Re: autoimmune disease

[Guest guest]

AFTER HVING BEN DIAGNOSED IN 1998 THE ONLY THING KNOWN FOR SURE IS

THAT REALLY NOTHING IS KNOWN THATS WHY SOME DRUGS WORK FOR SOME PEOPLE

AND NOT FOR OTHERS. I USED COPAXONE THEN AVONEX 18 MONTHS EACH ALL I

DID WAS GET WORSE BUT THATS JUST ME

- In low dose naltrexone , " Judy Stoffel Loewen "

<judysl@c...> wrote:

> I believe Louise wrote and said that evidence is mounting that MS

is not an

> autoimmune disease. Both neuros that I have been to say that it is

an

> autoimmune disease, and I am interested in hearing about why it is

not, or

> what it is? I am very to new to all of this - diagnosis, LDN,

CRANs,

> everything. But is the general thinking that LDN works to boost

the immune

> system? Or do we know why it works?

>

> I am including a link to a website that questions the whole concept

of

> autoimmune disease. This was written by an alternative medicine

> practitioner.

> http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/archives2001/dec/12hawkins.html

>

> Thanks.

> Judy

> Seattle, WA

[Guest guest]

Judy,

This might be the article referred to:

Jim(ms)

----- Original Message -----

Sent: Friday, March 12, 2004 11:21 AM

Subject: [low dose naltrexone] research???????

Scientists admit Multiple Sclerosis animal experiments delayed medical

progress & non-animal research may hold the key to a cure

http://www.buav.org/home/latestnews.html#MS

March 1, 2004

BUAV

A report published in New Scientist (26 February 2004) states scientists

studying human brain tissue may have advanced Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

research along a different path from misleading earlier animal studies on

which all subsequent research has been based.

The researchers at the University of Sydney studied brain tissue from 300 MS

patients and concluded that MS may be due to the death of brain cells that

produce the myelin sheath surrounding nerve cells, and not attacks from the

patient's immune system as previously indicated by misleading animal

studies.

The New Scientist report backs what animal campaigners such as the British

Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) have been saying for many

years, stating " Their findings back the view that the reason for the lack of

progress in this field is that most MS research is done on mice with a

disease that is actually quite different. " 1

For many years, MS has been thought to be due to the patient's own immune

system attacking the myelin sheath surrounding nerve cells. This assumption

was largely based on perceived similarities between MS and an artificially

induced condition in laboratory animals called Experimental Allergic

Encephalitis (EAE).

In November 2002, three neurology experts from Glasgow University and the

Leiden University Medical Centre published claims that the traditional

animal model of (MS) was so inappropriate that it had actually delayed

progress in MS research.2

Nicky Gordon, the BUAV's Scientific Officer, says:

" These new findings based on modern, human research could be the major

breakthrough that MS sufferers and their families have been waiting for and

could lead to new treatments for the disease. We believe it is clear that

decades of cruel animal experiments into MS, particularly the use of EAE

mice, have substantially delayed progress in research into the disease. The

use of animals as crude 'models' for human disease is scientifically flawed,

and there are so many other areas where advances in treatments for human

disease would benefit too if outdated animal experiments were consigned to

the history books. "

Differences between EAE and MS

EAE runs an entirely different time course to MS and either kills or

permanently disables animals, whereas MS attacks generally subside and

reoccur.

Animals with EAE also suffer severe nerve inflammation, but in MS

inflammation is usually mild, if present at all.

EAE also does not show clinical symptoms akin to MS, or progression like the

human disease.

Despite extensive research and a vast research literature (where more

animals have been given EAE than there have been cases of human MS) the

cause of the clinical condition remains unknown. There is, to date, no

effective treatment.

References:

New Scientist 28/02/04, 2436:17;

J R Coll Physicians Edinb 2002, 32: 244-65

Copyright © 2004, BUA

----- Original Message -----

From: " Judy Stoffel Loewen " <judysl@...>

<low dose naltrexone >

Sent: Monday, June 07, 2004 1:36 PM

Subject: [low dose naltrexone] autoimmune disease

> I believe Louise wrote and said that evidence is mounting that MS is not

an