(Embryonic) Stem Cell Breakthrough May Lead to MS Treatments

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THURSDAY, April 9 (HealthDay News) -- U.S. scientists say they've coaxed human embryonic stem cells into generating cells that might someday be used to repair nerves damaged by multiple sclerosis.

The researchers pushed the stem cells to grow into critical nervous system support cells called oligodendrocytes, according to a report released Thursday.

Oligodendrocytes produce the myelin sheath that surrounds nerve fibers like wire insulation. The findings represent an important step toward embryonic stem cell-based therapies in general, experts say, and also for cell-based therapies for myelination disorders such as MS in particular. At the very least, the findings should lead to a laboratory model of the illness' pathology.

"They are definitely laying the groundwork for being able to apply these cells in terms of a therapeutic application," said Timothy Coetzee, executive director of Fast Forward, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, which partially funded the study.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_82747.html