Another personal story.
It seems that some CH researchers at the Uni Zurich have come up with a new approach that may help stop/slow down the progression of MS. In a few words it helps retrain the immune system to work properly.
Sorry, the only (non technical) article that I have found is in FR so you will need to use Google if you do not read FR.
Multiple sclerosis: Swiss researchers discover a revolutionary treatment
By Raphaëlle de Tappie
Swiss researchers have succeeded in developing an effective treatment to combat the progression of multiple sclerosis without any side effects.
This could change the lives of the 2.3 million people with multiple sclerosis around the world. Swiss researchers have succeeded in developing an effective treatment to combat the progression of the disease without any adverse side effects, according to a study published on Wednesday, October 10 in the journal Science Transnational Medicine.
Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease that affects the entire central nervous system and most often appears around the age of 30. A dysfunction of the immune system leads to lesions that then cause motor, sensory and cognitive disturbances. In the more or less long term, these disorders sometimes progress towards an irreversible disability.
For years, scientists have been searching for an infectious cause of this disease that would cause a disruption of the immune system and start attacking myelin sheaths rather than pathogens. But for the first time, Professors Mireia Sospedra and Roland Martin of the University of the Clinical Research Centre for Multiple Sclerosis in Zurich wanted to focus on the immune cells responsible for the disease process.
These react to a protein called GDP-L-fucose synthase, an enzyme formed in a bacterium frequently found in the intestinal flora of patients with multiple sclerosis. “We believe that immune cells are activated in the gut and then migrate to the brain where they cause an inflammatory cascade when they meet the human variant of their target antigen,” explains Mireia Sospedra.
A radically different approach to the treatments currently available
She and her colleagues collected blood from a group of volunteers with multiple sclerosis. They then attached fragments of an immunoactive protein to the surface of blood cells in the laboratory. Once the blood was reintroduced into patients’ vessels, the fragments helped them to rebuild their immune systems. And, this, without any deplorable side effects, unlike the treatments currently available for multiple sclerosis, the researchers are pleased with. “Our clinical approach specifically targets pathological self-reactive immune cells,” notes Mireia Sospedra. This approach is therefore radically different from other treatments that asphyxiate the entire immune system.
Thus, the intestinal microbiota could play a greater role in the pathogenicity of the disease than previously thought, conclude the researchers, who hope, in the long run, to be able to apply their findings to treatment. Because if existing treatments are successful in reducing disease outbreaks, they are struggling to control the progression of the disease. In addition, the side effects are very painful for patients.
Corticosteroids, such as oral prednisone and intravenous methylprednisolone, often prescribed to reduce inflammation and reduce the duration of relapses, tend to cause insomnia, increased blood pressure, increased water retention or osteoporosis. As for the introduction of disease-modifying immunomodulators that reduce the frequency of relapses by 30%, it is known to cause a “flu-like” syndrome that can manifest itself in muscle pain, fever, chills and a feeling of weakness. Skin reactions also occur a few hours after injection during the first three months of treatment. Finally, an attack of the liver (reversible) sometimes occurs but it is generally benign.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
Looks promising, let’s hope further research/testing confirms their findings.
Not that I was being lazy, but I understood that on EF we were not allowed to "copy" large sections or the 100% of an article.
In any event, thanks for posting it for those who do not read FR. The only EN articles I found were too technical/medical.
Can’t see a problem myself since the article is linked to, but maybe a mod can enlighten me.
Some things are important enough that they surpass the rules.....
Here the official press release im German.
https://www.media.uzh.ch/de/medienmi...Darmflora.html
This is fantastic news.
This is an interesting development and perhaps explains why diet and lifestyle intervention programs have shown a lot of promise as a treatment for MS. I'm looking forward to following the developments...
By the way, here's the official press release in English: https://www.media.uzh.ch/en/Press-Re...Darmflora.html
Hopefully this will be available in Switzerland too.
“Ocrelizumab is the first and only licensed treatment for primary progressive MS in Europe.”
It's already licensed in Switzerland and available to patients.
Oh that’s great news for people who suffer from this form of MS.
Some more interesting research being done to help repair the damage done by MS.
“We have to look at ways to stop the nerves dying,” she says. “We want to be able to try to limit that either by keeping the nerves alive, or keeping them working better.”
Repurposing existing drugs to help with remyelination should prove the quickest route to therapies for progressive forms of MS, because creating and licensing new ones is a much lengthier and more expensive process.
Prof Williams still sees patients at the Anne Rowling Clinic of Regenerative Neurology in Edinburgh, named in memory of the Harry Potter author J K Rowling’s mother, who had MS. (The author this year donated £15m for research at the unit.)
"At the moment, with PPMS or SPMS, we can always give relief for pain or stiffness but we won’t change the course of the disease.
“So for those patients, to slow or stop or reverse the disease can only be done with more research, and money is critical for research.”
The biggest trial yet in the UK for patients with secondary progressive MS is the MS STAT2 trial, conducted by Prof Jeremy Chataway for the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology in London.
The trial is still recruiting at 30 centres across the UK to look at whether simvastatin, a drug used to treat high cholesterol, can slow or stop disability progression. If so, it has the potential to become one of the first disease-modifying therapies for people with secondary progressive MS.
And perhaps most encouraging of all, Prof Robin Franklin and his team at the Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute recently published research suggesting a common diabetes drug - metformin - could hold the key to stopping disease progression in MS.
Costing just a few pence per tablet, metformin appears to have an ability to restore cells to a younger, healthier state and encourage myelin regrowth.
The next question is whether it works in people as well as it does in the lab.
Prof Franklin says: "This is a drug that’s well tolerated and widely available. There is every reason to believe that the effects that we have seen - which have been so spectacular - will translate into humans.
“This is the great frontier of MS therapy. We’re good at stopping the inflammation in MS. What we’re not so good at doing is repairing the damage. All this work has given us some real hope that this medicine will reverse the damage done by MS.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-49935393
Perhaps they should look at people who have both diabetes and MS and take Metformin and study how the disease progresses (or not).
"Corticosteroids, such as oral prednisone and intravenous methylprednisolone, often prescribed to reduce inflammation and reduce the duration of relapses, tend to cause insomnia, increased blood pressure, increased water retention or osteoporosis"
When I had cancer 13 years ago, I had to take Prednisone for 3 days prior to every chemo cycle. It is an awful drug, like being on speed and you can't stop and sit down. I used to clean my house from top to bottom on it and I'd be ironing at 3 am with the insomnia. The come down the day after the dosage stopped was hell, I'd be in bed for 3 days.
Worst bit was I'd try to listen to relaxation or calm music through headphones to try and help me sleep, but my brain would override it by saying "go on, you really want The Stranglers or The Clash and you want it really LOUD".
I also had to take one called Dexamethosone which makes you crave sweet things and leaves a lot of patients with Type 2
More possible good news.
For immediate release: January 13, 2022
Boston, MA – Multiple sclerosis (MS), a progressive disease that affects 2.8 million people worldwide and for which there is no definitive cure, is likely caused by infection with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), according to a study led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health researchers.
Their findings were published online in Science on January 13, 2022.
“The hypothesis that EBV causes MS has been investigated by our group and others for several years, but this is the first study providing compelling evidence of causality,” said Alberto Ascherio, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard Chan School and senior author of the study. “This is a big step because it suggests that most MS cases could be prevented by stopping EBV infection, and that targeting EBV could lead to the discovery of a cure for MS.”
What's interesting is the study shows that a majority of people will get EBV at some point in their lives, but why some go on to develop MS and others don't is still a bit of a mystery.
There has been suspicions for many years the viruses are the root cause of T1 diabetes. The ‘something’ that causes the immune systems to attack the pancreas and destroy the beta cells that produce insulin.
In my case I was diagnosed with T1 and mononucleosis (glandular fever) at the same time.
But little research is being done on T1 causes. There is no money in developing prevention and there is too much money being made on treatment.
Duh?
" Can we do anything about it?
A clearer picture of the cause of multiple sclerosis gives a better idea of how to treat or even prevent it.
One grand vision is to repeat the success of tackling the cancer-causing human papillomavirus (HPV). Infections with HPV can increase the risk of cancers including those in the cervix, penis and mouth. But a childhood vaccination programme has had such a profound impact on the cancers that the old routine of regular smear tests may no longer be necessary.
There are several companies already working on an EBV vaccine, including Moderna, which is using the same technology it used to rapidly develop a Covid vaccine. However, vaccines will need to ensure they don’t trigger the immune system to make the same rogue antibodies that have been implicated in multiple sclerosis.
Finding out if a vaccine can prevent multiple sclerosis is going to take decades of work. The earlier ambition is a “therapeutic vaccine” for people who already have MS.
Prof Giovannoni said this would be similar to the shingles vaccine, which is given to people who have already been infected with the chickenpox virus so “even though you’ve got the virus already, you are boosting the immune system to mount an immune response against the virus and controlling the virus itself.”
Therapies that target B cells that have been infected with EBV - and drugs that attack the virus itself - are also being investigated. Prof Giovannoni said some studies suggested HIV drugs reduced the risk of getting MS so “there’s a little hint” that HIV antiretroviral drugs may work in MS."
From the BBC article linked above.
Can you post the source please.
I’m assuming this was taken from the article you posted earlier but could you please state that in your post as it is not immediately obvious.