From the frontiers of medical science comes word that a treatment has been developed which may be effective in halting the advance of multiple sclerosis. This will give hope to millions of people who are in various stages of this disease and for whom heretofore there was little chance that the degeneration of their nervous systems would ever be arrested.
What happens in MS is that the sufferer's own immune system attacks the myelin sheath that insulates nerve fibers. As these sheaths are degraded the fibers lose the ability to transmit signals which eventually results in paralysis of the limbs.
The new treatment involves programming the immune system to recognize the myelin protein as part of the body and to leave it alone. The treatment also does nothing to alter the immune system in any other way.
It's been tested on mice and it works. If it works as well in humans, which it's expected to do, it'll be a fantastic breakthrough. You can read more on the details of the treatment here.
