Hadassah's Innovative Treatment for Multiple Sclerosis: Transplanting
Stem Cells from Patient's Bone Marrow
New Multiple Sclerosis Center Launched at Hadassah
22/11/07
A treatment developed at Hadassah, still in the research stage, has
been tested on 25 multiple sclerosis and ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease)
patients. Professor Dmitrius Karussis, a senior neurologist at
Hadassah and the director of the new Multiple Sclerosis Center,
working in collaboration with the University of Athens, and Professor
Shimon Slavin, the former director of the Department of Bone Marrow
Transplantation (BMT) and the BMT Laboratory at Hadassah, discovered
that it is possible to remove stem cells from a patient's bone
marrow, to isolate these cells under special conditions and to
generate over 50 million cells within two months. As part of this
process, mesenchymal cells (mature stem cells) are extracted from the
patient and transplanted by a lumbar injection in the spinal column
(into the spinal fluid of the central nervous system), with each
patient serving as his/her own donor. The transplanted cells are
marked in order to track and verify that they reach the intended
destination in the patient's body.
"During the initial stage, our research included studying the
effectiveness of stem cells in laboratory animals. We found that stem
cells from bone marrow can reduce cerebral damage and improve the
animal's functioning,
has conducted clinical trials during the past two years with patients
suffering from multiple sclerosis and ALS. "Most of the patients who
underwent this process report an improvement in their condition,"
Professor Karussis said.
There are 3,000-4,000 multiple sclerosis patients in Israel and about
a third of them are treated at Hadassah. Many patients also come to
Hadassah from around the world. Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune
inflammatory disease of the central nervous system in which the
immune system attacks the myelin insulation of neurons. As a result,
the nervous system is damaged at a number of levels, leading to
functional deficiencies in a number of neurological systems: sensory,
motor, balance, sphincteral, and vision. "The onset of the disease is
usually between the ages of 20 to 40, and can continue for 30 or more
years. Thus, the center we opened is important for treating the
patient over the course of years," said Professor Tamir Ben-Hur, the
director of the Department of Neurology at Hadassah.
The new Multiple Sclerosis Center at Hadassah provides innovative
treatments and is operated by neurologists who are world leaders in
research, as well as rehabilitation physicians and advisors in the
fields of urology, ophthalmology and social work.
http://www.hadassah
multiple+treatment.
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StemCells subscribers may also be interested in these sites:
Children's Neurobiological Solutions
http://www.CNSfoundation.org/
Cord Blood Registry
http://www.CordBlood.com/at.cgi?a=150123
The CNS Healing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CNS_Healing
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