New treatment ‘can temporarily halt progress of multiple sclerosis’

An investigational treatment for multiple sclerosis has shown the ability to temporarily halt the progress of the condition.

Led by Imperial College London, the research indicated that the new autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) method could offer benefits for patients with advanced multiple sclerosis who had failed to respond to other medications.

The one-off treatment aims to prevent the immune system from attacking the nerve cells by taking a drug that encourages stem cells to move from the bone marrow – where immune cells are made – into the bloodstream, before they are removed from the body.

High-dose chemotherapy is then administered to kill any remaining immune cells, with the stem cells then transfused back into their body to regrow the immune system. This creates a "reset" effect that stops immune cells from attacking nerve cells.

The treatment was shown to prevent symptoms of severe disease from worsening for five years in 46 percent of patients, with some even seeing small improvements. However, it was stressed that this technique remains highly risky and experimental.

Study leader Dr Paolo Muraro from the department of medicine at Imperial College London said: "We urgently need more effective treatments for this devastating condition, and so a large randomised controlled trial of this treatment should be the next step."

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