Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found a link, in mice and in human brain tissue, between high blood pressure and multiple sclerosis.
Their findings suggest that a safe, inexpensive drug already in wide use for high blood pressure may have therapeutic value in multiple sclerosis, as well. Neurology professor Lawrence Steinman, senior author of the new study, cautioned that extensive clinical trials are required to determine efficacy in humans, but said he was excited that the research team “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.” The team found that lisonopril administration reduced numerous molecular measures of inflammation that accompany multiple sclerosis in humans and its analog in the animal model. An additional observation was that lisinopril administration triggered proliferation of regulatory T cells which may be a key component in the protection provided. The paper was published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
