Jan 2015
A group of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients have had their immune systems destroyed and then rebuilt using their own blood stem cells. Three years later, 86 percent of them have had no relapses, and 91 percent are showing no signs of MS development.
A new stem cell treatment has sent most of the MS patients who tried it into remission, halting the progression of the disease even several years afterwards.
The clinical study, led by Richard A. Nash of the Colorado Blood Cancer Institute in the US, involved 24 volunteer patients with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS). This form of the disease, which affects around 85 percent of MS patients around the world, is characterized by continued inflammatory attacks on layers of myelin – the membrane that insulates and protects the nerve fibres that make up our central nervous systems. This leads to patches or lesions in the membrane, and these interrupt the messages that are being transmitted along the nerves. Symptoms, which grow worse as the disease progresses, include a loss of motor function, fatigue, vertigo, memory loss and depression.
According to Jeri Burtchell at Healthline News, prior to recieving the new treatment, the volunteers’ walking ability, motor skills, level of cognition and quality of life was tested using the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS). Each scored between 3.0 and 5.5, which classified them as having a mild to moderate disability. Each of the volunteers had been experiencing RRMS for 15 years or less, with continued relapses.
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