Friday, January 30, 2009

Stem cell treatment reverses MS in study group

There is some very encouraging news in the stem cell newsfront.

In a recent study at Northwestern University in Chicago, patients with multiple sclerosis received treatement with their own stem cells, and
Reversed their disability.

This procedure did not use the controversial, embryonic stem cells, but instead gathered stem cells from the very patient they were later used on.

All 21 patients in the study had the “relapsing-remitting” form of the disease that makes their symptoms alternately flare up and recede. Three years after being treated, on average, 17 of the patients had improved on tests of their symptoms, 16 had experienced no relapse and none had deteriorated, the study found.

“This is the first study to actually show reversal of disability,” said Richard Burt, an associate professor in the division of immunotherapy at Northwestern, and the lead author of the study published Thursday in the British journal, the Lancet Neurology. “Some people had complete disappearance of all symptoms.”



This is great news, indeed. Let’s hope this success sparks further research and innovation.

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