Coming down with the flu can provoke relapses in multiple sclerosis patients by activating glial cells that surround and protect nerve cells. In a study in mice, scientists found that activated glial cells increase the levels of a chemical messenger in the brain that, in turn, triggers an immune reaction and, potentially, autoimmune attacks.

The flu is caused by the human influenza virus and, despite being unpleasant, usually resolves itself within days. However, for people with MS and other neurological conditions, the flu can lead to disease relapse.

Researchers at the University of Illinois investigated what happens in the brain of MS patients during upper-respiratory viral infections, such as the flu.

“We know that when MS patients get upper respiratory infections, they’re at risk for relapse, but how that happens is not completely understood,” Andrew Steelman, an assistant professor at the university and the study’s senior author, said in a press release. “A huge question is what causes relapse, and why immune cells all of a sudden want to go to the brain. Why don’t they go to the toe?”

The team used a mouse model characterized by autoimmune responses within the brain and spinal cord — the type of deregulated immune responses seen in MS patients. Researchers infected the animals with a version of human influenza virus adapted to mice, and looked at changes that occurred in the animal’s central nervous system.

While the virus was never detected in the animals’ brains, upon infection some of the mice developed MS-like symptoms.

“If you look at a population of MS patients that have symptoms of upper respiratory disease, between 27 and 42 percent will relapse within the first week or two,” Steelman said. “That’s actually the same incidence and timeframe we saw in our infected mice, although we thought it would be much higher given that most of the immune cells in this mouse strain are capable of attacking the brain.”

The team then investigated how a peripheral influenza infection could contribute to disease onset. They infected a wild-type (normal) strain of mice with the flu virus and looked at alterations in the brain and spinal cord.

Scientists found that infection increased the activation of glial cells in the mice’s brains. Moreover, it induced infiltration of several immune cells — T-cells, monocytes and neutrophils — into the brain within eight hours of infection.

Overall, these findings suggest that the chemokine CXCL5 plays a key role in mediating an autoimmune attack in MS, and might be explored for therapeutic potential.

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University of California medical school researchers are looking for multiple sclerosis patients who want to participate in an international study of the bacteria that live in our gut.

The University of California at San Francisco team decided to study the gut microbiome after recent evidence suggested that it is critical in establishing and maintaining immune balance, according to a press release. The effort will be called the International Multiple Sclerosis Microbiome Study.

In mammals, the gut is the largest immune organ, and each person has millions of bacteria in it.

The immune system is defective in MS, turning against the body by attacking the brain and spinal cord. Knowing that the gut is involved in immune system balance, the researchers will investigate whether the microbiome can directly or indirectly impact how MS develops.

Researchers are seeking people with different types of MS. Those with primary progressive MS, or PPMS, will not need to visit the San Francisco medical center.

Those with other types of MS will have to make one visit to San Francisco, New York, Boston or Pittsburgh. The one-time visit will include cognitive and movement assessments, a neurologic examination, and questionnaires about diet.

At this stage, researchers are collecting blood and stool samples from 2,000 participants with MS and 2,000 without the disease. They will use the samples to classify participants’ bacteria populations, and to better understand which species may protect people from developing MS and which may increase the risk they will obtain MS.

Results of this initial stage will help the team design a clinical trial to evaluate the process by which gut bacteria may alter the course of MS, and how that course could be altered.

Those interesting in participating in the study must be between 18 and 80 years old and have MS but no other autoimmune or gastrointestinal disease.

Family members or partners of MS patients who are also participating in the study may be asked to provide blood and stool samples as well. But they will not have to visit one of the four cities that patients will be asked to go to.

The National MS Society is sponsoring the study. For more information about it, including how to participate, please visit this link.

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Children with multiple sclerosis consume less iron, which may affect their immune and nervous systems, according to a study.

Most MS cases occur between the ages of 20 and 40, but sometimes children under 18 develop it.

Pediatric-onset MS, as it is called, is believed to account for 3 to 5 percent of cases that adults have now. Despite their low frequency, they are important because “the study of factors early in life which could affect their disease may provide important insight into the disease more generally,” the researchers from the Network of Pediatric MS Centers wrote.

One of the factors that could be important in the onset of MS is diet. But little has been known about how diet influences the risk and progression of the disease, particularly in pediatric MS.

In a study funded by the National MS Society, researchers decided to investigate the association between diet and MS in children, according to a press release.

The team recruited 312 MS patients 18 and younger from 16 children’s hospitals in the United States, and 456 controls without MS. The participants, or their parents, answered a questionnaire dealing with the participants’ medical history, their physical development, and whether they were exposed to potentially harmful environmental factors. The questionnaire also covered demographic information and race.

Researchers used the Block Kids Food Screener questionnaire to obtain information about the participants’ diets, including their intake of fiber, fat, carbohydrates, proteins, fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and iron.

The analysis showed no meaningful link between the consumption of fiber, fat, carbohydrates, proteins, fruits, vegetables, and dairy products and children’s development of MS. Children with the disease did have lower iron intake than the controls, however.

Although in this exploratory study researchers didn’t look at whether there was a cause-and-effect relationship between iron and MS, the results suggested that children with the disease may be less likely to consume iron, a fact that warrants further investigation.

Iron is a vital mineral for our body to function properly, and low iron intake may affect the immune and nervous systems.

Future studies on the risk of children developing MS should “investigate the role of specific vitamins and minerals,” the team said. They should also “investigate the influence of dietary factors on disease outcomes in already established” cases of MS.

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A bacteria present in the gut, called Prevotella histicola, prevented multiple sclerosis (MS) from developing in a preclinical mouse model, found researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, along with colleagues at the University of Iowa. Their study, “Human Gut-Derived Commensal Bacteria Suppress CNS Inflammatory and Demyelinating Disease,” appeared in the journal Cell Reports. Current research suggests that alterations to […]

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Phase 1 Trial Recruitment

Atara Biotherapeutics recently published an update of the company’s quarterly financial results and operational highlights, including the advancement of its T-cell based immunotherapy strategies for multiple sclerosis (MS) and cancer. One of the investigational therapies featured in the report is ATA188, a potential treatment for MS. According to the announcement, the company completed patient recruitment for an ongoing Phase 1 study […]

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