Losartan, muscle repair and Lyme/cfs

[Guest guest]

" Losartan was approved for use as a blood pressure medication in 1995

by the Food and Drug Administration. It is known to block a protein

known as TGF-beta.

Excessive activity by TGF-beta is associated with reduced muscle

generation and repair... "

Would Benicar work better? Does it block TGF-beta? I am thinking that

losartan might work to restore normal muscle function in cfs.

Losartan is what Moskowitz is using to treat Lyme patients.

Thanks for any comments. - a Carnes

http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MUSCULAR_DYSTROPHY_DRUG?

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Jan 21, 5:32 PM EST

Drug Helps Mice With Muscular Dystrophy

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID

AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A widely used blood-pressure drug reduced muscle

damage in mice with the most common form of muscular dystrophy,

researchers report.

A team at s Hopkins University found the drug losartan seemed to

improve muscle regeneration in mice with a rare condition known as

Marfan syndrome and in mice with Duchenne muscular dystrophy - the

most common form in children.

" The results are very intriguing and certainly worthy of further

investigation, " said Dr. Cwik, medical director of the

Muscular Dystrophy Association.

While noting that it is only a single study, Cwik said the drug is

currently used in children and has a good safety profile.

The only current treatment for Duchenne has side effects, so it is

worth investigating whether this can offer an alternative, said Cwik,

who was not part of the research team.

In Marfan mice treated with the drug, the aorta was strengthened,

reducing the chance of an aneurism in which this major blood vessel

bursts.

" In addition to the aortic defect, children with severe Marfan

syndrome often have very small, weak muscles, and adults with Marfan

often can't gain muscle mass despite adequate nutrition and

exercise, " Dr. Harry C. Dietz of s Hopkins, the lead researcher,

said in a statement.

In Marfan mice, treatment with losartan " completely restored muscle

architecture " and vastly improved strength, according to Dietz. He is

planning a test in people with Marfan syndrome.

Researchers wondered whether the muscle response was specific to

Marfan or if they had discovered something basic about muscle

biology. So they then tested the drug in mice with Duchenne muscular

dystrophy.

After six months of treatment, the mice showed a significant

reduction in muscle damage. The mice showed increased grip strength

in their fore- and hind-limbs and experienced less fatigue in

repetitive tests, the researchers reported in Monday's online issue

of the journal Nature Medicine.

Losartan was approved for use as a blood pressure medication in 1995

by the Food and Drug Administration. It is known to block a protein

known as TGF-beta.

Excessive activity by TGF-beta is associated with reduced muscle

generation and repair, leading Dietz's team to test it against Marfan

and then muscular dystrophy.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a muscle-wasting genetic disorder that

affects only boys. It occurs in about 1 in every 3,500 male births.

It is the most severe and most common childhood form of muscular

dystrophy and the best-known.

Marfan is a genetic disorder that affects about 1 in 5,000 to 10,000

individuals.