Washington, June 2 (ANI): A new study has found that genetically engineered immune cells seem to promote healing in mice infected with a neurological disease similar to multiple sclerosis (MS), cleaning up lesions and allowing them to regain use of their legs and tails.
The new finding, by a team of University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health researchers, suggests that immune cells could be engineered to create a new type of treatment for people with MS.
Currently, there are few good medications for MS, an autoimmune inflammatory disease that affects some 400,000 people in the United States, and none that reverse progress of the disease.
Dr. Michael Carrithers, assistant professor of neurology, led a team that created a specially designed macrophage - an immune cell whose name means "big eater."
Macrophages rush to the site of an injury or infection, to destroy bacteria and viruses and clear away damaged tissue.
The research team added a human gene to the mouse immune cell, creating a macrophage that expressed a sodium channel called NaVI.5, which seems to enhance the cell's immune response.
But because macrophages can also be part of the autoimmune response that damages the protective covering (myelin) of the nerves in people with MS, scientists weren't sure whether the NaV1.5 macrophages would help or make the disease worse.
When the mice developed experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis - the mouse version of MS-they found that the NaV1.5 macrophages sought out the lesions caused by the disease and promoted recovery.
The study is set to be published in the Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology. (ANI)
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