LINGO-1 May Lead to MS Therapy

Scientists have identified a molecule in the central nervous system (CNS) called LINGO-1 that plays a role in nerve repair and may lead to pathways for treating multiple sclerosis (MS) and other demyelinating diseases.

Research findings indicate that LINGO-1 is a molecular switch that controls the ability of CNS cells to myelinate. Scientists discovered that LINGO-1 normally acts to prevent myelination and its normal function could be blocked in laboratory tissue culture. They were able to generate large quantities of myelin by blocking LINGO-1 and, for the first time ever in a laboratory, were able to wrap it correctly around nerves.

"We believe that the LINGO-1 research has significantly added to the body of knowledge about nerve repair in multiple sclerosis and other demyelinating diseases,” observed John Richert, M.D., vice president, clinical and research programs, National Multiple Sclerosis Society. "We hope it will one day lead to improved treatments for MS and the repair of the central nervous system.”

MS is a chronic disease of the CNS in which the body's own immune cells break down myelin, a fatty substance that surrounds nerve cells like the insulation around a wire. Without myelin, nerves lose the ability to conduct impulses and eventually die. In MS patients, the CNS cells that wrap nerves in myelin fail to restore the missing myelin sheath following an immune system attack.

LINGO-1 was discovered by scientists at Biogen Idec (Cambridge, MA, USA). "Although it is still uncertain whether we can transform these observations into a therapy, our research team has provided the first indications of a new pathway that may enable us to repair the nerve damage found in patients afflicted by MS and other serious demyelinating diseases,” noted Michael Gilman, Ph.D., executive vice president, research, Biogen Idec. The findings were reported in the June 2005 issue of Nature Neuroscience.




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