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July 17th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda TUESDAY, July 17 (HealthDay News) — Interferon beta, a widely
used treatment for multiple sclerosis, does not stave off the time to
disability, new research finds.
However, prior studies have found that interferon beta does reduce MS
flare ups, so patients should continue taking it, researchers said.
The new study is published in the July 18 issue of the Journal of
the American Medical Association.
In multiple sclerosis, the body’s immune system attacks myelin, or the
substance that insulates nerve fibers of the central nervous system. The
damage disrupts nerve signals traveling to and from the brain, which can
lead to numbness, movement difficulties, blurred vision, fatigue and
eventually, problems with thinking and memory.
About 85 percent of those with multiple sclerosis start with a
relapsing-remitting course, in which attacks are followed by partial or
total recovery, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. More
than half go on to develop a more progressive form of the disease, in
which symptoms worsen over time and there are fewer, shorter periods
without symptoms. Over time, the disease can lead to loss of vision and
paralysis.
The study included data on nearly 2,700 multiple sclerosis patients
from British Columbia, Canada, with relapsing-remitting MS who were
followed for four to 11 years. About one-third of the patients were
treated with interferon beta after it became available in the early 1990s
and one-third were not treated with interferon beta. The researchers also
examined data on a third group of MS patients who were diagnosed and
followed before interferon beta was a treatment option.
The investigators found no statistically significant difference in how
long it took for patients prescribed interferon beta to become disabled,
defined as needing a cane to walk 330 feet.
“We were not able to find a significant association between interferon
beta exposure and progression to disability,” said Helen Tremlett, an
associate professor of neurology at the University of British
Columbia.
Most patients with multiple sclerosis, though not all, develop severe
disability 10 to 20 years after diagnosis, according to background
information in an accompanying editorial. Several studies have suggested
that interferon beta, by reducing relapses, could also prolong progression
to disability, Tremlett said. Still other research has found that brain
scans of people taking interferon beta show less damage.
Though the exact mechanism of how interferon beta benefits multiple
sclerosis patients isn’t fully understood, the drug acts on the immune
system and reduces inflammation.
“What the field pretty strongly believed is if you reduced relapse
rate, surely that should translate into beneficial impact on disease
progression,” Tremlett said. “Subsequent studies seem to indicate there is
disassociation between relapses and long-term irreversible disease
progression.”
Interferon beta is typically given by injection when people are first
diagnosed.
That shouldn’t change as a result of these findings, said Timothy
Coetzee, chief research officer for the National MS Society. The new study
doesn’t negate prior studies that have found that the drugs reduce the
frequency of relapses.
“If patients are taking the existing disease-modifying therapies [such
as interferon beta] they should continue to take them,” Coetzee said.
“Those drugs were approved for treating MS based on strong clinical trial
results that found over a two- to three-year period, people did better
with the drugs.”
And the ability of interferon beta to stave off disability remains an
open question, he added. A recent study by researchers in Italy found that
“disease-modifying” drugs such as interferon were associated with a
lowered risk of progressing to a more severe form of multiple
sclerosis.
What is clear is that multiple sclerosis is a complex disease with many
factors involved in how quickly people progress to disability. Interferon
beta’s action may affect one element of the immune system, but there are
other aspects of the immune system and other biological processes at work
that over time may overwhelm the drug, Coetzee noted.
“We still have a long way to go to understand what are all the
variables that contribute to damage to the brain that leads to the
symptoms,” Coetzee said. “What we know is there are a lot of players
involved in attacking the nervous system of MS patients, that interferon
hits some of them, but there are other components of the immune system
that get involved.”
Coetzee also noted that the researchers did not have data to measure
other aspects of living with multiple sclerosis, such as quality of life,
thinking skills, vision and other sorts of mobility other than
walking.
More information
The National Multiple Sclerosis Society has more on
MS.
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