RESEARCH - Autologous stem cell transplantation shows promise for MS

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Stem cell transplants show promise for MS: study

Fri Jan 30, 2009 12:11am GMT

By Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. researchers have reversed multiple sclerosis

symptoms in early stage patients by using bone marrow stem cell

transplants to reset the immune system, they said on Thursday.

Some 81 percent of patients in the early phase study showed signs of

improvement with the treatment, which used chemotherapy to destroy the

immune system, and injections of the patient's bone marrow cells taken

beforehand to rebuild it.

" We just start over with new cells from the stem cells, " said Dr.

Burt of Northwestern University in Chicago, whose study

appears in the journal Lancet Neurology.

Multiple sclerosis occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks

the myelin sheath protecting nerve cells. It affects 2.5 million

people globally and can cause mild illness in some people and

permanent disability in others.

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Read the entire article here:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUKTRE50S7KZ20090130

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