This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

Do you know how much this procedure would be different from NurOwn tested clinically at Hadassah? Did he mention anything about potential timing?

I just received an answer from prof Slavin and he said that he thinks colony expanded MSC treatment is safe. He also said that his experience is that 60-70% of the patients benefit from that. They apply circa 1-2 million MSC per body kilogram. Most of the MSCs are applied intrathecal while the rest IV. He was a pioneer of this treatment. He played a key role in developping this protocol at Hadassah. Most of the ongoing clinical trials with MSCs just follow his footsteps and try to replicate his findings. In the meantime, he is over many treatments.

As for the clinical trials where they completed phase 1 at Hadassah, 11 patients out of 15 showed improvement in EDSS. The average improvement of these patients was 1,2 in EDSS in 6 months. No one showed deterioration in EDSS in tha same period. He also told me that the sooner you get any treatment the more you can benefit from that.

As for replicating his results, in the UK they plan to finish phase 2 in 5 years with 150 patients. Then, will just phase 3 start. So, offical results will come out probably in 10 years.

I also talked to an academist in this field, who has no ties to any clinics profiting from this treatment, and he said that he thinks MSC is fairly safe and he would take part in such a clinical trial if he had MS.

I am just wondering how Celltex's adipose tissue derived treatment compares to this. They claim that they inject 600 million MSCs vs. circa 150 million MSCs applied in other places. Their treatment is IRB reviewed. Anyone knows about IRB reviewed treatments? How safe are they?

Just one thing that I was thinking about combining different treatments. Prof. Slavin told me that "... If active lesions are present we sometimes recommend autologous stem cell transplantation in an attempt to re-induce self tolerance by re-building the immune system. If no gadolinium enanced lesions, treatment with MSCs seems best. ..."

"...for patients with active inflammatory disease we use of special antibodies (these are anti-CD52 monoclonal antibodies named Alemtuzumab or MabCampath) or lymphocytotoxic agents that suppress or eliminate the self-reactive lymphocytes. "

So, does it mean if someone is in the progressive stage (either ppms or spms) and he or she does not have any active laesios, then HSCT and Alemtuzumab is not recommended? I do not really understand why.

Isn't Revimunne something like a lymphocytotoxic agent / cyclophosphamide?

If the numbers Prof Slavin said about the success rate of using MSC of 60-70% that is quite similar to the succes rate of HSCT, isn't it? Of, course, they have a very different effect.

Just an interesting thing: I checked out on the net how the Canadian golf player is doing today. She got MSC infusion back in 2008 and she improved a lot afterwards. So, according to her CV, she is still golf instructor at the same place. It sounds good.

The FDA has ruled that our own stem cells, when expanded in the lab to an effective dose level, are a drug, subject to FDA regulations. We feel this is an overreach of their authority. We conducted a survey of the National Library of Medicine pubmed.gov and found that over 2,154 patients across 66 studies have been treated with autologous (your own) expanded mesenchymal stem cells. All studies concluded treatment was well tolerated, no adverse events, no tumors or cancer. Consensus is building that safety has been established, and efficacy can now be the focus. http://www.patientsforstemcells.org/edu ... tem-cells/

We also have a news page for the latest on mesenchymal stem cell therapy http://www.facebook.com/PatientsForStemCells

It is wrong to force US citizens into medical tourism to gain access to their own stem cells. The State legislature in Kansas has recently passed a bill to fund adult stem cell research, and Texas has just introduced a bill. Please contact me if you want more information or contacts with legislators or doctors who support this.

I was treated May 2012 in the Celltex stem cell trial in Texas, along with 233 other patients for various conditions, 30 with MS and 20 with Parkinsons, before the FDA interrupted the trial. This study will be published in 2014. I've had great recovery from multiple sclerosis, when I was on the verge of the nursing home at age 47, now I won't be needing that.

SammyJo

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RRMS '96 SPMS '02 | Dual jugular vein stenosis (CCSVI) | 10/09 3 stents, 1 angioplasty. Details http://healingpowernow.com