Multiple sclerosis is a neurological condition in which the immune system is primed to attack parts of the brain and spinal cord that are otherwise healthy, leading to inflammatory damage to nerve cells and a range of symptoms linked to poor neuronal communication.
Hematopoietic stem cell transplant is regarded to be effective in some cases of multiple sclerosis. The latter can be obtained from the bone marrow, umbilical cord blood, peripheral blood. Mesenchymal stem cells are also increasingly used in multiple sclerosis since they exert anti-inflammatory effect. The most frequently used sources of these cells are umbilical cord, placenta, adipose tissue.
According to the study “Second Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in Multiple Sclerosis: A Single-Center Prospective Experience,” which was published in Transplantation Proceedings, in people with multiple sclerosis who have previously received a hematopoietic stem cell transplant, a second transplant can be performed safely and may help stabilize disability.
The procedure involves collecting person’s own hematopoietic stem cells, and then wiping out the patient’s immune system with a course of chemotherapy. The collected cells are then administered back into the patient, where they will travel to the bone marrow to originate a new immune system that’s not primed to attack healthy body parts.
In this study, scientists in Mexico reported outcomes from four multiple sclerosis patients who underwent a second autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant procedure. In all four cases, the patients’ disability had stabilized in the two years immediately after receiving their first transplant, but then their disability started to worsen again, so they underwent a second procedure three to nine years after the first.
In all four cases, the second stem cell transplant procedure was successfully performed without any notable safety-related complications, the researchers wrote, with none of the patients requiring hospitalization related to the procedure.
In two of the patients, disability scores have somewhat stabilized following the second transplant, with scores worsening at notably slower rates compared with rates before the second transplant, the scientists reported.
More research is needed to draw final conclusions about stem cell therapy effectiveness in multiple sclerosis patients according to this scheme. However, numerous scientific reports give evidence that stem cells may be an effective treatment in multiple sclerosis.
