Multiple Sclerosis
Ensure the healthy future
About Treatment
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, autoimmune, inflammatory demyelinating disorder of the central nervous system that leads to permanent neurological deficits. Current MS treatment regimens are insufficient to treat irreversible neurological disabilities. Tremendous progress in the experimental and clinical applications of cell-based therapies has recognized stem cells as potential candidates for regenerative therapy for many neurodegenerative disorders including MS. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSCs) derived precursor cells can modulate the autoimmune response in the central nervous system (CNS).
Improvements
Strengthening the immune system. The cause of multiple sclerosis remains unknown. In the mechanisms of the development of the disease, the main role is played by the destruction of the myelin sheath of the nerves by the immune system. At the site of damage, connective tissue (sclerosis) is formed. As a result, the transmission of electrical impulses along the nerve is disrupted.
Disorders of sensitivity, speech, and vision disappear.
Muscle weakness, imbalance and coordination of movements disappear. Painful muscle tension (spasticity), trembling (tremor) remain in the past.
Chronic fatigue disappears.
Memory improves. Forgetfulness, difficulty with concentration of attention, as well as mood swings, depression disappear.
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New multiple sclerosis treatment trial compares stem cell transplantation to best available drugs
MS is an autoimmune disease in which a person’s own immune cells attack the central nervous system. The experimental treatment involves using a mixture of four chemical agents to remove these immune cells. Some of the person’s own blood-forming stem cells, which were extracted before treatment, are then infused back into the individual. These cells repopulate the immune system, allowing it to reset itself so that the new immune cells no longer attack the central nervous system. It is estimated that MS affects more than 2.3 million people worldwide, mostly women, including more than one million people in the United States. Symptoms of the disease vary widely and may include motor and speech difficulties, weakness, fatigue and chronic pain. The most common form of the disease is relapsing-remitting MS, which is characterized by periods of mild or no symptoms interspersed with symptom flare-ups, or relapses. Incomplete recovery from relapses often leads to increasing disability. Over years, the disease can worsen and shift to a progressive form that may also include relapses.
Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30039439/
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory, autoimmune, and neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system (CNS). It is characterized by demyelination and neuronal loss that is induced by attack of autoreactive T cells to the myelin sheath and endogenous remyelination failure, eventually leading to functional neurological disability. Although recent evidence suggests that MS relapses are induced by environmental and exogenous triggers such as viral infections in a genetic background, its very complex pathogenesis is not completely understood. Therefore, the efficiency of current immunosuppression-based therapies of MS is too low, and emerging disease-modifying immunomodulatory agents such as fingolimod and dimethyl fumarate cannot stop progressive neurodegenerative process. Thus, the cell replacement therapy approach that aims to overcome neuronal cell loss and remyelination failure and to increase endogenous myelin repair capacity is considered as an alternative treatment option. A wide variety of preclinical studies, using experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis model of MS, have recently shown that grafted cells with different origins including mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), neural precursor and stem cells, and induced-pluripotent stem cells have the ability to repair CNS lesions and to recover functional neurological deficits. The results of ongoing autologous hematopoietic stem cell therapy studies, with the advantage of peripheral administration to the patients, have suggested that cell replacement therapy is also a feasible option for immunomodulatory treatment of MS. In this chapter, we overview cell sources and applications of the stem cell therapy for treatment of MS. We also discuss challenges including those associated with administration route, immune responses to grafted cells, integration of these cells to existing neural circuits, and risk of tumor growth. Finally, future prospects of stem cell therapy for MS are addressed.