According to a new study carried out by researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago, stem cells transplanted in early phase-multiple sclerosis patients were able to “reset” the malfunctioning immune system of patients with this disease and to reverse their disability.

 

The study included 21 patients with the “relapsing-remitting” form of the disease. The participants were injected with stem cells taken from their bone marrow and after three years, the researchers observed an improvement in symptoms in four out of five adults taking part in the study.

Previous studies have shown that stem cell injections could stabilise MS but have not suggested that it could reverse the disability.

 

Promising as it may sound, scientists call the work “encouraging” but call for larger studies to confirm the results.

“Stem cells are showing more and more potential in the treatment of MS and the challenge we now face is proving their effectiveness in trials involving large numbers of people,” Dr. Doug Brown, research manager at the MS Society, was quoted as saying.

 

Multiple sclerosis is the most common disabling neurological condition; it is known to cause muscle weakness, severe fatigue, loss of balance and coordination, and depression. Which symptoms affect which patients depends upon the particular nerve transmissions that are interrupted. MS is an autoimmune disease, a class of disorders that manifest by the immune system attacking different tissues of the body. In Ms’s case, killer T-cells attack the myelin, which protects the nerve fibres of the central nervous system. As this happens, patients start to experience symptoms as weakness, numbness, incontinence and speech problems.