MS stem cell therapy sees patients walk again

A stem cell treatment for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) has enabled some patients to walk again, doctors have told a BBC Panorama programme.

About 20 patients have received bone marrow transplants using their own stem cells in a clinical trial at Sheffield’s Royal Hallamshire Hospital, which is also being run in the US, Sweden, and Brazil.

Some patients who were paralysed have been able to walk again.

Professor Basil Sharrack, from the hospital, said: “To have a treatment which can potentially reverse disability is really a major achievement.”

The treatment — known as an autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplant — aims to destroy the faulty immune system using chemotherapy.

It is then rebuilt with stem cells harvested from the patient’s own blood.

Professor John Snowden, consultant haematologist at Royal Hallamshire Hospital, said: “The immune system is being reset or rebooted back to a time point before it caused MS.

“It’s clear we have made a big impact on patients’ lives, which is gratifying.”

MS is an incurable neurological condition.

One patient, Steven Storey, told the BBC: “I went from running marathons to needing 24-hour acute care. At one point, I couldn’t even hold a spoon and feed myself.”

Within a few days of the transplant he was able to move his toes, and after four months he could stand unaided.

Mr Storey still needs a wheelchair but is astounded at his progress: “It’s been incredible. I was in a dire place, but now I can swim and cycle and I am determined to walk.”