Women with multiple sclerosis get better with pregnancy: Study

Researchers have discovered natural changes in the immune system during pregnancy as beneficial to women with multiple sclerosis (MS). The study was published in the Journal of Neuro inflammation. The immune system defends our body against foreign substances. However, it does not reject a fetus’ genetic material. A mother’s immune system is adapted to become more tolerant during pregnancy.
MS impairs nerve function by attacking the fat that acts as an insulating sheath around nerve fibres. Nerve inflammation can result in nerve damage. Despite new and more effective treatment options, most MS patients deteriorate over time. Researchers in a recent study believe that the temporary suppression of the immune response may explain why pregnant women with MS improve. Symptoms, or relapses, are reduced by 70 per cent during the last third of pregnancy. Other autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, also temporarily improve during pregnancy.
The researchers compared 11 women with MS to 7 healthy women who had blood drawn before, during, and after pregnancy. The researchers identified the genes used in T cells at various points during pregnancy to understand better what happens in immune cells. They also looked into changes that control how genes are turned on and off, known as epigenetic changes. The researchers focused their investigation on one such regulation mechanism known as DNA methylation.
"What was possibly most striking is that we couldn't find any real differences between the groups during pregnancy, as it seems that the immune system of a pregnant woman with MS looks roughly like that of a healthy pregnant woman," said Sandra Hellberg, assistant professor at the Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences at Linkoping University and one of the researchers behind the study.
The researchers found networks of interacting genes that are affected during pregnancy. Their study found that these genes are, to a large extent, linked to the disease and to important processes in the immune system.
"We can see that the changes in the T cells mirror the amelioration in relapse frequency. The biggest changes happen in the last third of pregnancy, and this is where women with MS improve the most. These changes are then reversed after pregnancy at the point in time when there is a temporary increase in disease activity. It is important to stress that disease activity thereafter goes back to what it was prior to the pregnancy," said Hellberg.