and there's plenty of reason to wonder if EAE is in fact a decent model of MS........
rcpe.ac.uk
Multiple sclerosis redefined as a neurodegenerative disorder following decades of failed research "guided by faith and bland acceptance rather than sound scientific rationale"
A major international review, to be published today, has concluded that research into multiple sclerosis (MS) during the last three decades has failed to convey any major benefits for patients, as a direct result of an incorrect scientific assumption on which a large area of research has been based.
The study1, published in The Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh2 and carried out by leading international neurologists and immunologists from Scotland and the Netherlands, concluded that -
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there is little evidence to support the accepted scientific assumption that multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease;
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it has been scientifically inaccurate to base multiple sclerosis research on the extrapolation of findings from the closest animal model to the disease3 and that this incorrect scientific assumption has been "guided by faith and bland acceptance rather than sound scientific rationale";
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the incorrect scientific assumption has resulted in a six-fold increase in clinical trials which have "singularly failed to show a cure or to convey major benefits to MS patients in addition to subjecting them to an increased morbidity and mortality";
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there has been a false separation of primary progressive MS from other perceived types of MS and "that there is only one type of the disease but with different rates of clinical progression";
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there is now a scientific basis for recognising the manner in which MS progresses as a neurodegenerative and metabollic disorder, with a strong polygenic influence and the predominant genes being on chromosome 17;
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the developmental process of MS is influenced by a combination of genetic and environmental factors;
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that there should be a change in emphasis on MS research in order to reflect these findings
Prof Peter Behan, Professor Emeritus of Clinical Neurology, Glasgow University, and lead author of the study, said,
"This international review has produced significant scientific results in the search for the cause of multiple sclerosis and, in turn, in informing further scientific research, so as to enable more effective forms of treatment for patients to be developed.
"We have produced evidence which now clearly demonstrates that an incorrect scientific assumption has previously been made, with regard to the process by which the disease progresses, and which also explains why so little progress has been made in multiple sclerosis research during the last three decades. Our research has further clarified the incorrect scientific assumption that findings can be extrapolated to this area of research from the closest animal model, experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE). Whilst the human counterpart of EAE was previously thought to be MS we can now confirm that this is not the case and that the human counterpart to EAE is, in fact, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) and acute haemorrhagic leukoencephalitis (AHLE). This important clarification should enable more effective and targeted research to be carried out and, together with our conclusion that MS is a neurodegenerative and metabollic disorder with the predominant genes being on chromosome 17, takes us one step closer in the hunt for the cause of MS".
ENDS
For further information, or to arrange interviews with the authors, contact:
Graeme McAlister on 0131-247-3693 or 07808-939395
Notes for Editors
1. Behan PO, Chaudhuri A, Roep BO. The pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis revisited, J R Coll Physicians Edinb 2002; 32: 244-265.
2. The Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh is a peer-reviewed journal with an international circulation of 7200.
3. Early studies drew attention to similarities between experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE), a condition which has been induced in animals during research, and post-rabies encephalomyelitis in humans. It was assumed that this comparison could be extended to MS (due to both post-rabies encephalomyelitis and MS being demyelinating diseases, in which the myelin sheaths surrounding the nerve fibres in the central or peripheral nervous system are damaged). This assumption, on which MS research has been based, was not, however, based on scientific evidence and has been shown to be incorrect by this new study.
(Gives a PDF link for the paper.) |
