Ms Stem Cell Treatment Northwestern

Flickr steve rhodes a pioneering stem cell clinical trial program in the us is closing up shop a surprise move for what had appeared to be a successful endeavor at testing hematopoietic stem cell transplantations hsct for autoimmune and other diseases.

Ms stem cell treatment northwestern. The northwestern medicine hematopoietic stem cell transplant program at northwestern memorial hospital is a leader in volume and types of transplants averaging over 350 transplantations annually resulting in survival rates that consistently exceed the national rates. The process called hematopoietic stem cell transplantation hsct temporarily shuts down and reboots patients immune systems allowing the body to rebuild damaged nerve. Richard burt of northwestern university has been doing cutting edge research on the use of stem cells for autoimmune disorders for more than a decade. Northwestern medicine hematopoietic stem cell transplant program.

Burt performed the first hematopoietic stem cell transplant hsct for a multiple sclerosis ms patient in the united states at chicago s northwestern memorial hospital. Unfortunately the promising field of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation hsct for multiple sclerosis ms and other autoimmune diseases seems to have suffered an unexpected setback here. Stem cell tourism provides unproven stem cell treatments. Ms is an immune mediated disorder of the central nervous system often arising in young adulthood.

A preliminary northwestern medicine study suggests that nonmyeloablative hematopoietic stem cell transplantation may reverse disability and improve quality of life for patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis ms. The goal of hsct is to reboot a faulty immune system. In the trial 12 patients with neuromyelitis optica received the stem cell transplant. The core idea behind the work that burt and other research teams are doing is that stem cells may have revolutionary potential to somehow counteract the autoimmunity that causes serious life threatening diseases in many patients including.

After five years only two out of 12 relapsed and had to go back on drug therapy burt said. A one time stem cell transplantation treatment for multiple sclerosis showed improvements over the current therapies according to a preliminary trial published in the journal of the american medical association jama. This is the fourth chronic disease hematopoietic stem cell transplantation hsct has appeared to reverse.