Two Common Drugs Promote Remyelination in Demyelinating Disease of Mice

In multiple sclerosis (MS) and other demyelinating diseases, autoimmune attacks lead to demyelination. Approved therapies for MS target this immune attack and prevent further demyelination. An alternative approach to treating demyelination would be to encourage remyelination. Oligodendrocytes in the central nervous system have the ability to promote remyelination; however, in humans (and other mammals), remyelination by oligodendrocytes typically is insufficient.

A multi-institutional team screened a library of 727 small-molecule drugs to identify any that might cause mouse oligodendrocyte-progenitor stem cells to turn into myelin-producing oligodendrocytes. Surprisingly, two common topically applied drugs — the antifungal miconazole and the…