Re: New hope for people with autoimmune diseases

[Guest guest]

Thank you for this one; although I had seen it, I had not saved it!

love, and appreciation,

n

>

>

>

>

>

http://www.king5.com/health/stories/NW_123107HEK_autoimmune_diseases_SW.6ecc8b12\

..html

>

> 06:16 PM PST on Monday, December 31, 2007

>

> JEAN ENERSEN / KING 5 News

>

> After 26 years with diabetes, Suzy Won son knows the drill. She's

> no longer the child who once dreamed of a cure.

>

> " We'll find a cure. About five years. Give us five years. So every

> five years another five years would go by and I'd say, 'Wow. There's

> not a cure yet,' " she said.

>

> Not yet, but Suzy finds renewed hope at the University of California,

> Irvine.

>

> In tests on human blood cells, researchers blocked cells responsible

> for juvenile diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis,

> actually stopping the diseases in rats. Their weapons: sea anemone

> venom and the rue plant.

>

> " At this stage we don't know if it'll be a long term treatment or if

> treatment for a period of time will completely suppress the disease

> and prevent it from coming back, " said Beeton, PhD,

> Physiology researcher at the University of California, Irvine.

>

> In autoimmune diseases, the immune system attacks the body's own

> tissue. But using compounds from the rue plant and the sea anemone,

> researchers were able to prevent that without blocking cells needed to

> fight infection.

>

> " It gives us more clues. It's sort of like putting a jigsaw puzzle

> together where the more pieces you can fill in, the easier it is to

> fill in the rest of the puzzle, " said Dr. Beeton.

>

> It's a puzzle that could lead to clinical trials, perhaps a new

> treatment. Suzy's heard that promise before, but this time she's old

> enough to help make it happen, and hopefully in her lifetime, it'll

> become medicine's next big thing.

>

> Researchers hope to begin testing in humans in the next few years.

>

> There are more than 80 known types of autoimmune diseases.

>

>