Metformin, usually used to treat patients with type 2 diabetes, would be extremely effective in treating nerve damage due to multiple sclerosis in mice. Trials should soon take place on humans.
Worldwide, 2.3 million people have multiple sclerosis. In France, this autoimmune disease which affects the central nervous system and occurs in the form of an attack, affects 100,000 individuals. This affliction occurs when the myelin, which protects the nerve fibers, is damaged. The nerves then lose their ability to react to the information sent by the brain. This progressive disease can last a lifetime and manifests differently depending on the area of the central nervous system it affects. It can cause problems with vision, balance, fatigue, stiffness, spasms and memory.
Unfortunately, at present, no treatment exists to cure it. However, researchers have just discovered how to slow the progression of the neurodegenerative disease in a “spectacular” way. According to their study published in the journal Cell Stem CellMetformin, usually used to treat patients with type 2 diabetes, would be extremely effective in treating nerve damage due to multiple sclerosis in mice.
To reach this conclusion, researchers at the University of Cambridge worked on mice. For three months, they placed rodents on Metformin, a treatment used by millions of diabetics to regulate their blood sugar levels. Then they extracted myelin, which protects nerve cells, from certain nerves in the animals’ brains. Result: from three weeks of treatment, myelin, attacked by the immune system in cases of multiple sclerosis, was perfectly restored.
Very optimistic researchers
They then deprived some mice of food every other day for six months and then observed the same positive effect. Indeed, it had already been shown in the past that reducing calorie intake increased the body’s regenerative abilities. So, like Metformin, fasting may rejuvenate brain stem cells and help them develop into myelin-producing cells, researchers say.
Researchers would therefore like to use Metformin to rejuvenate stem cells, in order to transform them into myelin-producing cells to fight against multiple sclerosis. The first tests on human patients should take place within a year and the researchers are very optimistic. “It’s always a leap into the unknown when you go from laboratory experiments to human beings. But the data is solid and compelling. I am very optimistic”, explains Professor Robin Franklin, author of the study, to The Guardian.
According to the scientists, Metformin, easily accessible and inexpensive, would be particularly beneficial for patients on the verge of transitioning from the chronic form of multiple sclerosis to a progressive form, commonly called secondary. The latter means a constant aggravation of the patient’s disability.
Avoid disability of patients with other neurological diseases
In addition to multiple sclerosis, Metformin could help prevent disability in patients with neurological diseases, the researchers suggest.
Neurological disorders are diseases of the central or peripheral nervous system. “In other words, they affect the brain, spinal cord, cranial nerves, peripheral nerves, nerve roots, autonomic nervous system, neuromuscular junction, and muscles,” explains the WHO. These diseases include epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, cerebrovascular diseases including stroke, migraine and other headaches, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, infections nervous system, brain tumors, traumatic disorders of the nervous system such as head trauma, and neurological disorders related to malnutrition.
Many bacterial, viral (including human immunodeficiency virus or HIV, enteroviruses, West Nile virus, Zika virus), fungal and parasitic (including malaria, Chagas disease) infections can also affect the nervous system. Neurological symptoms can be induced either by the infection itself or by the immune response.
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