By: British Broadcasting Company News Online

Stem-cell transplants may control and even reverse multiple sclerosis symptoms if done early enough, a small study has suggested. Not one of 21 adults with relapsing-remitting MS who had stem cells transplanted from their own bone marrow deteriorated over three years. And 81% improved by at least one point on a scale of neurological disability, The Lancet Neurology reported. Further tests are now planned, and a UK expert called the work “encouraging”.

It is not the first time this treatment – known as autologous non-myeloablative haemopoietic stem-cell transplantation – has been tried in people with MS, but there has not been a great deal of success…

Stem cells were harvested from the patients and frozen while drugs were given to remove the immune cells or lymphocytes causing the damage. The stem cells were then transplanted back to replenish the immune system – effectively resetting it. Five patients in the study relapsed, but went into remission after receiving other therapy…

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