Doctors in Bristol are to carry out a trial using stem cells on 80 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients following a $1m (£610k) donation.
People selected will have their bone marrow harvested which is then filtered before being injected into their blood.
Trials on a smaller group of people last year found it increased nerve function by up to 20%.
The research is taking place at the Burden Neurological Institute based at Bristol’s Frenchay Hospital.
MS is a nervous system disorder which affects an estimated 100,000 people in the UK.
It can lead to a variety of symptoms, including muscle weakness, extreme fatigue, loss of co-ordination and visual and speech difficulties.
As the cells come from the patients’ own bodies there are no ethical issues surrounding their use.
Stem cells
Professor Neil Scolding, who leads the team, has described the donation from the Silverman Family foundation in American as a “godsend”.
He said: “When you inject these cells in to the bloodstream they do find their way into the brain and spinal chord.
“We know once they get there they are capable of encouraging repair of damage in a variety of ways.”
Half of the group will have the injection immediately and the two groups will be compared after a year.
The second group will have their treatment a year later as it is thought unethical to deny them the potential benefits.
One of the patients who had the treatment last May is David Franks.
Mr Franks had to retire from his job as a children’s surgeon early because of his MS.
He said: “I am not any worse. I may be a bit better.
“But I am certainly not going down hill as fast as I was before the treatment”.
Commenting on the trial, Dr Susan Kohlhaas from the MS Society said: “Stem cells hold promise as a potential treatment for MS so it’s great to see research is at the stage where these treatments can be tested in people with the condition.
“It’s exciting to see this work moving forward.”
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Clinical trials on six multiple sclerosis (MS) patients who have had stem cell injections have produced “encouraging” results, scientists say.
The trials, which are thought to be a world first, are taking place at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol.
The six were injected with stem cells harvested from their own bone marrow. Research found this increased nerve function by up to 20%.
The team is planning a much larger trial of the technique.
MS is a nervous system disorder that affects around 40 in every 100,000 people in the UK.
It can lead to a variety of symptoms, including muscle weakness, fatigue, loss of co-ordination, visual and speech difficulties.
The Bristol study, undertaken by a team from the University of Bristol, collected and filtered hundreds of thousands of the patients’ PCT stem cells from their bone marrow while they were under general anaesthetic.
The cells, which are known to transform into other forms of cell and repair damage, are injected en masse into the patients’ bloodstream.
Because the cells come from the patients’ own bodies there are no ethical issues surrounding their use.
Study leader Prof Neil Scolding stressed to the BBC that the research was still in its infancy.
“We didn’t see patients throwing away their wheelchairs, throwing away their walking sticks, the symptoms that the patients had didn’t change a great deal.
“They didn’t get a lot worse over the 12-month period – and you might have expected them to – but neither was there a great difference in what patients could actually do. So this is just a beginning.”
Liz Allison, one of the volunteers being studied, said: “My long-term hope is that stem cell research will be a cure for MS and will be available for everyone who is afflicted with this disease.
“It has the added benefit of being a relatively pain-free procedure and having no side effects.”
Prof Scolding said he was encouraged by this early study, the data from which may indicate that stem cells can stabilise MS.
“A larger study is required to assess the effectiveness of bone marrow cellular therapy in treating MS.
“We are hopeful that recruitment to this phase 2/3 study may begin towards the end of this year.”