The National Institutes of Health has awarded the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation a five-year, $2.8 million grant to better understand why smoking worsens multiple sclerosis.
Bob Axtell, Ph.D., will study the effects of smoking on people with relapsing-remitting MS, the most common form of the autoimmune disease.
Nearly 1 million Americans live with MS. It occurs when the body’s immune system attacks the insulating layer that protects the nerves in the brain and spinal cord. The resulting inflammation can cause vision issues, muscle spasms, tremors and paralysis.
“Previous studies have shown that in MS patients who smoke, the periods free of new relapses are shorter than in those who don’t smoke,” Axtell said. “In addition, those relapses have more pronounced MS-specific brain inflammation, with the end result being increased disability.”
The disease-worsening effects of smoking are mitigated by B-cell depletion therapy, one of the most common treatments for MS, Axtell said. However, smoking reduces the effectiveness of other MS treatments, he said.
“It appears that cigarette smoke is somehow targeting these B cells to cause brain inflammation, which helps explain why B cell depletion therapy protects MS patients against the effects of smoking,” he said. “By the end of this study, we should understand this phenomenon much better.”
Axtell’s project will involve studying data from up to 600 people, primarily using existing blood samples from patients of OMRF’s Multiple Sclerosis Center of Excellence. The center’s director, Gabriel Pardo, M.D., hopes the new research can help guide care for MS patients.
“I would estimate that about 12% of our 3,000 patients are smokers,” said Pardo. “We’ve long known that smoking is a risk factor for multiple sclerosis. Dr. Axtell’s study may give us new insights into exactly how cigarettes worsen MS and what we as clinicians can do about it.”
This research was supported by grant No. R01DA060226 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the NIH. Axtell previously received funding from the Presbyterian Health Foundation for preliminary research. This news release does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.
