OT- New approach to MS treatment announced

[rendean]

Fox news reports that:

"When patients are diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, their bodies begin to attack the protein myelin, which insulates the body’s spinal cord, brain and optic nerves. As a result, MS patients experience symptoms such as numbness in their limbs, paralysis and sometimes blindness.

However, during a phase one clinical trial of a new treatment for MS patients, researchers were able to curtail the body’s attacks on myelin by 50 to 75 percent, while sustaining the functionality of the rest of the immune system."

"In a study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, a small group of MS patients were treated intravenously with an infusion of their own white blood cells, which had been engineered to carry billions of myelin antigens. Researchers hoped the cells would teach the body to stop attacking myelin."


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/06/medical-breakthrough-for-multiple-sclerosis-sufferers/?test=latestnews#ixzz2VSQ3DTa1


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/06/medical-breakthrough-for-multiple-sclerosis-sufferers/?test=latestnews#ixzz2VSPE3er1

Additional link from FOX news: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/06/medical-breakthrough-for-multiple-sclerosis-sufferers/?test=latestnews

[Ojibajo]

I was thinking the same thing Shell, hopefully with these initial findings they will get funding to do a larger double blind study that they can publish in which the results will be considered clinically significant enough to proceed in the development of a new treatment.

Amy

[sllowe]

I just heard this on the news this morning - got excited....Until... at the end of the broadcast, they mention that due to size (small study), the results are statistically insignificant!  Blah!!! I want to read the guts of it.
Perhaps if this study was indeed small, but successful, it will pave the way for a larger one.
-shell

[Lulu54]

This study was done by one of my favorite groups - The Myelin Repair Foundation.  They are veryexcited about the results of this initial study group and I am too!

[Sailorsong]

This sound kind of like the treatment for allergies. Have your immune system learn to not attack something you're allergic to.

Dennis

[kwarendorf]

If they could teach our t-cells to ignore our myelin the world would be a happier place :-) I've got my gingers crossed!

This was only 9 patients, so there's still some work to do...

Kyle

[rendean]

My daughter sent me the link from the BBC on the same story. It's explanation is a bit more thorugh.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22753214