STANFORD, Calif., Aug 18, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- U.S. medical scientists say
they have found a link between high blood pressure and multiple sclerosis that
might lead to less expensive MS treatments.
Stanford University School of Medicine researchers said the linkage, found in
mice and in human brain tissue, suggests an inexpensive drug used to treat
hypertension might also have therapeutic value in multiple sclerosis.
But Professor Lawrence Steinman, the study's senior author, said extensive
clinical trial work is needed to determine if the drug, lisinopril, can do in
humans what it does in mice.
"We were able to show that all the targets for lisinopril are there and ready
for therapeutic manipulation in the multiple-sclerosis lesions of human
patients," Steinman said. "Without that, this would be just another intriguing
paper about what's possible in the mouse."
The study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Copyright 2009 by United Press International