Scientists at the University of Florida in Gainesville have developed a gene immunotherapy method that can stop the development of multiple sclerosis (MS) in a mouse model of the autoimmune disorder, and even reverse paralysis in animals with pre-existing disease.

The neurological disease is thought to result from the activation of self-reactive effector T cells that attack proteins in the myelin sheath that surrounds nerve cells. These rogue cells somehow escape control by regulatory T cells (Tregs) that normally prevent self-destructive activity and gradually destroy the protective myelin sheath.