Fw: Halting an Enzyme Can Slow Multiple Sclerosis in Mice

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Subject: Halting an Enzyme Can Slow Multiple Sclerosis in Mice

Halting an Enzyme Can Slow Multiple Sclerosis in Mice

ScienceDaily (Apr. 30, 2012) - Researchers studying multiple sclerosis (MS) have

long been looking for the specific molecules in the body that cause lesions in

myelin, the fatty, insulating cells that sheathe the nerves. Nearly a decade

ago, a group at Mayo Clinic found a new enzyme, called Kallikrein 6, that is

present in abundance in MS lesions and blood samples and is associated with

inflammation and demyelination in other neurodegenerative diseases. In a study

published this month in Brain Pathology, the same group found that an antibody

that neutralizes Kallikrein 6 is capable of staving off MS in mice.

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Mind & Brain

Neuroscience

Multiple Sclerosis

Disorders and Syndromes

We were able to slow the course of disease through early chronic stages, both in

the brain and spinal cord, " says lead author Isobel Scarisbrick, Ph.D., of the

Mayo Clinic Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

Researchers looked at mice representing a viral model of MS. The model is based

on the theory that infection with viral infection early in life results in an

eventual abnormal immune response in the brain and spinal cord. One week after

being infected with a virus, the mice showed elevated levels of Kallikrein 6

enzyme in the brain and spinal cord. However, when researchers treated mice to

produce an antibody capable of blocking and neutralizing the enzyme, they saw a

decrease in diseases effecting the brain and spinal cord, including

demyelination. The Kallikrein 6 neutralizing antibody had reduced inflammatory

white blood cells and slowed the depletion of myelin basic protein, a key

component of the myelin sheath.

The findings in the MS model have implications for other conditions affecting

the brain and spinal cord. The group has previously shown that the Kallikrein 6

enzyme, produced by immune cells, is elevated in spinal cord injury, while other

studies have shown it to be elevated in animal models of stroke and patients

with post-polio syndrome.

" These findings suggest Kallikrein 6 plays a role in the inflammatory and

demyelinating processes that accompany many types of neurological conditions, "

says Dr. Scarisbrick. " In the early chronic stages of some neurological

diseases, Kallikrein 6 may represent a good molecule to target with drugs

capable of neutralizing its effects. "

Other authors include Hyesook Yoon, Ph.D., Panos, Nadya Larson, Ph.D.,

and Moses , M.D., all of Mayo Clinic; and Sachiko I. Blaber and

Blaber, Ph.D., of Florida State University. The study was funded by the National

Institutes of Health, the and Dana Reeves Paralysis Foundation, and

the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.