BioCentury
ARTICLE | Tools & Techniques

Attacking apoptosis in MS

June 3, 2002 7:00 AM UTC

Drugs that are marketed to treat multiple sclerosis modulate the immune system, but they do not inhibit the mechanisms that drive the neuropathology of the disease. Now two reports in Nature Medicine show that cytokines that inhibit neuronal apoptosis could be useful in treating MS.

In one article, researchers at the University of Melbourne and colleagues showed that leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) ameliorates MS symptoms in mice. Separately, researchers from the University of Wurzburg and colleagues showed that ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) has the same effect, using a similar mechanism of action...