Stem Cells Put Woman's Arthritis in Remission

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Stem Cells Put Woman's Arthritis in Remission

Wed Aug 25, 4:42 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Transplanting stem cells from a healthy woman to

her sister with severe rheumatoid arthritis apparently cured the disease,

researchers report in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism.

At the Northwestern University in Chicago, researchers led by Dr. K.

Burt used stem cells from the sibling to treat a 52-year-old woman with

rheumatoid arthritis in 38 joints.

Prior to transplantation, the woman was given various drugs to increase the

odds that her body wouldn't reject the cells.

Her morning stiffness disappeared before she was discharged from the

hospital and did not recur. Her rheumatoid nodules were completely gone 9

months after transplantation and now one year later the patient is

disease-free and is not taking any drugs to suppress her immune system.

At 10 months after transplantation, the patient became infected with the

shingles virus, but the disease responded well to the drug acyclovir. There

was no evidence that the transplanted cells attacked the patient's own

cells, a condition called graft-versus-host disease that is essentially the

opposite of what occurs with rejection.

The procedure, the researchers conclude, " may be performed safely, without

the development of graft versus host disease or serious infection, and

results in ... marked resolution of the disease manifestations of rheumatoid

arthritis. "

SOURCE: Arthritis and Rheumatism, August 2004.