Doctors are calling inverse vaccines the holy grail for fighting diseases like MS and celiac

A revolutionary treatment for autoimmune diseases could be on the horizon.Twenty-four million to 50 million Americans have an autoimmune disease, in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks its own healthy tissue.There are over 80 types of autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, celiac disease, lupus, and psoriasis.Current protocol treats these conditions by suppressing the entire immune system, which often requires invasive practices and ultimately leaves patients susceptible to other illnesses.However, researchers are hopeful that a new treatment will improve the lives of millions.

Unlike traditional vaccines that intensify a particular part of the immune system, these new treatments are known as “inverse vaccines,” as they suppress specific parts of the immune system.Inverse vaccines use synthetic nanoparticles attached to disease-related proteins, called antigens, to retrain the immune system.These nanoparticles mimic dying human cells, and though these cells register as “foreign,” the immune system does not register them as a threat.

Eventually, the immune system learns to ignore both the nanoparticles and the antigens and, in turn, stops attacking the body.“This is the holy grail,” Northwestern University immunologist Stephen Miller told The Guardian.

“We want to use a scalpel rather than a sledgehammer to treat these diseases.”Miller is the author of a 2021 paper that demonstrated the efficacy of inverse vaccines to treat autoimmune conditions in humans.That study focused on celiac disease, an autoimmune condition characterized by the immune system attacking the intestinal lining in response to consuming gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye and barley.Thirty-three celiac patients in remission, half of whom received an inverse vaccine and half of whom were given a placebo, ingested gluten.After two weeks, researchers found that the intestinal lining of the inverse vaccine grou...