New Strategy for Myelin Repair Targeted by Society-Funded Team
May 10, 2021
Researchers at the University of Buffalo have identified “SULF2,” a molecule involved in cell signaling, as a possible target for strategies to promote the repair of myelin, the substance that surrounds nerve fibers and is damaged in MS. SULF2 is found at high levels in brain lesions in people with MS; when SULF2 is deleted from MS mouse models, myelin repair is accelerated.
The team also reports that PI-88, a SULF2-blocker now in clinical trials to treat cancer, improves repair in mice with damaged myelin. This research was supported in part by the National MS Society, and the team leveraged these results to gain funding from the Department of Defense’s MS Research Program to continue exploring whether PI-88 has potential as a myelin repair treatment to restore function in MS.
Read more from the University at Buffalo
Read the scientific publications on this research in
Nature Communications and
The Journal of Neuroscience