Researchers show neuroprotective effects of LKE

[MSUK]

Researchers show neuroprotective effects of Lanthionine Ketimine Ester

Exploratory research conducted at Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Illinois at Chicago may translate into a new therapeutic agent to treat progressive multiple sclerosis, reports Multiple Sclerosis News Today..... Read More - http://www.ms-uk.org/nervecells

[MSbro]

Researchers in the laboratories of Dr Jefferey L. Dupree and Dr Douglas L. Feinstein tested a new compound in mice with induced multiple sclerosis and found the compound reduced neurodegeneration and helped improve symptoms.

From what I have read in this forum I don't think we should get too excited about yet another treatment that shows promise in mice that have been induced with "MS". This isn't the same as MS in humans yet they continue to use this same model year after year and announce promising treatment after treatment which ends up going nowhere. How frustrating.

[lyndacarol]

Researchers in the laboratories of Dr Jefferey L. Dupree and Dr Douglas L. Feinstein tested a new compound in mice with induced multiple sclerosis and found the compound reduced neurodegeneration and helped improve symptoms.

From what I have read in this forum I don't think we should get too excited about yet another treatment that shows promise in mice that have been induced with "MS". This isn't the same as MS in humans yet they continue to use this same model year after year and announce promising treatment after treatment which ends up going nowhere. How frustrating.

How right you are, MSbro!

The name of Douglas L Feinstein rang a bell with me.

From a General Discussion thread on the subject of pioglitazone, dated April 25, 2006: http://www.thisisms.com/forum/general-d ... =Dr#p14734

On this website's first page there is an archived article on this drug and the researcher Douglas Feinstein in Chicago (UIC) who is doing a study of it. (In another study a woman's MS improved while on this diabetes drug. The Physicians' Desk Reference (PDR) says that Actos reduces the amount of insulin in the circulation. Could this be the mechanism for her MS improvement?)

Added 10/20/2012: the PDR information listed above was incorrect. Actos (pioglitazone) is one of the TZDs, which reduce blood sugar by increasing insulin production. In my opinion, MORE insulin is not desirable for those of us with MS. Actos is now in litigation for its role in heart disease deaths.

And in the Tysabri forum, dated October 6, 2006: http://www.thisisms.com/forum/tysabri-a ... =Dr#p19344

Actos is a pill (oral medication), used in diabetes. The Physicians' Desk Reference (PDR) says that it reduces circulating levels of insulin. I think this is the mechanism that accounts for the improvement in the woman with MS.

Dr. Douglas Feinstein (U of Illinois at Chicago) is doing further studies with it. I will be eager to hear of his results; he did not acknowledge or respond to my letter some months ago.

My physician let me try Actos for about two months but I saw no changes--maybe the length of time was too short? Or dosage too low? I still think it should help to reduce the excess insulin level.

...the online McGraw-Hill entry defines Metabolic Syndrome: "Starting in the 1960s and 1970s, researchers began to document a clustering of the elements of cardiovascular risk in certain patients. It wasn't until 1988 that a unifying cause--insulin resistance--was proposed and the term syndrome X applied. After several name changes over the past two decades, including the term diabesity used in lay publications, the name became metabolic syndrome."

and posted on April 11, 2007: http://www.thisisms.com/forum/general-d ... =Dr#p25936

To the pioglitazone (commercial drug: Actos)--Yes, there is a study of it and MS being conducted by Dr. Douglas Feinstein of the University of Illinois at Chicago. He learned of one woman whose MS improved greatly while taking the drug.

On that basis, I asked to try Actos and did for a couple months. I saw no changes and stopped. Since that time I have read about another in that same family of Thiazolidinediones, Rezulin (active ingredient is Troglitazone).

This drug is metabolized in the liver and requires a healthy liver detoxification system. It is contra-indicated for pregnant or breast feeding women. It may render oral contraceptives ineffective.

This drug received fast-track approval by the FDA; it was tied to at least 33 deaths; it has now been recalled from the American marketplace because of its link to liver cancer. Rezulin has been removed from the British market.

If I had known this, I would not have tried Actos. Now, maybe Actos is safer--I don't know. One must always consider the risk vs. benefit.

[1eye]

Researchers in the laboratories of Dr Jefferey L. Dupree and Dr Douglas L. Feinstein tested a new compound in mice with induced multiple sclerosis and found the compound reduced neurodegeneration and helped improve symptoms.

From what I have read in this forum I don't think we should get too excited about yet another treatment that shows promise in mice that have been induced with "MS". This isn't the same as MS in humans yet they continue to use this same model year after year and announce promising treatment after treatment which ends up going nowhere. How frustrating.

If people keep donating money to any group just because they profess sympathy with MSers, we should not be surprised if the recipients continue to throw it away on more and more EAE-based research. Those mouse doctors can't possibly ever keep up with the mouse researchers.

"Oh, Watson, the needle." -Basil Rathbone

[Leonard]

These researchers better have a serious look into the positive effects of Methotrexate, how the adonesine increases, how the epi-genetic machinery of the cells improve and will better suppress the virus, how inflammation will come down...

But the Methotrexate medication is old, from the 1950s and there will be no money in it. So it must have been better for this medical/pharma complex to forget all about it. But I think its revival is necessary!