Brain Stem Cells May Repair MS Nerve Damage

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Brain Stem Cells May Repair MS Nerve DamageStudies in mice have demonstrated that a brain stem cell may be able to repair the damage to nerves done by multiple sclerosis, according to Italian researchers.MS is caused by the immune system attacking and destroying the myelin sheath that coats nerve fibers. Brain stem cells are those that can create almost any kind of nerve cell in the nervous system. They are more advanced than embryonic stem cells that are found in embryos and can turn into almost any kind of cell in the whole body.Italian researchers, led by Stefano Pluchino, MD, PhD, at the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan, injected brain stem cells from healthy mice into mice that have experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a disease that is similar to MS. In these mice, the injected cells reached the damaged nerves and repaired the damage. The researchers reported their findings in the April issue of the journal Nature.Dr. Pluchino and his colleagues said that the stem cells provide "new opportunities for the clinical use of stem-cell based therapies to treat heretofore incurable diseases in humans."The research has only been done in mice, and in an animal model of MS, not in a real case of MS, but the results are significant. The injected brain stem cells go straight to the damaged nerves and replace nerve cells killed by disease. They also helped rebuild the myelin coating on the nerve fibers, which is lost in multiple sclerosis. The treated mice recovered from EAE.An editorial in Nature accompanying the report noted that the new treatment does not stop the immune system's attack on the nervous system and that methods must be found to collect sufficient numbers of brain stem cells to grow them and turn them into nerve cells before the treatment can be put into widespread use against MS.Source: Nature, April 17, 2003Back A support group for people with ms & their friends & relations. We try & keep informed of developments in ms research & stay abreast of legislative issues that may effect us.