Multiple Sclerosis is a disease that affects the lives of millions. Often known in it’s abbreviated form, MS, it has an impact on the individual that is suffering and everyone in their life. The effects of MS can be devastating. It affects the brain and spinal cord nerves. The mental and physical symptoms can take quite a toll. They include blindness, double vision, psychological issues, and muscle problems and that is only scratching the surface.
Many people live for years with the disease but it can shorten the life span of the sufferer and it can even be fatal. There are some medications to treat the symptoms of MS but as of yet, there is not a cure for the disease. That might just be changing.
Worldwide, there are some 2.3 million people who suffer from MS. If a cure were to be found, it would help countless lives. A doctor by the name of Dr. Metcalfe things that she is onto a new development that can halt the attack on the nerve cells. It is being developed by her company, LifNano.
“Some people get progressive MS, so go straight to the severe form of the disease, but the majority have a relapsing or remitting version,” Dr. Metcalfe said to Cambridge News.
“It can start from the age of 30, and there’s no cure, so all you can do is suppress the immune response, but the drugs that do that have side effects, and you can’t repair the brain. The cost of those drugs is very high, and in the UK there are a lot of people who don’t get treated at all.”
Dr. Metcalfe uses the particle LIF, which is part of the immune cell. This stem cell particle can confine and control the ongoing attack you are experiencing from MS.
“I was looking to see what controls the immune response and stops it auto-attacking us,” she explains.
“I discovered a small binary switch, controlled by a LIF, which regulates inside the immune cell itself. LIF is able to control the cell to ensure it doesn’t attack your own body but then releases the attack when needed.
“That LIF, in addition to regulating and protecting us against attack, also plays a major role in keeping the brain and spinal cord healthy. In fact, it plays a major role in tissue repair generally, turning on stem cells that are naturally occurring in the body, making it a natural regenerative medicine, but also plays a big part in repairing the brain when it’s been damaged.
“So I thought, this is fantastic. We can treat auto-immune disease, and we’ve got something to treat MS, which attacks both the brain and the spinal cord. So you have a double whammy that can stop and reverse the auto-immunity, and also repair the damage caused in the brain.”
Additional research is needed before this is available to people in general. It is hopeful that this breakthrough by Dr. Metcalfe will provide an actual cure. The target date for the release of this cure is 2020 but it might take longer. If enough research is done and the tests are positive, however, the cure could become a reality.
“The 2020 date is ambitious, but with the funding we’ve got and the funding we’re hoping to raise, it should be possible,” she says.
They also have their sights set on other severe diseases.
“Psoriasis is high up on our list, and diabetes is another. Downstream there are all the dementias because a LIF is a major health factor for the brain. So if we can get it into the brain we can start protecting against dementia.”