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Doctors hope a new experimental treatment could halt the progression of multiple sclerosis.

For the first time, researchers have reprogrammed the immune systems of MS patients to stop cells attacking the protective layer around nerves in the spinal cord....... Read More - http://www.ms-uk.org/index.cfm/myelin

This sounds like the most positive find scientists have ever made for MS yet.

I wonder what others think?

Hmmm, I'd like to see how this works first since MBP has been used to TRIGGER autoimmune responses in the past.

How is it that it now eliminates an autoimmune response and causes the immune system to identify MBP as 'self' and thus not trigger an assault on it, I wonder?

Immunological tolerance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immune_tolerance

Yep most positive and hopeful result for us MS patients & ought to be less gruesome compared to DMT.

And if it is a real breakthrough and solves it, how long before all the studies are done and we can actually get the treatment?

I have applied for the HSTC in Chicago, but I posted this article today in a forum where most people are only interested in HSTC and they were not impressed. They seem to believe that being blasted with high dose chemo is the only way to go. I disagree, if researchers thought that, they wouldn't be doing phase II.

While the MS mouse community is again ecstatic over another drug that stops MS within their group, this discovery has a very long way to go to see if it's effective on human MS.

Hopefully it will be different than all the rest of the promising results that we have seen in the past.

Harry

This isn't a drug, it's a procedure similar to HSCT. And it wasn't done on mice, but nine MS patients. From http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/5/188/188ra75

The aim of this first-in-man trial was to assess the feasibility, safety, and tolerability of a tolerization regimen in MS patients that uses a single infusion of autologous peripheral blood mononuclear cells chemically coupled with seven myelin peptides (MOG1–20, MOG35–55, MBP13–32, MBP83–99, MBP111–129, MBP146–170, and PLP139–154). An open-label, single-center, dose-escalation study was performed in seven relapsing-remitting and two secondary progressive MS patients who were off-treatment for standard therapies. All patients had to show T cell reactivity against at least one of the myelin peptides used in the trial. Neurological, magnetic resonance imaging, laboratory, and immunological examinations were performed to assess the safety, tolerability, and in vivo mechanisms of action of this regimen. Administration of antigen-coupled cells was feasible, had a favorable safety profile, and was well tolerated in MS patients. Patients receiving the higher doses (>1 × 109) of peptide-coupled cells had a decrease in antigen-specific T cell responses after peptide-coupled cell therapy. In summary, this first-in-man clinical trial of autologous peptide-coupled cells in MS patients establishes the feasibility and indicates good tolerability and safety of this therapeutic approach.

The real challenge will be to replicate these positive results in a larger group of trial participants.

I just listened to the very interesting segment which aired on NPR's Science Friday.You can listen to it here: http://sciencefriday.com/segment/06/07/ ... tment.html

BTW, I just joined here today, but I was diagnosed in 2010. Not too long ago, but I'm still a relative newbie.

Judi

bifrostlake wrote:This isn't a drug, it's a procedure similar to HSCT. And it wasn't done on mice, but nine MS patients. From http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/5/188/188ra75

Yes, my use of the word "drug" was not correct as the procedure does involve taking one's own T cells, treating them and then re-injecting back into the system. Almost like a drug

Harry

I'm having a hard time seeing how this is radically different from copaxone treatment--which is a replication of myelin peptides and most effective in those with inflammation in the RRMS phase of MS--and has a similar MOA. Granted, it's the patients' own antigenic cells, but it's still another myelin decoy used to retrain t cells. But does it do anything for gray matter atrophy, which occurs before demyelination in normal appearing white matter in those with CIS? Anything for neurodegeneration? MS is much more complex than b and t cells. This is not new, and feels far from a "breakthrough." Reminds me a bit of tovaxin, as well...
cheer

cheerleader wrote:I'm having a hard time seeing how this is radically different from copaxone treatment--which is a replication of myelin peptides and most effective in those with inflammation in the RRMS phase of MS--and has a similar MOA. Granted, it's the patients' own antigenic cells, but it's still another myelin decoy used to retrain t cells. But does it do anything for gray matter atrophy, which occurs before demyelination in normal appearing white matter in those with CIS? Anything for neurodegeneration? MS is much more complex than b and t cells. This is not new, and feels far from a "breakthrough." Reminds me a bit of tovaxin, as well...
cheer

Cheer,

Personally, I think this is just another "discovery" in the long line of discoveries of trying to manipulate one's immune system. The world of MS medicine is fixated that MS is caused by the patient's immune system going whacky and attacking the patient's myelin. This fixation has controlled MS research by the drug companies for decades and has served to produce more and more powerful immune system altering drugs in the hope that this will cure the disease or, at the very least, control it.

But in the past decade or so we are seeing other lines of research that cast a lot of doubt on this theory and indicate that inflammation occurs first and the immune system is simply reacting to it.

I've been following this for over 45 years now and despite advances in science, there hasn't been much in MS research that seems any closer to finding that elusive cause of the disease. And until that is done, there likely won't be anything resembling a cure.

Take care.

Harry

if we want to break through, I think we really will need to take a holistic view...
this line here is too immune centric; rather we need to look at the metabolism as a whole, the gut microbiota, the feeding of the cells, the working of the mitochondria.
I also believe we need to start with the progressive path..
and when that is understood and controlled, the other pieces of the puzzle will come together...

Thank you for the link giddiupgal! This is an interview with Dr. Stephen Miller, who is the study's co-author. I recommend that anyone interested in the news to listen to it.

cheerleader wrote:I'm having a hard time seeing how this is radically different from copaxone treatment...

The method of action is nothing like Copaxone (or Tovaxin). The peptides are not being used as decoys. What was done in the study was to hook up the nine patients to a leukapheresis machine that separated the white blood cells (WBCs) from the other cells in the patients' blood. The researches then took the WBCs (which were not attenuated in any way) and attached peptides from seven different proteins on the cells. Once that was done, the WBCs were then transplanted back to the patients using the leukapheresis machine. It's relevant that just small fragments were used. Using the whole protein would result in autoreactivity, which is not what the researchers wanted to happen. The goal here is to induce immune tolerance, which is a natural and vital part of a well-functioning immune system. The human race wouldn't be here without it.

Your immune system shouldn't be upregulating when you encounter harmless antigens. So there's nothing sinister or unnatural about this potential treatment. In fact, the best thing about it is that it doesn't require that our entire immune system be suppressed or modified, leaving us vulnerable to deadly pathogens and cancer.

The researchers aren't claiming this is the cure-all for MS. If the Phase I patients continue to do well and the results can be replicated in a larger cohort of patients, then we'll have an effective treatment that is far superior than any currently out there. And a lot safer.