Dose of stem cells reverses some MS

SAN FRANCISCO - A dose of their own stem cells "reset" the malfunctioning immune system of patients with early-stage multiple sclerosis and, for the first time, reversed their disability, according to researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago.

All 21 patients in the study had the "relapsing-remitting" form of the disease that makes their symptoms alternately flare up and recede. Three years after being treated, on average, 17 of the patients had improved on tests of their symptoms, 16 had experienced no relapse, and none had deteriorated, the study found.

"This is the first study to actually show reversal of disability," said Richard Burt, an associate professor in the division of immunotherapy at Northwestern, and the lead author of the study published yesterday in the British journal Lancet Neurology. "Some people had complete disappearance of all symptoms."

Researchers are using stem cells taken from people's own bodies to try to fight conditions such as heart disease and orthopedic ailments and to reconstruct women's breasts after cancer surgery. These adult stem cells differ from those derived from embryos, which have the potential to form any of the roughly 210 cell types in the human body. Geron Corp. last week was given US regulatory approval to conduct the first human studies with embryonic stem cells.

In MS, a patient's immune cells attack the central nervous system, degrading vision, coordination, balance, and sometimes cognitive abilities.

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