Chinese Medicine for MS?

[Guest guest]

Saw this elsewhere and thought I would share:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21462-ancient-chinese-medicine-could-fight\

-aging.html

Ancient Chinese medicine could fight ageing

Updated 17:16 13 February 2012 by Debora MacKenzie

Magazine issue 2852. Subscribe and save

A flowering Tibetan shrub that tricks cells into thinking they are starving

could become a weapon against multiple sclerosis and even old age.

The roots of the blue evergreen hydrangea (Dichroa febrifuga) have been used for

centuries in traditional Chinese medicine to treat malaria. Now Keller and

colleagues at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine in Boston have found that

halofuginone – a chemical based on the roots' active ingredient – blocks immune

reactions that can cause disease.

Cells stop the synthesis of non-vital proteins when amino acids are in short

supply. Keller's team discovered that halofuginone mimics such a shortage by

blocking an enzyme that feeds one amino acid to the protein-making machinery.

Keller found that the drug triggers a chemical cascade that responds to amino

acid scarcity. This inhibited the growth of malaria parasites, stopped blood

cells from making proteins that cause inflammation and stopped the development

of specific white blood cells that trigger conditions such as inflammatory bowel

disease and multiple sclerosis.

This could make the drug effective against autoimmune disease. But as

halofuginone mimics nutrient deprivation, there is another possible use. Animals

that receive only just adequate nutrition are known to live longer because

diseases which involve inflammation are prevented. That, says Keller, means

halofuginone might work as an anti-ageing drug.

Journal reference: Nature Chemical Biology, DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.790