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FANTASTIC NEWS—A potential vaccine for multiple sclerosis is now within sight on the horizon! And it’s an mRNA vaccine by BioNTech, maker of the Pfizer #COVID19 vaccine. Study in mice shows great promise for improving symptoms & stopping MS progression! https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6525/145.full
2) Sahin's team showed that an mRNA vaccine encoding a disease-related autoantigen successfully ameliorated MS symptoms in sick animals and prevented disease progression in rodents showing early signs of MS. https://www.fiercebiotech.com/research/biontech-ceo-turns-covid-19-vaccine-s-mrna-tech-against-multiple-sclerosis
3) MS occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks the protective myelin sheath that covers nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Existing treatments work by systemically suppressing immune system. That can control MS, but it also leaves patients vulnerable to infections.
4) “Sahin, together with colleagues at BioNTech and scientists at the Johannes Gutenberg University, hypothesized that an mRNA vaccine could work in a targeted fashion to help the immune system tolerate specific MS-related proteins without compromising normal immune function.”
5) “The team came up with an mRNA candidate that wrapped genetic information coding for MS-causing self-antigens in fatty substances. A similar lipid nanoparticle is used to protect the COVID-19 mRNA material until it reaches target cells, where it produces the antigen protein.”
6) “In mice with autoimmune encephalomyelitis, a model for human MS, the vaccine... did not impair the animals' ability to launch a protective immune response.”
7) “The vaccine blocked all clinical signs of MS in mice; (placebo did not do well). In mice that started on the mRNA vaccine when small signs of disease such as paralysis of the tail were noted, the treatment prevented further disease progression and restored motor functions.”
8) “In treated mice, lower levels of infiltrating and antigen-specific CD4+ T cells in the brain and spinal cord, and the T cells in the spleen showed low expression of certain markers that are critical for the immune cells to be able to enter the central nervous system”
9) “What’s more, treatment led to the expansion of regulatory T cells, or Treg cells. because MS, specific self-antigens may differ from one patient to the next, Treg cells offer a more general “bystander tolerance,” suppresses T cells against other antigens in inflamed tissue.”
10) “Sahin originally founded BioNTech to translate the mRNA idea to cancer immunotherapy, but the firm rose to the challenge of COVID-19 amid the pandemic. Now, Sahin and colleagues believe their research shows mRNA vaccines also hold promise in treating MS.”
11) “mRNA vaccines can be designed quickly and mRNA can code for virtually any autoantigen. “Thus, tailoring the treatment for the disease-causing antigens of patients is conceivable, similar to that has been successfully executed in the setting of personalized cancer vaccines”
12) “The combination of mRNAs may enable control of even more complex autoimmune diseases, they suggested”
I think we are just at the beginning of the mRNA revolution started by @kkariko and her decades of mRNA work.
I think we are just at the beginning of the mRNA revolution started by @kkariko and her decades of mRNA work.
13) Great short piece on @kkariko... she deserves the Nobel Prize. https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/16/us/katalin-kariko-covid-19-vaccine-scientist-trnd/index.html
14) Longer thread dedicated to @kkariko... she’s a modern day hero and embodies the theme “nevertheless she persisted” https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1336297449506430977
15) To be clear, this mRNA therapy technology holds promise for all of rheumatology and autoimmune diseases says @boulware_dr.
Fun fact: Dr Boulware was also the leader of several trials that debunked HCQ for COVID earlier last year. https://twitter.com/boulware_dr/status/1348968183017967616
Fun fact: Dr Boulware was also the leader of several trials that debunked HCQ for COVID earlier last year. https://twitter.com/boulware_dr/status/1348968183017967616
