An anti-inflammatory nasal spray reduces symptoms severity in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS), suggesting it may potentially treat the condition in humans, too.
Multiple sclerosis occurs when the immune system inadvertently damages myelin, which is the protective covering of nerves. This leads to vision problems, difficulty walking and other symptoms.
Most people with MS experience flare-ups during which myelin is damaged and symptoms worsen, followed by periods of recovery where myelin regenerates. This is known as relapsing-remitting MS. However, some people only have one attack without developing MS. This is called clinically isolated syndrome, or CIS.
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To understand how CIS differs from multiple sclerosis, at the University of Erlangen鈥揘uremberg in Germany and his colleagues analysed spinal fluid from 21 people with CIS and 54 people with relapsing-remitting MS.
They found that, on average, the samples from people with relapsing-remitting MS contained half the amount of an anti-inflammatory molecule called HB-EGF as the samples from people with CIS. This molecule plays a critical role in regenerating nerve tissues. So, the researchers decided to explore the effects of using a daily nasal spray containing HB-EGF in seven mice with MS-like symptoms.
The team studied the animals鈥� behaviour to track their symptoms using a scale of 0 to 5, with higher scores indicating greater impairments. After 15 days, mice treated with HB-EGF scored 1 point lower, on average, than a control group of seven rodents with MS-like symptoms that were treated with a spray lacking the molecule. This suggests HB-EGF alleviates MS symptoms. Further experiments also showed the spray increased myelin in a separate group of mice.
鈥淎nytime you can identify a drug target that may change the course of MS, it is exciting,鈥� says at the Tisch MS Research Center of New York. However, she has some hesitations about HB-EGF given it plays a role in other conditions, including the formation of cancer. 鈥淎ny kind of treatment that would boost its production might carry some risks,鈥� she says.
Nature Immunology
