Article on Minocycline and Possible MS Prevention

[whaleharbor]

While not directly related to a rheumatic disease, I found it interesting how minocycline is thought (in this study) to help patients with MS prevention. I figured you would find in interesting also. http://www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcoverage/ectrims/54042

100 mg Minocycline every other day (Actavis Brand)

[Maz]

Hi Whaleharbor,

I have a sibling with MS and it’s really sad that his neurologist refused to let him trial minocycline when they were running successful studies on it. 🙁 The MS Society of Canada even lists minocycline as an MS disease-modifying drug (though they say the same as the ACR that it’s likely not due to the microbial effects. It is neuroprotective, though, and was even found to be helpful for anyone who’d just had a stroke to help contain the neuro damage from the bleed, if administered within about 6 hours after the stroke event. It’s such a shame that there is such resistance to its use. My sibling went on the interferon trials for MS about 15 years ago and he said that after each weekly injection he was in bed with flu-like symptoms for 3 days! The drug may have slowed his MS, but his quality of life was so poor from the side-effects that he opted not to continue using it after the trial ended.

Thanks so much for sharing! I was also amazed that MS and RA are related in terms of genetic haplotypes:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HLA-DR4

DRB1*04:01 is associated with multiple sclerosis,[12] rheumatoid arthritis,[13] type 1 diabetes,[14][15] lyme disease induced arthritis[16]

Wasn’t I the lucky one to get Lyme that triggered RA? I got tested for my haplotype, so am sure my sibling has the same one as me and, hard not to believe that as an avid golfer in his youth, that his MS wasn’t also triggered by cruddy Lyme.

[whaleharbor]

First, your knowledge amazes me Maz. Thank you for all you do for all of us. Second, I wonder if it is too late for your brother to try Minocycline for MS? Finally, there is so much we don’t know, isn’t there? There was a time when no one believed that an ulcer could be caused by an infection of h pylori…but now we know.

100 mg Minocycline every other day (Actavis Brand)

[Author]

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