A radical treatment for autoimmune multiple sclerosis has stopped the disease in more than 70% of the cases. However, it is not risk-free for everyone.
Patient selection and overall health condition play an important role in the success of radical treatments such as this one which aims at recalibrating the patient’s immune data. As technology and expertise on this matter are intensifying, new chemo options have surfaced and are becoming more readily available. Consequently, less aggressive regimens, superior customized options and safer protocols to reboot the immune system are now being tailored to meet the individual patient’s requirements. Some remarkable results are being seen in the majority of those that have been treated. This could potentially mark a breakthrough in several neurodegenerative conditions as well as autoimmune diseases, providing a radical but effective option for those who have none.
How does it work?
Certain health conditions, such as infections or environmental toxin exposure, can overstimulate the patient’s immune response and, in some cases, persist even after the underlying condition has been controlled or cured. Once the autoimmunity mechanism is switched on, the corrupted antibody manufacturing sequence can cause disruption between the cellular crosslinking, cellular signalling and cellular messengers within the immune system. This results in an increase of the number of circulating antibodies, which have been conferred lower tolerance than that of a conventional cell of the immune system. This produces an indiscriminate singling out and destruction of proteins within the nerves and neurons, driven by antigen-antibody chemical interactions done in situ, dispersed in blotches and plaques throughout the entire CNS.
Conversely, adaptive immune responses observed by T lymphocytes are thought to mediate injury to myelin and nerves within the CNS during the neurodegeneration process. This suggests that some parts of the immune system that have not been yet corrupted are in fact mitigating the damage and collaborating with myelin binding proteins and other brain-derived regenerative mechanisms such as neuropeptides, PLP, MOG and MOBP. These mechanisms ultimately serve as neuroprotective systems that occur in a healthy regulated immune response or immune modulation.
Analyzing this neuroprotective effect of T lymphocytes that occurs physiologically during the neurodegeneration insult, we are able to identify productive mechanisms related to the promotion of new naïve leukocytes that can construct a neuroprotective result.
This protective mechanism can be replicated throughout the administration of hematopoietic stem cells to support the dissemination of healthy immunological competent data that would eventually replace the corrupt one after the immune reset takes place.
What role does hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) play?
Stem cells have three major areas that benefit neurodegenerative autoimmune patients:
- Hematopoietic stem cells have the unique ability to modulate the immune system and can shut off pathological responses while preserving its ability to fight off disease. This is possible due to the unique qualities of the cell which innately has the complete blueprints of the whole immunological system of a healthy candidate, thus being able to re-program that of a less fortunate case.
- Recent data show that HSC exerts strong antimicrobial effects through indirect and direct mechanisms, partially mediated by the secretion of antimicrobial peptides and proteins (AMPs). In fact, SCs have been reported to increase bacterial clearance in preclinical models of sepsis, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and cystic fibrosis-related infections to name a few.
- Besides its immune-modulating and germicidal benefits, stem cells are also known for self-renewing multipotent cells with great potential for regenerative medicine and tissue engineering.
Actress Selma Blair recovering from MS after undergoing Chemo and HSCT
The movie icon and beloved actress has recently revealed her fight against MS last August, speaking publicly about her fast slope downward and very recently reporting being out of options as her disease was rapidly progressing without any signs of stopping.
Searching for a cure, desperate and with the struggle becoming even more challenging, she decided to try a radical treatment based on chemotherapy and hematopoietic stem cell transplant. After one small micro-dose of chemo, the actress said she felt better which made her then explore the matter even further.
“So I was like, ‘Maybe I just have too much junk in there. And that killed some junk,’ Like what do I care if it kills my whole body because my whole body is like one big macrophage of yuck!”
Selma Blair –
After the chemotherapy was performed, she reported undergoing HSCT as part of the treatment protocol.
Can Chemo and hematopoietic stem cell transplant work in other cases too?
The approach certainly opens the door for other pathophysiologically similar issues where the immune system has produced more harm than good, especially in those where the loss of nerve connections, motor functions or other CNS affections may be irreversible, untreatable or refractory to the conventional approach. It then would be justified to hypothesize the benefits of slowing or stopping the formation of autoantibodies by exterminating the defective immunological overexpression and promoting the healthy development of T lymphocytes quickly matured by drug or chemical mediated stimuli 24 hours later. I think of it as an oil stain in the dinner table, you can rinse and scrub it all you can, but it may not be removed even after a good sweat; however, what if you could throw in a little amount of acid on top of the stain, let it simmer just a couple of minutes, and then you clear off your dinner table and the long-lasting oil stain is gone? It is a similar situation when we think of it of that of the chemo and HSCT against autoimmunity, just make sure not to leave the acid too long or then the consequences can be fatal on your dinner table.
Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3080042/
https://www.oprahmag.com/entertainment/a29520703/selma-blair-ms-chemo-treatment/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5371613/
