*MS Article* Hormones & MS

[Guest guest]

Hi

I only know what is written below. Adam:

Sex Hormone Trial in Women with MS Launched

-- National MS Society's Southern California Chapter Pledges to Raise

Funds

November 10, 2006

View or print this bulletin in its original format.

<http://www.nationalmssociety.org/pdf/research/Research-2006Nov10.pdf>

(requires Adobe Reader)

Download Adobe Reader free!

<http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html>

Thanks to a fundraising pledge by the National MS Society's Southern

California Chapter, the first large-scale trial of a sex hormone for the

treatment of MS is about to begin. In the first effort of its kind in

MS, UCLA neurologist Dr. Rhonda Voskuhl is leading a team of

investigators to conduct a two-year, controlled clinical trial of the

female sex hormone Estriol involving 130 women with early

relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. If successful, this clinical

trial will lay the groundwork for a larger, definitive trial that could

lead to a new treatment option for women with MS. Its results may also

have implications for women with other autoimmune diseases, such as

rheumatoid arthritis.

Women newly diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS will be recruited at

seven medical centres across the country in the near future. When the

centres are ready to recruit trial participants, the National MS Society

will post detailed location and contact information for those who'd like

to determine if they are eligible.

Stems from National MS Society's Gender Initiative

MS affects women two to three times as often as men. This and other

gender differences became the topic of a special, five-year research

initiative by the National MS Society. Among findings from the 50

projects supported through this $10 million initiative was the

possibility that the female hormone Estriol may help protect against the

immune attacks that underlie MS. Estriol levels rise significantly

during pregnancy, when most women's MS disease activity declines. This

led some to suspect that Estriol may be responsible for this easing of

symptoms during pregnancy.

According to Dr. Voskuhl, in using Estriol they " aim to simulate some of

the disease protection offered by pregnancy. We are very enthusiastic

about this new agent since it has decades of known safety and since it

will be given as a pill, not a shot. "

Early Promise

Dr. Voskuhl (University of California, Los Angeles) and others explored

this lead in mice with MS-like disease, and later, with National MS

Society support, Dr. Voskuhl conducted a small, early-phase trial of

Estriol in 12 women with MS. The results showed decreases in disease

activity during Estriol treatment in women with relapsing-remitting MS.

The many research-restricted gifts that made the gender initiative

possible continue to have new impact as research in this important area

proceeds. The Society's Associate Vice President of Biomedical Research

Programs Dr. O' Looney explains, " When we invested $10 million

to study gender differences in MS, our hope was that we would discover

information that would lead us to clinical trials and potential new

therapies. We are now exactly where we hoped to be. "

Seven Centres

The two-year study is planned as a double-blind, placebo-controlled

trial that will take place at seven sites in the U.S. (in Los Angeles,

St. Louis, New Brunswick (NJ), Columbus, Chicago, Salt Lake City and

Detroit). When the centres are ready to recruit trial participants, the

National MS Society will post detailed location and contact information

for those who'd like to determine if they are eligible.

Investigators will administer Estriol in pill form in combination with

subcutaneously (under the skin) injected Copaxone, a standard treatment

for MS, for 2 years. The team will evaluate effects of the treatment

combination on relapse rates and several clinical and magnetic resonance

imaging measures of disability progression.

Urgent Funding Still Needed

The Southern California chapter of the National MS Society has made a

" rescue " pledge that is allowing this important trial to proceed. The

total cost of the trial is $4,760,013, and the National MS Society Home

Office has pledged $667,216 toward this goal. The Southern California

chapter has committed to raise the balance of $4,092,797 to launch this

important study.

As Chapter President Leon LeBuffe explains, " We must fund it! Dr.

Voskuhl's multicentere clinical trial of Estriol is enormously promising

and important. " For Information on ways to support this clinical trial,

please contact Milgrom, Executive Vice President, Strategic

Philanthropy .

-- Research and Clinical Programs Department

http://www.nationalmssociety.org/research-2006Nov10.asp

[Guest guest]

That is so interesting. By the way, Sylvia Brown predicted the cure

for MS will come in 2010 and will have to do with hormones.

I know that around the same time I got symptoms of this disease I was

also diagnosed with a uterine fibroid--for which one cause is hormone

imbalances.

I recently had my estiol and other hormone levels checked and am

awaiting the results.

>

> Hi

>

> I only know what is written below. Adam:

>

> Sex Hormone Trial in Women with MS Launched

>

>

>