U of A makes break through on MS
Posted Oct 26, 2011 3:57 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Medical researchers at the University of Alberta have linked a naturally-occurring molecule in Multiple Sclerosis sufferers with the deterioration of brain cells that causes physical and mental disability.
Dr. Fabrizio Giuliani told 660News, the immune cells created to fight inflammation in those with MS create a molecule called Granzyme B that kills brain cells.
“If we can block the interaction between this molecule and the nerve cells in the brain, then we could prevent the disability,” said Dr. Giuliani.
This discovery makes way for the development of new drugs to prevent that interaction, but Dr. Giuliani said the research is in its early stages, and a drug could be years away.
