MS patients treated with their own stem cells

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease where the myelin sheaths around axons of CNS neurons are damaged, causing neural dysfunction. There is no cure for this degenerative disease.

Injecting stem cells into the patient has been proposed as a treatment, since they might differentiate into oligodendrocyte progenitors to repair the myelin sheaths. The use of embryonic stem cells is controversial, so if adult human stem cells could be used that would be preferable.

A research team based at the University of Bristol recently completed a study where they treated MS patients by extracting bone marrow from their pelvis, filtering out the stem cells from bone and fat cells and injecting the stem cells back into the patient's arms on the same day. The patients were monitored and given brain scans for a year.

The results were promising; tests showed increased effectiveness in transmitting electrical impulses in damaged neurons, and there were no serious side effects from the relatively short procedure. The team is planning a larger study to confirm these results.

I think this result is very exciting because it demonstrates a way to use the healing properties of stem cells to cure degenerative diseases without dealing with the ethical dilemmas of using human embryos. Curing patients with cells from their own body is an interesting idea, and could probably apply to many different diseases.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7682055/Stem-cells-raise-hope-for-treatment-for-multiple-sclerosis-patients.html

Caleb Davis VTPP 435-502