New Hope for MS

During the 2012 U.S. presidential campaign, we learned that Ann Romney, wife of the Republican candidate, had a flare up of her multiple sclerosis or MS. It forced her to cut back her campaign efforts.

It also spotlighted the disease which is the most common nervous disorder in the U.S. and is caused by an autoimmune response. That's when the body's immune system attacks itself, in particular the myelin sheath covering parts of a nerve cell. We don't know what causes MS, but it is progressive and can impede functions such as walking, vision, and bowel movements.

Now researchers believe a new MS drug tones down the autoimmune response. The drug, daclizumab, decreases a unique type of immune cell that normally promotes lymph node development in the fetus, but may now be connected to MS. The cells, lymphoid tissue inducer cells or LTi cells, decreased when patients took daclizumab.

They also had less inflammation in the fluid surrounding the brain and spinal column. The drug lowers inflammation by blocking a molecule called interleukin-two, and activates natural killer cells that also help suppress the immune response.

From the study's results, researchers believe that by blocking interleukin-two, daclizumab may be acting on a type of stem cell. This encourages the stem cells to produce more natural killer cells than LTi cells, reducing inflammation and the damage that happens in MS.

More studies will have to confirm the role of LTi cells in MS. Developing drugs to target them will do even more to slow the progression of this disease.