Cytoxan proven effective in treating RRMS

[jensequitur]

From the article... "After an average of 23 months follow-up, the patients experienced an average 39.4 percent reduction in disability and an 87 percent improvement on scores of physical and mental function."

http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2008/06/12/cancer-drug-appears-to-help-with-aggressive-ms.html

[Quixotic1]

And for other lovers of nonsequiters

Although the moon is one third the size of the earth, it's farther away.

:))

[jensequitur]

That's only because it's the large print edition...  

[Quixotic1]

You've been a member of this forum long enough now to be able to read my mind.  

[jensequitur]

No, you weren't!  I just missed the part where you talked about them being RRMS.  ;-)

[Quixotic1]

I was misleading in my post, I'm sorry.  The two studies using cyclophosphamide here were both done on RRMS patients who had aggresive disease, not labeled as PPMS or SPMS.

Q

[jensequitur]

I'm pleased that they've found a new way to treat the progressive form of the disease - it bodes well for the future.

[Quixotic1]

I don't want anyone to think that this "destruction of the immune system" might not be a viable approach to aggressive disease.  (After destruction the immune system regrows) It needs further study, which I think they are doing, and study to see if the same results can be achieved with less drastic measures.

Quix

[Quixotic1]

Well.....really BAD head lice, at least, lol...

[jensequitur]

Trippy!  Rather like using a flamethrower to cure head lice.  Hmmm...  

[Quixotic1]

Thanks, Jen!  This is very new news.  For people looking at the results longingly, be aware that they used "very high dose" Cytoxan - so that it is what is called "immunoablative"  that is it completely ablates, or wipes out, the entire immune system temproararily.  This is heavy duty treatment - which may well be worth it if the disease is being rapidly progressive.  The risk of serious infections would be very high in the immediate period following this treatment, just like with a bone marrow transplant.

The study was done with just nine people all with RRMS whose disease had become very aggressive.

BTW - a Dr. Freeman in Ottawa is following a small group of MS patients that he did bone marrow transplants on 7 years ago.  One patient died from the induction, the process used to destroy the immune system along with the entire bone marrow, but the others have not only had NO relapses, but have improved.  They were attempting to "reboot the immune system."  That is, they thought they would destroy the system that was there, and then let the fresh immune system that grew after the transplant show them the way the disease got started.

No one in the research team expected to see actual improvement.  The problem is that bone marrow transplantation is very risky.  So this study with the Cytoxan was looking at doing a similar thing with a less drastic method than a bone marrow transplant.


Quix