A small but mighty discovery made by Dr Jacqueline Orian and research team offers renewed hope for the treatment of multiple sclerosis.
Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease that causes tissue destruction in the brain and spinal cord. It carries a range of severe symptoms that impact important bodily functions like the ability to see, speak and walk.
“Multiple sclerosis affects approximately 2.8 million people worldwide, and about 35,000 in Australia. It’s a truly debilitating condition that significantly reduces one’s quality of life, which is tragic given that 80% of cases are young adults, particularly women in their childbearing years,” says Dr Orian.
“We know that the tissue destruction caused by multiple sclerosis is due to inflammation and neurodegeneration. While the processes of inflammation are well understood, the processes causing neurodegeneration, or nerve death, are unknown, hence the limited efficacy of treatments.”
Research led by Dr Orian has produced new experimental evidence that platelets, tiny blood cells that prevent bleeding, play a role in the earliest stages of disease development.
“Our research has demonstrated that platelets leak across blood vessel walls, infiltrate the brain, and specifically target nerve cells, resulting in the gradual loss of nerves across the course of the disease,” she says.
“We have shown that early targeting of platelet entry into the brain effectively blocks both inflammation and neurodegeneration. This stops disease progression and promotes reduction of multiple sclerosis-like symptoms.”
This critical discovery has exciting implications as it points to platelets as a promising new target for the development of effective pharmacological treatments for multiple sclerosis.
“Our findings also suggest that if platelet-targeting drugs can be delivered from the time of diagnosis, disease progression will be considerably slowed down.”
“Additionally, given that inflammation is a feature associated with other brain diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and motor neuron diseases, our findings could have a broader impact on the treatment of neurodegenerative conditions.”
