Results from a randomized clinical trial have shown that a potential new treatment may help control the immune response against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. This would allow researchers and doctors to reduce further damage to patients' brains and spinal cords. Motor neuron diseases are a group of diseases that affect nerves in the brain and spinal cord. This causes the patient to have weakened and stiff muscles and eventuallyloses muscle mass. In addition, the condition can affect how a person living with the disease can walk, talk, eat, drink, and breathe. The famous scientist Stephen Hawking, who died in 2018, suffered from this. There is currently no known cure.
Research on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Although the causes of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are not yet fully understood, it is now known that inflammatory mechanisms influence the damage to motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. Circulating regulatory T-cell lymphocytes (Tregs) help control this inflammatory response. Researchers from the Sheffield Institute of Translational Neuroscience were part of an international consortium. Accordingly, this study of immune modulation in ALS was the first of its kind to explore a potential treatment for the disease. The researchers investigated whether interleukin-2 (IL-2) can control the immune response of patients. The team found that Tregs are responsible for IL-2 survival and function. Treatment with IL-2 in low doses, as used in this experiment, proved to be well tolerated. In addition, the number of Tregs and their function in the blood increase.
The main aim of the study was to show this function of Tregs in the blood. The scientists also wanted to ensure that they could safely use ld IL-2 at the chosen doses in people with motor neuron disease. The study provided an opportunity to examine the potential of interleukin to modify immune mechanisms in ways that could be beneficial in this disease. This third objective required regular blood sampling throughout the experimental period. This made it possible to measure the number, function and type of Tregs and other circulating immune cells. This allowed the team to test the hypothesis that ld IL-2 increases the levels of blood markers (chemokines, cytokines and neurofilament proteins).Nerve cell damage in motor neuron diseasecould change.
Research results
The ultimate goalthis longer studyis to find out whether low-dose IL-2 improves life expectancy and quality of life in patients. This would allow researchers to get a biomarker indication of treatment effectiveness in individual patients. Overall, the study results strongly support further investigation of ld IL-2 and provide important insights. This can be used by larger studies to determine improvements in daily activity and survival. The key findings were that ld IL-2 significantly increased the number of circulating Tregs as predicted and, most importantly, improved their ability to control other immune cell responses that contribute to nerve cell damage. This double advantage shows that ld IL-2 therapy is fully functional in patients. Furthermore, this response was related to IL-2 dose.
