A one time stem cell transplantation treatment for multiple sclerosis showed improvements over the current therapies according to a preliminary trial published in the journal of the american medical association jama.
Ms stem cell treatment northwestern.
Hsct chicago clinic closing is the startling header in all caps on a patient run facebook page about a stem cell therapy clinical trial program at northwestern university.
The goal of hsct is to reboot a faulty immune system.
Northwestern medicine hematopoietic stem cell transplant program.
Ms is an immune mediated disorder of the central nervous system often arising in young adulthood.
Burt performed the first hematopoietic stem cell transplant hsct for a multiple sclerosis ms patient in the united states at chicago s northwestern memorial hospital.
In the trial 12 patients with neuromyelitis optica received the stem cell transplant.
The program often includes patients and families traveling to countries outside of the united states where the procedure s performed.
Northwestern medicine s immunotherapy and autoimmune diseases program based at northwestern memorial hospital in downtown chicago.
The process called hematopoietic stem cell transplantation hsct temporarily shuts down and reboots patients immune systems allowing the body to rebuild damaged nerve.
The core idea behind the work that burt and other research teams are doing is that stem cells may have revolutionary potential to somehow counteract the autoimmunity that causes serious life threatening diseases in many patients including.
Flickr steve rhodes a pioneering stem cell clinical trial program in the us is closing up shop a surprise move for what had appeared to be a successful endeavor at testing hematopoietic stem cell transplantations hsct for autoimmune and other diseases.
Richard burt of northwestern university has been doing cutting edge research on the use of stem cells for autoimmune disorders for more than a decade.
Unfortunately the promising field of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation hsct for multiple sclerosis ms and other autoimmune diseases seems to have suffered an unexpected setback here.
After five years only two out of 12 relapsed and had to go back on drug therapy burt said.
The northwestern medicine hematopoietic stem cell transplant program at northwestern memorial hospital is a leader in volume and types of transplants averaging over 350 transplantations annually resulting in survival rates that consistently exceed the national rates.
