Narrator: This is Science Today. Researchers have discovered the
body's own antibodies play a major role in the development of
multiple sclerosis. Previously the immune system's killer
T-cells were thought to be the main culprit. But Dr. Claude
Genain, a neurology professor at the University of California,
San Francisco, literally caught antibodies in the act of
destroying the myelin sheath, which protects vital nerve fibers
of the spinal cord and brain. Genain: That has never been shown
before in human MS The implications of this are by combining the
previous therapies that are efficient against T cells and some
therapies that are efficient against antibodies, we will most
likely end up with a much more efficient treatment for the
disease. Narrator: Genain hopes to develop molecules that mimic
antibodies that bind to myelin. Genain: But do not have their
detrimental effect on the myelin sheath and we are hoping that
these molecules will be able to compete with antibodies to
prevent the antibodies to create t