April 15, 2008

Stuart Schlossman writes up his tale of what happened when he took a drug holiday. Your milage may vary.

Another very early stage (mouse only) discovery points to a potential target for another MS drug. Researchers demonstrated both genetic and pharmaceutical evidence for the role of a protein called collagenase-2 in the development of MS. Collagenase-2 is a member of a protein family called matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs, collagenase-2 is MMP8), a large group of enzymes that break down collagen and other components of the body's connective tissue. MMPs have been implicated in contributing to MS by degrading the tissue that maintains the blood-brain barrier.