MS Treatment That Resets Immune System Shows Promise In Safety Trial

Featured Article Academic Journal Main Category: Multiple Sclerosis Also Included In: Clinical Trials / Drug Trials;Immune System / Vaccines Article Date: 06 Jun 2013 - 2:00 PDT

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Another important result is that the therapy does not appear to affect the immune system's ability to defend against infection.

Current therapies for MS suppress the entire immune system, leaving patients more vulernable to everyday infections and higher rates of cancer.

The results of the phase 1 trial showed the therapy was safe and well tolerated and also reduced immune system reactivity to myelin by 50 to 75%, say the researchers.

"The therapy stops autoimmune responses that are already activated and prevents the activation of new autoimmune cells," says co-senior author Stephen Miller in a statement.

Miller is the Judy Gugenheim Research Professor of Microbiology-Immunology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago in the US.

As the myelin is gradually destroyed, patients experience symptoms ranging from mild numbness in the limbs to paralysis or blindness.

In this study, the researchers used patients' own white blood cells to reset their immune system so it stops attacking and destroying myelin.

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MS Treatment That Resets Immune System Shows Promise In Safety Trial