NATION IN BRIEF : NEW YORK : Study Suggests New Sclerosis Treatment

The body’s misguided attack on nerve tissue, which triggers multiple sclerosis, may involve only a few types of white blood cells, according to a new study. Strategies that block just those types of cells may be able to treat the disease, said study co-author Dr. Lawrence Steinman of Stanford University. The work is a major step toward better understanding of the disease, said Stephen Reingold, National Multiple Sclerosis Society vice president for research and medical programs. But Reingold said that the study included only three patients, so its importance for multiple sclerosis in general is not clear. The study, which focuses on T-cells that normally attack germs, is reported in today’s issue of the British journal Nature by researchers at Stanford, LaTrobe University in Australia and Cetus Corp. in Emeryville, Calif.