New research suggests that stem cell transplants to treat certain brain and nervous system diseases such as multiple sclerosis may be moving closer to reality.
One study found that experimental stem cell transplants are safe and possibly effective in children with a rare genetic brain disease. Another study in mice showed that these cells are capable of transforming into, and functioning as, the healthy cell type. The stem cells used in the two studies were developed by study sponsor StemCells, Inc.
Both papers appear online in Science Translational Research.
The work, while still in its infancy, may have far-reaching implications for the treatment of many more common diseases that affect the brain and nervous system.
Researchers out of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), looked at the how neural stem cells behaved when transplanted into the brains of four young children with an early-onset, fatal form of Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease (PMD).... Read More - http://www.msrc.co.uk/index.cfm/fuseact ... ageid/1330