WEHI research suggests alternative MS treatment

Researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute have discovered that treatment with cytokine Leukaemia Inhibitory Factor (LIF) can reverse the loss of nerve cells in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS).

The findings may lead to an alternative approach to treating MS, said Dr Trevor Kilpatrick, head of the research team that published the results in the June 1 issue of Nature Medicine.

MS is a chronic degenerative neurological disease that results from the destruction of the fatty myelin sheath that surrounds neurons in the central nervous system. Inflammatory responses cause the depletion of oligodendrocytes, which are the cells responsible for the myelination of the neurons.

Kilpatrick explained that while most therapies for MS were anti-inflammatory in nature, they took an alternative approach to examine how to keep the oligodendrocytes alive.

They treated mice suffering from an experimentally induced form of MS with LIF to look at the effects of the cytokine on the disease progression.

"LIF significantly decreased disease severity," said Kilpatrick.

He said that their experiments demonstrated that LIF was acting directly on the oligodendrocytes and complemented endogenous LIF receptor signalling, which had a modifying effect on the progression of MS.

A simultaneously published paper by a research group at the University of Wuerzberg in Germany examined a closely related cytokine called ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), which also appeared to be involved in protecting the oligodendrocytes.

Kilpatrick said he believed that the discoveries heralded a new approach to treatment of MS. Traditionally, anti-inflammatory drugs and immune system modulators like interferon are used to reduce the progression of the disease and slow down the rate of relapse, but these drugs do not prevent the disease from developing.

"A combinatorial approach of anti-inflammatories and treatments like LIF might have an additive or synergistic approach," he said.

Kilpatrick noted that LIF had been tested in humans before and was well tolerated at potentially therapeutic doses.

Melbourne based biotech company Amrad holds the patents related to using LIF and Kilpatrick said that the company would be responsible for initiating commercial development of LIF as a therapeutic for MS.