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Stem Cell News
Myasthenia Gravis Treated with Bone Marrow Stem
Cells
By Regina Sass, University of California - San
Diego Medical Center, October 11, 2007
With the potential to have great impact on
individuals who suffer from Myasthenia Gravis, an
extremely rare bone marrow transplant has been
performed by doctors at The Bone Marrow Transplant
Program at University of California, San Diego Medical
Center. This is the first time the operation has been
attempted by any hospital in the western part of the
United States.
The patient's own immune system views itself as a
foreign body and attacks itself in the case of
Myasthenia Gravis. Of all the neuromuscular autoimmune
diseases, it is one of the most rare. Making it
impossible for the muscles to contract, the condition
interrupts the normal transmission of nerve impulses
to the muscles. Additionally, the muscles that control
breathing can't work right when the nerve impulses do
not work right.
The Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America
believes the condition is very much under diagnosed
and there are many individuals who do not know they
have it opposing the statistics that state that 20 out
of every 100,000 Americans have been diagnosed with
MG.
The procedure gives patients purified blood forming
stem cells after their existing stem cells are
destroyed by chemotherapy. The immune system regains
cells that do not attack the body after the modified
transplant stem cells build new bone marrow, correct
signaling pattern to the immune system.
Three prior procedures have been performed at the
Northwestern University Hospital in Chicago. Dr.
Martin Glasser, M.D., was the patient treated at UC-San
Diego, marking the 4th procedure of this kind ever
performed in history. At UCSD Medical Center, he has
been receiving plasmapheresis treatments. Kidney
failure patients go through a dialysis procedure, and
plasmapheresis is similar. Over a short period of
time, it can deliver benefit.
His bone marrow had to be obliterated in order to
get him ready for the transplant. Most of the T cells
in his body had to be destroyed. The theory is that
new stem cells will not get the message to attack if
the T cells are destroyed before the new stem cells
are introduced. The immune system is renewed as the
transplanted stem cells build new bone marrow.
8 million pure stem cells were yielded after 16
million cells were initially harvested and processed
through a special filtering device. The stem cells
have the best chance to produce a line of healthy
blood cells when they are at this very early stage in
their development. To protect against infection,
patients are required to take antibiotics after the
transplant is completed. Until the immune system is
considered to be completely recovered, patients must
maintain a strict diet and stay away from large crowds
of people to avoid possible infection and illness. 3
months is the average amount of time predicted for
this post transplant protocol.
Some tissue repair maybe happening to Dr. Glasser
according to doctors. Feeling has returned to his feet
following the transplant where he previously had no
sensation.
The team who performed the operation was Ewa
Carrier, M.D., Arnold Gass, M.D., professor of
medicine at Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare
System, Geoffrey Sheehan, M.D., UCSD professor of
neurosciences and myasthenia gravis specialist and
David Ward, M.D., UCSD professor of medicine and
Apheresis program founder.
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