Multiple sclerosis (MS) sufferers could find relief in an inexpensive drug already used to reduce blood pressure, according to a study. Research by Dr Lawrence Steinman, of Stanford University in the US, found that lisinopril prevented paralysis in mice with MS symptoms.

The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also found mice that had become paralysed due to suffering a progressive form of the disease were able to recover normal movement.

The medicine, normally used to reduce high blood pressure, was found to target inflammatory biological pathways involved in MS.

Those with the disease suffer symptoms ranging from mild numbness and tingling to blindness or paralysis as a result of the body's own immune system attacking the fatty insulation, called myelin, which surrounds nerve fibres in the brain.

Previous studies identified that areas of the brain damaged by MS were sensitive to a hormone which raises blood pressure - called angiotensin.

Lisinopril not only blocks an enzyme involved in angiotensin production, it also triggers regulatory T cells - a type of immune system cell that holds back other potentially harmful cells.

Given in doses equivalent to those prescribed to human patients, it prevented and reversed MS symptoms in mice.

Copyright © Press Association 2009

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