Mesenchymal stem cells and conditioned media in the treatment of multiple sclerosis patients: Clinical, ophthalmological and radiological assessments of safety and efficacy

• Published in: CNS neuroscience & therapeutics Vol. 23; no. 11; pp. 866 - 874
• Main Authors: Dahbour, Said, Jamali, Fatima, Alhattab, Dana, Al‐Radaideh, Ali, Ababneh, Osama, Al‐Ryalat, Nosaiba, Al‐Bdour, Muawyeh, Hourani, Bayan, Msallam, Mohammed, Rasheed, Murad, Huneiti, Ammar, Bahou, Yacoub, Tarawneh, Emad, Awidi, Abdalla
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.11.2017; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Autografts; Bone marrow; Brain - diagnostic imaging; Cells, Cultured; Cognitive ability; conditioned media; Culture Media, Conditioned; Disability Evaluation; Evoked Potentials, Visual; expanded disability status scale; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Immunologic Factors - therapeutic use; Inflammation; Interleukin 6; Interleukin 8; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation - adverse effects; Mesenchymal stem cells; Mesenchymal Stem Cells - metabolism; Mesenchyme; Middle Aged; Multiple sclerosis; Multiple Sclerosis - diagnostic imaging; Multiple Sclerosis - physiopathology; Multiple Sclerosis - psychology; Multiple Sclerosis - therapy; optical coherence tomography; Original; Patients; Safety; Spinal Cord - diagnostic imaging; Stromal cells; Tomography, Optical Coherence; Treatment Outcome; Vascular endothelial growth factor; visual evoked potential; Young Adult; expanded disability status scale; magnetic resonance imaging; optical coherence tomography; mesenchymal stem cells; multiple sclerosis; conditioned media; visual evoked potential
• ISSN: 1755-5930; 1755-5949
• DOI: 10.1111/cns.12759

Summary Aims This open‐label prospective phase I/IIa clinical study used autologous bone marrow‐derived mesenchymal stromal cells (BM‐MSCs) followed by mesenchymal stromal cells conditioned media (MSC‐CM) for the first time to treat multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. The primary goal was to assess the safety and feasibility and the secondary was efficacy. The correlation between the MSC‐CM content and treatment outcome was investigated. Methods Ten MS patients who failed conventional therapy were enrolled. Adverse events were recorded to assess safety. The Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) was the primary efficacy measurement, the secondary included clinical (25WFT, 9‐PHT), cognitive (MMS), ophthalmology (OCT, VEP), and radiological (MRI lesion and volume) tests. The MSCs‐CM concentration of 27 inflammatory biomarkers was investigated. Results The treatment protocol was well tolerated by patients. There was an overall trend of improvement in all the tests, except the lesion volume which increased significantly. A decrease of 4 and 3.5 points on the EDSS was achieved in two patients. We report a correlation between a decreased lesion number at baseline and higher IL‐6, IL‐8, and VEGF MSC‐CM content. Conclusion The used protocol was safe and feasible with possible efficacy. The addition of MSC‐CM could be related to the magnitude of EDSS improvement observed.