Recent research by a team at University of Cambridge suggests that a patient’s skin cells could be the key to treating multiple sclerosis. Reprogramming one’s own skin cells, the research claims, could even repair damage already done by multiple sclerosis. Keep reading to learn more, or follow the original story here.
Research conducted on mice may have shocking implications for treating multiple sclerosis. The new research from University of Cambridge shows that a mouse’s skin cells can be transformed into brain stem cells. Once these are joined back into the body, the new cells assist in reducing inflammation caused by multiple sclerosis.
With continued efforts and research, this form of therapy could provide a huge step towards treating multiple sclerosis. It also potentially allows for a very personalized, and therefore more effective, form of treatment.
Stem cells are unique in that they can grow to become nearly any cell in the human body.
This makes them especially useful as a tool for therapy and treatment. The team at Cambridge showed previously that transplanting neural stem cells – a type of stem cell which is scheduled to become a nerve cell – can aid the central nervous system in repairing itself, and reduce inflammation.
Following this trend to create a therapy, however, is nearly impossible. The simply is not a large enough quantity of neural stem cells available to make such treatment possible. Another complication is that the body may reject the cells and trigger an immune response.
Therein lies the magic of the Cambridge team’s newest research. They’ve found a way to solve both problems at once. The trick is to use induced neural stems cells instead of neural stem cells.
Induced neural stem cells can be created in a lab instead of needing to be sourced from embryos. The process of creating induced neural stems cells begins with a skin cell sample from the adult patient. Scientists are then able to alter the code inside these cells, transforming them into neural stem cells. The chance of immune response is also much decreased as a result of the cells already belonging to the patient’s own body.
