It has been announced here today by the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada of the endowment of a $2.4 million grant meant for the continuation of specified clinical trial which happens to be in a careful attention, involving also in its turn an experimental bone marrow stem cell transplant therapy. It is to be noted in this respect that that the investigative study is being conducted by a distinguished group of Canadian MS specialists under the leadership of Dr. Mark Freedman and Dr. Harry Atkins in Ottawa.

Speaking on this occasion Jon Temme, the Vice President of Client Services and Research for the MS Society said,   "The aim of the study was to see if this treatment protocol could halt deterioration in a group of MS patients with rapidly progressive disease." "Currently, the majority of the 18 patients have stabilized or improved, and the focus of this second phase of the trial will be to determine if this stabilization can be maintained," he added.

But what is multiple sclerosis? Multiple sclerosis happens to be a persistent, over and over again a disabling disease of the brain and spinal cord. It is estimated that the number of affected Canadians with this disease of MS or Multiple sclerosis happen to be within the range of 55,000 and 75,000 making it the most common neurological disease of young adults in Canada. It for this huge number now days most people affected with this MS are diagnosed between the ages of 15 and 40. However, since already a good number of researches have been accomplished to denote the origin as well as its spreading and the effect it has been found that in the greatest extent the MS symptoms are capricious and tend to differ greatly from person to person. It can include in the list of its effects blurred vision; extreme fatigue; loss of balance; stiffness of muscles; speech problems; bladder and bowel problems; and even partial or complete paralysis.

Dr. Harry Atkins, the renowned scientist at the Ottawa Health Research Institute, bone marrow transplant specialist at the Ottawa Hospital, and assistant professor at the University of Ottawa who is also in charge of this investigative study said,    "The idea behind this clinical trial is to replace the diseased immune system with a new one derived from the patient's own bone marrow stem cells."   "First we purify and freeze the patient's stem cells, then we use strong chemotherapy to destroy their existing immune system, and then we transplant the purified stem cells back into the patient. It takes time, but eventually these stem cells will form a completely new immune system – one that does not attack the brain and spinal cord – we hope," he concluded.