A reservoir of oligodendrocyte precursor cells left over from development might be coaxed into maturing and directing repair processes that could help to knit severed nerves or restore myelin sheathing, wrote Elliot Frohman, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and colleagues.
Intriguingly, there is now evidence to suggest that remyelination, albeit transient, is consistently found in MS lesions. The remyelination appears to occur when oligodendrocyte precursor cells are recruited to lesions by chemokines.
The remyelination process is impeded by several growth-inhibiting repressor proteins that could form targets for novel treatment strategies that would allow oligodendrocyte precursors to mature and get on with the work of myelin repair, the investigators suggested.
PARKINSON'S DISEASE
Exelon Gets Green light for Parkinson's dementia
