Second Patient With MS Undergoes Schwann Cell Transplantation Surgery at Yale
A 29-year-old man with MS is the second patient to undergo transplantation surgery at Yale in an effort to repair myelin. The surgery took place in two stages on March 6–7 and the patient was discharged on March 10. The young man is the second of five patients who are scheduled to participate in the groundbreaking clinical trial.
The purpose of the Phase One trial is to determine whether cells found in the body’s peripheral nerves, in this case, the ankle, can safely repair the damaged cells in the brain and spinal cord that result in neurologic disability in patients with MS and other disorders of the myelin. In the first procedure on March 6, the surgical team harvested Schwann cells from the patient’s ankle. Animal studies show that Schwann cells can replace the oligodendrocytes. The second day, the cells were injected into the left posterior aspect of the patient’s brain, which has lesions.
The aim of the trial is to determine whether the Schwann cells survive in the brain and if they are able to restore myelin on the nerve fibers in the brain. The patient’s prognosis is monitored for 6 months using neuroimaging and other tests. After 6 months, a small biopsy is taken to determine whether the cells survived and whether they made any myelin. The 6-month results on the first patient in this clinical trial, operated on in mid-July 2001, will not be made public until they are published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.