Multiple sclerosis - antihypertensive drug ameliorates brain inflammation

Researchers in Germany and the USA have discovered a new signaling pathway of brain cells that explains how widely used antihypertensive drugs could keep inflammation in multiple sclerosis (MS) in check, according to a joint press release from Heidelberg University Hospital and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ).

The peptide angiotensin not only raises blood pressure but also activates the immunological messenger substance TGF beta on a previously unknown communication pathway in the brain. The study was conducted by Lawrence Steinman at Stanford University in California, USA, together with the Heidelberg group of Michael Platten and is published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Angiotensin II is known as a molecule that regulates blood pressure. Drugs that block the angiotensin receptors (AT1R blockers) are prescribed to millions of people to lower high blood pressure. These receptors have now also been found on numerous organs and cells that have nothing to do with regulating blood pressure, for example on the T cells of the immune system. These are immune cells that are involved in autoimmune reactions and chronic-inflammatory diseases such as MS.