Stem cell webinar by MJF and 1 unanswered question

[felixned]

Just finished listening to the MJF stem cell seminar. It was not particularly educational neither it gave any reason for optimism. Well, judge for yourself: slides are available on MJF site. I asked the panel a question but didn't get an answer. The question was: " It was reported that people who suffer from multiple sclerosis benefit from stem cells used in bone marrow transplant that in effect resets their immune system. Was similar approach tried to treat PD?" If anybody in this forum knows of someone with PD who undertook this procedure to treat another disease I would love to hear back.

[jeffreyn]

When you say "bone marrow transplant" I assume you are referring to the use of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs).

There are currently five "MSCs for PD" trials listed on the Clinical Trials website.

clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/resu...

[jeffreyn in reply to jeffreyn]

parkinsonsnewstoday.com/201...

[felixned in reply to jeffreyn]

Thanks. I didn't find this to be a good study. The science behind iv infusions of stem cells is shaky. It seems to be an open label study. There are other issues too.

Felix

[jeffreyn in reply to felixned]

Regarding the science, I came across the following paper recently. It says a fair bit about MS, but unfortunately says nothing (directly) about PD.

Mesenchymal stem cells for the treatment of neurological diseases - Immunoregulation beyond neuroprotection (2015):

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/262...

[felixned in reply to jeffreyn]

I think many illnesses ( particularly chronic ones like pd) occur due to disproportionate immune response to the pathogen. If immune response is not strong enough we end up with the chronic infection that can linger for years. Too aggressive immune response can lead to severe illness as well including autoimmune diseases. The complexity of the immune response can explain why there's strong correlation between numerous genetic mutations and occurrences of the disease. Btw, brain is protected by a unique immune system. I think that 'resetting ' immune system could be an interesting and viable strategy for treatment of the disease when the disease pathogen is not known.

[jeffreyn in reply to felixned]

In your introduction to the thread you said:

"It was reported that people who suffer from multiple sclerosis benefit from stem cells used in bone marrow transplant that in effect resets their immune system."

Do you have a link that you could share with us?

[felixned in reply to jeffreyn]

There was an article i read a month ago or so. I am away from home now. I'll look it up when I have access to my computer in a couple of weeks.

[felixned in reply to felixned]

I just googled this:

nationalmssociety.org/Resea...

I am sure this is not what I've read but this is a good description of the procedure. The article I've read mentioned pd as one possible target for this research.

Felix

[jeffreyn in reply to felixned]

Yep - it's got the magic phrase "reboot the immune system". I'll have a good look at it. Thanks.

[jeffreyn]

I just came across this article. It seems like a good reference on the use of Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (aHSCT) in MS.

multiplesclerosisnewstoday....