Early-stage research suggests that a new tablet could reduce the
damage caused by multiple sclerosis.
If the drug proves effective in future trials, it could be far
easier for patients than current treatments involving painful
injections.
MS is a disabling disease which happens when the body's own
immune system attacks the sheath which protects brain cells called
neurons.
The myelin sheath acts as insulation for the electrical signals
carried within, and once it is stripped away, some of those impulses
can be lost.
Attacks can lead to sudden muscle weakness or even paralysis, and
a variety of other neurological problems involving sight and speech.
I am excited by the prospect of finding an easily administered
treatment for MS based on a naturally occurring phenomenon in
pregnancy
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Dr Rhonda Voskuhl
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The trial, at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the
University of California at Los Angeles, involved 12 women with
various forms of the disease.
They were given doses of a hormone called oestriol, made in the
foetal placenta.
It is a weak form of the human sex hormone oestrogen, and is
found normally only in pregnant women.
The idea for the drug comes from the fact that while pregnant,
many MS patients often experience an easing of their condition,
suffering fewer relapses or a halt in deterioration during the
nine-month period.
The women were given oestriol pills over a six-month period, then
the treatment was stopped for six months and restarted for another
four months.
Lesions descrease
Doctors used a scanner to look at the brain for areas damaged by
MS attacks.
Six of the patients had relapsing-remitting MS - a type of
disease characterised by brain inflammation and attacks that come
and go.
Among these patients, there was a significant decrease in the
number and size of these brain "lesions", and an improvement in
cognitive test scores.
When the oestriol treatment was stopped, the lesions came back,
only to disappear again once the drug was restarted.
No change
There was no significant improvement among the rest of the
patients, who had secondary progressive MS - a more advanced form of
the disease in which the disability is more lasting following
attacks.
Dr Rhonda Voskuhl, an associate professor of neurology, said: "I
am excited by the prospect of finding an easily administered
treatment for MS based on a naturally occurring phenomenon in
pregnancy.
"Finding an easily-administered oral treatment is important, in
part, because patients are less likely to delay treatment if it
involves a pill rather than weekly or daily shots."
Following the study, published in the journal the Annals of
Neurology, it is likely that further, larger scale trials will be
needed to test whether the treatment really works.
Fri Sep 20,11:51 PM ET
