Mice crippled by multiple sclerosis able to walk again following stem cell treatment

Scientists admit to being astonished by the result and believe it opens up a new avenue of research in the quest for solutions to MS.

Professor Tom Lane, from the University of Utah, who led the US team, recalled: “My postdoctoral fellow Dr Lu Chen came to me and said, ‘The mice are walking.’ I didn’t believe her.”

The genetically engineered mice had a condition that mimics the symptoms of human MS.

They were so disabled they could not stand long enough to eat and drink on their own and had to be hand-fed.

The scientists transplanted human neural stem cells into the animals, expecting them to be rejected and provide no benefit. Instead the experiment yielded spectacular results.

Within 10 to 14 days, the mice had regained motor skills and were able to walk again. Six months later, they showed no sign of relapsing.

The findings, published in the journal Stem Cell Reports, suggest the mice experienced at least a partial reversal of their symptoms.

A similar outcome in humans could help patients in potentially disabling stages of the disease for which there are no treatments.

“This result opens up a whole new area of research for us to figure out why it worked,” said Dr Jeanne Loring, a co-author of the paper and director of the centre for regenerative medicine at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. “We’ve long forgotten our original plan.”

MS is an auto-immune condition caused by the body’s own defences attacking myelin, the fatty insulation surrounding nerve fibres.

As myelin is stripped away, nerve impulses can no longer be transmitted properly, leading to symptoms ranging from mild tingling to full-blown paralysis.

Drugs that dampen the immune system can slow early forms of the disease, but little can be done for patients in the later stages.

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