Breakthrough offers first direct measurement of spinal cord myelin in multiple sclerosis

Real-time imaging technique provides essential molecular picture of protective nerve sheath

2013-09-23

(Press-News.org) VIDEO: This shows representitative positron emission tomography images of the rat spinal cord..
Click here for more information.

Researchers have made an exciting breakthrough – developing a first-of-its-kind imaging tool to examine myelin damage in multiple sclerosis (MS). An extremely difficult disease to diagnose, the tool will help physicians diagnose patients earlier, monitor the disease's progression, and evaluate therapy efficacy.

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine scientists have developed a novel molecular probe detectable by positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. The new molecular marker, MeDAS, offers the first non-invasive visualization of myelin integrity of the entire spinal cord at the same time, as published today in an article in the Annals of Neurology.

"While MS originates in the immune system, the damage occurs to the myelin structure of the central nervous system. Our discovery brings new hope to clinicians who may be able to make an accurate diagnosis and prognosis in as little as a few hours compared to months or even years," said Yanming Wang, PhD, senior author of study and associate professor of radiology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. "Because of its shape and size, it is particularly difficult to directly detect myelin damage in the spinal cord; this is the first time we have been able to image its function at the molecular level."

As the most common acquired autoimmune disease currently affecting more than two million people worldwide, MS is characterized by destruction of myelin, the membrane that protects nerves. Once damaged, it inhibits the nerves' ability to transmit electrical impulses, causing cognitive impairment and mobility dysfunction. So far, there is no cure for MS, therapies are only available that modify the symptoms.

In addition to its role in monitoring the effects of myelin-repair drugs currently under development, the new imaging tool offers a real-time quantitative clinical diagnosis of MS. A long lag exists between the onset of disease, physical symptoms in the patient and diagnosis via behavioral testing and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The lesions, or plaques, as detected by a MRI in the brain and spinal cord are not myelin specific and thus poorly associated with a patient's disease severity or progression. There is an urgent need to find a new imaging marker that correlates with a patient's pathology.

"This discovery has open the door to develop new drugs that can truly restore nerve function, not just modify the symptoms," said Robert Miller, PhD, co-author on the study, vice president for research for Case Western Reserve and the Allen C. Holmes Professor of Neurological Diseases at the School of Medicine. "A cure for MS requires both repairing myelin and a tool to measure the mechanism."

For the past 20 years, Miller's lab has been working tirelessly to create new myelin-repair therapies that would restore nerve function. Successful translation of new drugs from animal studies to human clinical trials is contingent upon researchers' ability to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of a therapy.

Created by Wang's laboratory, the MeDAS molecular probe works like a homing device. Injected into the body intravenously, it is programmed to seek out and bind only to myelin in the central nervous system, i.e., the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves. A positron-emitting radioisotope label on the molecule allows a PET scanner to detect the targets and quantify their intensity and location. The data can then be reconstructed into an image as shown in the article: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ana.23965/abstract.

"This is an indispensable tool to help find a new way to treat MS down the road" said Chunying Wu, PhD, first author of the study and instructor of radiology at Case Western Reserve. "It can also be used as a platform technology to unlock the mysteries of other myelin related diseases such as spinal cord injury."

### The Case Western Reserve research team has completed preclinical studies in animals and has begun the process of initiating human trials.

This study was supported by grants from the Department of Defense (W81XWH-10-1-0842), National Multiple Sclerosis Society (RG 4339-A-2), and the National Institutes of Health (R01 NS061837).

About Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Founded in 1843, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine is the largest medical research institution in Ohio and is among the nation's top medical schools for research funding from the National Institutes of Health. The School of Medicine is recognized throughout the international medical community for outstanding achievements in teaching. The School's innovative and pioneering Western Reserve2 curriculum interweaves four themes--research and scholarship, clinical mastery, leadership, and civic professionalism--to prepare students for the practice of evidence-based medicine in the rapidly changing health care environment of the 21st century. Nine Nobel Laureates have been affiliated with the School of Medicine.

Annually, the School of Medicine trains more than 800 MD and MD/PhD students and ranks in the top 25 among U.S. research-oriented medical schools as designated by U.S. News & World Report's "Guide to Graduate Education."

The School of Medicine's primary affiliate is University Hospitals Case Medical Center and is additionally affiliated with MetroHealth Medical Center, the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and the Cleveland Clinic, with which it established the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University in 2002. http://casemed.case.edu

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Infrared NASA image shows strength in Typhoon Pabuk's eastern side

2013-09-23

Typhoon Pabuk continued to strengthen as it moved north through the northwestern Pacific Ocean on Sept. 23, and NASA's Aqua satellite captured an infrared image of the storm. The NASA image showed powerful thunderstorms east of the storm's center. On Sept. 23 at 3:17 UTC/Sept. 22 at 11:17 p.m. EDT NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Typhoon Pabuk in the northwestern Pacific Ocean and the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder or AIRS instrument captured an infrared image. The AIRS image showed very high, powerful storms with very cold cloud top temperatures wrapped around the eastern ...

Identifying trauma risk in small children early after an accident

2013-09-23

Accidents also traumatize small children. Around one in ten children still suffers from a post-traumatic stress disorder a year after a road accident or burn injury, reliving aspects of the traumatic experience in the form of flashbacks or nightmares. In doing so, young children keep replaying the stressful memories while avoiding anything that might remind them of the accident in any way. As a result of this constant alertness to threatening memories, the children can develop sleeping disorders, concentration problems or aggressive behavior. Assessing the risk of illness ...

Sensory illusion study provides new insight for body representation brain disorders

2013-09-23

People can be easily tricked into believing an artificial finger is their own, shows a study published today [23 September] in The Journal of Physiology. The results reveal that the brain does not require multiple signals to build a picture body ownership, as this is the first time the illusion has been created using sensory inputs from the muscle alone. The discovery provides new insight into clinical conditions where body representation in the brain is disrupted due to changes in the central or peripheral nervous systems e.g. stroke, schizophrenia and phantom limb syndrome ...

Targeting memory T-cells in Type 1 diabetes

2013-09-23

WA, Seattle (September 23, 2013) – Encouraging results from the T1DAL study (Targeting effector memory T cells with alefacept in new onset type 1 diabetes), led by Mark R. Rigby M.D., Ph.D. from Indiana University and Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis and sponsored by the Immune Tolerance Network (ITN) with additional support from JDRF, are published today in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. Alefacept, an engineered fusion protein targeting a surface molecule, CD2, found on T-lymphocytes, was the first biologic therapy approved for moderate to severe plaque ...

A boost for cellular profiling

2013-09-23

New York, NY and Stockholm, Sweden -- A team of researchers affiliated with Ludwig Cancer Research and the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden report in the current issue of Nature Methods a dramatically improved technique for analyzing the genes expressed within a single cell -- a capability of relevance to everything from basic research to future cancer diagnostics. "There are cells in tumors and in healthy tissues that are not present in sufficient numbers to permit analysis using anything but single-cell methods," explains senior author, Rickard Sandberg, PhD. "This method ...

Calming fear during sleep

2013-09-23

CHICAGO --- A fear memory was reduced in people by exposing them to the memory over and over again while they slept. It's the first time that emotional memory has been manipulated in humans during sleep, report Northwestern Medicine® scientists. The finding potentially offers a new way to enhance the typical daytime treatment of phobias through exposure therapy by adding a nighttime component. Exposure therapy is a common treatment for phobia and involves a gradual exposure to the feared object or situation until the fear is extinguished. "It's a novel finding," ...

UCLA scientists explain the formation of unusual ring of radiation in space

2013-09-23

Since the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts in 1958, space scientists have believed these belts encircling the Earth consist of two doughnut-shaped rings of highly charged particles — an inner ring of high-energy electrons and energetic positive ions and an outer ring of high-energy electrons. In February of this year, a team of scientists reported the surprising discovery of a previously unknown third radiation ring — a narrow one that briefly appeared between the inner and outer rings in September 2012 and persisted for a month. In new research, UCLA ...

USC scientists ID protein that regulates cellular trafficking, potential for anti-cancer therapy

2013-09-23

LOS ANGELES — Molecular microbiologists at the University of Southern California (USC) have uncovered intricate regulatory mechanisms within the cell that could lead to novel therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and other diseases. Their findings, which have long-standing significance in the basic understanding of cell biology, appear in the journal Nature Cell Biology. "Our research reveals a new regulatory mechanism that coordinates two distinct intracellular processes that are critical to cellular homeostasis and disease development," said Chengyu Liang, M.D., ...

Scientists closer to universal flu vaccine after pandemic 'natural experiment'

2013-09-23

Scientists have moved closer to developing a universal flu vaccine after using the 2009 pandemic as a natural experiment to study why some people seem to resist severe illness. Researchers at Imperial College London asked volunteers to donate blood samples just as the swine flu pandemic was getting underway and report any symptoms they experienced over the next two flu seasons. They found that those who avoided severe illness had more CD8 T cells, a type of virus-killing immune cell, in their blood at the start of the pandemic. They believe a vaccine that stimulates ...

The brain cannot be fooled by artificial sweeteners

2013-09-23

The results of the new study imply that it is hard to fool the brain by providing it with 'energyless' sweet flavours. Our pleasure in consuming sweet solutions is driven to a great extent by the amount of energy it provides: greater reward in the brain is attributed to sugars compared to artificial sweeteners. Professor Ivan de Araujo, who led the study at Yale University School of Medicine USA, says: "The consumption of high-calorie beverages is a major contributor to weight gain and obesity, even after the introduction of artificial sweeteners to the market. We believe ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

New study shows biochar’s electrical properties can influence rice field methane emissions

Guangdong faces largest chikungunya outbreak on record

Tirzepatide improves blood sugar control in children aged 10-17 years with type 2 diabetes inadequately controlled on existing therapies (SURPASS-PEDS trial)