A U.S. team has achieved encouraging results in the fight against multiple sclerosis (MS), using a new technique of autologous stem cells taken from bone marrow of the patient. The results of this trial was conducted in 21 patients in the first phase of the disease were published in the online version of Lancet Neurology.
This technique of autologous hematopoietic stem cells from their own bone marrow cells of the patient. The cells are harvested from bone marrow and the patient receives a cocktail of immunosuppressive drugs "anti-rejection." The injection of stem cells is then performed intravenously. This somehow "reset" the immune system.
In this study, 37 months after transplantation, 21 patients had no worsening of their condition, and 17 of them have seen a significant reduction in their handicaps.
Approximately 80,000 people in France suffer from multiple sclerosis, the forms and patterns vary widely from patient to patient. Multiple sclerosis is characterized by destruction of myelin, the protective coating around nerve fibers that transmit nerve impulses (see illustration below). Coordination problems, vision problems, dizziness, problems with the engine are some of the symptoms of the disease.
It is an autoimmune disease, ie, an attack of the immune system through the cells become aggressive, attack the body itself (in this case, myelin). Therefore, researchers are trying to "reset" the immune system by transplanting hematopoietic stem cells derived from bone marrow precursors of red blood cells and white cells (including lymphocytes).
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