An article published today at Washington University in St Louis suggests that Interferon could be a key to preventing or treating multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) results when the body's own defense system attacks nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord. Now scientists led by John Russell, Ph.D., at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that interferon-gamma plays a deciding role in whether immune cells attack and injure the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) in mice.

Interferon-gamma is an immune system protein that helps the body defend itself from invaders. In their latest research, which appeared in the October issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine, the researchers show that interferon-gamma determined whether activated immune cells — previously primed to go after nerve cells — would actually cause nerve damage in experimental mice.

The researchers found that in the cerebellums and brainstems of the mice, interferon-gamma was protective. However, in the spinal cord, interferon-gamma had the opposite effect, permitting nerve cell damage.

"Some studies show that the most serious cases of MS in people occur when the immune system specifically targets the cerebellum, a part of the brain responsible for sensory perception, coordination and movement control," says Russell, professor of developmental biology. "Our study suggests that researchers need to look at the amount of interferon-gamma produced in the cerebellum and other brain regions in people with MS."

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