Vaccination Treatment

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Vaccination Treatment

Israeli therapy may slow onslaught of multiple sclerosis

By ISRAEL21c staff October 17, 2004

http://www.ujc.org/content_display.html?ArticleID=128379

Intravenous Immunoglobulin " significantly lowered " the occurrence of a

second attack of MS and reduced inflammation and disease activity.

Providing hope for Alzheimer sufferers

Israelis develop West Nile vaccine

Multiple Sclerosis Center at Sheba Hospital

It's a known fact in the medical community that two out of the top

three medications to treat multiple sclerosis were developed in

Israel. Since 1997, Teva Pharmaceuticals' Copaxone has been

prescribed by American doctors as a treatment for the earlier stages

of MS. And Rebif - the commercial name for interferon-beta-1a, a

drug developed at the Weizman Institute of

Science - is used by approximately 70% of the MS patients worldwide.

Now, an Israeli study has provided some additional hopeful news for

those in the early states of multiple sclerosis (MS), among them, some

350,000 Americans. An Israeli-developed therapy designed to boost the

body's immune system could reduce the risk of a second attack of

MS-related symptoms, and

may slow the disease and protect the body from nerve damage.

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, inflammatory disease affecting the

brain and spinal cord. The cause is related to damage to myelin, the

tissue sheathing the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. As a

result, people with multiple sclerosis can experience problems with

muscle control and strength, vision, balance, sensation, mental

function, fatigue, and urinary tract function.

Many cases develop gradually. In some patients, the disease has an

on-again, off-again pattern called relapsing-remitting MS, in which

symptoms flare up and then disappear. Previous studies have found

that the length of time between the first and second occurrences of

multiple sclerosis symptoms can be an important predictor of the

disease's progress. The longer the

duration between first and second occurrences, the better the

prognosis.

Dr. Anat Achiron, director of the Multiple Sclerosis Center at Sheba

Medical Center in Tel-Hashomer, Israel, and colleagues tested an

approach using an immune therapy called intravenous immunoglobulin.

The researchers wanted to see if the therapy bought more time for

people who had had their first multiple sclerosis event. They

recruited 91 participants, randomly assigning half the group to

receive immunoglobulin intravenously once every six weeks for a year.

The rest received a

placebo.

Participants had MRI images taken at the study's beginning and end.

They also had neurological tests and physical exams every three months

during the course of the experiment.

Immunoglobulin " significantly lowered " the occurrence of a second

attack and reduced inflammation and disease activity, the researchers

reported in the October issue of the journal Archives of Neurology.

" Intravenous immunoglobulin treatment for the first year from onset of

the first neurological event suggestive of demyelinative disease

significantly lowers the incidence of a second attack and reduces

disease activity as measured by brain magnetic resonance imaging, " the

researchers

reported.

Since a second attack is required for definitive diagnosis of MS,

immunoglobulin " reduced the probability of reaching a definitive

diagnosis of MS by 48% within the first year from onset, " they said.

Overall, side effects were few and included headache, rash, nausea,

and tightness

in the chest. All side effects disappeared within 24 hours.

Achiron and her team concluded that intravenous immunoglobulin could

be considered a treatment option for patients who have had one

multiple sclerosis episode.

OMRIX biopharmaceuticals , an Israeli-based biotechnology company

developed the immunoglobulin used in the study. They'v e also

developed a vaccine based on immunoglobin against West Nile virus,

which is currently being tested in the U.S.

The Multiple Sclerosis Center at Sheba encompasses treatment

facilities for 1600 patients with MS from all over Israel. The center

is involved in basic Immunologic and Neuro-Molecular Genetic Research,

and they also focus on development of Innovative Technologies

associated with improved assessment of the multiple sclerosis disease

process as well as patients'

quality of life.

Achiron completed her medical education at the Tel Aviv University

Sackler School of Medicine, and received M.D. and Ph.D. degrees.

After her residency in neurology she became interested mainly in

clinical and basic research in multiple sclerosis and established the

Multiple Sclerosis Center, a center that has adopted a holistic

approach in the treatment and

rehabilitation goals for patients.

Her main research interests are related to the molecular, genetic, and

immunologic aspects of the disease in relation to innovative

therapeutic and diagnostic approaches, like T Cell Vaccination,

Immunoglobulin Treatment and m-RNA expression profiles in different

disease stages that can lead to the development of new drug targets

and specific tailored treatment.

Over the last two years, the researchers at the center have studied T

Cell Vaccination as a potential treatment for patients with MS. The

preparation of the vaccine was made by isolating the patient's own

myelin- attacking T cells from peripheral blood, expanding the cells

to auto-reactive lines, weakening them by irradiation and injecting

them back to the patient.

Three skin injections of the vaccine are given within six months and

no side effects or significant adverse events were noted so far.

The beneficial clinical results of the Vaccination Treatment prompted

the team to start an additional double-blind, placebo-controlled

trial in MS patients with the first onset of neurologic

symptomatology, in order to evaluate whether early T Cell Vaccination

could induce long-lasting immunity against myelin-attacking cells and

prevent the conversion from

probable to definite MS.