Statins may help treat Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer's and Ostoeporosis

Main Category: Statins
Also Included In: Alzheimer's / Dementia;  Multiple Sclerosis;  Bones / Orthopaedics
Article Date: 14 May 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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Statins, or cholesterol-lowering drugs, may be effective in treating MS (multiple sclerosis), Alzheimer's and osteoporosis, say some experts. Many are calling statins the new 'aspirin', but without so many side-effects (aspirin, as well as being a pain-killer, has many other benefits).

The first clinical evidence has been produced by scientists at the Medical University of S Carolina, USA, that statins can be effective in the treatment of MS.

You can read about this new study in The Lancet (medical journal).

Thirty MS patients were given Zocor (simvastatin), 80 mg per day. Zocor is a statin. Researchers reported that the patients experienced a 44% drop in brain lesions within three months of starting treatment.

When areas of the brain experience inflammations they are called brain lesions. Lesions tell us how the MS is progressing (becoming more severe). The nerve cells of people with MS lose their insulating sheath. This leads to muscle weakness, tiredness, bladder incontinence and problems with their eyesight.

Currently, MS patients are given interferon injections. Interferon injections are only partially effective. For patients to be able to switch to swallowing statin pills, which are much cheaper and seemingly more effective would be great news for them.

A large-scale controlled trial is going to take place soon with some of the volunteers on statins and others on placebo. Professor Chris Polman, VU Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands, said that the trial should take about two years to complete.

Timothy Vollmer and his team in South Carolina who carried out this new study said that they had been encouraged by previous studies which indicated that statins reversed paralysis in mice with MS.

Apart from being able to block an enzyme which helps the liver produce cholesterol, statins seem to undermine the inflammatory processes as well. Inflammations in the body are associated with higher risks of developing many chronic diseases.

Scientists and doctors still have a long way to go, the team said. They have to find out what the ideal dosage might be. They think the dosage for people with MS will probably have to be higher than for people with clogged arteries.

Professor Polman told existing MS patients not to switch to statins now and drop their existing treatment. He said the use of statins without knowing more about them could boomerang.

The temptation to go out and get statins in the UK will be higher. In the UK statins will soon be available over the counter, without the need for a prescription from a doctor.

WHAT IS MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS?

MS is thought to be an autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system (CNS). The CNS consists of the brain, spinal cord, and the optic nerves. Surrounding and protecting the nerve fibers of the CNS is a fatty tissue called myelin, which helps nerve fibers conduct electrical impulses.

In MS, myelin is lost in multiple areas, leaving scar tissue called sclerosis. These damaged areas are also known as plaques or lesions. Sometimes the nerve fiber itself is damaged or broken.

Myelin not only protects nerve fibers, but makes their job possible. When myelin or the nerve fiber is destroyed or damaged, the ability of the nerves to conduct electrical impulses to and from the brain is disrupted, and this produces the various symptoms (http://www.nationalmssociety.org/symptoms.asp) of MS.

People with MS can expect one of four clinical courses of disease, each of which might be mild, moderate, or severe.

RELAPSING-REMITTING

Characteristics: People with this type of MS experience clearly defined flare-ups (also called relapses, attacks, or exacerbations). These are episodes of acute worsening of neurologic function. They are followed by partial or complete recovery periods (remissions) free of disease progression.
Frequency: Most common form of MS at time of initial diagnosis.
Approximately 85%.

PRIMARY-PROGRESSIVE

Characteristics: People with this type of MS experience a slow but nearly continuous worsening of their disease from the onset, with no distinct relapses or remissions. However, there are variations in rates of progression over time, occasional plateaus, and temporary minor improvements.
Frequency: Relatively rare. Approximately 10%.

SECONDARY-PROGRESSIVE

Characteristics: People with this type of MS experience an initial period of relapsing-remitting disease, followed by a steadily worsening disease course with or without occasional flare-ups, minor recoveries (remissions), or plateaus.
Frequency: 50% of people with relapsing-remitting MS developed this form of the disease within 10 years of their initial diagnosis, before introduction of the "disease-modifying" drugs. Long-term data are not yet available to demonstrate if this is significantly delayed by treatment.

PROGRESSIVE-RELAPSING

Characteristics: People with this type of MS experience a steadily worsening disease from the onset but also have clear acute flare-ups (attacks or relapses), with or without recovery. In contrast to relapsing-remitting MS, the periods between relapses are characterized by continuing disease progression.
Frequency: Relatively rare. Approximately 5%.