Post by Deb on Oct 19, 2005 20:52:18 GMT -5
NeuroVax™ is a new immune-based therapy (IBT) designed to work with the body’s own defense system to combat multiple sclerosis (MS) for which there are currently few effective therapies.
Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system, the body’s principal defense against foreign substances such as bacteria, mistakenly attacks normal tissues of the central nervous system. It afflicts approximately 400,000 people in the United States and more than 2.5 million worldwide. Specifically, the disease results in the loss of a fatty tissue called myelin that surrounds and protects nerve fibers, creating scarring (sclerosis) that interferes with the normal transmission of nerve impulses. This, in turn, leads to a variety of highly individual and unpredictable neurological symptoms, ranging from movement and balance problems to vision impairment. It is believed that a subset of the specific class of white blood cells, CD4 T-cells, that normally play an important role in the immune system, somehow become autoreactive and are principally responsible for the progression of the disease. TCR peptides have been shown to stimulate regulatory T-cells capable of suppressing the autoreactive CD4 T-cells in a certain proportion of patients. NeuroVax™, which combines three TCR peptides with an adjuvant, was designed to increase the likelihood of this immune reaction.
Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system, the body’s principal defense against foreign substances such as bacteria, mistakenly attacks normal tissues of the central nervous system. It afflicts approximately 400,000 people in the United States and more than 2.5 million worldwide. Specifically, the disease results in the loss of a fatty tissue called myelin that surrounds and protects nerve fibers, creating scarring (sclerosis) that interferes with the normal transmission of nerve impulses. This, in turn, leads to a variety of highly individual and unpredictable neurological symptoms, ranging from movement and balance problems to vision impairment. It is believed that a subset of the specific class of white blood cells, CD4 T-cells, that normally play an important role in the immune system, somehow become autoreactive and are principally responsible for the progression of the disease. TCR peptides have been shown to stimulate regulatory T-cells capable of suppressing the autoreactive CD4 T-cells in a certain proportion of patients. NeuroVax™, which combines three TCR peptides with an adjuvant, was designed to increase the likelihood of this immune reaction.