I would like to pass on some very recent breakthroughs in the search for the etiologies of the neuropathic diseases. The report on Multiple Sclerosis shows the role of B Cells in the production of antibodies. This is new information.
The report oxidative metabolic processes, discusses the role of the endothelium in the production of vasoactive agents, and the effects on function of the microvascular system.
REPORT SUMMARY - Multiple Sclerosis
This is a paraphrased research report entitled Study Indicates Auto-Antibodies Contribute To Destruction Of Nerve Fibers Myelin Sheath, The Hallmark Of Multiple Sclerosis
In recent development, researchers have discovered that multiple sclerosis is antibody-mediated. This finding suggests that the suspicion of blame, currently resting on the immune systems T cells, which produce such chemical weapons as cytokines, should extend to B cells, which produce antibodies. It also suggests a possible new target for drug therapy for the intermittent and generally progressive neurologic disorder that has remained elusive to wholly successful treatment.
The study was conducted using brain tissue taken from patients with multiple sclerosis, as well as from animals with a disease model resembling multiple sclerosis, called experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE). In this investigation it was determined that antibodies directly contribute to the destruction of myelin, a membranous sheath with highly organized structure that surrounds the axons, between nerve cells in the brain and whose destruction is characteristic of multiple sclerosis.
It was determined that these antibodies were bound to their target in myelin as the membrane was in the process of being disintegrated. This is direct evidence that the antibody plays an integral role in the destruction of the ruptured myelin sheath.
Researchers have long suspected that multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease, in which the immune system turns against specific friendly targets, or antigens, in the tissues. (Under normal conditions, the immune system targets foreign antigens, or invaders, such as bacteria or virus, which are usually excluded from the brain compartment.) But the discovery of the roles and relative contributions of the various, and often intertwined components of the immune system T cells, B cells and macrophages being the key players--has been daunting.
For the last decade, scientists have focused on the role played by auto-reactive T cells. Studies on EAE have demonstrated that T cells sensitized against myelin protein antigens in the sheath can trigger the immune attack on the brain. But researchers have not been able to identify the antigen targets of T cell attack in multiple sclerosis itself and the actual molecular mechanisms implicated in myelin damage have remained uncertain.
