The autoimmune theory of MS; Doctors ask, "Have we got it horribly wrong?"
June 28, 2011 at 9:37am
Have we got it horribly wrong?
The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.
Bertrand Russell*
"The Pathogenesis of MS revisted."
The Full paper is available here (this is one to print out and share.)
Here is a review of this critical paper in an issue of the New Scientist from 2002
New Scientist vol 176 issue 2369 - 16 November 2002, page 12
It's not surprising there's no cure for multiple sclerosis. Researchers have been studying the wrong disease for over a century, argue a few rebels.
THE century-old assumption that multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease is under attack. Treatments based on the autoimmune theory have failed so miserably, say a group of doctors, that it is time to look for other explanations.
In a lengthy review to be published next week in The Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, the three neurologists dispute the received wisdom that the disease wreaks its havoc when immune cells attack and destroy myelin protein, which insulates nerves and helps them conduct signals. Instead, they back an emerging theory that MS is caused when support cells called astrocytes malfunction, perhaps as a result of genetic and environmental triggers.
(NOTE: One well-documented environmental cause of astrocyte malfunctioning is hypoxia, or low oxygen in the brain)
Many mainstream MS researchers contacted by New Scientist have poured scorn on the review. But a few agree it's time for a rethink.
Peter Behan and Abhijit Chaudhuri at the University of Glasgow and Bart Roep of the Leiden University Medical Centre pull no punches in their attempts to demolish the prevailing theory. They begin by attacking the animal experiments that have underpinned the autoimmune theory since the late 19th century.
