Only a narrow range of white blood cells may be involved in triggering multiple sclerosis, scientists said Thursday in a finding hailed as a major step in understanding the crippling nerve disease.
Researchers found surprisingly few types of those cells when they analyzed diseased brain tissue from multiple sclerosis patients, said study co-author Dr. Lawrence Steinman of Stanford University.The disease results when the body's disease-fighting immune system mistakenly attacks nerve tissue in the brain and central nervous system. Research suggests that white blood cells called T-cells play a critical role in the onslaught.
The new findings imply that the disease may be treatable with strategies that block just the types of T-cells involved in that attack, Steinman said in a telephone interview.
The work is a major step toward better understanding of the disease, said Stephen Reingold, vice president for research and medical programs of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
It would be "very attractive indeed" to be able to block just disease-causing blood cells, rather than risking side effects from experimental drugs that more broadly affect the immune system, he said.