The MS Society Cambridge Centre for Myelin Repair
This programme grant, launched at the beginning of 2005, has established a research centre of excellence at Cambridge University for developing new therapies for promoting myelin repair and preventing nerve fibre loss in MS patients. The centre will unite existing expertise in stem cells, brain repair and MS in a focused programme of work.
The brain contains billions of nerve cells that communicate with each other using electrical impulses. The conduction of these impulses requires an insulating substance called myelin, which is made and maintained by a cell called the oligodendrocyte. In MS oligodendrocytes and their myelin sheaths are destroyed. In the early stages of the disease they are replaced by oligodendrocytes newly generated from stem cells. This process is remyelination, which is highly beneficial and associated with clinical improvement. However, as the disease progresses remyelination fails. This means that full function is never regained. A further serious consequence of this failure is that the nerve fibres themselves can be lost, a process that causes the progressive decline in the late stages of the disease.
Enhancing remyelination is therefore imperative for two reasons:
- it allows nerve fibres to function normally by repairing existing damage
- it prevents nerve fibres from being lost, thereby preventing chronic deterioration.
The treatment of MS is two-pronged. First, it is important to stop the inflammation causing the myelin loss. Medicine has made significant progress in this direction with the development of treatments such as beta-interferon and Campath. Second, it is essential to promote repair of damage that has occurred. At present, there are no repair treatments available, representing a major and significant gap in our ability to treat MS. However, recent developments in our understanding of MS and brain stem cells, together with new technological developments, combine to make the present the appropriate time for a concerted effort to develop effective repair treatments for MS patients.
The programme will involve a series of studies that:
- identify the factors that allow stem cells to undertake myelin repair so that these factors can be used as a treatment to promote repair where it has failed in the disease
- reveal how nerve cells respond to the loss and restoration of the myelin sheaths so methods for protecting nerve fibres can be designed and tested
- test the ability of different Central Nervous System (CNS) stem cells to protect demyelinated axons, either by covering them in new myelin sheaths or by providing protective substances.
