Immune system reboot in Multiple Sclerosis patients: Study

Blood stem cell transplantation is a radical but highly effective therapy for multiple sclerosis. Immune system reboot in Multiple Sclerosis patients: Study Every day, one person in Switzerland is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. "80 percent of patients remain disease-free long-term or even forever following an autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant," says recently retired Professor Roland Martin, study lead and last author. In the recently published study, Martin's team systematically investigated these questions for the first time by analyzing the immune cells of 27 MS patients who received stem cell therapy in Zurich. These remnants of the original immune system nevertheless pose no risk for a return of MS: "They are pre-damaged due to the chemotherapy and therefore no longer able to trigger an autoimmune reaction," explains Martin.