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New research has found a way to replenish the fatty layer or myelin sheath around nerve cells1 — a finding that could yield a cure for neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis.

Researchers have now understood how the right mix of biological growth factors coaxes human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) to form oligodendrocytes, a type of nerve cells that form the myelin sheath.

"We have been able to identify the proteins that are expressed during the differentiation of ESCs into oligodendrocyte progenitor cells, which in turn grow into oligodenrocytes," says Akhilesh Pandey, one of the researchers from the Institute of Bioinformatics, Bangalore and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, US. "We have also identified several proteins that aid the formation of myelin," he adds.... Read More - http://www.msrc.co.uk/index.cfm/fuseact ... ageid/1405

Though the study identifies molecular markers in a single shot, the question is how far the information is valuable since artificial progenitor cells generated may not be phenotypically similar to a primary progenitor cell isolated from the brain, Das says.

Another step in the right direction, but we're not there yet in terms of translating these discoveries into therapeutic options.