Researchers test red blood cell therapy for multiple sclerosis

Researchers from the University of Zurich and the Karolinska Institute, including Innsbruck scientist Markus Reindl, have developed a potential treatment for multiple sclerosis that uses patients’ own red blood cells to promote immune tolerance, ORF reported.

The chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease mainly affects young adults. In multiple sclerosis, immune cells, particularly T lymphocytes, mistakenly attack the brain and spinal cord, damaging the myelin layer that insulates nerve pathways. This can cause visual and sensory problems, paralysis and severe fatigue, while relapses may lead to permanent disabilities.

Existing treatments can effectively suppress acute relapses, but they also inhibit the immune system broadly and can have significant side effects. The new approach aims to target the autoimmune reaction without suppressing the immune system as a whole.

In the treatment, specific protein components are attached to the patients’ own red blood cells. After the cells are returned to the body, they are mainly taken up and broken down in the liver and spleen, like ageing red blood cells. The attached myelin antigens are then presented to the immune system in a way intended to promote tolerance, teaching it not to attack the body’s own structures.

The first clinical study involved 10 people with multiple sclerosis. Participants received increasing doses of their own red blood cells carrying seven myelin protein components, known as myelin peptides. The treatment was found to be well tolerated and safe.

Several laboratory markers indicated that inflammatory processes in the brain had declined, according to the researchers. Three months after a single treatment, they detected regulatory T cells that suppress autoimmune processes.

The researchers said the findings represented a promising autologous cell therapy for achieving antigen-specific immune tolerance in multiple sclerosis. The approach could potentially also be applied to other autoimmune diseases, they said.

The treatment’s further clinical development will be expensive and cannot be financed by academic institutions alone. The researchers have therefore founded the biotechnology company Cellerys. A further study will examine the treatment’s clinical effectiveness once the necessary funding has been secured.