Researchers have pinpointed why stem cell transplants work so well for multiple sclerosis.
A better understanding of these mechanisms should help the treatment approach, currently approved in only a few countries, to gain wider acceptance.
In multiple sclerosis, the body’s own immune system attacks the myelin sheath of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. The disease leads to paralysis, pain, and permanent fatigue, among other symptoms. Fortunately, there have been great advances in therapies in recent decades.
“Eighty percent of patients remain disease-free long-term or even forever following an autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant,” says Roland Martin, a recently retired professor at the University of Zurich, and last author of the paper in Science Translational Medicine….