Autoimmunity Versus Neurodegeneration
From recent Scientific American article: "In 2002 a clinical trial of an experimental Alzheimer's vaccine was halted when a few patients began experiencing brain inflammation, a result of the immune system mounting an attack against the body. Now some researchers claim that inducing a mild autoimmune reaction could actually protect the central nervous system from a spectrum of neurodegenerative conditions, from glaucoma and spinal cord injury to Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. ... Too much autoimmunity causes brain disease, but too little may exacerbate the gamut of neurodegenerative conditions ... The evidence is mixed, however. We get what the conventional wisdom would expect: we get more problems ... The discrepancy probably results from subtle differences in the models employed, which implies that the effect is not robust enough to treat spinal cord injuries."
Link: http://www.sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=00029B2D-2240-13A8-9E4D83414B7F0101