Ms Stem Cell Treatment Northwestern
Hsct chicago clinic closing is the startling header in all caps on a patient run facebook page about a stem cell therapy clinical trial program at northwestern university.
Ms stem cell treatment northwestern. The goal of hsct is to reboot a faulty immune system. The core idea behind the work that burt and other research teams are doing is that stem cells may have revolutionary potential to somehow counteract the autoimmunity that causes serious life threatening diseases in many patients including. Stem cell tourism provides unproven stem cell treatments. Northwestern medicine s immunotherapy and autoimmune diseases program based at northwestern memorial hospital in downtown chicago.
The program often includes patients and families traveling to countries outside of the united states where the procedure s performed. This is the fourth chronic disease hematopoietic stem cell transplantation hsct has appeared to reverse. The process called hematopoietic stem cell transplantation hsct temporarily shuts down and reboots patients immune systems allowing the body to rebuild damaged nerve. Unfortunately the promising field of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation hsct for multiple sclerosis ms and other autoimmune diseases seems to have suffered an unexpected setback here.
Burt performed the first hematopoietic stem cell transplant hsct for a multiple sclerosis ms patient in the united states at chicago s northwestern memorial hospital. Flickr steve rhodes a pioneering stem cell clinical trial program in the us is closing up shop a surprise move for what had appeared to be a successful endeavor at testing hematopoietic stem cell transplantations hsct for autoimmune and other diseases. Ms is an immune mediated disorder of the central nervous system often arising in young adulthood. Richard burt of northwestern university has been doing cutting edge research on the use of stem cells for autoimmune disorders for more than a decade.
Northwestern medicine hematopoietic stem cell transplant program. After five years only two out of 12 relapsed and had to go back on drug therapy burt said. A preliminary northwestern medicine study suggests that nonmyeloablative hematopoietic stem cell transplantation may reverse disability and improve quality of life for patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis ms.