Multiple sclerosis (also called disseminated sclerosis or encephalomyelitis disseminate, and often abbreviated to MS) is caused by the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord becoming damaged. The condition is associated with a range of physical, mental, and psychiatric problems. There are two potential causes for the condition, either destruction by the immune system or failure of the myelin-producing cells associated with the central nervous system.
In relation to the disease, a new therapy has been reported with seemingly impressive results. The stem cell treatment has, in human studies, succeeded in reversing and then halting the potentially the effects of the disease. People, bound in wheelchairs, who have been administered the therapeutic product have succeeded in walking.
Interviewed by the Daily Telegraph, one patient, 25 year-old Holly Drewry, 25, from Sheffield in the U.K., described how she had been wheelchair following the birth of her daughter two years ago.
Following the treatment her life has been changed around: “I couldn’t walk steadily. I couldn’t trust myself holding her (Isla) in case I fell. Being a new mum I wanted to do it all properly but my MS was stopping me from doing it.”
As featured on the BBC television program Panorama “Can you stop my multiple sclerosis?”, broadcast on Monday, January 18, it was explained that the new treatment involves using a high dose of chemotherapy to weaken the patient’s immune system. It is then rebuilt using stem cells taken from the patient’s own blood in a process called “autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplant.”
The novel treatment was performed at two centers: Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield and Kings College Hospital, London. Speaking with BBC News, Professor John Snowden, a consultant haematologist at the hospital, summarized what is taking place as: “the immune system is being reset or rebooted back to a time point before it caused MS.”
