Dr. Stephen Hauser of UC San Francisco received a $3 million Breakthrough Prize for his transformative research on multiple sclerosis (MS). His findings challenge the established belief that T-type white blood cells cause most neurological damage in MS patients. Instead, he discovered that B-type white blood cells play a crucial role. This discovery occurred during a ferry ride in British Columbia, leading to a revolutionary treatment that aims to prevent attacks of MS. Hauser emphasizes the importance of optimism for new patients, indicating that a life without disability is now possible.
On that 1997 ferry ride from Vancouver to Vancouver Island, a remark from a colleague led Hauser to laboratory investigations that upended scientists' belief that T-type white blood cells wrought most of the neurological damage from MS.
Hauser's discovery about MS, a neurological disease affecting nearly a million Americans, came on a ferry trip in British Columbia after he worked for decades to untangle the causes of MS and find possible treatments.
For patients who are beginning their MS journey now, I think they can be optimistic that a life free from disability is achievable.
The drug therapy blocks nearly all of the bursts of inflammation that cause attacks of MS, so after a few years of treatment, if started early enough, patients have on average less than one attack of MS per lifetime.
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