New Stem Cell Treatment for MS is a 'Game-Changer'

Combination of chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation resulted in 49 out of 52 patients who had multiple sclerosis (MS) remission in 3 years

The exact cause of MS is unclear; genetic and environmental determinants are ambiguous, with more than 3 million people worldwide affected by MS.

The term "multiple sclerosis" refers to a lesion formed in the brain and spinal cord of a patient. These lesions occur when myelin (a white fat coating that separates the nerves of the body) is mistakenly classified as an alien invader, attacked by the immune system, and detached from the nervous system. Without insulation, neurons lose the ability to transmit electrical signals and cause emotions, blindness, muscle weakness, and loss of coordination.

Little is known about the exact inducer of MS, but researchers have found that when immune cells of MS patients mistakenly target the myelin sheath, old immune cells affect new immune cells, Said that it will perpetuate the disease caused by. .

This new treatment attempts to reset the immune system by blocking the communication line between old (defective) immune cells and young (naive) immune cells.

First, immune system stem cells are removed from the bone marrow of MS patients. In order to safely retain young immune cells, the patient then undergoes extensive chemotherapy to destroy their old immune cells, including cells that cause MS inflammation. Once the previous immune system is destroyed, the body replenishes young immune cells that remained at the beginning of surgery. Immature cells appear to represent the patient's immune system before causing MS related errors and the ultimate outcome is similar to resetting the immune system

This process is not trivial - chemotherapy itself is a troublesome process, and since the immune system has actually died in large quantities, patients have to be isolated for several weeks to avoid getting sick. However, when the immune system is reset, myelin insulation eventually has time to regenerate (by special cells called oligodendrocytes), the body can recover

Stem cell therapy is an effective therapy in regenerative medicine and is a new way to overcome the limitations of existing therapies. Stem cell therapy can now be used to treat MS in the world. However, depending on each regulation and policy, treatment costs vary from country to country. In the United States, the average cost per treatment is $ 7,000 to $ 10,000. Treatment expenses outside the United States are usually much higher than the US, ranging from $ 20,000 to $ 100,000. In a cost-benefit study of UK MS treatment AHSC transplant conducted by Tappenden et al., Cost-effective AHSC transplantation is expected to increase by about 2,800 pounds per additional quality-adjusted year 39.

In the past few years, autologous hematopoietic stem cell therapy has been studied as a treatment for MS patients who are difficult to treat with first-line therapy following high-dose immunosuppression. The basis of this therapy is that "high dose immunosuppression eliminates autoreactive T cells and B cells and enables the introduction of new immune systems." 40, 41 Reset the patient's immune system using the harvested stem cells. Reversing some of the symptoms of MS. Bone marrow stem cells are collected from the patient's blood and frozen during treatment. These "HSCs" are in the early stages of development, and there are no disadvantages triggered by MS. Chemotherapy is then used to destroy a defective immune system. Re-inject the thawed stem cells into the bloodstream to resume the immune system

Blood stem cells are present in bone marrow. They belong to the immune system and can find various kinds of cells in the blood, including several cells involved in causing MS damage. MS patients grafted their own blood stem cells to "reset" the immune system. The patient's existing immune cells are first killed using chemotherapy (treated with a powerful medicine). After that, blood stem cells removed from the patient's own bone marrow are injected into the bloodstream to create new immune cells that do not attack human nerve cells. This approach shows the benefits of relapsing-remitting MS patients, but not with progressive MS patients. This is also a dangerous treatment with 1-2% possible mortality due to the immune system's inhibition.