Chinese Fungus a Potential Immunosuppressant to Treat MS

Saw an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about a new drug being introduced by Novartis called fingolimod. The drug is used to suppress the immune system, treating some of the symptoms of multiple sclerosis. I'm generally not a big fan of immunosuppressants, but the article does suggest why many alternative therapies work.

The drug is based on a fungus known as "winter-insect-summer-plants". An excerpt describing the fungus:

Dr. Fujita says he reasoned that an even more powerful immunosuppressant chemical ought to be present in a group of Asian fungi known in Chinese and Japanese as "winter-insect-summer-plants." These fungi attack insects in the winter with their chemical arsenal. By summertime, the insect is dead and its corpse has been transformed into a vessel for the blooming fungus. Ironically, the same properties that make the chemical deadly in the insect world may also have a helpful side for people suffering from certain autoimmune diseases, in which an overactive immune-system response causes the body to attack its own cells.

There are many natural remedies used in Chinese and Japanese medicine, including herbs and fungus. Perhaps many of these work because they are immunosuppressive.

When Good Germs Go Bad - Friendly Bacteria Triggers Arthritis in Mice

Saw a really interesting article in Scientific American about a study regarding a link between a specific strain of bacteria and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in mice. The study found that the introduction of a single type of bacteria could increase the amount of IL-17 (interleukin 17), a protein that signals the immune system to cause inflammation, in the mouse. The "friendly" bacteria that causes this accelerated the onset of arthritis in the mice. The mice were selected to already be genetically predisposed to having arthritis, so all mice in the study developed arthritis. But the mice that were given the bacteria developed RA much more quickly.

Why is this important? This could mean that exposure to even a single bacteria or virus could trigger an autoimmune reaction in genetically susceptible individuals. Here's an excerpt:

Mathis emphasized that one should not take away from these mouse studies "that mice or humans can 'catch' an autoimmune disease or arthritis," she says. She added that the better way to think about it is that individuals have varying degrees of genetic susceptibility, and when exposed to certain environmental factors may then go on to develop disease. "It's really an interaction between genetics and environment," Mathis says.

Crohn's Disease or Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) may have a similar pattern to RA. It could also mean that there is a single bacteria or virus responsible for the disease. Or ... it could also mean that there are any number of bacteria or viruses that trigger the disease. Either way, it's a very study and reinforces previous theories and studies I've seen.

Prostaglandin D2 a potential treatment for Ulcerative Colitis

A recent study may suggest a new treatment for ulcerative colitis. The study, to be published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that people with ulcerative colitis that have been in remission for a long time-period have higher levels of Prostaglandin D2 than those that don't. It's unclear whether the higher levels of the chemical are a result of being in remission or the cause of the remission, but the study is interesting nonetheless as it suggests follow-on research.

FDA requires cancer warning on TNF blockers (old news)

I've thought for a while that TNF blockers and other immunosuppressive drugs may actually be counterproductive in the long-run in treating Crohn's Disease and IBD. The point of TNF-alpha in the immune system is to promote the fight against tumors (TNF = tumor necrosis factor). What happens if you suppress that immune response? Your body may be missing tumors that it should be fighting. A recent article prompted me to take a look at the FDA warnings for TNF-alpha blockers. Apparently, the FDA started requiring cancer warnings on TNF blockers back in August of 2009 -- here's the FDA press release. I think dozens of cancer cases in children taking TNF-blockers prompted the FDA to add the box warning.

I definitely see the value of these drugs in the short-term to help get the inflammation under control, but long-term use doesn't seem like a solution. (Hence why I'm avoiding them!)

Why Pregnancy Pushes Autoimmune Diseases into Remission

A friend of a friend of mine has had Crohn's for many years. But when talking to her, she mentioned that during her pregnancy all her Crohn's symptoms completely subsided and she was in "remission". Why? This apparently is a common phenomenon for pregnant women with autoimmune diseases -- during pregnancy their diseases go into remission.

A new study from the University of Michigan may explain why. Apparently the expression of an enzyme called pyruvate kinase is reduced in immune cells in pregnant women. The reduction in this enzyme "dials-down" the immune system supporting the acceptance of the fetus.

An excerpt from the article:

In his search to explain the phenomenon, Dr. Petty knew to look for a metabolic pathway ormechanism with two characteristics. It had to "dial down" the intensity of the normal immune response, an action needed so that a pregnant woman does not reject the fetus, which has proteins from the father that are "foreign" to the mother. At the same time, such a mechanism must support cell growth needed by the developing fetus.

The activity of the enzyme pyruvate kinase–and its product, pyruvate–fills both roles: promoting cell growth while modifying the immune response. Because pyruvate kinase activity is depressed duringpregnancy, cell metabolism supports an increased production of lipids, carbohydrates, amino acids, and other substances that support cell growth.

This suggests an interesting alternative therapy or treatment option for the future (and I'm not suggesting that you just go get pregnant!). There may be a way to use this immune pathway in a drug therapy. It doesn't necessarily identify or address the root cause of IBD, but it could lead to another alternative therapy.

Gene Mutations Offer Clues to Autoimmune Disease

Saw a couple articles (BusinessWeek, Wired.com, ScienceNews) commenting on a story in Nature about a study that found that variations in a single gene could result in different types of autoimmune diseases, including Crohn's Disease and diabetes.

An excerpt:

The gene in question encodes an enzyme called sialic acid acetylesterase or SIAE, which regulates the activity of the immune system’s antibody-producing B cells. About 2 percent to 3 percent of people with autoimmune disorders have defects in the enzyme that allow B cells to run amok and make antibodies that attack the body, a team led by Shiv Pillai of Massachusetts General Hospital in Charlestown and Harvard Medical School reports online June 16 inNature.

“It’s a seminal paper because it is so applicable to a wide variety of autoimmune diseases, says Judy Cho, a Yale geneticist not associated with the study. The finding suggests that enhancing the enzyme’s activity could help treat disease in people with autoimmune disorders.

Definitely an interesting finding!

Resveratrol Improves Inflammatory Bowel Disease Symptoms

Saw an article about a new study that found that resveratrol, an antioxidant found in grapes, improved symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Here's an excerpt from the article:

Resveratrol is a phytonutrient (phyto means “plant”) that is the subject of considerable research because of its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-tumor, and immune system boosting properties. Previous studies have suggested that resveratrol enhances brain function and builds resistance to stroke, helps withweight loss, inhibits prostate cancer cell growth, and protects against diabetes.

Resveratrol’s anti-inflammatory abilities are of special interest for possible treatment and prevention of inflammatory bowel disease, of which ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease are the two most common types. In the current study, which appears in theEuropean Journal of Pharmacology, researchers conducted a placebo-controlled study in which one group of mice were given 20 mg of resveratrol per kilogram of food and the other group received placebo. The study period lasted 30 days.

Grape juice is my primary dietary source of carbohydrates (because it is SCD compliant), so this is encouraging news. It also reinforces why the SCD diet may work.