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Glandular fever immune cells could be the key to treating multiple sclerosis, scientists have claimed.
In a small study, patients with MS were implanted with T cells that target the virus that causes glandular fever.
Brain scans suggested that the progression of the disease was slowed or even reversed in some sufferers.
PPatients who achieved results also had “sustained improvement in disability,” including the ability to walk with less pain.
T cells were extracted from people who had recovered from Epstein-Barr virus, which has been touted as a possible cause of MS.
US scientists who conducted the research accept that the study was small and could not rule out the placebo effect - when someone feels better just because they expected it.
But it could represent a significant advance in experts' understanding of MS, which is currently incurable and can only be treated with medication.
Scientists still aren't sure what causes the disease, which affects around 130,000 people in Britain and more than 900,000 Americans.
Scientists have claimed that immune cells used to fight glandular fever could be the key to reversing multiple sclerosis. Pictured: An illustration of the Epstein-Barr virus, which causes glandular fever
It comes after a large study of 1 million soldiers by Harvard scientists found that EBV could be the leading cause of multiple sclerosis (MS) - with EBV patients 32 times more likely to develop it.
The debilitating condition is caused by a person's immune system attacking nerve cells, leading to symptoms such as fatigue and difficulty walking.
Progressive MS occurs in one in 10 patients and involves a consistent worsening of the condition over time without relapses. There are very few treatment options.
The new T-cell therapy was developed by the US company Atara Biotherapeutics, based in San Francisco, California.
This involves extracting immune cells known as ATA188, which are found in people who have successfully fought Epstein-Barr.
It is given to people through injections.
The American immunotherapy company initially tested the drug on 24 MS patients for a year in 2017.
Patients were drawn from across the United States and Australia and received different doses of the immunotherapy drug to assess its effects.
The cells were donated by people who had suffered an EBV infection and were immunologically matched to the patients - to avoid rejection.
Eighteen participants continued the study for up to more than three years from August 2021 - seven of whom were already showing signs of improvement.
Researchers used scans to examine nerve damage in the brain as a result of MS and classified patients' physical status using the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS).
The results were presented at a conference on March 22nd.
It is not clear how regularly doses were given to patients or how much of the drug was injected into them.
In 20 of the original 24 injections, their condition improved or stabilized after one year.
After three years, nine also had improvements as measured by the use of brain scans.
Professor Mark Freedman, a neurologist at the University of Ottawa who was not involved in the study, said natural reversal of progressive MS was incredibly rare - suggesting that the Atara therapy being tested was behind the improved results.
He said: “Once a patient reaches a certain level of advanced disability it is rare for them to return naturally and sustained improvement would not be expected due to the natural progression of the disease.
“As MS progresses, spontaneous remyelination is unlikely without therapeutic intervention, underscoring the implications of these MTR data, which suggest that remyelination may drive sustained EDSS improvement.”
However, others suggested that more research is needed before people get too excited about treatment.
The Phase I trial was not tested against a control variable, with researchers admitting that the results could be caused by the placebo effect.
Clare Walton, research director at the Multiple Sclerosis Society UK, said New scientist: “It is encouraging that they have seen improvements at MTR
"But we've seen treatments look promising in Phase I or even Phase II, but then when you do the large randomized trials, they don't show a result."
Atara is currently conducting an 80-person Phase II trial, which represents the next stage in the drug development process.
Dr. Manher Joshi, Chief Medical Officer at Atara, said: “There is increasing evidence that EBV-infected B cells and plasma cells play a critical role in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis.
“These data on progressive MS, the population with the highest unmet need, highlight the potential to halt or reverse disability progression by targeting precisely what may be a root cause of MS.”
Around 95 percent of people alive today are infected with EBV, which causes mononucleosis
The virus is also believed to be behind several autoimmune diseases, including chronic fatigue syndrome and encephalomyelitis.
The immune system can become confused when EBV attaches to nerves and begins attacking the body's own cells instead of the virus.
Because the virus can remain undetected in the body for a long time and occasionally reactivate, this immune response can occur again and again.