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New immune-suppressing treatment forces the disease into remission in mice

A new experimental treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS) completely reverses the devastating autoimmune disorder in mice, and might work exactly the same way in humans, say researchers at the Jewish General Hospital Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research and 鲍鱼直播 in Montreal.

MS is an autoimmune disease in which the body's own immune response attacks the central nervous system, almost as if the body had become allergic to itself, leading to progressive physical and cognitive disability.

The new treatment, appropriately named GIFT15, puts MS into remission by suppressing the immune response. This means it might also be effective against other autoimmune disorders like Crohn鈥檚 disease, lupus and arthritis, the researchers said, and could theoretically also control immune responses in organ transplant patients. Moreover, unlike earlier immune-supppressing therapies which rely on chemical pharamaceuticals, this approach is a personalized form of cellular therapy which utilizes the body鈥檚 own cells to suppress immunity in a much more targeted way.

GIFT15 was discovered by a team led by Dr. Jacques Galipeau of the JGH Lady Davis Institute and 鲍鱼直播鈥檚 Faculty of Medicine. The results were published August 9 in the prestigious journal Nature Medicine.

GIFT15 is composed of two proteins, GSM-CSF and interleukin-15, fused together artificially in the lab. Under normal circumstances, the individual proteins usually act to stimulate the immune system, but in their fused form, the equation reverses itself.

鈥淵ou know those mythical animals that have the head of an eagle and the body of a lion? They鈥檙e called chimeras. In a lyrical sense, that鈥檚 what we鈥檝e created,鈥� said Galipeau, a world-renowned expert in cell regeneration affiliated with the Segal Cancer Centre at the Jewish General and 鲍鱼直播鈥檚 Centre for Translational Research. 鈥淕IFT15 is a new protein hormone composed of two distinct proteins, and when they鈥檙e stuck together they lead to a completely unexpected biological effect.鈥�

This effect, explained Galipeau, converts B-cells -- a common form of white blood cell normally involved in immune response -- into powerful immune-suppressive cells. Unlike their better-known cousins, T-cells, naturally-occurring immune-suppressing B-cells are almost unknown in nature and the notion of using them to control immunity is very new.

鈥淕IFT15 can take your normal, run-of-the-mill B-cells and convert them -- in a Superman or Jekyll -Hyde sort of way -- into these super-powerful B-regulatory cells,鈥� Galipeau explained. 鈥淲e can do that in a petri dish. We took normal B-cells from mice, and sprinkled GIFT15 on them, which led to this Jekyll and Hyde effect.

鈥淎nd when we gave them back intravenously to mice ill with multiple sclerosis, the disease went away.鈥�

MS must be caught in its earliest stages, Galipeau cautioned, and clinical studies are needed to test the treatment鈥檚 efficacy and safety in humans. No significant side-effects showed up in the mice, he said, and the treatment was fully effective with a single dose.

鈥淚t鈥檚 easy to collect B-cells from a patient,鈥� he added. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just like donating blood. We purify them in the lab, treat them with GIFT15 in a petri dish, and give them back to the patient. That鈥檚 what we did in mice, and that鈥檚 what we believe we could do in people. It would be very easy to take the next step, it鈥檚 just a question of finding the financial resources and partnerships to make this a reality.鈥�