Disease Fact Sheet: Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
Clinical Status: The provision of new, healthy glial progenitor cells, which give rise to new myelin-producing oligodendrocytes, is under development as a potential treatment strategy, with the tandem goals of stabilizing disease by preventing further neuronal loss and restoring function by remyelinating demyelinated neuronal axons. In preclinical work thus far, methods have been developed for producing large numbers of homogeneous, deliverable human glial progenitor cells from pluripotent human stem cells, including both embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells. These cells have proven effective at remyelinating white matter lesions in a variety of both postnatal and adult animal models of acquired demyelination; their potential use as cellular reagents for treating PMS is under review by the FDA.