shye wrote:JackD
sorry to bother you, but why is raising Gamma Interferon a no-no for MS?
Thanks in advance (your info is always so appreciated)...
Years ago someone coould not get viruses to grow in one particular beaker. So one of the lab assistant was tasked to find out why.
Seems the stuff that was in it before was "interferring with the virus growth"
.
YEP!! You gussed IT!!! INTERFERON was born. (In this case GAMMA INTERFERON)
They knew this stuff was POWERFUL immune regulating stuff.
So they decided to try it on about 12 folks with MS.
They ALL GOT VERY VERY VERY MUCH MUCH MUCH WORSE!!!!They had discovered that INTERFERON GAMMA was a major cause of the Inflammatory MS myelin damage.
Biomed Pharmacother. 1989;43(5):355-60.
Interferons and multiple sclerosis.
Clanet M, Blancher A, Calvas P, Rascol O.
Service de Neurologie, CHU Purpan, Toulouse, France.
Interferons (IFNs) are a family of proteins with antiviral, antitumoral and immunomodulating properties. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a CNS disease in which the immune reaction (IR) is the cause of the inflammatory demyelinating lesions. IFNs have been demonstrated in active lesions. The location of IFN gamma on astrocytes suggests an enhancing activity on IR by inducing Ia antigen expression on these cells. In contrast, IFN alpha/beta located on microglial cells and astrocytes might limit the growing lesion. MS patients frequently present a defective response of NK cell activity and an abnormally low production of IFNs reflecting immune dysregulation. The therapeutic trials available to date are discussed:
IFN gamma possesses a severe deleterious effect but IFN alpha/beta are still under consideration due to a possible beneficial activity.
PMID: 2477075 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
This does not say much for the the "scientific method".
I can give you the teckies of HOW MS PROGRESSES but I do not think you will thank me when I finish.
This short paper gives a nice summary of the MS destructive processes.
.
http://home.ix.netcom.com/~jdalton/ms-two-stages.pdf
jackD
P.S. This has absolutely nothing to do with "The Ultimate Cause of MS".