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German researchers discover possible trigger for MS

Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2016 3:32 pm
by frodo
And the trigger is a blood clotting protein !!!

German researchers discover possible trigger for multiple sclerosis
http://www.ms-uk.org/may18

For the first time scientists have been able to demonstrate a correlation between the blood coagulation system and the development of multiple sclerosis (MS), the University of Duisburg-Essen has announced.

If one has MS, the immune system attacks his own body and destroys certain parts of the nerve sheaths in brain and spinal cord, said Christoph Kleinschnitz, Director of the Department of Neurology at the University Hospital Essen.

"We could show for the first time that a specific component of the blood coagulation system, the blood coagulation factor XII (FXII), is jointly responsible for the MS development," he said.

His team showed the FXII levels in the blood of MS patients during an acute stage of the illness is particularly high.

The study also showed that MS-diseased mice lacking FXII gene developed significantly fewer neurological breakdown symptoms compared to MS-diseased mice with the FXII gene, as the former had less interleukin-17A-producing T cells, which play a central role in the development of MS.

"Under a therapeutic point, it is very exciting and important to note that we were able to inhibit FXII by a new substance (the protein Infestin-4) in an animal model, which was originally obtained from a blood-sucking bug," explained Kleinschnitz.

The study results have been published in the journal Nature Communications in its latest issue.

Source: English.news.cn © 2016 Xinhua, english.news.cn (27/05/16)

Re: German researchers discover possible trigger for MS

Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2016 5:16 pm
by 1eye
Could it be: a treatment for MS might be to apply leeches?

Re: German researchers discover possible trigger for MS

Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2016 8:19 pm
by NHE
The article is open access. Be the first on your block to download it!

http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2016/16051 ... s11626.pdf

Re: German researchers discover possible trigger for MS

Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2016 2:27 pm
by Cece
1eye wrote:Could it be: a treatment for MS might be to apply leeches?
honestly, leeches applied directly to the neck is something that could work and hasn't been tried

leeches might be able to reduce venous congestion, especially near the skull base, due to impaired drainage

they might also stimulate new blood vessel growth such as collaterals, which aren't going to solve the main obstruction but might lighten the load at least a bit

if whatever they secrete reduces blood-clotting, that's icing on the cake as well

Re: German researchers discover possible trigger for MS

Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2016 9:24 pm
by NHE
Cece wrote:if whatever they secrete reduces blood-clotting, that's icing on the cake as well
Hirudin...

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/ ... lekey=3762
Hirudin: An anticlotting agent that prevents blood clots from traveling through the bloodstream to clog up a vessel (thromboembolic complications). Hirudin is the main chemical in the secretion of leeches that allows them to suck out blood freely from the body after they attach to the skin. Desirudin and lepirudin (brand name: Refludan) are genetically engineered recombinant forms of hirudin.
More at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirudin

You can even buy the stuff as a freeze-dried powder.
http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/pro ... &region=US