New stem cell treatment can reverse crippling MS

Published on Thursday 29 January 2009 21:02

A NEW treatment for multiple sclerosis using stem cells could be used to reverse the effects of the disease, research revealed yesterday.

A study of 21 patients with MS found that none saw their condition deteriorate while using the therapy – and the majority saw an improvement.

The discovery gives new hope that stem cells offer a ground-breaking new method of tackling the debilitating disease, for which there was no cure.

The latest research, published in The Lancet Neurology, focused on a technique known as "autologous non-myeloablative haemopoietic stem cell transplantation".

Stem cells are taken from the patient's bone marrow. The patient's immune system is suppressed and their haemopoietic stem cells – which become blood cells – are put back.

Such a technique effectively "resets" the immune system. The 11 women and ten men taking part in the new study, led by the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, suffered from a form of the condition known as relapsing-remitting MS.

In these patients, symptoms of the disease come and go, meaning they experience periods of remission before problems emerge again.

Ten to 15 years after diagnosis, most patients go on to develop secondary, progressive MS, which leads to gradual but irreversible impairment.

The patients in the trial had been diagnosed with MS for an average of five years when they were given the treatment with stem cells – early-stage cells with the ability to grow into different types of tissue.

After being followed up for an average of three years, 17 of the patients had seen their disability decrease. No patients saw their condition get worse during the study.

The researchers, led by Dr Richard Burt, said that, in addition to an improvement in their brain function, the patients did not suffer serious side-effects.

One patient had diarrhoea due to a bacterial infection, two suffered viral infections and two had a blood-clotting disorder. However, all these problems were resolved with treatment.

The researchers said that further, larger studies were needed to back up their findings.

But they concluded: "Autologous non-myeloablative haemo-poietic stem cell transplantation for patients with relapse-remitting MS … is a feasible procedure that not only seems to prevent neurological progression, but also appears to reverse neurological disability."

MS is the result of damage to myelin, a protective sheath surrounding nerve fibres of the central nervous system. It is the most common disabling neurological condition among young adults, affecting around 85,000 people in the UK. In Scotland, it is estimated that there are 10,500 people with MS – the highest rate anywhere in the world.

MS is most commonly diagnosed in people aged between the ages of 20 and 40, and women are almost twice as likely to develop it as men.

Available therapies – including steroids, interferons, glatiramer acetate, natalizumab and mitoxantrone – are effective, but mainly in the relapsing-remitting phase of the disease.

The new research was welcomed by MS campaigners.

Dr Doug Brown, research manager at the MS Society, said: "These are very encouraging results and it's exciting to see that in this trial not only is progression of disability halted, but damage appears to be reversed.

"Stem cells are showing more and more potential in the treatment of MS and the challenge we now face is proving their effectiveness in trials involving large numbers of people."