Source: WebMD
Date: August 13, 2007
Summary:
A new kind of vaccine promises to halt the destructive immune responses behind multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, and other autoimmune diseases. In MS patients, T cells attack the myelin sheath that protects nerve fibers. One of the T cells targets is a specific myelin protein -- an antigen -- called myelin basic protein or MBP. The new vaccine is made of genetically engineered DNA that encodes MBP. Normal vaccines provoke immune responses against the antigens in the vaccine. But the Bayhill vaccine attaches the MBP DNA to a "backbone" cleverly designed to turn off immune responses instead of turning them on.
