http://www.thisisms.com/

Campath-1H is a experimental treatment for MS currently in clinical trials. While this new report touches upon the promising efficacy of the treatment, its main focus is on the difference between the effectiveness of therapeutic intervention at the relapsing-remitting stage of Multiple Sclerosis versus the secondary progressive stage. The ultimate conclusion is that early and potent treatment can significantly improve the patient's health, whereas attempting to do the same when the disease has already progressed lacks impact. In a very important point, this is even true when the MRI scans show no further disease progression-- reiterating what we have learned about secondary progressive MS not being an inflammatory condition, but rather one of neuronal/axonal loss and/or degradation. Now this study does not mean that people who are secondary progressive are beyond therapeutic hope-- what it implies is that secondary progressive patients will not benefit from this specific type of treatment targeting the reduction of inflammatory cells (e.g., likewise with Tysabri), presumably because the disease is no longer an inflammatory condition by that point. This is a positive finding, as it helps narrow the scope of treatment rather than blindly trying various poweful therapies in the hopes one will work. As bystanders to the research, it becomes quite clear that treating MS effectively will require tailored therapies-- if not to the individual then to the individual's disease stage. While we already see this in the current therapies, reinforcement breeds familiarity. "From 1991-2002, we treated 58 patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) using the humanised monoclonal antibody, Campath- 1H, which causes prolonged T lymphocyte depletion. Clinical and surrogate markers of inflammation were suppressed. In both the relapsing- remitting (RR) and secondary progressive (SP) stages of the illness, Campath-1H reduced the annual relapse rate (from 2.2 to 0.19 and from 0.7 to 0.001 respectively; both p < 0.001). Remarkably, MRI scans of patients with SP disease, treated with Campath-1H 7 years previously, showed no new lesion formation. However, despite these effects on inflammation, disability was differently affected depending on the phase of the disease." Click "read more" for the full abstract...

Posted by Administrator on Friday, July 29 @ 14:34:44 EDT (34 reads)
(Read More... | 7251 bytes more | comments? | Score: 0)