From Richard529@aol.com Sat Feb 28 05:01:26 1998 Received: from sparky.harvard.edu. (sparky.harvard.edu [128.103.190.81]) by kantti.Helsinki.FI (8.8.8-spammers-bug-off/8.8.5) with SMTP id FAA22031 for ; Sat, 28 Feb 1998 05:01:26 +0200 (EET) Received: from imo26.mx.aol.com by sparky.harvard.edu. (SMI-8.6/SMI-SVR4) id WAA04055; Fri, 27 Feb 1998 22:01:35 -0500 Received: from Richard529@aol.com by imo26.mx.aol.com (IMOv13.ems) id 5HHKa28707 for ; Fri, 27 Feb 1998 22:01:01 -0500 (EST) From: Richard529 Message-ID: Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 22:01:01 EST To: owner-autoimmune_research@sparky.harvard.edu Mime-Version: 1.0 Subject: S&S for 3/98 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 X-Mailer: AOL 3.0 for Mac sub 81 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by kantti.Helsinki.FI id FAA22031 Status: OR The following items are from the March 1998 issue of Support & Sharing, a bimonthly newsletter of the San Mateo County (CA) Multiple Sclerosis support group. >From Joyce Harnett San Mateo CA e-mail: richard529@aol.com NEW STUDY SAYS NERVES CUT IN MS MS not only destroys the myelin surrounding nerve axons, it cuts through the nerve axons themselves, concludes a new study at the Cleveland MS Clinic just published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Once the axon or nerve fiber is cut, it cannot be restored, at least, not by any therapies currently available. The finding makes MS more like other neurological diseases such as Parkinson's where nerve fibers are destroyed. The research team examined mycroscopically the autopsied brains of 11 MS patients and of four persons free of brain disease. They confirmed that myelin, or nerve insulation, was destroyed, something long known and considered the cause of deteriorating symptoms in MS. However, they discovered as well that the long cellular “wires” or axons that transmit nerve impulses had been severed. Nerve cells had lost their connections to each other and as such were made useless. Depending on MS severity, the number of cut nerve cells ranged from 875 to 11,236 per cubic millimeter of affected brain tissue but there was less than one on average in the four without MS. The research involved a very small number of MS patients—11—and in no way determined how common this pathology is in MS patients at large. The study raised the possibility that the condition may occur more often among MSers who steadily decline than among those who experience periods of remission. The director of the Cleveland Clinic said that knowing what is precisely wrong can lead to better therapies. He said the research suggests doctors should be more aggressive in treating MS with drugs such as interferons when it is first diagnosed to protect nerves from permanent damage. Dr. Steven Rheingold of the National MS Society cautioned that there is no proof that such early treatment slows the disease. The study did not answer the question: Which comes first, the demyelination or the severing of the nerve cells? OTHER RESEARCH NEWS Betaseron — This drug works for secondary progressive MS! A 3-year clinical trial in Europe has been stopped after two years because an interim analysis of data showed “over-whelming efficacy." In the study were 718 individuals in 30 European clinical centers in 11 countries who had had RR/MS followed by SP/MS, along with progressive deterioration. An independent advisory board recommended that patients on placebo be switched to betaseron. Schering AG of Berlin, the drug developer, plans to seek FDA approval for its use for SP/MS through Berlex Laboratories which markets betaseron in this country. Pending further anaylsis of the European data, a similar U.S. study will continue. Betaseron has been available for RR/MS since 1993. Fatty Acids — A trial is beginning at St. Thomas Hospital in London to find out if fatty acids from certain plants and fungi have the same effect on humans as on animals. Disease in rats with an MS-like condition, when fed purified forms of these fatty acids, was altered and did not develop. Dr. Laurence Harbige of the University of Greenwich and St. Thomas thinks that certain fatty acids work by dampening down damaging effects to the immune system. He has written widely on nutritional approaches to medical care. Resiniferatoxin — This drug, meant to alleviate urge incontinence—one dose is expected to be effective for several months—will be studied in a 120-patient, 4-site Phase II trial by its developer, Afferon Corporation, Wayne, PA. Known as RTX, the medication inhibits the transmission of messages from the peripheral to the central nervous system by desensitizing overactive sensory neurons. Administration is by a catheter procedure in a doctor's office. TCR Peptide Vaccine — Connetics Corporation of Palo Alto has announced that, in a multi-center Phase I/II trial with 106 MSers, its T-cell receptor vaccine was not only safe to use but also produced an immune response. The response rate among the vaccine-treated patients was double that of those on placebo. The vaccine is thought to induce a response against the T-cells which cause the inflammation and destruction of myelin. The company plans to continue this research. Uric Acid — When mice with the MS-imitating disease experimental allergic encephalomyelitis were injected with uric acid, weakness and paralysis were reduced. Uric acid occurs naturally in the blood and inactivates a compound suspected of playing a part in demylination. In examining hospital outpatients researchers at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, where the experiments took place, also found that MS patients had significantly lower levels of uric acid in their blood than other patients. They also observed that MS patients almost never get gout, a disease caused by exess uric acid. The conclusion was that the substance may be useful in MS treatment but that further studies are needed.