StemCell Therapy

The condition is caused by the immune system malfunctioning and mistakenly attacking nerves in the brain and spinal cord

A GROUNDBREAKING treatment that resets the immune system could stop the spread of mutliple sclerosis in nearly half of patients, expertssay.

The risky treatment involves wiping the bodies immune system with cancer treatment and rebooting it with a stem cell transplant, but not all patients will be suitable.

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A stem cell transplant followed by aggressive chemotherapy could reset the immune system and manage the symptoms of MSThe treatment prevents symptoms of the disease worsening for five years in 46 per cent of patients, a study from Imperial College London found.

Multiple sclerosis affects around 100,000 people in the UK, and 2.3 million worldwide.

The condition is caused by the immune system malfunctioning and mistakenly attacking nerves in the brain and spinal cord.

This leads to a range of symptoms including fatigue, problems with arm and leg movement, vision and balance.

There is no cure but certain medications can help slow progression of the disease.

But a stem cell transplant, followed by aggressive chemotherapy, could change that.

Participants in the studyhad advanced forms of the disease and had not responded to any other treatment.

They were given aautologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) A process in which removes healthy stem cells from the body to allow medics to kill the remaining ones.

It aims to stop the immune system from attacking the bodys nerve cells.

The results, published in the journal JAMA Neurology, suggested some patients saw an improvement in their symptoms.

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In the treatment, a patient is given a drug that encourages stem cells to move from the bone marrow into the blood stream, and these cells are then removed from the body.

The patient then receives high-dose chemotherapy that kills any remaining immune cells.

The stem cells are then transfused back into their body to re-grow their immune system.

Previous studies have suggested this resets the immune system, and stops it from attacking the nerve cells.

But medics warn that because thetreatment involves aggressive chemotherapy that inactivates the immune system for a short period of time, some patients died from infections.

Out of the 281 patients who received the treatment in the study, eight died in the 100 days following the treatment.

Older patients, and those with the most severe forms of the disease, were found to have a higher risk of death.

MSis a neurological condition that affects your nerves.

Its caused when your immune system isnt working properly and the coating around your nerves, called myelin, is damaged.

The protective coating helps ensure messages travel smoothly from your nerves to your brain, but when it is damaged the messages become disrupted meaning they can slow down, become distorted or not make it at all.

Once diagnosed, MS stays with you for life, but treatments and specialists can help you to manage the condition and its symptoms.

The cause is not know and there isnt yet a cure, but research is progressing fast.

Symptoms:

Treatment: According to the MS Society, more than 100,000 people in the UK have MS and symptoms usually start in your 20s and 30s, affecting more women than men.

While there is no known cure for MS, there are several ways to treats its symptoms including medication, diet, exercise and physiotherapy.

The best course of action depends on what symptoms the sufferer has.

Dr Paolo Muraro, lead author of the study, said: We previously knew this treatment reboots or resets the immune system and that it carried risks but we didnt know how long the benefits lasted.

In this study, which is the largest long-term follow-up study of this procedure, weve shown we can freeze a patients disease and stop it from becoming worse, for up to five years.

However, we must take into account that the treatment carries a small risk of death, and this is a disease that is not immediately life-threatening.

Most patients with multiple sclerosis have a type of the disease that has flare-ups, known as relapses, followed by an improvement in symptoms.

Dr Muraro said the number of years this treatment prevented symptoms from worsening wasfar greater than would be expected in untreated patients with severe forms of relapsing MS.

Dr Muraro added: These findings are very promising but crucially we didnt have a placebo group in this study, of patients who didnt receive the treatment.

We urgently need more effective treatments for this devastating condition, and so a large randomised controlled trial of this treatment should be the next step.

Dr Sorrel Bickley, head of biomedical research at the MS Society, said: This study is one of the largest to date looking at AHSCT as a treatment for MS and the findings offer some encouraging insights.

It shows that AHSCT can slow or stop progression for many years, and the treatment is most effective in people with MS who have active inflammation in their brain and spinal cord.

There are more than 100,000 people with MS in the UK, its a challenging and unpredictable condition to live with and thats why the MS Society is funding research like this to further our knowledge and find treatments for everyone.

If anyone with MS is considering AHSCT they should speak to their neurologist as a referral is needed to access this treatment via a trial or on the NHS.

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Resetting the immune system 'stops MS in it's tracks for at least five years' - The Sun

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