Multiple sclerosis: statins slow down the disease
Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.
More posts by Christiane Fux All content is checked by medical journalists.MunichStatins could be unexpected beacons of hope for people with progressive multiple sclerosis (MS). Apparently they delay the course of the disease, shows a study.
"At the moment we cannot prevent patients from developing increasingly disabilities as soon as they reach the advancing phase of MS," says Dr. Richard Nicholas from University College London. Such “secondary chronic progressive” courses occur in a large proportion of MS patients in the later stage of the disease.
Protection for nerve cells
Statins are currently mainly used to lower elevated blood lipid levels. This is how you want to minimize the risk of a stroke. Perhaps the blood lipid lowering drugs could also help people with multiple sclerosis, in whom the body's own defenses attack the central nervous system. The reason: Statins influence the immune system and protect the nerve fibers.
For the experiment, the team gave 140 patients with advanced MS either a daily dose of statins or a placebo. Even at the beginning of the study, the participants were restricted in some areas of daily life due to their illness. On a scale from 1 to 10, which recorded the degree of their disability, they achieved an average of 5.8 points.
Less brain shrinkage
After the study period of two years, the scientists were able to show that the brains of patients who had received the drug had shrunk by 43 percent compared to the placebo group. The decrease in brain matter is an indication of the progression of the disease. "That statins are so effective at slowing the progression of the disease was really a surprise," says Nicholas. Due to the brevity of the study, the researchers had expected a maximum of 20 to 40 percent less loss of brain mass.
Walking stick instead of a wheelchair
It was even more gratifying that this also had a noticeable effect on the well-being of the patients: In the participants who had taken statins, the degree of disability on the ten-point scale worsened from 5.8 to an average of 5.93 points, in contrast to one in the placebo group Value of 6.35. Study leader Jeremy Chataway says: "That might not sound like a lot, but in fact a deterioration from 6 to 7 points, for example, can make the difference between walking on a stick or sitting in a wheelchair."
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease that affects the central nervous system. The inflammation of nerve structures leads to various complaints such as visual and sensory disturbances, pain or paralysis. So far there is no cure for multiple sclerosis. The course of the disease can be influenced favorably with medication.
Jeremy Chataway et al .: Effect of high-dose simvastatin on brain atrophy and disability in secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS-STAT): a randomized, placebo-controlled, phase 2 trial, The Lancet, Early Online Publication, March 19, 2014
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