According to the MS Society, multiple sclerosis is a chronic, unpredictable disease of the central nervous system (made up of the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves). It is a disorder in which the body’s own immune system is thought to incorrectly attack healthy tissue in the central nervous system.
Neurologist Dr. Tracy DeAngelis indicated there was an incredible breakthrough in this area and the vaccine looks very promising. It’s based on the same breakthrough mNRA technology that has brought us the COVID-19 vaccine.
According to the CDC, mRNA vaccines are a new type of vaccine to protect against infectious diseases. Here’s how they explain it:
"To trigger an immune response, many vaccines put a weakened or inactivated germ into our bodies. Not mRNA vaccines. Instead, they teach our cells how to make a protein—or even just a piece of a protein—that triggers an immune response inside our bodies. That immune response, which produces antibodies, is what protects us from getting infected if the real virus enters our bodies."
Dr. DeAngelis says one of the great advantages of a potential MS vaccine would be that patients would no longer need to take chronic medications that suppress their immune system, which run the risk of side effects, such as infections.
The study is currently being tested in mice and will have to work its way through a number of phases before treating humans. Dr. DeAngelis says the mouse model used here is a well-known animal model for MS for preclinical therapeutic developments. It’s not perfect but has provided good insights. And that is encouraging.
Source: Is an MS vaccine next? Why it would be a game-changer for me and millions of others
27 Mar 2021, 10:20 am
