August 5, 2020

expert reaction to research identifying a molecular target to protect nerves from damage in multiple sclerosis

A study, published in Acta Neuropathologica, looked at a molecular target to protect nerves from damage in multiple sclerosis.

Prof Paul Matthews, Director of the UK Dementia Research Institute at Imperial College London, said:

“This is a well-designed set of experiments that provide interesting new data consistent with – but not independently establishing – benefits for a metabolic therapy for MS.  It adds usefully to the literature, but is not itself the ‘game changer’ or ‘Holy Grail’.

“This new research demonstrates that damage is reduced in an experimental nerve model after chemical treatment to strip off the myelin coating by the common diabetic drug pioglitazone.  It provides a possible explanation for earlier preliminary observations of possible benefits of the drug for people with multiple sclerosis (MS).  Further well-designed studies of this relatively safe drug in people with MS seem well warranted.”

‘Enhanced axonal response of mitochondria to demyelination offers neuroprotection: implications for multiple sclerosis’ by Simon Licht-Mayer et al is published in Acta Neuropathologica.

Declared interests

None received.