BCAS1 could identify remyelinating cells

In a paper published in Science Translational Medicine, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine and their German colleagues show that breast cancer amplified sequence 1 (BCAS1) can be used a marker of ongoing remyelination in the brain.

Most remyelination strategies aim to boost numbers of oligodendrocytes, the cells that myelinate axons in the CNS, but identifying newly formed myelinating cells in the adult brain has been difficult. In addition, the authors wrote that it is not yet possible to distinguish new myelin sheaths from old ones in MS patients, highlighting the need for a biomarker of remyelination...