Major grant from the U.S.

The grant is part of The National MS Society’s bold new initiative for nervous system repair and protection in MS and involves the largest grants ever offered by the Society. Three other multinational, interdisciplinary teams are developing non-invasive tools and models, and designing clinical trials to pave the way for clinical testing to restore function in people with MS.

First, Professors ffrench-Constant, principal applicant, and Franklin, co-applicant, and their colleagues are attempting to find key molecules that promote myelin repair, exploring novel ground and focusing on the critical molecules within cells that may activate genes involved in myelin formation. Manipulating these genes may offer a new route to promoting repair.

In their second aim, the team is examining the use of neurospheres, immature nerve cells, which have been shown to promote myelin repair in mice. The team is analyzing the mechanisms that these cells use to move from the blood to the brain to promote repair. They are using magnetic resonance imaging and electrical measurements of nerve conduction to examine the effectiveness of this technique in animal models, with an eye toward improving this novel therapy to the point that it could be used to treat people with MS.

To accomplish these goals, the Cambridge scientists assembled a ‘dream team’ of basic and clinical investigators who are experts in the fields of oligodendrocytes, myelin, neurospheres, neuroimmunology, the genetics of oligodendrocyte development, and models of myelin damage/repair. In addition to the two Cambridge laboratories based in the departments of Pathology (ffrench-Constant) and Veterinary Medicine (Franklin), the collaboration also includes research groups from Canada, France, Italy, and the United States.

“We are trying to develop new drugs that enhance myelin repair by finding the key molecules that promote this process,” Professor ffrench-Constant explains. “By manipulating these molecules, we should be able to promote repair. We also will see if myelin repair can be enhanced by using cell transplants to provide new cells.”

This team is poised to break new ground in their examination of the cells and molecules that promote myelin repair, and their findings may yield new strategies to the therapeutic armamentarium in MS. This effort complements the work of the Cambridge Centre for Myelin Repair, a major new initiative funded by the UK MS Society headed by Professor Franklin, which includes Professor ffrench-Constant and other principal investigators at the Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair.