Stem cell treatment could provide an effective treatment for progressive multiple sclerosis, according to British researchers.
Research led by the University of Cambridge, England, has shown that mice skin cells, re-programmed into brain stem cells and transplanted into the central nervous system (CNS), help reduce inflammation and may be able to help repair damage caused by MS.
Previous work from the team has established transplanting neural stem cells (NSCs) reduces inflammation and can help the injured CNS heal.
It is highly unlikely that it would be developed because NSCs are sourced from embryos and cannot be obtained in large enough quantities, the researchers say.
The researchers say a potential solution is to use induced neural stem cells (iNSCs), which are generated by taking an adult’s skin cells and ‘re-programming’ them back to become neural stem cells.
Because the iNSCs would be the patient’s own, they are less likely to trigger an immune response.
Writing in Cell Stem Cell, the Cambridge team has shown that iNSCs could be viable.
Using mice that had been manipulated to develop MS, the researchers discovered that chronic MS leads to significantly increased levels of succinate, tricking them into causing inflammation in cerebrospinal fluid.
Transplanting NSCs and iNSCs directly into the cerebrospinal fluid reduces the amount of succinate, reprogramming the macrophages and microglia, which leads to a decrease in inflammation and subsequent secondary damage to the brain and spinal cord.
Dr Stefano Pluchino, lead author of the study from the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Cambridge, said: “Our mouse study suggests that using a patient’s reprogrammed cells could provide a route to personalised treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases, including progressive forms of MS.
“This is particularly promising as these cells should be more readily obtainable than conventional neural stem cells and would not carry the risk of an adverse immune response.”
Peruzzotti-Jametti, L et al. Macrophage-derived extracellular succinate licenses neural stem cells to suppress chronic neuroinflammation. Cell Stem Cell 22 February 2018; doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2018.01.20
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