Research
Clinical Research
The OHSU Multiple Sclerosis Center conducts a number of clinical research trials studies.
For a list of current clinical research trials
Current Research
Dedicated to finding the cure of multiple sclerosis.
The OHSU Multiple Sclerosis Center is one of the nation’s leaders is MS research. Over 40 laboratory and clinician scientists, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, research assistants and research nurses work together on a variety of research projects all aimed at finding new treatments for MS.
The MS Center of Oregon has an annual research budget of over $2.5 million. We receive grants from the National Institutes of Health, Department of Veterans Affairs, National MS Society, Nancy Davis Foundation for MS, and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.
The Tykeson Multiple Sclerosis Research Laboratory is located in the OHSU Mark O. Hatfield Research Center. It is dedicated to studying how the immune system causes MS and developing new treatments aimed at controlling disease causing white blood cells. Immunologists, neuroscientists and molecular biologists work together toward the common goal of ultimately curing MS. The laboratory is named in honor of Donald Tykeson and his family who helped establish the laboratory with a generous gift.
The Neuroimmunology Research Laboratories are located at the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Immunologists, neuroscientists and molecular biologists work together on a variety of projects answering fundamental questions important to advancing our knowledge of how the immune system causes MS and on how to protect nerves from damage in MS.
The MS Collaborative Research Group (MSCRG) was initiated in 2008 with a five year grant from the National MS Society. The MSCRG brings together five laboratories under the direction of Drs. Dennis Bourdette, Michael Forte, Gary Banker, Lawrence Sherman and William Rooney to understand why axons die in MS and to develop new therapies to prevent axonal degeneration.
Novel Treatments Discovered at the OHSU MS Center
Scientists at the OHSU MS Center have discovered three novel therapies in the laboratory which have gone into early clinical trials in patients.
Recombinant T Cell Ligand-1000 (RTL-1000)
Using advanced bioengineering techniques, Drs. Arthur Vandenbark, Gregory Burrows and Halina Offner invented a way to make proteins, called recombinant T cell ligands or RTL, that can bind to disease causing T cells (a specialized type of white blood cells), “stun” them and turn them into protective T cells. RTL therapy holds great promise for treating a number of autoimmune diseases, including MS. RTL-1000 was designed to treat MS and is being developed by a local biotechnology company, Artielle. The first safety trials of RTL1000 in MS patients will be completed in early 2009.
Lipoic Acid
Lipoic acid is a natural anti-oxidant. Dr. Dennis Bourdette and his laboratory research team were the first to discover that lipoic acid is highly effective at treating a mouse model of MS. Drs. Vijayshree Yadav and Bourdette conducted the first trials of lipoic acid in MS patients and found that it was active when given orally. They are continuing to conduct research seeking to develop lipoic acid as an oral treatment for MS.
T Cell Receptor Peptide Therapy
Drs. Arthur Vandenbark and Halina Offner discovered that a peptide, called T cell receptor peptide or TCR peptide, could act as a vaccine and stimulate protective white blood cells in rats and mice with a MS like disease. Drs. Dennis Bourdette, Ruth Whitham, Vandenbark and Offner conducted early clinical trials of TCR peptide therapy in MS patients. While these early trials were very encouraging, the biotechnology company that holds the exclusive patent on this technology is presently not continuing clinical trials of this novel therapy.
