Since 2004, Dr. Violaine Harris and her research team have been investigating a population of adult stem cells from bone marrow called mesenchymal stem cell-derived neural progenitors (MSC-NPs) as a source of stem cells to promote repair and regeneration in progressive MS. MSC-NP cells have a number of properties that make them suitable as a cell transplantation therapy for MS:

There is an unmet need to develop therapies aimed at prevention or reversal of progression-related disability in MS. Therapies for progressive MS must overcome the varied aspects of disease pathology such as inflammatory demyelination, neurodegeneration, and astrogliosis (sclerosis, or scar formation). Since 2001, Dr. Sadiq has directed the center’s research efforts to investigate the use of stem cells as a repair strategy for progressive MS.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, incurable, and unpredictable disease of the central nervous system (CNS) including the brain, optic nerves, and spinal cord. MS is characterized by the destruction of the fatty insulating myelin sheath that surrounds nerve cells and serves the dual purpose of augmenting the conduction of nervous signals and protecting the underlying axons from the destructive chemicals of the broader CNS environment. As myelin breaks down, lesions appear over demyelinated areas forming hard plaques, or sclerosis, which give the disease its name. The classical course of the disease involves an initial phase alternating between inflammatory autoimmune attacks on myelin by infiltrating T-cells and periods of remission and partial recovery, called relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS)...