Degenerative disease deaths could soon be thing of past

The drugs will slow down the degeneration of the body meaning patients could effectively "control" their conditions.

With Edinburgh firmly at the forefront of the research, this medical advancement could save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people across the world.

Professor Charles ffrench-Constant, director of Edinburgh University's MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine based at Little France, said: "We are increasingly desperate to develop this, but it is a long and expensive process.

"The realistic view is that we are some years away, but the progress has been very exciting. We now have a real promise of drugs that will repair damage and I can say that in 10 years' time a patient will take drugs to repair damage and in that way control it."

More than 10,000 people in Scotland have MS, the most common neurological condition among young adults of which the country has more sufferers than anywhere else in the world.

It affects the brain and spinal cord causing problems with mobility and balance, as well as pain, fatigue and muscle spasms. Its cause is not known, although there is evidence to suggest there could be a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

Unlike MS, for which patients can take treatment to help improve symptoms, MND patients currently have no medication available.

The progressive neuro-degenerative disease attacks the upper and lower motor neurones, leading to weakness and wasting of muscles. Depending on the type of MND a person has, their life expectancy can be as short as two years.

As with MS, MND is a life-long condition for which there is currently no cure. Speaking as part of a BBC Radio Scotland documentary looking at stem cell research, to be aired this afternoon, Professor Ian Wilmut, who led the team behind the creation of Dolly the Sheep at the Roslin Institute in 1996, agrees with a ten-year framework for drug advancements.

Prof Wilmut said: "Ten years is tight, but within about ten years. The first drugs would slow down that process of degeneration.

"You may say that is still disappointing, but it is a lot better than the present situation."

He said he believed it would be drugs and not advancements in stem cell research that would offer hope for sufferers.

He said: "The first of the clinical trials actually using cells for therapy are beginning, to help repair damaged livers. My colleagues here have a project going on in a number of hospitals in Britain where cells are being put into patients to help the liver repair itself, and the expectation is that will mean fewer of those people will need a liver transplantation."

His colleagues at the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine recently revealed they had also discovered a new way to generate human motor nerve cells as part of their research into MND. Along with scientists at Cambridge and Cardiff universities, they created a range of motor neurons from human embryonic stem cells.

Edinburgh is very much at the forefront of research into MS and MND. As well as the work being done at the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, studies are also under way at the Euan MacDonald Centre for MND, which is also part of Edinburgh University. In September, Harry Potter author JK Rowling gave 10 million to the university to develop the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic, in memory of her mother who died from MS.

Prof ffrench-Constant said: "I am very proud that Edinburgh is leading the way. While I wish to impress just how far we have come, equally we have a long way to go. Yet ten years is a realistic time frame."

After Dolly - The Stem Cell Revolution, BBC Radio Scotland, today 2pm.

'I feel like a prisoner, I have lost all control over my life'

For Morningside mum Caroline Carr-Locke, ten years is too long to wait for a breakthrough in treatment for Motor Neurone Disease - she does not have that time.

"I will be dead in ten years," the 67-year-old says. "This is the most terrifying illness."

The former nurse was diagnosed last year with the condition which has rapidly affected her mobility, resulting in the need for round-the-clock care.

"I think this news is awful," she says. "How do we know scientists are working hard enough? Research is being done with universities all over the world, so why is it taking so long?

"Surely if we can send people to the moon, we can deal with these kinds of things."

Her frustration is understandable. Once an able-bodied woman who travelled the world, she is now wheelchair-bound and relies on the help of carers, relatives and friends to perform even the most simple of tasks.

"I feel like a prisoner. I have lost all control over my life and am dependent on other people," she says.

"In the US there is a woman who is already using stem cell treatment for MND, so why can't we do that here? I would be a guinea pig. I would try anything. I am causing my family misery having this condition."

She feels that major financial donations are needed to speed up research into MND and is eager for more awareness of the condition.

"You never know what is round the corner," she says. "I was walking one day when suddenly I could not lift my foot."

For information or advice about MND visit www.mndscotland.org.uk, or www.mssocietyscotland.org.uk for MS.

'I'm remaining cautiously optimistic'

Mother-of-two Beth Vokurka is the fourth generation of her family to be diagnosed with MS.

Her mother, grandfather and great-grandmother all died of the condition, which she desperately hopes her children will not have inherited.

The 38-year-old, from East Linton, said: "It would be great in ten years if there is effective medication to deal with this.

"I am very conscious that with my situation there is every chance my children could have MS, but then they may not. If they did, they could have a chance of a greater quality of life through the development of drugs."

Beth, an intellectual property consultant, was diagnosed with MS when she was just 19, but manages to live a full life. She is able bodied and works full time, but is on constant medication, which she must inject, to help cope with the disease.

"It is nice to say 'in ten years', but I have heard things like this said before about other research so I remain cautiously optimistic."