Multiple Sclerosis – Stem Cell Treatment

Patients with multiple sclerosis were offered significant hope early in 2011 as results of a long-term study carried out on those with aggressive rapidly progressing MS were published showing considerable success. This therapy was not straightforward however and only those who were not responding to traditional treatments were candidates for the trial which required initial chemotherapy to destroy the patients’ faulty immune systems (Kimiskidis, et al, 2011). The possibility of death following such treatment was around 10% just a decade ago, although it is thought to be somewhere closer to 1% now, making the treatment slightly less risky but still only usually reserved for those patients with few, if any, treatment options remaining. Stem cell therapy for MS has two main aspects which could provide effective treatment; an immunomodulatory effect to prevent further immune system damage, and a possible remyelinating effect to restore the damaged tissue in the central nervous system. It is thought that in the brains of patients with MS the neural stem cells which would ordinarily be able to repair damage to the myelin around the nerves are inactive and fail to address damage as it occurs. Treatments may also then look at using medications to ‘turn on’ these neural stem cells.

Cause of Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis has been thought for many years to be an autoimmune condition where the body begins to attack the myelin insulation around nerve fibers causing a progressive loss of control and sensation through those nerve fibers affected. The disease can be episodic with patients experiencing inflammatory flare-ups that exacerbate symptoms as lesions in the nervous system lead to pain, numbness, weakness, and disability. Neurological deficits also occur as regards memory, hearing, and speech. The location of lesions and severity varies between patients with some experiencing few symptoms and some becoming incapable of walking, or caring for themselves any longer. Treatments focus on slowing disease progression as there is no known way of regenerating the lost myelin and restoring the conductivity of the nerves lost or damaged.

Is Myelin Really the Issue in MS?

Recent research in Munich has, however, discovered that the myelin itself may not necessarily be the problem for all MS patients and that a poorly understood process called focal axonal degeneration may in fact be at the root of the disease (Nikiæ, et al, 2011). The research showed that spontaneous remissions, as are sometimes observed in early stages of MS, were connected to the ability of the affected axons to regenerate if given the right conditions. In animal models the researchers looked at ways of removing the oxidative stressors thought largely responsible for the axonal degeneration and observed a reversal in disease process. They have stressed that there are many complicated stages to work through before anything approaching a treatment for MS is ready and that it largely depends on the ability to diagnose and treat the disease early before focal axonal degeneration has become intractable.

CCSVI and MS

Those working on the autoimmune hypothesis for MS pathology view stem cell treatments as a potential method of repopulating the patients’ system with blood- and immune-forming cells which do not attack the myelin and thus halt the progression of the disease. As yet, no treatment is in development which actively seeks to reverse the damage to the nervous system although it is possible that this may occur as a, highly desirable, side-effect of stem cell therapy. There are also theories of disease development which are not connected to an autoimmune condition as the key component, such as chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI). If CCSVI is a major cause of MS in patients then it may be a build-up of iron in the brain tissue which is actually triggering free-radical damage and causing the lesions, thereby making a bone marrow transplantation unlikely to provide much benefit, even if the circulation problems in the neck are addressed at the same time.

The mainstream medical establishment has been relatively slow to accept this as the possible underlying pathology of MS meaning that solid research into the abnormality found in a number of patients by a handful of researchers is only just being studied in depth at institutions such as the University of British Columbia in Canada. It may be that screening those at risk of CCSVI and taking early corrective action would offer the best prognosis, along with early intervention for those showing symptoms connected to immune irregularities. Drastic measures such as chemotherapy are unlikely to be offered to any but the most intractable cases as there are serious risks of complication with the procedure.

Continue Reading –> Stem Cell Treatment Success for MS