Transplantation of human embryonic stem cells into the brains of a mouse with multiple sclerosis (MS) slowed down significantly the clinical symptoms and pathological manifestations of the disease, Hadassah physicians and scientists reported last week.
Multiple sclerosis is the most common cause of neurological disabilities in young adults. It is an autoimmune inflammatory disease of the central nervous system in which the immune system attacks the insulation of neurons (Myelin). 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.
While transplantation of stem cells was initially used for regeneration of destructed myelin, this time the potential of transplanted stem cells was used in order to suppress the inflammation. In this study human embryonic stem cell-derived neural precursors were transplanted into the brains of mouse with MS. The grafted human cells integrated in the mice brains and migrated towards the sites of inflammation. They suppressed the inflammatory process in the brains, and by thus protected the animals from large damage in the myelin and nerve cells, which are the pathological hallmarks of MS. The results were published last weekened in the new issue of the scientific journal PL0S ONE.
The study is a result of long term collaboration between Prof Tamir Ben Hur, director of the Neurological department and Prof Benjamin Reubinoff, director of the Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Center at Hadassah. Other participants were Michal Aharonowiz and Dr. Ofira Einstein from Hadassah, and Prof Hans Lassmann from the University of Vienna. The researchers believe that the encouraging therapeutic effects in the rodent model of MS pave the way to further developments towards clinical trials. Furthermore, they anticipate that the anti-inflammatory effect demonstrated here may be combined in the future with the use of human embryonic stem cells also to repair myelin in the brain.
Cell Cure Neurosciences, a Hadasit Biotech Company that focuses on the development of human embryonic stem cells for transplantation therapy in neurological disorders will further translate the results of the study to allow future clinical application in MS patients.