Antibody May Help Heal MS Nerve Damage

Scientists may have found a way to reverse some nerve damage
from multiple sclerosis -- a discovery that may lead to new treatments for
MS.

Researchers today reported that they've successfully used an antibody to
restore nerves' fatty sheath (called myelin) that had been ravaged by MS in
mice.

The scientists, who work at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in
Rochester, Minn., haven't tried that technique yet in people.

The Mayo Clinic's Arthur Warrington, PhD, and colleagues tested a lab-made
antibody called rHIgM22.

They injected the antibody into mice with an MS-like condition that
destroyed the mice's myelin.

A single dose of the antibody helped repair the mice's myelin within five
weeks.

The "stage is set" for myelin repair, but MS prevents that repair
from happening, write Warrington and colleagues. They suggest that rHIgM22
antibody treatment might allow that repair to take place.

The findings were presented today in Washington at the American Neurological
Association's annual meeting.

By Miranda Hitti
Reviewed by Louise Chang
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