stem cell

Lesser or stable disability over two years was evident in most progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) patients given a stem cell treatment in a small Phase 1 clinical trial, supporting a larger study now underway, researchers report. These results suggest that a treatment using mesenchymal stem…

Scientists have demonstrated that stem cells derived from the skin cells of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) can grow into normal myelin-producing nerve cells, called oligodendrocytes, in a mouse model of MS. These patient-derived cells migrated throughout the brain of myelin-deficient mice, producing myelin — the fatty…

Scientists have created myelin-producing cells, called oligodendrocytes, from pluripotent stem cells derived from patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in just three weeks. They also demonstrated these lab-made oligodendrocytes were able to produce myelin — the fatty substance that normally wraps around neurons’…

FDA Approves Bafiertam, Tecfidera Bioequivalent, for Relapsing MS This is the second disease-modifying therapy (DMT) OK’d by the FDA in the past few months. Bafiertam is a delayed-release pill that’s similar to Tecfidera, but it’s said that it has fewer side effects. Unfortunately, its manufacturer hasn’t yet made it…

A high-dose chemotherapy combination given to wipe out the immune system before its rescue with autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant (aHSCT) can cause “transient” damage to neurons and supporting cells of the central nervous system in people with aggressive multiple sclerosis (MS), a Canadian study reports. Nonetheless, its researchers believe…

Transplanting patients’ own mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is a safe therapeutic approach and can delay disease progression in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), a meta-analysis review shows. The study also showed that cells transplanted to the spinal cord (intrathecal injection) were associated with significantly slower disease progression rates, compared…

Magenta Therapeutics will continue to advance its investigational conditioning therapy CD45-ADC for patients with autoimmune diseases undergoing stem cell transplants, the company highlighted in a progress report. CD45-ADC is a therapy designed to remove disease-causing immune cells in a safer way when preparing patients for a stem…

Transplanting mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is safe and can delay disease progression in people with active, progressive multiple sclerosis (MS), according to results from a single-center clinical trial conducted in Israel. Six months after the transplant, a considerable proportion of patients showed no signs of disease activity, compared to…

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded a $1.83 million grant to a Kessler Foundation researcher leading a clinical trial to test if a month-long cognitive training program can improve learning and memory in adults with multiple sclerosis (MS). Nancy Chiaravalloti, PhD, director of the Centers…

Editor’s note: “Need to Know” is a series inspired by common forum questions and comments from readers. Have a comment or question about MS? Visit our forum. This week’s question is inspired by the forum topic “Has anyone had the stem cell procedure?” from Jan. 11. You’ve no doubt heard…

A subset of stem cells in hair follicles, called melanocytes, appear to do more than just give rise to mature melanocytes, cells that help to determine hair color. Those melanocyte stem cells, or McSCs, that carry the CD34 protein were found in hair follicles from mice to differentiate into glia cells…

Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs), the type of stem cells present in many tissues of adults, may be manipulated to fight inflammation and used as a cell therapy to treat inflammatory diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS), a study reports. In the future, researchers plan to use animal models to…

BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics is planning to launch a Phase 2 clinical trial in the United States to evaluate the safety and activity of its lead cell therapy candidate, NurOwn, in people with progressive multiple sclerosis (MS). The company announced that has submitted an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to…

Stem cells from patients with Parkinson’s disease and primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) are soon to voyage into space, and be brought aboard the International Space Station so cell-to-cell interactions in these neurodegenerative diseases can be studied without gravitational forces acting on them. This research project, proposed to launch in May…

Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, also known as aHSCT, has been shown to be safe and highly effective to treat patients with "aggressive" multiple sclerosis. Tested in 19 patients, transplantation of stem cells was found to induce clinically meaningful improvements in disability. These findings were shared at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) in Los Angeles, California. aHSCT uses a patient’s own healthy bone marrow stem cells, in combination with a much less aggressive chemotherapy and/or radiation regimen, to prepare the patient for the transplant. Previous studies have suggested that aHSCT is an effective strategy to treat patients with highly active relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) who do not respond to available disease-modifying therapies (DMTs), and international guidelines advocate for its use in patients with "aggressive" MS. To further demonstrate the potential of aHSCT as a treatment for "aggressive" MS, a research team evaluated its safety and effectiveness in MS patients who had not been treated previously with DMTs. A total of 19 patients were treated across several clinical centers: seven patients were from Sheffield, U.K., seven from Uppsala, Sweden, four from Ottawa, Canada, and one patient was from Florence, Italy. All patients received aHSCT between May 2004 and May 2017. In addition to aHSCT, patients were treated with BEAM (carmustine, etoposide, cytarabine, melphalan) chemotherapy plus antithymocyte globulin (ATG) to reduce transplant rejection, or with Cytoxan (cyclophosphamide) with ATG, or the triple combination of Cytoxan, ATG, plus busulfan as conditioning regimens. Patients had a median age of 33 years at diagnosis and received the aHSCT by a median time of nine years after symptom onset. They had a median disability score of 6.5 before the treatment, as determined by the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS). After a median follow-up period of 30 months, patients had a median EDSS score of 2.0, which represented a median improvement of 2 points (the higher the score, the worse the patient's disability level). None of the patients had clinical relapse following the transplant of stem cells. Only three patients developed new brain lesions detectable by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at the first six-month follow-up evaluation, but no additional new lesions were detected in the following scans. The adverse effects reported during the study were comparable to those previously observed in similar treatments. No deaths related to the treatment were reported. Based on these preliminary results, the researchers concluded that aHSCT is “safe and highly effective in inducing rapid and sustain remission” in highly active MS, and "was associated with a significant improvement of [patient’s] level of disability.” “aHSCT should be considered as first line therapy in patients with ‘aggressive’ MS,” the team concluded. Another study presented at the AAN 2018 meeting further supports these findings, demonstrating the superior effectiveness of aHSCT over conventional DMTs for RRMS.

A stem cell treatment improved the neurological symptoms of three-fourths of the multiple sclerosis patients in a Phase 1 clinical trial, New York researchers reported. The results prompted the team at the Tisch MS Research Center of New York to start a Phase 2 trial to further assess the therapy’s…

A combination therapy of low-dose methylprednisolone and interferon (IFN)-beta-secreting stem cells is effective in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS), a new Korean study suggests. The research, “Effective combination of methylprednisolone and interferon β-secreting mesenchymal stem cells in a model of multiple sclerosis,” appeared in the…

#MSParis2017 – Trial to See if Disease-modifying Therapies Not Necessary in Older MS Patients This tops my list this week because, at age 69, I certainly fit the definition of an “older” MS patient. The study is hoping to enroll 300 MS patients in the U.S. who…

Researchers, using two different kinds of stem cells in rats, were able to regenerate oligodendrocytes — myelin-producing brain cells that are defective in multiple sclerosis (MS). They were also able to grow adult neural stem cells in laboratory cultures and prod them to develop into oligodendrocytes. The exact cause of MS is unknown — including what triggers attacks on myelin — but the loss of oligodendrocytes seen in the disease is known to play a role in its progression. Nerve cells in the brain send their signals through their axons, long arm-like structures that extend out from the centers of the nerve cells. The signals are electrical pulses transmitted along the length of an axon. Oligodendrocytes provide the insulation — called myelin — that wraps around axons, speeding up the transmission of electrical signals through the nerve cells. Loss or malfunction of oligodendrocytes means that signaling in the brain is impaired. It is this slowing of signaling that is thought to cause MS symptoms. Researchers from the Heinrich-Heine-University, Germany, with support from British and Chilean colleagues, designed a novel approach to regenerate oligodendrocytes, according to a press release. Stem cells are immature cells that give rise to differentiated cells — cells with a specific function, such as oligodendrocytes. Adult neural stem cells can divide and produce nerve cells and other brain cells, including oligodendrocytes. However, in normal circumstances, the regeneration of cells that take place in the human brain is not enough to repair the damage seen in MS. The researchers set out to find conditions that would promote the differentiation of adult human NSCs into oligodendrocytes. They discovered that another type of stem cell, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), could provide the signals required. First they tested their system in rats, and found that by using factors produced by human MSCs, they could induce the growth of new oligodendrocytes in the animals. Then they grew adult NSCs in the laboratory, and using the same factors from human MSCs were able to promote the establishment of oligodendrocytes in the cultured cells.

Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplants for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) are superior to currently approved disease-modifying drugs, according to a Swedish study published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry. In addition, says the review, the procedure’s safety profile has improved in the last decade, and is now just…

In case you missed them, here are some news stories that appeared in MS News Today that caught my eye over the past week: Q Therapeutics Approved to Start Trial of Cell Therapy Aiming to Restore Myelins Those of us with MS know that if something can…

According to a study by researchers at Cleveland's Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, pre-existing inflammatory diseases affecting the central nervous system make mesenchymal stem cells less effective in treating multiple sclerosis. The study notes that MSCs potentially produce several signaling proteins that can regulate immune system responses as well as help tissue regenerate. Preclinical studies have shown that this can reduce brain inflammation while improving neural repair in animal models of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis -- an animal version of MS that is often used in laboratory studies, since it resembles the inflammation and neuronal damage seen in MS patients. Given the need for effective new MS therapies, the results will help MSCs to advance to human clinical trials. So far, results have reported good safety data, though such therapies have failed to demonstrate therapeutic efficacy. Most such trials so far have used stem cells collected from the patient, a process known as autologous transplantation — yet this may explain why MSCs have not been effective. It's possible that pre-existing neurological conditions may alter stem cells' responsiveness as well as their therapeutic activity. To see whether that is in fact the case, team members collected stem cells from the bone marrow of EAE mice. But these stem cells were unable to improve EAE symptoms, whereas stem cells collected from healthy mice retained all their therapeutic potential and improved EAE symptoms. A more detailed analysis showed that the MSCs derived from EAE animals had different features than their healthy counterparts. In addition, the team confirmed that MSCs collected from MS patients were also less effective in treating EAE animals, compared to MSCs from healthy controls. Indeed, these MSCs from patients produced pro-inflammatory signals instead of the protective anti-inflammatory ones. “Diseases like EAE and MS diminish the therapeutic functionality of bone marrow MSCs, prompting re- evaluation about the ongoing use of autologous MSCs as a treatment for MS,” the team wrote, adding that its study supports the advancement of MSC therapy from donors rather than autologous MSC therapy to treat MS while raising "important concerns over the efficacy of using autologous bone marrow MSCs in clinical trials."

In case you missed them, here are some news stories that appeared in MS News Today that caught my eye over the past week. Experts Call for Tighter Regulation of Stem Cell Therapies in Use at Clinics Worldwide I read a lot of comments on various social…

A new study on rats indicates that the antidepressant Luvox promotes the production of the neuron-protecting coating that is deficient in multiple sclerosis. It also significantly decreased the severity of the animals' disease, researchers said, adding that Luvox promoted the production of the protective coating by helping stem cells evolve into oligodendrocytes, or cells that generate what is known as the myelin sheath. Patients with MS often experience anxiety and depression, with recent studies suggesting their rate of depression is three times higher than those with other long-term medical conditions. In addition to drugs targeting the underlying mechanisms of MS, such as inflammation and myelin loss, doctors often recommend that patients take antidepressants. The most common treatments they prescribe for moderate or severe depression are a class of serotonin re-uptake inhibitors that include Luvox. Few studies have looked at antidepressants' effects on animal models of MS, however. That prompted researchers to investigate Luvox's impact on both laboratory and rat models of the disease. Researchers used embryonic neural stem cells in their study. Luvox prompted laboratory stem cells to evolve into other types of cells, including neurons, oligodendrocytes, and astrocytes, which have several roles, including supporting and repairing neurons. Prozac also promoted stem cell differentiation — but at levels 10 times higher than those of Luvox. A key finding was that that Luvox significantly decreased the severity of the disease in the rats. Another important finding was that Luvox significantly reduced demyelination and immune cell infiltration in the rats' spinal cords. It also decreased the rats' expression of pro-inflammatory proteins known as cytokines. Overall, this study “demonstrated that fluvoxamine, in addition to its confirmed role in mood disorder therapy, could serve as a candidate clinical treatment for attenuating [reducing] neuro-inflammation and stimulating oligodendrogenesis in neurological diseases, particularly MS patients.”

Here’s my Pick of the Week’s News, as published by Multiple Sclerosis News Today. Canada, World’s Multiple Sclerosis Capital, Launches 3-Way Collaboration to Research MS Progression Why some people develop primary progressive MS and others have the relapsing type, and why a many relapsing patients develop secondary…

British scientists have accelerated from weeks to days the process by which stem cells generate brain cells, which could open the door to new treatment approaches for diseases such as multiple sclerosis. Researchers at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and colleagues at the University of Cambridge developed the…

The United States has granted a patent to Kadimastem’s stem cell-based technology for treating multiple sclerosis (MS) and other diseases of the nervous system. The patent involves the technology the company used to produce supporting cells in the central nervous system derived from human stem cells, including myelin-producing cells. The United…

Stem cell transplants are most effective if done in young multiple sclerosis (MS) patients in early disease stages, who have not gone through several rounds of other treatments, according to a large study that followed transplant patients for more than five years. Study results also found that people with relapsing MS are much…

Researchers have found neural stem cells (immature cells that can become neurons) in the meninges of the brain, a three-layer structure that protects the nervous system, according to results of a new study. The discovery of this pool of stem cells in the adult brain opens new possibilities for the…

Damaging immune system defects seen in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) can be repaired using a simple stem cell approach, according to a new study by researchers in China and the U.S. The study, “Umbilical Cord-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Reversed The Suppressive Deficiency Of T Regulatory Cells From Peripheral Blood Of…