rid of it.
NN

Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 12:11 pm
by Lyon
oo

Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 7:37 am
by Rita
I know that there are neuroproteccion drugs in pipeline, but what about neuro reversion, would it be possible?