OHSU MS Research Center - Making a Difference in the Lives of Those with MS

The Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) has a top-notch MS Research Center.  This is one of the primary reasons I have chosen to raise funds for them (donate to the cause here: http://bit.ly/11jTDEA and thank you!).  You will see that much of their research gets started with support from folks just like you and I.  Without it, the research into MS might not ever get off the ground.  The OHSU MS Center has had a number of accomplishments this last year. I would like to highlight three.

First, they were awarded a $3 million grant by the Department of Veterans Affairs to conduct a trial of RTL1000 in secondary progressive MS.  RLT1000 was invented at OHSU by research scientists Drs. Arthur Vandenbark, Gregory Burrows and Halina Offner.  This novel therapy controls disease causing white blood cells and enters the brain and spinal cord where it can control special cells called microglia which we believe causes injury in progressive MS.  Importantly, philanthropic gifts were important to the early development of RTL1000 and would not have been invented without these early gifts.  There are a number of things they need to do before the clinical trial of RTL1000 can move forward, including getting permission from the FDA to do the trial, and they hope to start the clinical trial in late 2013.

Second, they have continued to make progress on developing a drug that can protect mitochondria from injury.  They believe that such a drug would be beneficial in all forms of MS, including progressive disease.  With support from the NIH, they screened over 600,000 different small molecule drugs and identified about 30 that looked promising.  These drugs are now being tested in the laboratory of a collaborator, Dr. Paolo Bernardi at the University of Padua.  His testing will identify the most promising 3-4 drugs.  OHSU plans to test these in the mouse model of MS in mid to late 2013.  Philanthropic support was important to their initial research that led to their discovering the mitochondrial “target” for these new drugs.

Third, they are nearing completion of the first ever clinical trial of a low fat vegan diet for MS using brain MRI as the primary measure of effectiveness of the diet.  This complicated trial involves over 50 people with MS.  The last volunteer exits the trial next March and they should have initial data on the trial toward the middle of 2013.  This trial is being supported entirely by the McDougall Foundation using gifts made to the foundation to support diet research.  They also completed their first 8-week wellness program for people with MS, called Living Brain Wellness.  This pilot program was a tremendous success with 15 people finishing the program.  The participants were extremely enthusiastic and were experiencing a variety of health benefits from the program.  They want to expand this approach to as a way to give people with MS the “tools” they need to improve their general health.  They believe this will also benefit their MS and plan on studies to establish this.  This is a unique approach to MS that is not being pursued by other traditional MS Centers.

 

I find the dual role the OHSU plays in not only delving into cutting edge research, but also into practical application of strategies that those with MS can apply now.  Something like altering your diet (possibly completely) requires quite a bit of effort and support - and the OHSU MS Center helps out tremendously.