Posted on: 25 September 2017, source: BioNews
A novel gene therapy can reverse the symptoms and progression of disease in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS). The neurodegenerative illness is caused by the body's own immune system degrading and destroying nerve cells. US researchers have used a gene therapy approach in the livers of affected mice to produce more regulatory T-cells and reduce this autoimmune response. 'Using a clinically tested gene therapy platform, we are able to induce very specific regulatory cells that target the self-reactive cells that are responsible for causing multiple sclerosis,' said Dr Brad Hoffman at the University of Florida, College of Medicine in Gainesville, who led the study. 'Most current therapies for autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis are based on general immune suppression, which has various side effects or complications.'