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SEPTEMBER 12, 2016 – BY IAN FRANKS
Remyelination could be a new role in MS therapy for a drug that has been used to treat breast cancer for some 40 years.
Tamoxifen (brand name, Nolvadex), a widely used treatment for breast cancer, can also be used to treat myelin loss in patients with multiple sclerosis, a new study suggests.
The finding, by a team of researchers at the University of Cambridge, U.K., was published in a study titled “Tamoxifen accelerates the repair of demyelinated lesions in the central nervous system” in the journal Scientific Reports.
Researchers used both in vitro cultures and a mouse model with reduced levels of myelin to analyze how six existing drugs might affect the repair and recovery of cells able to produce myelin, called oligodendrocytes.
“We’re very excited about our findings,” said Mark R.N. Kotter, the study’s senior author, in a news release. “What we discovered was that Tamoxifen can enhance myelin repair in MS by encouraging the brain’s own stem cells to regenerate myelin.”
Encouraging news indeed in the fight against MS. We need to halt progression and to repair the damaged myelin.
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