Posted 2/1/2008 5:21 AM (GMT 0)
I read something really brief about it, but all that I know is the most recent study I know of consisted of a whopping 30 patients...however, they talked about expanding that study because they did notice a decrease in brain lesions after patients received the vaccine. Essentially the vaccine targets a type of T-cell (produced by the immune system) that for some reason or another start attacking the myelin sheath surrounding neurons (brain cells) - myelin is like a coat that helps signals travel faster; without that coating on your neurons, you get a much slower response...which leads to the symptoms of MS. So if you get a decrease in those T-cells, you get a decreased immune response, and the myelin sheath is not destroyed as quickly. Sounds very interesting. I'm sure I will learn more next year in pathology and pharmacology. Right now I'm trying to get down the basics :)