The immune system is composed of substances made in many areas of the body and normally transported in the blood stream. The immune system effectively talks to itself and regulates its actions. Sometimes it malfunctions and recognizes something foreign which is not. Learning to regulate the immune system was the major goal of MS research in the '90's. Many new treatments which have the potential to alter the course of the disease came forward in the past decade.
Interferons are proteins that the body makes in response to a foreign stimulus.
Thus when infected by a virus the body makes interferons. There are three broad categories of interferon, alpha, beta, and gamma. Gamma interferon stimulates the immune system and makes MS worse. Beta interferon modulates the immune system and decreases the attacks, increases the time between attacks, decreases the severity of attacks and decreases the damage as seen on MRI scans. Another approach involves four amino acids which when appear to fool the immune system.