Identifying Biomarkers for MS

A contract from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, Atlanta, GA, USA) to identify disease biomarkers for multiple sclerosis (MS) has been awarded to Metabolon, Inc. (Research Triangle Park, NC, USA).

MS is an autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system by destroying myelin, the protective fatty tissue covering nerve fibers. Without myelin, nerves are unable to transmit signals to and from the brain. Currently, there is no known cause, but evidence shows it is a complex disease resulting from a combination of genetic susceptibility and environmental factors, such as heavy metal and toxic chemicals.

In the study, Metabolon will study blood samples from a group of patients diagnosed with MS and exposed to environmental factors, which will be compared with blood samples taken from a group of healthy subjects exposed to similar conditions. By analyzing these samples, Metabolon hopes to identify disease biomarkers that indicate a metabolic difference between the two subject groups. The results may lead to more-effective diagnostics and treatments for MS.

Metabolon has developed patent-pending technology that measures the spectrum of biochemical changes and maps these changes to metabolic pathways. The company states that this technology can identify safer compounds for development, shorten the time for drugs to get to market, and identify novel biomarkers for earlier disease detection.




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