Hope for MS patients

Posted at 3:18 PM on January 30, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Health, Science

Over the last few months, I've neglected the science beat a bit, but a story out today cannot be ignored.

Scientists have reversed the effects of Multiple Sclerosis... they think.

The research comes from Northwestern, according to the Chicago Sun-Times:

The successful use of stem cells to reboot MS patients' immune systems could be a big step forward in the treatment of the disease, in which the immune system attacks the protective covering of nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord -- the myelin sheath.

Still, Burt cautioned that his results -- being published online today by the British medical journal the Lancet Neurology -- need to be duplicated in a broader study. "It's encouraging, but, honestly, it's unproven until you have a randomized trial that proves it," he said.

One of the people in the study was Barry Goudy, 51, of Michigan who now says, "Life is very good. I have no restraints anymore because of MS."

It's only coincidental that the news came on the same day that a company in Toronto announced that its drug to treat MS doesn't work.

Meanwhile, Wendy Booker isn't waiting around. She plans to climb Mt. Everest this spring, becoming the first person with MS to climb the tallest peak on each continent.

"I wanted to show what life with MS is like," she says. "It's a struggle. You can't always get to the top."

Comments (1)

We might want to add that the story indicates that the stem cells used were "adult" stem cells - not embryontic

Posted by Duke Powell | January 30, 2009 5:02 PM

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