Multiple sclerosis and stem cells
Scientists from the University of Ottawa conducted a study on the treatment of multiple sclerosis using stem cells. Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease in which your own immune cells begin to attack myelin, a protein that forms a protective sheath around nerve fibers in the spinal cord and brain. Depending on where the myelin lesion occurred, various symptoms may develop: vision problems, impaired coordination and balance, dumbness and muscle weakness. The most common remitting form of the disease (diagnosed in 85% of cases). With this course of the disease, periods of exacerbation are replaced by periods of partial improvement or full recovery, and during remission, symptoms do not progress.
The study involved 110 patients with aggressive forms of the disease: the intensity of their symptoms increased at least twice in the last year, despite the fact that they all took standard drugs that slow down the processes of the disease, and each tried at least three different drugs from the recommended ones. Scientists randomly divided the subjects into two groups: those in the first group continued to take various recommended medications, such as natalizumab (Tizabri), interferon (Avonex) and glatiramer acetate (Copaxone), and patients from the second group received stem cell therapy, which were obtained from their own bone marrow.
The meaning of such experimental therapy is to "reset" the immune system. To do this, bone marrow samples were taken from patients, from which stem cells were isolated. The resulting cells were subjected to chemotherapy for several days to turn off their own immune system. Then they were transfused back to the patients.
Within three years, the disease progressed in 34 out of 55 subjects who continued to take standard medications. Among the patients receiving stem cell therapy, only 3 out of 55 had deterioration.
However, as scientists note, not all patients with the appropriate diagnosis will be suitable for such treatment: any very effective therapy is also accompanied by serious risks, such as infectious diseases - against the background of suppressed immunity, even the most banal infections can have serious consequences, up to a fatal outcome.
Article Atkins Stem Cell Transplantation to Treat Multiple Sclerosis https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2720713 published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Anastasia Poznyak, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru / based on the materials of HealthDay: Stem Cell Transplant May Help Some With Aggressive MS.