University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: May 1, 2008

By LOIS BAKER
Contributing Editor

Plant sterols, known to help reduce high cholesterol, also may be effective in treating the effects of multiple sclerosis (MS), novel research by UB investigators has shown.

The study, led by Forum M. Desai, a student in the Department of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, School of Public Health and Health Professions, has shown that beta-sitosterol, a compound found in most vegetables and fruits, can reduce secretion of several proinflammatory factors known to be involved in damage to the brain’s myelin.

Results were presented recently during a poster session at the 2008 American Academy of Neurology annual meeting.

Myelin is the fatty sheath that protects nerve fibers carrying message traffic from various muscles to and from the central nervous system. Damage to myelin results in destruction of those nerve fibers and induces the symptoms of MS.

The study compared the effectiveness of B-sitosterol with that of simvastatin, a cholesterol drug that is gaining acceptance as an MS drug because it has been shown to reduce symptoms and can be taken orally, while most other MS drugs must be injected. However, using simvastatin frequently causes muscle pain and other side effects.

“There have been some studies showing the positive effect of statins on the immune system,” said Desai, “but because statins have many side effects, they are not used readily for MS patients. Since statins and beta-sitosterol share the same function of lowering cholesterol, we decided to see if phytosterols also can influence cytokine release in MS patients.” Cytokines are proteins that cause or suppress inflammation.

The research targeted peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), a critical component of the immune system, in blood samples collected from 11 untreated MS patients and seven controls. A standard product was used to induce the cells to release pro and anti-inflammatory cytokines, which then were measured after treatment with simvastatin and sitosterol.

Results showed that B-sitosterol performed better than simvastatin in reducing the release of the proinflammatory cytokine known as IL-12 in MS patients and in increasing release of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 in healthy subjects.

However, simvastatin performed significantly better than the plant sterol in reducing the proinflammatory cytokine TNF-a in MS patients.

“This study shows that SIT can help reduce MS inflammation and has no side effects,” said Desai. “The next step will be to test it in animal models of MS.”

Also contributing to this research from UB were Murali Ramanathan, Carol S. Fink, Gregory E. Wilding, Bianca Weinstock-Guttman and Atif B. Awad.

The study was funded by a grant to Awad from the Multiple Sclerosis Society.