Vitamin B3 protects nerve tissue from further damage in mice with MS-like disease

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Medical Update Memo
September 29, 2006

Summary
Researchers report that treatment with nicotinamide, a form of vitamin B3, prevented damaged nerve fibres from degenerating further in a mouse model of MS. Shinjiro Kaneko, MD, and colleagues (Children's Hospital Boston) report their findings in the September 20 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. Further testing is needed before these findings can be applied to developing a possible therapy for people with MS.

Details
Dr. Shinjiro Kaneko and colleagues at the Children's Hospital Boston report that treatment with nicotinamide, a form of vitamin B3, prevented damaged nerve fibres from degenerating further in a mouse model of MS. Their findings are in the September 20 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience (2006; 26: 9794-9804).

The immune attack in MS injures myelin, the insulation that speeds nerve impulse conduction between nerve cells. The underlying, wire-like nerve fibres (axons) are also damaged. Finding treatments to protect axons is crucial – researchers believe that it is this damage that underlies the progression of disability in MS.

Dr. Kaneko and colleagues had shown previously that the enzyme nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) decreases when axons degenerate in mice. Injections of NAD or nicotinamide – a form of vitamin B3 that can be turned into NAD – prevented injury to axons.

In the current study, the research team injected nicotinamide to mice with an MS-like disease, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Treatment succeeded in reducing inflammation and myelin destruction, and also protected axons from loss, including those that had already lost their myelin sheaths. Neurological symptoms were reduced as well, most profoundly in mice given the highest doses of nicotinamide.

Further testing is needed before these findings can be applied to developing a possible therapy for people with MS. According to a press release from Children’s Hospital Boston, the nicotinamide doses used in mice would translate into much higher doses in humans than are normally used and similar doses in humans could be toxic. These dosage levels need to be tested thoroughly for safety, since excessive intake of several types of vitamins can have severe side effects.

A number of researchers are examining whether vitamins might be useful in treating MS. MS Society of Canada funded researchers at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto are combining vitamin B12 with beta interferon (one of the disease modifying therapies for MS) or with paclitaxel, a drug used to treat cancer. Using a mouse model, Mario Moscarello, Ph.D., and Fabrizio Mastronardi, Ph.D., found the combination was able to reduce myelin loss, improve clinical signs and restore function in mice that develop an MS-like disease.

[With information from the National MS Society (USA)]

ASK MS Information System Code: 1.4.3.8.7.k

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The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada is an independent, voluntary health agency and does not approve, endorse or recommend any specific product or therapy but provides information to assist individuals in making their own decisions.

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