Researchers have developed an
antibody with potential therapeutic effects against multiple sclerosis. The
discovery opens up a new strategy for controlling the disease.
For the cells of the immune
system circulating in the bloodstream to reach the central nervous system, they
must penetrate the blood-brain barrier and blood-spinal cord barrier. During
previous work, the authors studied a factor involved in opening the blood-brain
barrier, the NMDA receptor. They found that blocking the interaction of this
receptor with tPA has beneficial effects linked with maintaining the integrity
of the barrier.
Scientists at the Institut National
de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, in France, developed a monoclonal
antibody (Glunomab) directed against the specific site on the NMDA receptor to
which tPA binds. In cellular models of the human blood-brain and blood-spinal
cord barriers, the use of this antibody prevented opening of the barrier under
inflammatory conditions, limiting the entry of lymphocytes. The team then
tested the therapeutic effects of the antibody in an experimental mouse model
of MS. After intravenous injection of Glunomab, the progression of partial or
total paralysis of the limbs – as assessed by a clinical score – was blocked.
In these treated mice, this effect was linked with reduced infiltration of
lymphocytes into the nervous tissue, and reduced demyelination.
Results of mouse model
studies sometimes do not translate to humans and may be years away from being a
marketable treatment. However, the authors argue that by preventing myelin
destruction by the cells of the immune system, this strategy might represent a
promising therapy for the control of MS.
The study was published in
the journal Brain.
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