Future Treatment?

[NicShaf]

I hope I'm not posting this a second time if someone else already has, but I was just reading the Vasculitis Foundation Newsletter, and there was an article about possible future treatment. I couldn't find the article on their page, so I'm retyping it It is just a small article, but I hope to hear more about it in the near future.

Future Treatment? Immune Tolerant Cells Generated in New Research:
Is it possible to have a drug that could treat most, if not all, autoimmune disorders? Newly published research demonstrates how the human intestine generates and maintains "immune tolerance" under healthy conditions.
Researchers at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, have discovered a molecule pronounced "alpha v beta 6," that normally is used by the body to prevent unnecessary immune reactions. Scientists made this discovery in mice when they noticed that their intestines secreted alphavbeta6 when absorbing food. The alphavbeta6, together with the absorbed food, induces the body to produce immune tolerant cells. The researchers suggest that it may be the key to unlocking an entirely new set of treatments for autoimmune diseases.
"Our findings have the potential to repair the compromised immune tolerant system so as to lead the body immune system to 'correct' the ongoing pathological conditions by itself," says Dr. Ping-Chang Yang, one of the researchers.
Dr. John Wherry, Deputy Editor of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology which published the findings, observes, "While considerable work remains to determine whether or not this discover will directly translate into new therapies, the alphavbeta6 discovery reported by these scientists is exciting, if not stunning."
Sourse: "Scientists discover a 'master key' to unlock new treatments for autoimmune disorders," Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, September 29, 2011.

[Dryhill]

Nicole, thanks for the article. The downside is the comment "considerable work remains to determine whether or not this discovery will translate into new therapies" . So it could be years before we know if there is likely to be a treatment for us Weggy sufferers, having said that any new discovery is always a good thing. There was the discovery steroids could help control WG then Cyclophosamide and more recently Rituximab - if I had been diagnosed when I was 18 (1968) I would probably not have seen my 19th birthday!

It would be interesting to know if the scientists were actually looking for a cure for AI diseases or just stumbled across this possiblitiy while researching something else like, say cancer.

Jim

[Al]

I don't remember it coming up in any thread here, Nic, but I did see this in the VF newsletter, and in a few other articles. This is, potentially, the first real breakthrough in actually treating the disease, rather than just blasting the immune system. The holy grail has always been to re-train the immune system, but this is the first indication that there may be a practical way to do this. However, it is important to note that this research is in its infancy, and, even if it ultimately proves itself, not likely to influence actual therapies for some time. However, I find it exciting for several reasons--the most of important of which is that it could be a "common thread", even a "ring of power" that links all immune anomalies together. Of course, this might be way too much to expect or hope for, but, hey, getting carried away is permissible in dreaming, isn't it?

Al

[Al]

It would be interesting to know if the scientists were actually looking for a cure for AI diseases or just stumbled across this possiblitiy while researching something else like, say cancer.

Jim

Good call, Jim. So far as I can tell, the original research involved immune tolerance in colorectal cancers. This is based on observing that there must be a very complicated immune dance when the body processes proteins in normal digestion. How, indeed, does the body know what to allow to be digested?

Al

[annekat]

Thanks for sharing the article, Nicole. It offers at least a glimmer of hope, especially for the very young people who have Wegs and other autoimmune disorders.

[delorisdoe]

that is the hospital I am treated at.

[BrianR]

that is the hospital I am treated at.

Leigh. If you are being treated at this hospital then you should march down to the lab these researchers are working out of and make sure they are not taking extended coffee breaks. Go crack the whip. There's people waiting on them!

[delorisdoe]

will do...

[Palmyra]

I too have high hopes for the exponential growth and progress of research the world over. It may be oncology genetic research, or someone working on rheumatoid arthritis/ more common AI conditions, but the vast out pouring of scientific advance will surely be of benefit.

I am a sad online lurker of many things (I was one of those kids that could be pretty happy with an encyclopedia to read) but found the following info regarding RTX to treat multiple myeloma. The doc moderating the forum was explaining a question about why RTX would not work for a majority of those with MM, because they do not have the surface expression of CD20 that RTX binds to. Have any of you had a flow cytometry test? I know my daughter has had CD20/CD19 levels measured in the past, and when those levels were rising it indicated it might be time for another infusion.

As Al explained to me on a different thread earlier, RTX can have a diminished effectiveness with time, as bone marrow starts producing cells that lack the CD20 marker. My daughter has been having diminished returns to RTX treatment with time (close to six years of therapy now). I surely hope something else is coming around the corner while we wait for that broad cure.


"][I]Unfortunately most patients with myeloma do not express the surface antigen CD20 on the their plasma cells that allows rituximab to work. To be sure that your myeloma has CD20 on the surface of the cells one would want to use flow cytometry to test for this. Flow cytometry has probably already been done on the cells when you had your bone marrow biopsy at diagnosis.

[Palmyra]

So, to those that may be attending the symposium soon or that may be seeing one of the VF experts, I have a question that I would wish to entertain:

Other than Rituximab, what other new/biosimilar drugs might we be looking at in the near future?

Many thanks!

Jane