Better Understanding the Outcome of Destroying and Rebuilding the Immune System

The use of chemotherapy to destroy as much of the peripheral immune system as possible, followed by some form of stem cell transplant to rebuild it, has been used for some years as a way to treat multiple sclerosis. In this autoimmune condition, the problem resides in the immune memory, and getting rid of that memory is the solution. The only approach currently demonstrated to work is this somewhat drastic treatment, and the balance of risk and cost means that it is only used for severe diseases such as multiple sclerosis. But in principle, clearance and restoration of the immune system could solve a great many of the issues present in an aged immune system, were there a way to go about it that didn't have the same level of risk and trauma. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease in which the body's own immune system attacks the myelin sheath of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. The disease leads to paralysis, pain, and permanent fatigue, among other symptoms. Fortunately, there have been great advances in therapies in recent decades. 80 percent of patients remain disease-free long-term or even forever following an autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant. During the treatment, several chemotherapies completely destroy the patients' immune system - including the subset of T cells which mistakenly attack their own nervous system. The patients then receive a transplant of their own blood stem cells, which were harvested before the chemotherapy...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs