MS patients given hope with new vaccine treatment

[hyphenate]

Canadian researchers have developed a vaccine to stop the progression of multiple sclerosis (MS) and they say encouraging results have already been seen.


The scientists from the Montreal Neurological Institute say the DNA vaccine, BHT-3009, appears to be safe and beneficial to the brain and immune systems of patients with MS. In multiple sclerosis, the immune system mistakenly attacks the fatty myelin sheaths that protect nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. There is no cure for the disease, which affects an estimated 400,000 people in the United States alone.

Symptoms include blurred vision, loss of balance, poor coordination, extreme fatigue, paralysis and blindness.

<snip>

The treatment was found to be safe and well tolerated and a reduction in the type of white blood cells that target myelin proteins, which protect nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, was also seen; in patients with MS the immune system attacks these proteins.

The number of brain lesions fell among those who took the vaccine compared to those on the placebo. The researchers also found there were no increases in the level of relapses or other adverse events among patients in the study.

http://www.news-medical.net/?id=28789

[TZ]

1. very promising

FYI-http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=222x24258

Just so ya know.:) :hi:

[Lex]

2. Yes, I was reading about this yesterday.

Very interesting and very promising.

Thanks for posting about it.

[mcscajun]

3. Thanks for sharing. I'm going to pass this one along

I have a sister with MS.

[kestrel91316]

4. I'm skeptical about using a vaccine (which stimulates the immune system)

to manage a disease which is caused by an immune system that is too stimulated already........reminds me of the FIP vaccine that backfired badly in the Cornell study several years ago - ultimately the mortality rate far exceeded that of controls.