Race to Erase MS - on verge of announcing research breakthrough

['Lissa+]

Anybody want to venture a guess about what major research breakthrough they are going to accounce as indicated in the article below?


"Dancing With the Stars" is the inspiration for this year's Race to Erase MS gala being held Friday the 13th at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza. The lineup of performers and celebrity fashion showmodels includes brothers Drew and brother Nick Lachey, Mario Lopez, Tia Carrere, Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin, Cheryl Burke, Louis van Amstel, Rachel Hunter, Stacy Keibler, Joey Lawrence, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Molly Simms, Emmy Rossum and Nicole Richie and her boyfriend, Joel Madden.

That's the word from the amazing, dynamic Nancy Davis — the force behind the events — this is the 14th — that she reports have raised "$30 million so far" in the fight against multiple sclerosis.

Davis, the mother of five who was diagnosed with MS herself at age 33 in 1991, started her Nancy Davis Foundation for Multiple Sclerosis in '93, and facilitates researchers from top hospitals and universities working together through her Center Without Walls.

She says she thinks the annual galas that she and designer Tommy Hilfiger spearhead are such a celebrity draw because "they're fun and easy for them to do." Earth, Wind & Fire will be playing. Ray Romano, Tom Arnold and Randy Jackson will be serving as auctioneers, with items on the block ranging from a fully tricked-out Ferrari to a trip to Amsterdam, "where Tommy Hilfiger will create a fashion line for you."

Best of all, "We're on the verge of being able to announce a major breakthrough in research," says Nancy.---

[lady_express_44]

She's the one that Montel refers to in his book "Climbing Higher" isn't she?

Based on that, perhaps it is about the usefulness of Marijuana in MS?

My guess is it has something to do with a new blood test that can dx MS, or that they discovered immunizations can cause MS.

Cherie

[Virginia]

Should be interesting to find out what it is.

Virginia

[BBS1951]

We here are so on top of the research, that most likely the "breakthrough" is something we have known about for a while.;)

[dogless]

trip to Amsterdam, "where Tommy Hilfiger will create a fashion line for you."

While you are stoned out'a your bird.

If the trip to Amsterdam is any clue, it's gotta be evil weed research news.

Hey Tommy, screw the funny look'n threads. Hows about a few kilos for a gimpy MS'er and a few of his buddies? :D

[Abby2006]

Probably will involve more money for more testing

Abby

[Grassman]

there ain't no cure for us...dam were in the glue.We have to do it ourselves .....or it ainn't gonna get done.


HNow I am bbedridden,showered,fed etc....I have seen nothing to cheer about with this MS.

7 years in bed.The world keep turning...regardless off our MS.

Wear was Anna Nicoles father?or her sons father.

Don't matter how much money you have.Iddiots ab ound.

[ainee]

For all the millions of dollars spent on research each year, you'd think that someone would have found a cause - and a treatment for MS and many other neurological illnesses and conditions.
I know no-one thinks my personal story, research and experimentation of simple treatments which suppressed and eventually reversed my horrific neurological symptoms has any substance - but I am reasonably well to-day because I had a bit of a go - and it cost me about $1 a day when I was very ill - now it costs me about 50 cents a day to have good health.
Any takers? - my information is free of charge.
ainee

[PwMS]

i'll bet it has something to do with mice ......... so far, the mice are always the only ones to benefit from all the billions spent on ms research. lol :)

[Howie]

I woke up craving cheese this morning.........

[SPryor]

For all the millions of dollars spent on research each year, you'd think that someone would have found a cause - and a treatment for MS and many other neurological illnesses and conditions.
I know no-one thinks my personal story, research and experimentation of simple treatments which suppressed and eventually reversed my horrific neurological symptoms has any substance - but I am reasonably well to-day because I had a bit of a go - and it cost me about $1 a day when I was very ill - now it costs me about 50 cents a day to have good health.
Any takers? - my information is free of charge.
ainee

I'd certainly be interested in hearing more.

[ainee]

PwMS - I wouldn't like to be a mouse being experimented on. (smile) - the mice wouldn't benifit much at all - either crook - or dead!
My research into the treatment I successfully experimented with, which suppressed and eventually reversed most of my symptoms, wouldn't have come about if I'd given it to a mouse. The mouse couldn't say what it was feeling, whether the dose was the correct amount or if it should be lower or higher, or if the symptoms were greater or less.
Just like in a test tube, these factors wouldn't be addressed either, because a test tube hasn't got the warmth and moisture the same as the human body, the test tube hasn't got the heart rate, the lungs, nor the circulation as humans do.
I found the right dose rate and quantity of the simple treatments, activated in the warmth and moisture of my body, it increased my temperature, heart rate, blood and oxygen circulation 24/7, to suppress my symptoms - and eventually reversed most of them to give me better health.
Yeah BBS1951, I reckon they have known about oxygen for quite awhile , but it seems "they" haven't put 2 and 2 together yet.
SPryor - where do you want me to start?
ainee.

ainee.

[SPryor]

By telling what treatment/medication aided in this. I look forward to your reply. Thank you.

"..."he treatment I successfully experimented with, which suppressed and eventually reversed most of my symptoms,..."

[ainee]

G'day SProyr,
I've posted my info on many threads across BT as my symptoms were similar to many different neurological illness and conditions - including MS.
Go to Complimentary and Alternative Medicines thread - Salt lamps, pipes etc - started by Buttons2 - I replied a few times there with most of my reseach info as to how it worked etc.
Thanks for being interested - hope it helps.
ainee.

[september1968]

Well, I think she her website is sponsored by BioMS, it's one of their announcements.

http://www.biomsmedical.com/

[ainee]

September1968 - I know that you mean Nancy Davis' web site is sponsored by BioMS - I guess only medical people or well known people could gain such sponsership.

I don't have a web site - I wasn't sponsored by anyone - my treatment was/is simple - and cheap as chips. Maybe if "they" put all that research money into treating many with a simple treatment, then they wouldn't need to spend as much as they do on research for something that they may never find - unless someone with medical knowledge gets what I did, experiment with a simple treatment and survive.
But everyone with medical knowledge, refuses to believe something so simple could work as I say it did for me and several other people who said they had better health while taking what I suggested.
Maybe I should look into getting a grant or some funding - but then, I don't want funding - I want to give my information to people who may benifit from my experience and if they gain better health like I did - then that will mean more to me than any amount of $'s.

ainee.

[lauriannem]

I actually went to the Race to Erase a few year back (actually 5 now) - the doctors involved in the Center w/o Walls are all of our top neuros. I believe that Montel was traveling to Amsterdam (somewhere in europe not sure if that was it) and taking a treatment that was not approved in the US. Perhaps that is what it is? I would believe that anything that comes out of this group of neuros might be "big". We shall see!

It was actually at this event that Dr Vollmer told me Yale would be doing the Antegren trials and said I should go for it. He felt that this was the next step in drugs. Obviously that was before the fall-out but I can't say he was wrong if the long term stats hold true. Hmmm...

[Bad Kitty]

i'll bet it has something to do with mice ......... so far, the mice are always the only ones to benefit from all the billions spent on ms research. lol :)

You are so right. I've never seen so much care and concern for mice until I got MS. I'm not holding my breath on this one. I'm not holding my breath for a cure either. Big pharma needs us for money and healthly people need us to feel better about themselves. Damn I wish this disease was fatal, living with this is just cruel

bk

[september1968]

For all the millions of dollars spent on research each year, you'd think that someone would have found a cause - and a treatment for MS and many other neurological illnesses and conditions.
I know no-one thinks my personal story, research and experimentation of simple treatments which suppressed and eventually reversed my horrific neurological symptoms has any substance - but I am reasonably well to-day because I had a bit of a go - and it cost me about $1 a day when I was very ill - now it costs me about 50 cents a day to have good health.
Any takers? - my information is free of charge.
ainee

Ok - you have peeked my curiosity and forgive me if you have posted it already. I don't get here as often as I would like. What have you done to help yourself?

[ainee]

G'day September1968
Please go to Complimentary and Alternative Medicines - thread, Salt lamps, pipes, etc - started by Buttons2. There are several of my replies with info there. I'm happy to answer any questions if I can.
ainee.

[gonnamakeit]

Here is a report that I think is the "cure" mentioned in the article. It looks good!


Deactivating Protein May Protect Nerve Fibers In MS
28 Apr 2007

Oregon Health & Science University neuroscientists are eyeing a protein as a potential therapeutic target for
multiple sclerosis because de-activating it protects nerve fibers from damage.

OHSU researchers, working with colleagues at the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the University of
Padova in Italy, have shown that genetically inactivating a protein called cyclophilin D can protect nerve fibers
in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis. Cyclophin D is a key regulator of molecular processes in the nerve cell's
powerhouse, the mitochondrion, and can participate in nerve fiber death. Inactivating cyclophilin D strengthens the
mitochondrion, helping to protect nerve fibers from injury. The findings are published in Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences.

"We're extremely excited," said Michael Forte, Ph.D., senior scientist at the Vollum Institute at OHSU and the
study's lead author. "While we can't genetically inactivate cyclophilin D in people, there are drugs out there
that can block the protein. Our research predicts that drugs that block cyclophilin D should protect nerve fibers
from damage in MS."

Such a drug would be the first therapy specifically for secondary-progressive MS, one of the more debilitating
It affects half of the estimated 2 million people with MS.

The only available therapies for MS are anti-inflammatory drugs, which reduce the inflammation believed to spur
certain T-cells in the body to attack myelin, the fatty sheath insulating nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord.
The fibers can't conduct impulses, leading to paralysis, memory loss, dizziness, fatigue, pain and imbalance. Over
time, the nerve fibers themselves degenerate, leading to permanent functional deficits.

"All MS drugs available right now are anti-inflammatory," said study co-author Dennis Bourdette, M.D., professor
and chairman of neurology in the OHSU School of Medicine, and director of the OHSU MS Center of Oregon. "What is
desperately needed is a therapeutic that protects the nerve fibers from degeneration."

In recent years, scientists have increasingly viewed MS as a neurodegenerative disorder rather than simply an
inflammatory one. Loss of nerve cells, injury to nerve fibers and atrophy within the central nervous system occur
progressively from the start of the disease, eventually leading to permanent disability, especially in patients
who've had MS for many years.

"What puts people in wheelchairs from MS is not an inflammatory attack on myelin of the central nervous system.
It's the severing of the axons (nerve fibers), which is a permanent thing," Forte said.

including the development of free radicals such as reactive oxygen and nitrogen that slow the cell's energy
generation capability. It also throws off mitochondrial function by causing calcium to build up in the cell,
reducing levels of ATP that serves as the cell's fuel source.

But scientists believe that cyclophilin D is responsible for causing the unregulated opening of a pore in the
mitochondrion's membrane that allows the calcium overload. The OHSU team showed that mice lacking cyclophilin D
still developed an MS-like disease, but unlike their counterparts possessing the protein, the mutant mice partially
recovered. Scientists found their nerve fibers remained intact, and they resisted the free radicals and calcium
overload.

"What we've done is make it so the mitochondria can tolerate higher loads of calcium before they die," Forte said.
"The mutant mice are protected from axonal damage associated with this MS-like disease in mice."

The scientists are now testing drugs that could be used to shut down the cyclophilin D protein and the mitochondrion
pore it activates. "If you basically inhibited that protein with a drug, you would see the same axonal preservation
that you saw in the mutant mouse," Forte said.

One class of compounds Forte and Bourdette are particularly interested in is non-immunosuppressive derivative of
cyclosporin A (CsA). Some nonimmunsuppressive derivatives of cyclosporin A are in human trials for other conditions.
Because these drugs are already being tested in humans, they could be rapidly tested in MS. Bourdette believes that
a cyclophilin D antagonist could potentially become available as a treatment for MS within five years.

"We don't have to invent the drugs to target this protein. They already exist," Bourdette said.

Such a therapy can't come soon enough for 36-year-old West Linn, Ore. resident Laura Wieden, who has suffered since
1995 from relapsing-remitting MS that's caused weakness in both legs and forced her to ride a Segway personal
transportation device or a wheelchair. "For me, it's fabulous," she said. "If you can prevent MS, that's great,
but what about the millions of people who have it? They need something that keeps the cells from dying. This just
holds so much promise."

Wieden's father, Dan Wieden, co-founder of Portland-based Wieden + Kennedy advertising agency, set up a fund in his
daughter's name - the Laura Fund for Innovation in Multiple Sclerosis Research - to support MS research that pushes
traditional boundaries to discovery. The discovery by Forte, Bourdette and their team, which was funded in part by
the foundation, fits the bill, he said.

"It goes to prove that sometimes the big breakthroughs do not come from the more traditional lines of inquiry,"
he said. "What I appreciate about our relationship with OHSU is that there seems to be a sense of urgency about
these projects. And it's been beneficial for us to develop a more personal relationship with the researchers.
That way it becomes not just an academic exercise, but a very passionate inquiry on their part."

###

Other study funders were the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Nancy Davis
Center Without Walls.

Contact: Jonathan Modie
Oregon Health & Science University

Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=68802

[ainee]

This article by gonnamakeit, must give much hope to those with MS.
Am I reading it right? - " includes the development of free radicals such as reactive oxygen."

Reactive - means tending to react.
React - to act in a reverse way - go back to a former condition.

Perhaps those with MS have a lack of oxygen in their body, tissues, cells and to the nerves. Maybe doctors and scientists know this already.

- "Bourdette believes that a cyclophilin D antogonist could potentially become available as a treatment for MS within 5 years."

Maybe if those with MS increase their oxygen level 24/7 as my posts explain how, in MS - MOT - Mini Oxygen Treatment - it may not take 5 years to start to gain better health and at a low cost, at home without any drugs or machines.

Please don't think that I'm mocking anyone - I was very ill with horrific neurological symptoms which cross over many different illnesses and conditions. I was not diagnosed with MS, although I had similar symptoms, my MS test was clear. I've done a lot of research since 2001 and have found some amazing information which I would not have learnt about if I hadn't became ill.
They say all things happen for a reason.
Have a nice day.
ainee.

[Mariel]

There is, or was, a blood test for MS but I doubt most would accept it. Dr. Roy Swank tested our blood. He took a litttle blood and put it on a saucer under a microscope, and put a drop of oil on it. If the oil slowed the movement of red cells, he said the patient had MS. Mine slowed. He used my blood along with other patients in research done in London, where they were trying to find something "missing" in MS blood. I never heard that anything was found, and I think that there was not enough money to follow through. Also, he may have been looking up the wrong alley for what was missing...but he was sure trying, with little support.

He gave transfusions to some patients and some claimed they went into remission for five months on the transfusions. But they were hard to do, as one had to go to Portland and one had to have one's blood donors with one. One had to have a donor who was either a family member or a very healthy friend. It was all too hard for an exhausted MS patient to try to get together, although I did travel to Portland a couple times for dx and for follow up.

One thing that is low (50% of normal) in my blood is an enzyme in the liver, one of 8 in the Hemoglobin Synthesis pathway. this means I have Porphyria. But I think my Porphyria gave me MS. This could be one way of getting it, which is indeed from something missing or low.

I was completely healthy during the last 5 months of my pregnancy and for some time afterwards--and I know this is common in MS. I think I was getting the missing enzyme from my large healthy baby. Just a theory, but I can make theories as well as the people in Amsterdam.

[gonnamakeit]

ainee,

The reason that I posted this article is because I believe it is the "breakthrough" that is referenced to in the original post. The Nancy Davis Foundation which is part of the financial providers for the Oregon research is the same group that piqued our interest on the first post when lissa asked if we knew what news Nancy was talking about.

The thesis is described in the first sentence, "Oregon Health & Science University neuroscientists are eyeing a protein as a potential therapeutic target for
multiple sclerosis because de-activating it protects nerve fibers from damage."

This does not, in my opinion, encourage MS'ers to go out and inhale oxygen. In fact, the researchers are stating that a protein is the culprit that damages myelin.

We need to learn more about this protein since that is the key for protecting our myelin.

gonnamakeit