Stem-cell transplant better than drugs for severe multiple sclerosis
TEL AVIV — Stem-cell transplants were more effective than the standard medicine used to treat people with severe multiple sclerosis, a trial has found.
The findings, published in the online issue of Neurology, showed that patients in a 21-person study who received stem cells harvested from their bone marrow experienced a greater reduction in disease activity than patients given mitoxantrone, a drug that suppresses the immune system.
“With these results, we can speculate that stem-cell treatment may profoundly affect the course of the disease,” said the study’s author, Dr Giovanni Mancardi of the University of Genoa in Italy. “This process appears to reset the immune system.”
The approach offers hope for multiple sclerosis sufferers for whom conventional medications have proved ineffective. The disease, which affects more than 2.3 million people worldwide, causes the immune system to attack the insulating tissue around nerve fibres, stopping nerve cells from sending signals, sapping patients’ energy, blurring their vision and slowly depriving them of mobility.
Patients in the trial needed a cane or crutch to walk, and all received medications to suppress immune-system activity. While 12 were given mitoxantrone, the others had stem cells harvested from their bone marrow and reintroduced through a vein. Over time, the cells migrated to the bone marrow and produced new cells that become immune cells.
The participants were followed for as long as four years. Those who received stem-cell transplants had 80 per cent fewer new areas of brain damage than those who received mitoxantrone, the study said.
No cures currently exist for multiple sclerosis. BLOOMBERG
http://www.todayonline.com/daily-fo...splant-better-drugs-severe-multiple-sclerosis
TEL AVIV — Stem-cell transplants were more effective than the standard medicine used to treat people with severe multiple sclerosis, a trial has found.
The findings, published in the online issue of Neurology, showed that patients in a 21-person study who received stem cells harvested from their bone marrow experienced a greater reduction in disease activity than patients given mitoxantrone, a drug that suppresses the immune system.
“With these results, we can speculate that stem-cell treatment may profoundly affect the course of the disease,” said the study’s author, Dr Giovanni Mancardi of the University of Genoa in Italy. “This process appears to reset the immune system.”
The approach offers hope for multiple sclerosis sufferers for whom conventional medications have proved ineffective. The disease, which affects more than 2.3 million people worldwide, causes the immune system to attack the insulating tissue around nerve fibres, stopping nerve cells from sending signals, sapping patients’ energy, blurring their vision and slowly depriving them of mobility.
Patients in the trial needed a cane or crutch to walk, and all received medications to suppress immune-system activity. While 12 were given mitoxantrone, the others had stem cells harvested from their bone marrow and reintroduced through a vein. Over time, the cells migrated to the bone marrow and produced new cells that become immune cells.
The participants were followed for as long as four years. Those who received stem-cell transplants had 80 per cent fewer new areas of brain damage than those who received mitoxantrone, the study said.
No cures currently exist for multiple sclerosis. BLOOMBERG
http://www.todayonline.com/daily-fo...splant-better-drugs-severe-multiple-sclerosis
