A drug that helps dilate the bronchial tubes in people with asthma may also improve treatment outcomes in people with multiple sclerosis, according to a study published in the Archives of Neurology.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease of the central nervous system – the brain and spinal cord. It affects mostly young people. The reasons for its development are not fully understood. According to the theory most widely accepted today, the disease is caused by hyperactive immune cells that mistakenly recognize a component of the nervous system as foreign, attack it and destroy it.
This imaginary enemy is myelin, which forms sheaths on nerve fibers and, similar to an insulator on cables, improves the conduction of stimuli in the brain and spine. Its destruction slows down the work of the nervous system to such an extent that serious symptoms of the disease appear – visual disturbances, imbalance, numbness of the limbs, difficulty walking.
Studies have shown that people with MS have elevated levels of an immune protein called interleukin-12 (IL-12) in their body. It stimulates the formation of immune cells that contribute to the destruction of myelin.
It is also known that the drug used to treat asthma and other respiratory diseases – salbutamol – can lower IL-12 levels. This drug is a short-acting beta-2-agonist that causes rapid bronchodilation and is used to control an attack of dyspnea.
Scientists from the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard University in Boston have tested whether salbutamol (known as albuterol in the US) can improve the treatment outcomes of MS patients who have started using the immunomodulatory drug glatiramer acetate. It is the standard used to treat relapsing-remitting MS, in which the symptoms of the disease worsen and disappear from time to time.
The studies were carried out for two years in a group of 44 patients treated with glatiramer acetate (daily subcutaneous injections). Half of them were randomly assigned to take oral salbutamol additionally, and half to the placebo group.
At the beginning of the study and after six, 12, 18 and 24 months, the patients underwent neurological examinations. Blood samples were also taken from them for analysis and MRI of the brain was performed – at the beginning, after 12 and 24 months of examinations.
It was found that patients receiving salbutamol had their first relapse later than the placebo group. In addition, they improved functioning in the sixth and 12th months, but not in the 24th month of the study. The side effects of the therapy were mostly mild.
As assessed by the authors of the study, these results indicate that the use of salbutamol improves the effects of standard therapy in MS patients in the first year of treatment. (PAP)