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Researchers Funded by National MS Society Report That Novel Agents Repair Myelin in Mice

April 19, 2019

A team at Oregon Health & Science University reports that administering the agents “Sob-AM2” and “sobetirome” resulted in the repair of myelin – the substance that wraps nerve fibers and is damaged in MS – and in significant improvement of symptoms in mice with MS-like disease. These agents are chemical cousins of thyroid hormone, which during development promotes myelin growth, but in its natural state is not suitable for promoting myelin repair. Sob-AM2 was designed to enter the brain and spinal cord and to better promote myelin repair with less potential for toxicity.

If further preliminary tests of Sob-AM2 or sobetirome are successful, clinical trials can determine whether these agents have potential as a myelin repair strategy in people with MS. First author Dr. Meredith Hartley is a National MS Society postdoctoral fellow, and several other co-authors including Dr. Dennis Bourdette received Society funding.

Read more on the University website
Read the paper in JCI Insight
Read more about research to repair the nervous system in MS
 

About Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system. Symptoms range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis, and there is currently no cure for MS. The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are leading to better understanding and moving us closer to a world free of MS. An estimated 1 million people live with MS in the United States. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, and it affects women three times more than men.

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