Adult Stem Cells Reprogrammed In Their Natural Environment
Submitted by art on Tue, 2008-07-08 06:57.
Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies manipulated adult neural stem cells still in place in the brain. They successfully coaxed mouse brain stem cells bound to join the neuronal network to differentiate into support cells instead.
In patients with multiple sclerosis, the immune system attacks oligodendrocytes, which leads to the thinning of the myelin layer affecting the neurons' ability to efficiently conduct electrical signals. Being able to direct neural stem cells to differentiate into oligodendrocytes may alleviate the symptoms.
Art wrote, "In patients with
Art wrote,
"In patients with multiple sclerosis, the immune system attacks oligodendrocytes, which leads to the thinning of the myelin layer affecting the neurons' ability to efficiently conduct electrical signals".
When I was dx 4 years ago the theory was that the immune attack was focused on the myelin around the axons. But I'm seeing more references to the immune system attacking the myelin-making cells (and also the nerve fibres). The attack on the myelin-making cells makes more sense. And I like the explanation that this leads to a thinning of the myelin layer - may account for the observation that there is damage to the white matter (myelin) beyond the visible lesions. So a good strategy would be to stop the immune attack and to encourage (by drugs) the growth of myelin making cells (or transplant myelin-making cells).
I already mailed this to
I already mailed this to Auto-Immune Digest and a Salk address, but now that it's appeared here as well: great success has been had with ASCT (autologous stem cell therapy) treatments for MS, without knowing why some people respond so much better (one patient had a remarkable remission of disability), and it might be a good idea to combine ASCT with this gene to see if it influences the result.
-Chris Sullivan