Diagnose and adios. This statement was made to physicians who worked with patients who had Multiple Schlerosis in 1970. Such was the state of affairs; little hope was given to controlling the devastating symptoms of Multiple Schlerosis, let alone hope for a cure.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a nervous system disease that affects your brain and spinal cord. It damages the myelin sheath. Your myelin sheath is the covering around your nerves, and protects the nerve cells from injury or infection. As damage occurs on the myelin sheath, scar tissue forms to take its place. This scar tissue is seen as lesions on a scan. The damage slows down or blocks messages between your brain and your body, leading to the symptoms of MS. They can include
• Visual disturbances
• Muscle weakness
• Trouble with coordination and balance
• Sensations such as numbness, prickling, or "pins and needles"
• Thinking and memory problems
In some cases, the symptoms are mild; in others the symptoms can be devastating, leading to complete dependence on others for meeting all of your physical needs. Emotional lability, or depression are the mental component of MS. The patient, beset with relapses, never knows when another relapse may strike, how much damage will occur, or how much they will be able to recover when the acute exacerbation is over (if ever over, sometimes MS continues to progress).
No cause or cure for MS has been found. It remains a mysterious disease with no known pathogen or even known determinants of its severity and course. It seems to go into remission spontaneously, with no interventions made. At others times, even the potent Interferon drugs make no difference; other than making the patient feel like they have a chronic case of the flu.
MS is not alone in this regard. Neurological diseases are among the most difficult to study, and although beneficial therapies have been developed in the last decades for Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and epilepsy, there is still no cure for any of the degenerative neurological diseases.
Now a major breakthrough for Multiple Schlerosis looms on the horizon. This, after almost 75 years of organized research, indicates there may be reason for hope.
BHT-3009 has been discovered. It is a vaccine that is given to patients who have been diagnosed with Multiple Schlerosis. Rather than targeting the entire immune system, BHT-3009 targets only disease-causing antigen-specific T-cells that attack the myelin. It has other benefits too. It is only given once a month, it is easily tolerated by the patient with minimal side effects, and lastly, but most importantly, it seems to reverse the MS process.
Lesions were reduced by 60-70%. Clinical impact or disability reductions were not noted, as the number of patients was too small. Researchers are hoping to go to another phase of the study which will include larger amount of patients.
The proof of the pudding will be in the outcome as the patient sees it. If they are no longer wheelchair bound, then BHT-3009 is a success. Hope is resting on the future work which needs to be done. Hope springs eternal.
Sources
MedScape: DNA Vaccine Alters Natural Course of Multiple Sclerosis, October 8, 2004.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/563866?sssdmh=dm1.308507&src=nldne
Institute of Medicine, 2001
http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10031&page=1
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/multiplesclerosis.html
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