In the search for a cure for the chronic disease Multiple Sclerosis (MS), an international team of researchers has discovered a diabetes medication that shows promise in treating the incurable disease. While it does not combat the chronic inflammation of nerve cells, it does protect neurons from the effects of inflammation. MS is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system for which no cure has been found to date. However, an international team of researchers at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf has finally found a promising approach in animal testing. The researchers treated mice with a diabetes medication that protects the animals’ nerve cells from the effects of nerve inflammation for a long time.
The reason for this is an inactive channel in the cell membranes called TRPM4, which transports positively charged ions from the surrounding tissue into the cell. The researchers report in the journal Nature Medicine that this finding could help develop effective drugs against MS. The scientists also hope that this treatment approach can be applied to other neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. With their experiments, the researchers delayed the death of nerve cells with an approved diabetes medication. The drug Glibenclamide has been shown to be well-tolerated in humans, so a medication for MS patients that significantly slows the progression of the disease could soon be on the market.
The researchers wanted to know what functions the ion channel TRPM4 has in the decline of nerve cells due to MS. In a series of experiments, the researchers genetically modified mice without the ion channel TRPM4. Later experiments showed that the disease was significantly milder in mice without the ion channel TRPM4. The nerve cells survived even though the immune system’s overreaction caused inflammation in the tissue. The researchers also found a similar protective effect when they blocked the ion channel of the mice with the diabetes medication Glibenclamide. These new findings open up new possibilities for intervening in the course of the disease in MS and developing effective drugs, according to Friese.
