‘Body reset’ stem cell treatment that could stop MS in its tracks

A RADICAL stem cell treatment for multiple sclerosis can halt the disease in its tracks, a landmark study has shown.

Doctors used chemotherapy to kill off patients’ faulty immune cells, before replacing their stem cells in a bid to ‘reset’ the body’s defences.

Nearly half of patients saw the disease stop progressing for five years – with some going for as long as ten years without any worsening of their condition.

Some even saw their health improve, with a few making dramatic advances such as regaining the ability to walk.

Last night experts said the findings offered hope of the first lasting treatment for MS patients.

MS causes loss of mobility, sight problems, tiredness and excruciating pain. It either becomes progressively worse with age or strikes in brutal relapses, with many left in wheelchairs.

If doctors could halt the condition before disability sets in, it would vastly improve sufferers’ quality of life. But researchers stressed the treatment is more likely to ‘stabilise’ rather than reverse the disease, and has better outcomes for patients whose disabilities are not severe. The study by Imperial College London, which was part-funded by the MS Society, is the largest into the treatment known as autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

The findings, published last night, followed 281 patients for an average of seven years.

MS is caused when the immune system attacks the body’s own nerves. Researchers attempted to break that cycle by erasing the body’s ‘immune memory’ and resetting it using a sample of the patient’s own stem cells.

They harvested a small sample of stem cells from each patient, before giving them five days of chemotherapy. They then returned the stem cells to the body, triggering the growth of healthy new immune cells with no ‘memory’ of their previous fault.

The study found that in patients with relapsing MS, 73 per cent experienced no worsening of their symptoms five years after the treatment. Younger patients with less severe forms of the disease were more likely respond.

However, among patients with the more severe progressive form of MS, only 33 per cent experienced no worsening of symptoms five years after treatment.

Scientists also warned that the treatment is highly aggressive and comes with serious risks. Eight of the 281 patients (2.8 per cent) died within 100 days of the procedure, said the JAMA Neurology journal.