Cholesterol drugs may help slow progress of multiple sclerosis

Statins, the prescription drugs used by millions of Americans to reduce cholesterol levels, are showing early promise as a treatment for multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease that affects about 1.5 million people worldwide, attacks the myelin sheaths around nerves of the brain, eyes and spinal cord. The formation of scar tissue or lesions can lead to such symptoms as blurry vision, numbness, loss of balance and fatigue. Current medications are expensive, must be injected and are only partially effective.

In a preliminary study involving 30 patients, researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina reported that people given 80-milligram daily doses of simvastatin (Zocor) for six months showed a reduction in the number and size of those lesions. Researchers assessed the patients after four, five and six months of treatment. During the study, the numbers of lesions declined by 44% and the size of existing lesions decreased by 41%.

The researchers suggested that statins, which have anti-inflammatory effects, might inhibit the inflammatory aspects of multiple sclerosis that lead to neurological damage.

The study appears as a letter in the May 14 issue of the Lancet, a British medical journal.

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Jane E. Allen