Multiple sclerosis, or MS, is an autoimmune disorder – one in which the body, through its immune system, launches a defensive attack against its own tissues. In the case of MS, the nerve-insulating myelin comes under assault. The degeneration of myelin affects nerves by lessening their ability to conduct signals. These problems in nerve transmission cause complications in movement, sensation, cognition, vision and other functions. MS is also known to cause muscle weakness, severe fatigue, loss of balance and coordination, and depression. The condition has no cure, as current drugs only ease symptoms. Several studies have tried to give answers to what will cure MS, but the latest one seems to offer more hope than ever.

 

The current research involved three patients with MS. Cells taken from these patients through a procedure called stromal vascular fraction (SVF) were specially treated in the lab and then put back as infusions into the patients’ bloodstream.

 

“All three patients in our study showed dramatic improvement in their condition after the SVF therapy. While no conclusions in terms of therapeutic efficacy can be drawn from these reports, this first clinical use of fat stem cells for treatment of MS supports further investigations,” Boris Minev of the University of California San Diego who conducted the study, he was helped in his work by Thomas Ichim, of stem-cell research company Medistem.

 

This is a second study showing that stem cell therapy works in MS patients. Earlier this year, another study involving 21 patients injected with their own bone marrow stem cells, found that 81 per cent saw significant improvements to their disability.

 

“The preliminary research presented in this literary review is intriguing and we would be interested to see if what is shown in these case studies can be repeated in properly controlled clinical trials,” a spokesman for the MS Society said.

 

MS is most common in young adults, with more than 90 percent of the cases being diagnosed before the age of 55, and fewer than five percent diagnosed before the age of five. Women are two to three times more likely to develop the disease, which afflicts more than 350,000 patients in the United States.

 

 Stem cell therapy has the potential to spark the development of many new types of therapies for humans, for diseases that range from Type 1 diabetes to Parkinson’s disease, researchers claim.