[prplfsh]

https://www.astrazeneca.com/what-science-can-do/topics/next-...

AstraZeneca is doing some really interesting research in this area - cell therapies that reset the immune system to eliminate the dysfunctional cells driving autoimmune disease, and then allow a healthy immune system to rebuild (for diseases like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis).

[konschubert]

Today, there is also AHSCT.

There are already clinics where they basically remove your immune system and give you a new one. If you don’t die in the process, you are likely to be cured of MS.

(Any existing damage will remain.)

Currently this is reserved for the most quickly progressing cases but if we can make this safer and cheaper, it might in future be applied as an early stage cure, so people can go on to live healthy lives.

That being said, Astra Zenecas approach does seem much safer, if it’s proven to be effective!

[SmellTheGlove]

Yeah AHSCT is no joke. I mentioned in another comment my wife has MS - diagnosed last year in her mid 40s with thankfully no severe impairment. They discussed AHSCT with us but didn’t recommend it unless another disease modifying treatment didn’t work. Thankfully, Tysabri seems to be working well for her.

My mom passed from leukemia years ago. Or rather, from an infection as she was starting HSCT. I’m sure it’s safer than it was 30 years ago, but being without an immune system for a period of time really is still a last resort.

[JoshTriplett]

> There are already clinics where they basically remove your immune system and give you a new one. If you don’t die in the process

Of side effects of the process, or of opportunistic diseases during the transition?

[SmellTheGlove]

The latter is my understanding.

[johnisgood]

I would not mind remyelination + being on a DMT, heh.

[SmellTheGlove]

It would be amazing if this type of treatment worked out. MS in particular seems to be a race between technology and your immune system. You hope the next cutting edge treatment is ready by the time the current state of the art stops working for you.

[mjlee]

Anokion (now bankrupt) also seemed to have some progress along these lines (link below).

A close family member suffers from MS and is on the more effective but less safe drugs available. They haven’t suffered a relapse since starting them four years ago, but they have been hospitalised twice as a result of side effects.

As we learn more about the relationship between the immune system and various seemingly unrelated diseases the research and understanding has massively increased over the last few years. I’m cautiously optimistic that better treatments aren’t far away. An ancestor was lobotomised for hysteria in the 1960s, before being diagnosed with MS.

https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04602390

[SmellTheGlove]

Which drug are they on, if you're okay sharing?

[mjlee]

Ocrelizumab/ocrevus. Initially as an infusion, but the doctor recommended monthly injections after neutropenic sepsis.

After moving to injections there was a hospitalisation for an upper respiratory tract infection, but not nearly as serious.

On a positive note, MRIs have shown no new lesions, and bio markers seem to show no relapses.

[caycep]

not my primary field, but I will say, though, from the folks we see in our clinic, nowadays w/ ocrevus/kesimpta/rituxan, patients are way more stable and dealing with way less side effects than 10-15 years ago.