Research uncovers the connection between intestinal flora and multiple sclerosis for the first time

Autoimmune disease: discovered link between intestinal flora and MS

The exact causes of multiple sclerosis (MS) are still unclear despite intensive research. Scientists now report that bacterial intestinal dwellers may play a much bigger role in the onset of autoimmune disease than previously thought.

Causes of Multiple Sclerosis

According to experts, multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common inflammatory disease of the central nervous system. The exact causes of the disease are not yet clear. Hereditary factors and environmental factors are believed to lead to a malfunction of the immune system. In addition, an international team of scientists discovered a few years ago that human intestinal bacteria can trigger multiple sclerosis. Researchers from Switzerland now report that bacterial intestinal inhabitants could play a much greater role in the development of autoimmune disease than previously thought.

Swiss researchers have shown in a study that bacterial intestinal inhabitants could play a much greater role in the development of multiple sclerosis than previously thought. (Image: Coloures-pic / fotolia.com)

Expand limited perspective

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease in which the body's own defense system is directed against the sheaths of nerve cells and rapidly decomposes them.

Since these shells are made of so-called myelin - a biological membrane of fats and proteins - science has focused on myelin components in their search for the target antigens of the disease.

However, new results from the research group led by Mireia Sospedra and Roland Martin from the Clinical Research Center for Multiple Sclerosis at the University of Zurich (UZH) now suggest that it is worth expanding the limited perspective in order to gain a better understanding of the disease.

New findings could possibly be used therapeutically soon

As the scientists in the journal "Science Translational Medicine" report, the so-called T-helper cells - the immune cells responsible for the pathological processes - react to a protein called GDP-L-fucose synthase.

This enzyme is produced by both human cells and bacteria, which are found in the intestinal flora of MS patients.

"We think the immune cells in the gut become activated, then migrate into the brain and initiate an inflammatory cascade when they encounter the human variant of their target antigen," Mireia Sospedra said in a statement.

For the genetically-defined subgroup of MS patients who studied them, their findings showed that bacterial intestinal inhabitants could play a much bigger role in causing the disease than previously thought, said Sospedra.

The scientist hopes to be able to use the findings soon thereafter therapeutically - and plans to test the immunoactive components of GDP-L-fucose synthase in an approach that the researchers have been pursuing for several years.

Transform the immune system

"Our clinical approach is specifically directed against the pathological autoreactive immune cells," said Sospedra. This is a radical departure from the currently available treatments that slow down the entire immune system.

Although they often manage to halt the development of the disease, the treatments also weaken the immune system, which can sometimes cause serious side effects.

In the group's clinical trial, researchers take blood from MS patients. In the lab, they stick the immuno-active protein fragments on the surface of the red blood cells.

When they return the blood back into the body, the fragments help rebuild the patient's immune system and make it tolerant of their own brain tissue.

This therapy aims for effective targeted treatment without serious side effects. (Ad)