14 DAY TRIAL // Researchers at the University of California in Irvine (UCI) have recently discovered that it may be possible to use metabolic therapy to address autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis. The team managed to develop a glucosamine-like supplement which they sway shows great promise.
The dietary supplement is apparently very efficient at suppressing the immune response this class of conditions trigger in the human body. Autoimmune disorders are characterized by the fact that the body's defenses are incited in attacking healthy cells and organs, thinking they are damaging.
Multiple sclerosis displays the same traits, and scientists have been working on a way of reducing the severity of its unrelenting effects for many years. Now, it would appear that the UCI team managed an important breakthrough with far-reaching implications.
The key to stopping MS is to calm down abnormal T cells, immune system agents that erroneously direct all the body's defenses against healthy organs. The new supplement, called N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc), can inhibit both the growth and function of these cells.
In this disease, the immune system is directed to attack and destroy essential tissue in the central nervous system. Its primary target is the myelin sheath covering the surface of nerve cells, insulating them so that electrical impulses can be transmitted without loss.
Details of the new investigation appear in the latest online issue of the esteemed medical Journal of Biological Chemistry. The study was led by the associate director of the Multiple Sclerosis Research Center at UCI, neurologist Dr. Michael Demetriou.
His team also included UCI investigator Ani Grigorian. “This sugar-based supplement corrects a genetic defect that induces cells to attack the body in MS,” says Demetriou, who is also an associate professor of neurology and microbiology, and of molecular genetics at the university.
This makes “metabolic therapy a rational approach that differs significantly from currently available treatments,” the team leader goes on to say. In the study, GlcNAc was determined to decrease the hyperactivity of anomalous T cells, and reduce the overall autoimmune response.
“Together, these findings identify metabolic therapy using dietary supplements such as GlcNAc as a possible treatment for autoimmune diseases,” explains Demetriou. Another study has also determined that this type of therapy can also be used to address treatment-resistant autoimmune inflammatory bowel disease.
“Excitement about this strategy stems from the novel mechanism for affecting T-cell function and autoimmunity – the targeting of a molecular defect promoting disease – and its availability and simplicity,” the expert concludes.