Researchers reported encouraging results for a stem cell transplant for multiple sclerosis (MS) that some doctors and patients hope will be a breakthrough for MS treatment.

In a presentation at the European Society for Bone and Marrow Transplantation held in Lisbon, Portugal, scientists said that people with certain forms of MS showed fewer relapses after receiving a stem cell transplant for MS than those who received other treatments.

The study involved 110 people with relapsing multiple sclerosis, a condition in which cells in the immune system start to inexplicably attack the critical covering that protects nerve cells in the spinal cord, brain and eye. Without the coating, nerves gradually lose their ability to send important electrical messages that control things like movement and vision. In the study, people were randomly assigned to receive current treatments for the disease, which can help slow the progression of the immune-driven damage to the nerve cells, or a stem cell transplant.

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