format_quote Originally Posted by
drshafqat
anybody knowing the disease Multiple Sclerosis and its treatment by any way?
MS is a terrible disease so my sympathies to anyone who suffers from it or has a family member who does.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease that affects the brain and spinal cord. MS can cause a variety of symptoms, including changes in sensation, visual problems, muscle weakness, depression, and difficulties with coordination and speech. Although many patients lead full and rewarding lives, MS can cause impaired mobility and disability in the more severe cases.
Multiple sclerosis affects neurons, the cells of the brain and spinal cord that carry information, create thought and perception and allow the brain to control the body. Surrounding and protecting these neurons is a fatty layer known as the myelin sheath, which helps neurons carry electrical signals. MS causes gradual destruction of myelin (demyelination) and transection of neuron axons in patches throughout the brain and spinal cord, causing various symptoms depending upon which signals are interrupted. The name multiple sclerosis refers to the multiple scars (or scleroses) on the myelin sheaths. It is thought that MS results from attacks by an individual's immune system on the nervous system and is therefore categorized as an autoimmune disease.
Multiple sclerosis may take several different forms, with new symptoms occurring in discrete attacks or slowly accruing over time. Between attacks, symptoms may resolve completely, but permanent neurologic problems often persist. Although much is known about how MS causes damage, its exact cause remains unknown. MS currently does not have a cure, though several treatments are available which may slow the appearance of new symptoms. MS primarily affects adults, with an age of onset typically between 20 and 40 years, and is more common in women than in men.[1][2]
There has been news in the newspapers this week about trials of a new vaccine against MS which looks promising. I think the recent New Scientist has an article on it. In fact it does
Vaccine could stop MS in its tracks
* 09 March 2006
* From New Scientist Print Edition
* Andy Coghlan
Printable version Email to a friend RSS Feed
THE immune cells that attack the brains and nerves of people with multiple sclerosis could be turned into a weapon against the disease.
This month sees the beginning of a trial of a personalised vaccine for MS, designed to rein in and destroy the renegade white blood cells that attack myelin cells lining the brain and nerves of patients.
To make the vaccine, PharmaFrontiers of Woodlands, Texas, takes blood from an MS patient and extracts a sample of these renegade cells. The cells are then multiplied and weakened with radiation before being re-injected into the patient, whose immune system will then recognise them as damaged and attack them, sometimes wiping them out completely, according to the results of earlier trials. The immune system will also attack healthy renegade cells, which have the same markers on their surface. In one trial of 15 people with MS the rate of new flare-ups was reduced by 92 per cent.
If this success is repeated in the new trial it might mean that regular shots could slow or even arrest progression of the disease. "If that's the case, the earlier we can do it after diagnosis the better," says David McWilliams of PharmaFrontiers. In the current trial, 100 patients will receive the treatment and 50 a dummy treatment. The vaccine would only need to be injected four times a year, while other MS drugs need to be given on a weekly or daily basis.
However, since all previous attempts to develop a vaccine for MS have failed, Richard Ru**** of the Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis Treatment and Research in Cleveland, Ohio, is cautious about its prospects. "None have worked so far. This one may, but we don't yet know."
In the meantime, good news may await MS patients in the US. This week the US Food and Drug Administration is expected to lift its ban on prescribing Tysabri following new evidence on its safety and effectiveness. Tysabri, which is twice as effective at quelling symptoms as any other MS drug available, was pulled a year ago after three people taking it died from rare brain infections.
The superiority of Tysabri over existing, beta-interferon treatments was shown by three separate studies published in The New England Journal of Medicine last week (vol 354, p 899, p 911 and p 924). "With interferons, we've normally seen roughly a one-third reduction in the relapse rate," says Ru****, who led one of the studies. "With Tysabri, we saw more than a two-thirds reduction."
From issue 2542 of New Scientist magazine, 09 March 2006, page 12
Hide
Looks like you're enjoying the discussion, but you're not signed up for an account.
Bookmarks