Promising drug may repair nerve damage from MS

Seema K. Tiwari-Woodruff is the senior author of the
study showing results for a promising MS drug

MS DIGEST – Dec. 1, 2014 – Researchers at the University of California, Riverside, have tested a new drug that promises to repair the damage to nerves from multiple sclerosis. Their findings appear in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers tested the drug,  indazole chloride (Ind-Cl), on special mice genetically modified to have multiple sclerosis. The drug was developed  by John A. Katzenellenbogen, an organic chemist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), who co-authored the paper.

The research team led by Seema K. Tiwari-Woodruff, an associate professor at UC Riverside School of Medicine found that the drug turns on the body's estrogen receptors without the negative effects of excessive estrogen.  It is well known that pregnant women with MS achieve near-complete relief from MS symptoms in their third trimesters, in addition they found that the drug inhibits selective inflammation of the central nervous system, so the drug promises to offer relief of MS symptoms.

More significantly, they found that the drug produces remyelination, or rebuilds the sheaths around the axons that have not been completely destroyed by the disease. This means Ind-Cl not only inhibits inflammation but is capable of reducing axon degeneration and restoring nerve function. 

While mouse studies are typically a long way away from human trials, Tiwari-Woodruff said the lab is working on versions of the drug, called analogs, that should be ready for clinical trials soon.

Read more …