Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine researchers have successfully treated the symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS) in experimental mice. She says the finding could give hope to the millions of people suffering from a disease that attacks the nervous system and is currently untreatable Interesting geometry.
Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system attacks the special sheath that protects the extensions of nerve cells, thus preventing the transmission of nerve signals and rendering the nerves inoperable.
Right now, they can’t stop the gradual deterioration of the nervous system, they can only relieve symptoms—new research from Johns Hopkins marks a turning point in the field.
Specialists have been able to reverse the results of MS using T regulators, which control the activity of T cells, by attacking the so-called myelin sheath that forms a covering over nerves.
Stop the immune response.
To do this, they had to inject three different active ingredients into the lymph nodes in special microparticles: Interleukin-2, which stimulates the production of T-reg cells, a dose of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules, which also formed a protein. On the myelin sheath, third, they suppress T-cell function with rapamycin, until everything falls into place.
The treatment tested on experimental mice relieved symptoms 100 percent of the time and led to full recovery in 38 percent of cases — in other words, we were able to cure more than a third of them.
– said the author of the study describing the procedure, Giorgio Raimondi.
When examining the effect of the treatment, the researchers found that the regulation of T cells in experimental animals succeeded in stopping the attack on myelin, giving the opportunity for neurons to regenerate.
Following these successes, experts want to try microparticle therapy for other autoimmune diseases, especially type 1 diabetes.
In order to activate T-regs, in insulin-producing cells that have been damaged by autoimmune activity, we exchange an MHC peptide used for myelination with the cells here
– explained Jamie Spangler, assistant professor at John Hopkins University.
Human application of the procedure must still be awaited, as additional animal experiments will be required to prepare for clinical trials.
