http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1726819,00.html

· Treatment uses immune system to fight disorder · Experts welcome tests, but remain cautious Ian Sample, science correspondent Thursday March 9, 2006 The Guardian Trials of a personalised vaccine against the debilitating disease multiple sclerosis are due to go ahead following approval from regulators. If the trial is a success, patients would receive four injections a year to slow or even halt the progress of the disease. Existing drugs that are able to reduce symptoms in some patients must be taken daily or weekly. The vaccine targets a common form of multiple sclerosis called relapsing and remitting MS, which affects 70% of patients, most of whom are young and in the early stages of the disease. It differs from other treatments by using a patient's own cells to make the body fight the condition. The trial builds on the success of smaller studies, including a previous trial in which 15 people with multiple sclerosis saw relapses drop by 92% after treatment. In the new year-long trial, 100 people with multiple sclerosis will receive the personalised vaccine and another 50 a placebo. Throughout the trial, tests will be conducted on the volunteers to assess how well the treatment works and whether it is safe. The trial is being run by PharmaFrontiers, a biotechnology company based in Texas. Multiple sclerosis is caused by a biological glitch that makes the body's immune system turn on healthy tissue. A small group of immune cells launch into waves of repeated attacks on nerves throughout the central nervous system. Eventually, the nerves die. To make Tovaxin, as the vaccine is known, researchers take blood from a patient and separate out the subset of cells responsible for attacking nerves. These are multiplied by growing them in the lab and then blasted with radiation to destroy their ability to replicate. The cells are then injected back into the bloodstream, where researchers hope they will trigger an immune reaction that wipes out the renegade immune cells and stops the disease getting worse. "If that's the case, the earlier we can do it after diagnosis the better," David McMillan of PharmaFrontiers told New Scientist magazine. Experts welcomed the trial, but were cautious about its prospects. All previous attempts to develop a vaccine against the disease have failed. "None have worked so far. This one may, but we don't know yet," said Richard Rudick, of the Mellen Centre for Multiple Sclerosis Treatment and Research in Cleveland, Ohio. Lee Dunster, director of research at the UK's Multiple Sclerosis Society said: "Trying to induce your own body to wipe out the rogue cells is an interesting concept." Twice as many women as men suffer from multiple sclerosis, usually identified between the ages of 25 and 50. About 70% of patients are affected by the relapsing and remitting form.