Multiple sclerosis: Could this be why myelin fails to regenerate?
20 December, 2018
Recent stem cell research could lead to a new way of treating inflammatory diseases, such as multiple sclerosis.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) causes loss of myelin, which is the fatty coating that insulates the fibers that carry electrical signals in the brain and the rest of the central nervous system (CNS).
Now, scientists from the University at Buffalo, NY, have uncovered a previously unknown mechanism that could be preventing myelin repair in MS.
The mechanism effectively stops progenitor cells from growing and developing into oligodendrocytes, which are the cells that make the myelin coating.
It does this by stopping the cell cycle of the progenitor cells. Instead, it places them in a deactivated state called pathological quiescence.
Progenitor cells are descendants of stem cells that have not yet fully matured into a final cell type. They can continue to divide as immature cells but cannot do this indefinitely like stem cells.
The journal Cell Reports has published a study paper on the research. This identifies the driver of the mechanism as a protein called Paired Related Homeobox Protein 1 (PRRX1).
The senior author of the study is Dr. Fraser J. Sim, who is an associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the university.
TAG(s):