April 5, 2017 6:21 PM By Gilma Avalos Follow CBSDFW.COM: Facebook|Twitter DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) Getting on the treadmill again, is a big step for Malia Litman. Im doing heel to toe walking, she says proudly as the belt moves underneath her feet. But to understand what a big victory this is, you need to know Litmans path. Litman, a top trial attorney in Dallas, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 18 years ago. As time passed, the disease slowly robbed her of her balance, mobility and energy. She says even taking a shower wiped her out. The disease is the most widespread disabling neurological condition in the world. You can imagine how contracted my world had become, it that was the level of energy I had, she explains. After she fell and broke her leg,Litman depended on a wheelchair for weeks. She says expensive MS medicines werent really working. Thats when she started looking for alternative treatments. Her search led her to Dr. Dimitrious Karussis. I believe many answers for our diseases and medical problems are hidden inside our body, Dr. Karussis explains. Hes leading experimental stem cell research at Hadassah Hospital in Israel, where he harvests a patients own adult stem … Continue reading →

In BriefThe FDA has approved the first and only treatment that fightsboth relapsing and primary progressive forms of multiple sclerosis.Now patients with the progressive form of MS have a treatmentoption that could prevent permanent disability. B Cell Targeted Therapy On March 28, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new drug called Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), the first and only treatment that fights both relapsing and primary progressive forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). Ocrelizumab represents a shift in focus for MS drug design, as it is a first-in-class therapy that specifically targets CD20-positive B cells thought to be linked to myelin and axonal nerve damage. Until now, treatments and research had been targeting T cells alone, which is not as effective. Approximately 400,000 people in the U.S. and more than 2 million worldwide suffer from MS, a chronic disease for which there is no cure. MS is characterized by abnormal attacks by the immune system on myelin sheaths of nerve cells in the brain, optic nerves, and spinal cord. The myelin sheath supports and insulates the nerve cells. When it is attacked, it becomes inflamed and eventually sustains damage. Symptoms of damage to the myelin sheath include fatigue, pain, muscle … Continue reading →

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approveda first-of-its-kind treatment that can halt the progress of aggressive MS symptoms. Heres what you need to know about this important drug therapy. While various MS treatments already exist on the market, options for those with primary progressive MS, have been incredibly limited. Primary progressive MS differs from the relapsing and remitting variety in that symptoms like muscle weakness and loss of motor function gradually worsen, rather than emergingas sudden attacks. Available treatments canhelp manage specific symptoms of the disease, but none on the market have been able to target the progressive debilitation caused by this variety of MS until now. A newly approved drug, known asOcrevus, is given through an intravenous infusion by a health care professional every six months. In trials the drug showed a significant ability to interrupt the cycle of relapses for those with the more commonly understood relapsing and remitting MS. In addition, Ocrevus displayedwhat has been described as a modest ability to slow deterioration inpatients with primary progressive MS. While that might not sound particularlyencouraging, health experts claimthat it is a significant step forward. Multiple sclerosis can have a profound impact on a persons life, Dr. Billy … Continue reading →

A new treatment is available for multiple sclerosis patients. Amber Lee, KTVU , KXVA 12:20 PM. CDT April 03, 2017 We spoke with a woman whos been living with MS for 15 years. She says this is a life-changing disease ad that much more research needs to be done. MS is a horrible disease, Carol Schumacher said. Schumacher was diagnosed with progressive MS in 2002. She says the newly approved drug, Ocrelizumab by Genetech, is significant because no one knows the cause of MS nor is there a cure. Any bit of hope for improvement is significant in our lives. The disease can lead to paralysis and cognitive disease. It certainly changed my life dramatically. I had to look at my life ending in a wheelchair and severely debilitated. She says she wasnt able to walk more than two blocks without assistance and designed her home to accommodate an elevator. Its the most common crippler of young to middle age adults, with the exception of brain injuries, Doctor Stephen Hauser said. Dr. Hauser, the chairman of UCSFs neurology department, oversaw the clinical trials for the drug. He says there are other drugs that treat MS, but Ocrelizumab is the most … Continue reading →

In autoimmune disorders, malfunctioning immune cells turn against the body. These cells attack the protective sheaths that surround neurons in the brain, which can eventually lead to a host of symptoms and conditions like paralysis, and in some cases be fatal. Now, imagine if these wayward cells could be influenced to control the disease, rather than fuel it. Research presented today at a meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) shows that its possible and could be a game-changer when it comes to treating autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS) and type 1 diabetes. Read more: Get the facts on autoimmune diseases While current immunotherapies can yield positive results, they tend to deal in broad strokes. This approach can affect and potentially compromise the entire immune system, rather than dealing with just the cells that are causing problems. Christopher Jewell, PhD, associate professor in the bioengineering department at the University of Maryland, and lead researcher on the study released today, told Healthline that his team set out to develop a form of immunotherapy that specifically targeted the problematic cells, leaving the rest of the immune system alone. We are working on autoimmune disease, where the bodys immune system mistakenly recognizes … Continue reading →