Multiple sclerosis
oracknows | June 21, 2017Courtrooms are generally not a good place to decide issues of science. I've said this more times than I can remember. Admittedly, courts can at times do pretty well with issues of science. The Vaccine Court is a good example, as is the Autism Omnibus decision, which ruled that the test cases brought before the Vaccine Court to determine if there was a plausible case to show a potential causative relationship between vaccines and autism. The court ruled against the test case complainants, even though the rules of evidence are those of a civil court, in which "50% and a feather" are all that is…
sa smith | December 18, 2013Okay, I have written a LOT about the connection between wayward ERV activity and Multiple Sclerosis. This is something scientists have been investigating for a long time... but we still do not know exactly what is going on.
It seems the running hypothesis is that 'something'/'somethings' alter the epigenetic profile of individuals DNA, allowing for expression of an endogenous retroviral Envelope protein, especially in the brains of (future) MS patients. These proteins are pro-inflammatory, start causing all sorts of trouble, like MS.
Its gotten to the point where other scientists are trying…
sa smith | November 13, 2013I have written quite a bit about the connection between wayward expression of an ERV, and Multiple Sclerosis.
ERVs and Multiple Sclerosis
ERVs and Multiple Sclerosis, #2
ERVs and Multiple Sclerosis, #3
ERVs and Multiple Sclerosis, #4
ERVs and Multiple Sclerosis, #5
I am very comfortable saying there is a connection between ERV expression and MS. I am not confident in saying 'If we destroy the cells producing this ERV, we will stop MS.'
I totally get that the ERV protein in question, an Env, can be inflammatory in the brain, so knocking that out might stop some inflammation/damage in the brain…
sa smith | September 18, 2012This is not overly helpful information for MS patients, but its still good news:
No additional copies of HERV-Fc1 in the germ line of multiple sclerosis patients.
Previous research has indicated that there are endogenous retroviruses that are disregulated and leading to detectable production of ERV proteins in MS patients. They found the bugger involved-- an ERV they named HERV-Fc1. We do not know whether this protein is causing MS, or just a side-effect we might (might not) be able to capitalize on for diagnostic purposes, or whether its a bit of both.
But with all of this previous research…
sa smith | March 12, 2012ERVs and Multiple Sclerosis
ERVs and Multiple Sclerosis, #2
Hmmm... This new paper on the association between 'active' ERVs and Multiple Sclerosis is a step back, and a step forward, at the same time:Expression of HERV-Fc1, a human endogenous retrovirus, is increased in patients with active Multiple Sclerosis.
If you go back and read ERVs and MS #2, youll see that we have an endogenous retroviral protein, gag, expressed in elevated levels in the brains of MS patients. The gag is from the HERV-W family of ERVs, related to syncytin.
In this paper, however, they associated Multiple Sclerosis…
tsmith | June 23, 2011As I've laid out this week (part 1, part 2, part 3), the realization that a fairly simple, toxin-carrying bacterium could cause a "complex" and mysterious disease like hemolytic uremic syndrome came only with 30 years' of scientific investigation and many false starts and misleading results. Like many of these investigations, the true cause was found due to a combination of hard work, novel ways of thinking, and simple serendipity--being able to connect the dots in a framework where the dots didn't necessarily line up as expected, and removing extraneous dots as necessary. It's not an easy…
tsmith | April 29, 2010Student guest post by Raj Nair.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease that affects the central nervous system (CNS) consisting of the brain and the spinal cord [1]. It is thought to be an autoimmune disease since individual's immune system attacks their own healthy tissues [1]. However, studies to ascertain triggering factors such as genetic, environmental, and infectious causes are still in progress [2]. So one wonders "Who is more susceptible to develop MS" Literature reveals that typically people between 20 and 50 years of age are commonly diagnosed…