Doctors are cautiously hopeful about a new multiple sclerosis therapy after finding that injecting stem cells into patients' brains was safe and potentially protective against further damage from the disease.
More than 2 million people worldwide live with multiple sclerosis. While most existing drugs target the early, relapsing remitting phase of the disease, two-thirds of patients still move on to the secondary, progressive and increasingly debilitating stage within 30 years of diagnosis. The disease occurs when the body's immune system attacks the protective myelin sheaths that wrap around nerve fibres, causing damage that disrupts how electric signals are beamed around the nervous system.
We don't know yet whether this is the beginning of a fantastic journey or not, but the results are very strong and very consistent, said Prof Stefano Pluchino at the University of Cambridge.
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