2023-10-15 19:28:50
Normally, our immune system attacks invaders such as viruses and bacteria or eliminates damaged cells in our body. However, in autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS) or type 1 diabetes, the immune system “mistakenly” also attacks healthy cells, damaging the body’s own tissues and organs.
People with the disease suffer from chronic inflammation, which can be accompanied by pain as well as a variety of other symptoms, such as fever or fatigue. Researchers hope to be able to help autoimmune patients with so-called “reverse vaccines”.
What is reverse grafting?
Jeffrey Hubbell of the University of Chicago led a study on reverse vaccines. Hubbell believes that these vaccines represent a “brand new concept in vaccination” that could be used to treat many autoimmune diseases in the future.
These vaccines are still in development. It has not been tested on humans yet. But hopes are high that this type of treatment could be successful. For example, phase 1 safety control studies for multiple sclerosis are currently ongoing.
Conventional vaccines strengthen our immune system and train it to fight only dangerous viruses or germs. In autoimmune diseases, the immune system does not distinguish between “good” and “bad” and attacks all cells, “dangerous or not”.
Reverse vaccines aim to protect healthy, endogenous cells from such an attack. In this process, cells are, in a sense, marked with the label “do not attack”. It is hoped that by blocking a possible attack, disturbing immune reactions can be stopped.
Which diseases can be treated?
Multiple sclerosis is one of the diseases for which treatment with reverse vaccines is likely to be successful. In this autoimmune disease, the protective sheath surrounding the nerves, called the “myelin layer”, is destroyed. This plays a very important role in the transmission of nerve impulses. As a result of the damage, signals between nerve cells can no longer be transmitted. People suffering from MS disease can move less and less and often become wheelchair dependent in the future.
Type 1 diabetes is also on the list of autoimmune diseases that can be treated with reverse vaccination. Photo: Koen van Weel/ANP/imago-images
Type 1 diabetes is also on the list of autoimmune diseases that can be treated with reverse vaccination. In this disease, immune cells attack insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. In such a case, insulin needs to be supplied externally.
Autoimmune diseases are today generally treated only with drugs that suppress the immune system. However, this has significant disadvantages. “When the immune system is suppressed, patients cannot fight infectious diseases well and do not respond well to vaccines,” Hubbell said. For this reason, they are generally more prone to disease,” he says. (D.W.)
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