Decades of research into nerve physiology, MS tissue damage and the biology of glial cells – the numerous brain cells that support nerve cells – have been laying the groundwork for finding ways to restore normal function in individuals with MS.
Nervous System Repair and Protection teams funded by the Society’s Promise: 2010 initiative are taking this research to the next level, with a goal of placing nerve tissue-protective treatments in clinical trials by the year 2010.
Other research on this topic focuses on the micro-environment of the brain and conditions conducive to stimulating natural repair, and the potential for cell therapies. Exploring glia, which include cells in the nervous system that make nerve-insulating myelin, is a cornerstone of MS research. Myelin appears to be the main target of the immune attack in MS. The cells that make myelin—oligodendrocytes—also are lost in MS. Researchers study aspects of myelin that make it an immune target, and ways that some brain cells can contribute to the immune attack. They are also looking at factors that are important to the growth and development of oligodendrocytes and myelin, to find ways of promoting myelin repair.
Read more about myelin as an immune target and nervous system repair efforts in our brochure, “Research Directions.”
The aim of repairing the nervous system is to achieve an actual reversal of the damage caused by MS and to restore function. When myelin is damaged or destroyed, electrical conduction along the nerve fiber is impaired or stopped. Decades of research on myelin and myelin-making cells make it clear that natural myelin repair occurs, and key molecules and growth factors are being identified that may serve as targets for stimulating myelin repair.
In recognition that during the course of MS the nerve fibers, or axons, are also damaged, a new research focus has emerged: in order to repair the nervous system, we must learn how to regenerate axons as well as myelin. Insights into complex mechanisms involved in nervous system development now make it feasible to aggressively address the task of repairing axons as well as myelin in MS.
Cell therapy
Approaches to repairing the nervous system are varied. Some are aimed at inducing the body’s own cells to more adequately carry out the repair function. Another approach is to introduce replacement cells from a different source. Research into the potential of cell therapy is proceeding rapidly, using cells obtained from a variety of adult and non-adult sources. It is currently not clear which source of cells, if any, will be of value in treating people with MS. Similarly, if more than one source proves to be valuable, it is not clear which will be best.
International consensus on the future of stem cell transplantation research for people with MS was published in 2010, based on a summit held in London in May 2009 which was organized by the MS Societies in the UK and USA, and supported by the MS Society of Canada, Italy, France, Australia and the MS International Federation. Read more about this effort.
In conjunction with the efforts to repair axons are new efforts to protect them from degeneration in the first place. For example, it is not clear whether axonal degeneration in MS results from a direct attack on axons by the immune system or, alternatively, if the loss of myelin by itself is enough to cause axonal degeneration (i.e., whether myelin has a protective effect on axons which is lost in the MS disease process). The protection of axons from these and other insults are a new area of intense research efforts in MS. Listen to a webcast series about stem cell research in MS.
Other National MS Society-supported projects focusing on MS repair:
- Team leader Joel Levine, PhD (SUNY, Stony Brook) and colleagues are characterizing resident cells in the brain capable of repairing myelin and developing techniques and molecules to induce them to rebuild damaged tissues in MS and restore function.
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Thomas E. Lane, PhD (University of California, Irvine) and colleagues are investigating how to combine surgical implantation of immature
cells with modulation of the immune attack – thus simultaneously promoting myelin repair while muting myelin damage. - Gabriela Constantin, MD, PhD, and colleagues (University of Verona) have shown that stem cells derived from fat tissue (adipose-derived stem cells, or ADSCs) have a preventive as well as therapeutic effect on EAE, an MS-like disease, in mice. Now they plan to study the effect of ADSCs on chronic and relapsing-remitting EAE, and determine the source of their beneficial effect. The results could substantially push forward efforts to repair the nervous system damage sustained by people with MS.
Reinvent Yourself - February 23
Feb 10, 2012
We are pleased to present a series of teleconferences on a variety of topics regarding Employment and MS. The series is made up of six teleconferences held every other Thursday from January through March, 2012.
Win an iPad. Raise $250+ for Walk MS and be entered to win!
Feb 09, 2012
Win an iPad. Raise $250+ for Walk MS and be entered to win!
Birdies for Charity
Feb 09, 2012
Birdies for Charity