01/20/97 HOPE FOR M.S. PATIENTS--IF CELL GRAFTS STICK

HOPE FOR M.S. PATIENTS--IF CELL GRAFTS STICK

SOME 300,000 PEOPLE IN THE U.S. suffer from multiple sclerosis, which destroys the myelin sheaths that insulate nerve cells. Patients often develop localized patches or lesions on the spinal cord, causing bouts of weakness, lack of coordination, and problems with speech and vision.
Within two years, predicts Ian Duncan, a professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, it may be possible to repair lesions by injecting myelin-producing glial cells into patients' spinal cords. Duncan's lab recently treated a family of dogs born with a genetic mutation that produced lesions similar to those caused by M.S. After transplanting glial cells from fetuses, he observed significant myelin growth on target nerves for as long as 27 weeks. The experiment, reported in the latest issue of Nature Medicine, is the first published account of such a transplant in large mammals.
There are some hurdles to human clinical trials, including the danger that immune activity, which causes inflammation in M.S. patients, could destroy transplanted cells. But Duncan is cheered by the recent efforts of Swedish doctors who treat patients with Parkinson's disease by transplanting fetal tissue into patients' brains. ''Treating M.S. in a similar fashion is not so farfetched,'' he says.
EDITED BY NEIL GROSS