Scottish scientists open new front in battle against MS

SCOTTISH scientists have made a "revolutionary" breakthrough which could reverse damage caused by multiple sclerosis (MS).

• Professor Charles Ffrench-Constant, part of the research team. Picture: Dan Phillips

Researchers from Edinburgh and Cambridge Universities have found a way to activate stem cells to repair injury in the central nervous system.

Studies in rats have shown the technique could prompt the brain to repair itself.

Scotland has the highest rate of MS in the world, with 10,500 people affected by the condition. It is estimated MS currently costs the Scottish economy at least 140 million a year.

The scientists have identified a biochemical "switch" that helps stem cells in the brain fix injured nerves.

If further work is successful, it could mean new medicines could target the same pathway, and halt or even reverse the disease.

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The discovery could lead to new regenerative treatments for the auto-immune disease which affects nearly 100,000 people in the UK.

Professor Charles Ffrench-Constant, of the University of Edinburgh's MS Society Centre for Multiple Sclerosis Research, said: "The aim of our research is to slow the progression of multiple sclerosis with the eventual aim of stopping and reversing it. This discovery is very exciting as it could potentially pave the way to find drugs that could help repair damage caused to the important layers that protect nerve cells in the brain."

The research, part-funded by the MS Society, is published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

Professor Robin Franklin, director of the MS Society's Cambridge Centre for Myelin Repair at Cambridge University, who led the study, said: "Therapies that repair damage are the missing link in treating multiple sclerosis.

"In this study we have identified a means by which the brain's own stem cells can be encouraged to undertake this repair, opening up the possibility of a new regenerative medicine for this devastating disease."

Simon Gillespie, chief executive for the Multiple Sclerosis Society, pictured left, said: "For people with MS this is one of the most exciting developments in recent years.

"It's hard to put into words how revolutionary this discovery could be and how critical it is to continue research into MS."

MS occurs when the body's immune system attacks and destroys the fatty insulating material, called myelin, which coats nerve fibres.

Nerve messages then become jumbled or interrupted, leading to symptoms ranging from mild numbness to crippling paralysis.

In people with MS, the natural process by which lost myelin is rebuilt and replaced is blocked.Colin Armour, secretary of MS Therapy Centres (Scotland), said: "I am an MS sufferer, and we have been looking forward to something like this for years.

"For people with MS this has to be an encouraging development."

About 50 people are diagnosed with MS every week in the UK, with three in every four being women.

Growing evidence suggests that a lack of vitamin D could help explain why Scotland, with low levels of winter sun, has the highest rate of MS in the world.

The Harry Potter author JK Rowling recently donated 10m to set up a new multiple sclerosis research clinic in Edinburgh. Announced in September, it was the largest single donation ever given to Edinburgh University.

It will be used to create a study centre and attract leading researchers to the city and will be an addition to the current centre which has made the latest stem cell breakthrough.