I wonder when there will be research trials in humans on this.
http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/2012/Jul/28/new-drug-limits-brain-damage-in-stroke-46.asp
Anakinra, a drug already used for rheumatoid arthritis, has shown
promising results in stroke patients by dramatically limiting the amount
of brain damage, according to a study.
Dame Nancy Rothwell and
Stuart Allan, both professors at the University of Manchester and their
team have spent the last 20 years investigating how to reduce damage to
the brain following a stroke and testing the effectiveness of Anakinra
(IL-1Ra).
Researchers induced a stroke in the rats and the drug
IL-1Ra, or a placebo for comparison, was injected under the skin. The
researchers did not know which animals had been given which drug. This
is a similar process to what happens in clinical trials of medicines.
The
results were startling. MRI scans revealed that the rats that were
given IL-1Ra up to three hours after the stroke had only about half the
brain damage of the placebo group, according to a university statement.
Rothwell
said: "This is the first time that we are aware of a potential new
treatment for stroke being tested in animals with the same sort of
diseases and risk factors that most patients have. The results are very
promising and we hope to undertake further clinical studies in stroke
patients soon."
IL-1Ra works by blocking the naturally occurring
protein interleukin 1. Researchers have identified that it is a key
cause of brain injury following a stroke. Interleukin 1 encourages
inflammation in the area of the brain affected by stroke.
This sends
out signals to attract white blood cells. Because the barrier
surrounding the brain has been weakened by the stroke, the white blood
cells find it easier to enter the brain. But instead of helping the
inflamed area they actually kill nerve cells and worsen the injury. The
increasing presence of these cells also explains why the damage in the
brain gets worse over time following a stroke.
IL-1Ra also reduces
the amount of damage to the blood-brain barrier following a stroke so
the harmful cells can't enter the brain. In the recent experiments,
IL-1Ra reduced the damage to the blood-brain barrier by 55 percent in
healthy rats and 45 percent in rats with underlying health conditions.
In all types of rats, the drug reduced the amount of activated microglia
cells by 40 percent compared to the placebo group.
Allan said:
"This drug has real potential to save lives and stop hundreds of
thousands of people being seriously disabled by stroke. This really
could be the treatment for stroke that we've been looking for over the
past two decades." IANS
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