An international team has shown that the injection of a type of stem cell in the brain of patients affected by Multiple sclerosis (EM) progressive It is safe, well tolerated and has a long-lasting effect that appears to protect the brain from further damage, according to data published in Cell Stem Cell.
The study, led by scientists from the University of Cambridge, the University of Milan Bicocca and the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza Hospital (Italy), is a step towards development of an advanced cell therapy treatment for progressive MS. The Santa María Terni and Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale centers in Lugano (Switzerland) and the University of Colorado (United States) have also participated.
More of 2 million people people in the world suffer from MS. While there are treatments that can reduce the severity and frequency of relapses, two-thirds of MS patients still transition to a secondary progressive debilitating phase of the disease within 25 to 30 years after diagnosis, where disability increases.
“We urgently need to develop new treatments for secondary progressive MS. These findings are a step towards the development of a cell therapy for the treatment of MS,” he says. Stefano Pluchino, co-director of the study, from the University of Cambridge.
In MS, the self immune system of the body attacks and damages myelinthe protective sheath that surrounds nerve fibers, causing the interruption of messages sent by the brain and spinal cord.