Breakthrough in treatment of Multiple Sclerosis

This research looks extremely promising for the treatment of MS. Does anyone know if anything similar is being tried for ITP?

news.sky.com/story/1099859/multiple-sclerosis-ms-treatment-breakthrough

Doctors hope a new experimental treatment could halt the progression of multiple sclerosis.

For the first time, researchers have reprogrammed the immune systems of MS patients to stop cells attacking the protective layer around nerves in the spinal cord.

The destruction of the insulating sheath - called myelin - prevents normal transmission of nerve signals, triggering symptoms of the disease such as limb paralysis.

The clinical trial showed that patients' immune systems learned to recognise myelin as harmless. Further studies are expected to start shortly to confirm whether that in turn prevents relapses of the disease.

Northwestern University in Chicago, which took part in the research, hailed the study as a "big breakthrough".

Researchers, working with scientists in Switzerland and Germany, took billions of white blood cells from nine patients and processed them to carry tiny fragments of myelin.

The cells were then re-injected, training the immune system to tolerate myelin.

Treatments for ITP have actually come a long way in the past 10 years, believe it or not. There is still a lot of research going on and I'm sure things are under development....it just takes time. There are more people able to stay out of single digits now more than ever thanks to the TPO's (which have just come about the past few years).

The article about MS discusses a treatment, not a cure. ITP has plenty of those that are also promising and that do work. But, it will be interesting to see the long-term progress of the MS people in the trials.

Since MS can be progressively debilitating and ITP isn't, I can see why it would seem to get more attention. However, thanks to the continuing efforts of Joan Young, Caroline Kruse, et al. (PDSA), ITP is getting more attention as the years go by.

Sandi, I appreciate your comments and I don't disagree with anything you said. I find it hopeful that researchers are on the verge of finally being able to directly and specifically treat an autoimmunity without suppressing the immune system in general. Isn't this a first?

MS and other severely degenerative diseases should rightly get first priority. I am hopeful that this knowledge will generalize to other autoimmunities, including ITP, but I expect we are still more than a few years away.

What impresses me is that it does not seem to be another biological treatment. Those seem to be the big thing these days but they really scare me. They are being tailored more and more towards specific autoimmune disorders, but are not perfect solutions.

When Annette Funicello died, I looked around on Youtube for clips of her. I found a documentary about her that I hadn't seen. I was truly shocked at her condition before her death. I thought I knew a lot about MS, but I didn't have a clue. Wouldn't it be great if they can stop the progression?

This is long, but if anyone wants to watch, here it is:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VbaLzo--ds

My SIL has MS and any treatment they come up with won't help her. When she and her husband built their house, they did so around the assumption that she would be in a wheelchair and she is. But she's been in the hospital and on the same floor as my mom and found out she can't go back home. She's waiting to go into a special care home. She's only in her 50's like me.

She has urged Steven, (her brother) to get tested as he has some of the same symptoms that she did when she was first diagnosed.

Awww that is so sad, Cindy. I'm so sorry.

Rob16 wrote: Sandi, I appreciate your comments and I don't disagree with anything you said. I find it hopeful that researchers are on the verge of finally being able to directly and specifically treat an autoimmunity without suppressing the immune system in general. Isn't this a first?

The TPO drugs, Nplate and Promacta, treat ITP without immune suppression. But there is also a company called SuppreMol who are developing a drug that modifies just one part of the immune system, so here's hoping it doesn't take too long.

www.suppremol.com/pipeline.html

www.suppremol.com/clinical-pipeline.html

Ann, the distinction I was making is that the TPOs do not directly treat the autoimmunity; rather, they stimulate new platelet production to compensate for the autoimmune destruction of platelets. Please correct me if I am mistaken here.

The Suppremol products in the pipeline could be what I had in mind, if they are selective for specific antibodies causing platelet destruction, and not a wide range of antibodies. If so, that is what my kids would call WAY COOL!

Thanks, Ann.

Rob:

You're right, the TPO's do not treat the autoimmunity. The closest thing we have that targets antibodies (indirectly) right now for ITP is Rituxan. It is an immunosuppressant to some degree, but does not cause too many problems. It does not deal with the direct root of ITP though and is a bit too toxic for ITP (although it is useful).

It is interesting to see what will come up in the next few years.

The TPOs may however do something directly to the immune system which seems to be modifying something so that people go into remission. It will be interesting to see what comes from that as they work out what exactly is happening. And to see whether it is a permanent or temporary fix.

Yeah, that is an interesting and surprising perk that popped up. Are you still using N-Plate, Ann?

I don't know exactly what this adds to the discusion, but I think it's pertinent: rituxan was used for ITP many years before it was tried for MS. I first heard about Rituxan as a new treatment for ITP in 2001. I believe it was 2008 before it was reported to be a possible treatment for MS>