"Inverse vaccine" completely reverses autoimmune disease in animals

What's the news: Scientists have created an “inverse vaccine” to tamp down any specific autoimmune response.

Why should we believe it: This news is based on a study published last week by scientists at the University of Chicago. Their new approach takes advantage of the fact that the liver has a mechanism to mark certain proteins as "do not attack" to the immune system.

Scientists used the same mechanism to mark myelin, the protective coating in nerves, which is attacked by the immune system in multiple sclerosis. In an animal study, this caused the immune system to stop attacking myelin, allowed nerves to function properly once again, and entirely reversed symptoms of the disease.

Why this is a big deal: This same approach could be used to treat other autoimmune diseases, including type I diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. Such diseases can be painful, debilitating, or even life-threatening.

While other treatments exist at the moment, they require suppressing the entire immune system, unlike this inverse vaccine, which eliminates immune overactivity in a specific case.

What about longevity? Beyond these obvious and huge benefits, the present research might also benefit long youthspan in other ways. Runaway inflammation is one of the hallmarks of aging.

It's possible that this inverse vaccine approach might in the future reduce the kinds of aging-related inflammation that bring on liver disease, lung diseases, or neurodegenerative diseases.

So what's next? Human studies are already underway to test the safety and viability of this approach for celiac disease and multiple sclerosis.

These studies are being performed by Anokion SA, a biotech company started by Jeffrey Hubbell, the lead scientist working on this new and exciting research. Stay tuned to Long Youthspan, because as results become available, I'll be the first to let you know.