According to new research published in the journal Cell, targeting the SOX6 protein could open a new way to repair myelin in individuals afflicted by multiple sclerosis. According to the researchers, this SOX6 protein regulates the maturation of cells referred to as oligodendrocytes which manufacture myelin.
The team found that when SOX6 is overactive, as is the case in MS patients, oligodendrocytes remain immature and can’t therefore produce myelin. By targeting SOX6, the researchers believe that myelin production can resume and consequently some form of restoration in function could be achieved in patients. In healthy people, SOX6 is less active, in contrast to what was seen in MS patients.
Myelin, a fatty sheath, helps to cover nerve fibers so that they do their work of transmitting electrical signals. It can be compared to the way electrical wires have rubber insulation to keep the wires transmitting electricity in the right way. Damage to the “insulation” on nerve fibers triggers the various symptoms associated with multiple sclerosis, such as spasms and tingling.
Currently, there are no known treatments to boost myelin repair in patients with MS, so this study offers a promising avenue to develop these needed treatments.
Doctor Kevin Allan, PhD, a co-author for this study, explains that their brain sample examinations revealed that MS patients have elevated SOX6 activity, which prevents oligodendrocyte maturation. The impact of this heightened activity is that myelin repair becomes compromised in ways that weren’t noticed in brain samples taken from healthy subjects.
The researchers therefore posit that by inhibiting SOX6 activity, myelin repair can be enabled so that MS symptom relief results.
To test this assumption, the team tamped down the activity of SOX6 in a mouse model and discovered that myelin production resumed in those mice. This proved that their concept was valid.
However, the team points out that more work needs to be done to examine this concept in other preclinical tests before similar tests can be done on human subjects. If those efforts yield positive outcomes, a new viable way to help patients living with MS could be opened in a way that delivers meaningful outcomes.
This new door that has been opened by the findings of this research offers hope that it could one day be possible to repair myelin so that many of the symptoms that MS patients face on a daily basis can be managed or even reversed so that the quality of life of patients improves significantly.
Other entities like Clene Inc. (NASDAQ: CLNN) are also advancing their own R&D programs geared at developing effective treatments indicated for MS. These efforts undertaken by various companies and research teams could, hopefully, result in the speedy commercialization of novel treatments that can move the needle in the management of this disease.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Clene Inc. (NASDAQ: CLNN) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/CLNN
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