Scientists at the University of Cambridge, University of Milan Bicocca and Hospital Casa Solievo della Sofferenza in Italy have revealed promising results from an early-stage stem cell therapy trial to treat progressive multiple sclerosis (MS).
Results from the trial show potential for developing an advanced cell therapy treatment for the condition.
Affecting around two million people globally, MS is a neurodegenerative condition that affects the brain and spinal cord.
Around two-thirds of people with MS will transition into a debilitating secondary progressive phase of the disease within 25 to 30 years of diagnosis.
In a study published in Cell Stem Cell, scientists successfully injected neural stem cells directly into the brains of 15 patients recruited from two hospitals in Italy, with secondary MS.
The stem cells were taken from the brain tissue cells of a single, miscarried foetal donor, and after a 12-month period, researchers observed that no treatment-related deaths or serious adverse events had occurred and that side effects were temporary or reversible.
Additionally, none of the patients involved in the study showed an increased disability or worsening of symptoms, or symptoms that suggested a relapse and worsening of cognitive function.
After assessing volume changes in the brain tissue associated with MS in a subgroup of patients, researchers found that larger doses of injected stem cells led to smaller reductions in brain volume over time.
They also discovered that changes in the fluid around the brain and blood over time were linked to how the brain produced fatty acids. This was connected to how well the treatment worked and how the disease developed.
They concluded that the higher the dose of stem cells, the higher the levels of fatty acids, which persisted over the 12-month period.
Caitlin Astbury, research communications manager at the MS Society, said that “this is an encouraging step towards a new way of treating some people with MS.”
Professor Stefano Pluchino from the University of Cambridge, who co-led the study, said: “We desperately need to develop new treatments for secondary progressive MS.
“The fact that our treatment was safe and that its effects lasted over the 12 months of the trial means that we can proceed to the next stage of clinical trials.”