MULTIPLE sclerosis is a particularly cruel disease, as sufferers and their loved ones will attest.
Not only does this degenerative neurological condition typically strike people when they are in their thirties and forties, gradually limiting their ability to live life to the full, but sadly there are few available treatments.
Scientists do not know exactly what causes the condition, though genetic and environmental factors – including vitamin D deficiency – are believed to be important. Scotland has one of the highest rates of MS in the world, with some 11,000 people living with the condition.
It is perhaps appropriate, therefore, that Scottish scientists are at the forefront of research to find better treatments and hopefully, one day, a cure. And researchers at the University of Edinburgh recently made a new discovery that they believe provides important clues that could help them do just that.
Donated samples from patients who had died of different types of MS have shown that nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord of those with the disease are no longer able to produce mitochondria, the “power packs” which fuel the body’s metabolic activities. Scientists believe this is particularly important as MS destroys myelin, a fatty coating that insulates the cells. This new information will inform the work currently being done on new therapies that could one day help relieve symptoms.
A new global drug trial is currently examining whether patients who suffer from the progressive form of the condition, for which there are no treatments or periods of respite at all, will respond to high doses of the vitamin biotin. The daily struggles of MS patient Jenny Potter from Balfron, who regularly uses a wheelchair, after having to give up the job she loves, highlights that any new treatments simply cannot come soon enough.
With this in mind we also wish the hundreds of medical scientists from around the world who will fly into Edinburgh next month for a major conference on the disease the very best of luck in their vital endeavours.
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