盼望已久的另一道曙光：幹細胞治療 from UK

Dancing, walking and running again, the wheelchair-bound MS patients after they were given 'miraculous' stem cell treatment

幹細胞治療後，坐輪椅的MS患者再度跳舞，走路，甚至跑步。

• Pioneering treatment has allowed wheelchair-bound patients to run again
• Patient given high dose of chemotherapy to wipe out faulty immune system
• Therapy then uses person's own stem cells to fight the devastating disease
• It may be the first ever treatment to successfully reverse symptoms of MS
• 是目前完全逆轉回復的首例治療方式

Britons left wheelchair-bound by multiple sclerosis can walk, run and even dance again after being given a pioneering stem cell treatment.

Doctors have described the recoveries as ‘miraculous’, while patients say they have been given their lives back.

The treatment uses a patient’s own stem cells – the body’s master cells – to fight the disease. 

Professor Basil Sharrack, of the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield, said: ‘Since we started treating patients some three years ago some of the results have been miraculous. 
三年前我們治療的病人中有些真是奇蹟。

WHEELCHAIR-BOUND MOTHER WHO CAN NOW DANCE AGAIN

Today, Holly Drewery(主角) can run after her daughter Isla. Two years ago she could take her for a walk only if someone pushed her wheelchair while she held on to Isla’s pushchair.

2年前Holly Drewery她只能坐著輪椅抱著她女兒

Miss Drewery, 25, of Sheffield, pictured with Isla, was diagnosed with MS after suffering numbness and blurred vision. She became wheelchair-bound after her health worsened on Isla’s birth. She needed help with basic tasks and couldn’t even wiggle her toes.

25歲的她，診斷出多發性硬化症之後，就飽受麻痺的感覺和複視，在生完它的女兒Isla之後，就坐在輪椅上了。

Three weeks after the stem cell transplant she was able to walk out of hospital. 

Now, more than 18 months on, she is almost back to normal. She has a part-time office job and, although she still gets tired, can dance, run and chase after Isla, two, in the park. 
在作完幹細胞治療後3星期，她可以走出醫院，18個月之後，她回復正常，有個兼職的工作。雖然她現在仍舊會覺得累，但至少她可以跳舞，跑步，和小孩在公園追逐。

She said: ‘All I wanted to be able to do is take Isla out. It worked wonders. I am more or less back to normal.’
我所想要的只是能夠帶她出門，我現在差不多和以前一樣。

Sam Ramsey collapsed when out celebrating her 22nd birthday and six weeks later was paralysed from the neck down by MS.

另一位患者：Sam Ramsey在她22歲生日後6周，因為MS造成她頸部以下癱瘓。

Other treatments failed but now, after the stem cell treatment, Miss Ramsey, 25, of Newark in Nottinghamshire, can walk on crutches, has passed her driving test and ordered a car.
Sam Ramsey試過很多其它的治療方式，但是也都失敗了，幹細胞治療讓她現在可以藉由助行器行走，也拿到了駕照。

She told the Sunday Times: ‘This treatment has given me my life back.’

'This is not a word I would use lightly but we have seen profound neurological improvements.’

However, more research is needed to prove the patients are not just experiencing a temporary remission, which does happen in MS.
然而，需要更多的研究來證實這不只是緩解的情形。

The neurological condition, which is more common in women than men, usually strikes those in their 20s and 30s and affects 2.5million people worldwide, including 100,000 Britons. It can cause blindness and paralysis, but current drugs are not suitable for all and there is no cure.
全球有250萬人，英國就有10萬人深受其苦，目前沒有解藥。

The disease occurs when ‘friendly fire’ from the body’s immune system destroys myelin, the fatty protective sheath around nerve fibres in the brain and spinal cord, disrupting the transmission of vital signals.

The Sheffield treatment uses the stem cells to ‘reboot’ the immune system so that it stops attacking the body and brain.

療程步驟如下：

First, a sample of the patient’s blood is taken and stem cells are removed from it and stored.
第一：抽取病患的血液，並從其中提取出幹細胞進而儲存起來

The patient is then given a high dose of chemotherapy to wipe out their faulty immune system. 
第二：病患須經過一個非常高劑量的化療過程，目的是把現在的免疫系統完全摧毀。

Finally, they are given their stem cells back. As master cells, they are able to form a new, healthy immune system.

最後：再把儲存的幹細胞注射回病患自己，重新啟動新的免疫系統。

The transplant has a one-off cost of around £30,000, similar to the amount spent on some patients’ drugs each year. 
幹細胞療程費用需要3萬英鎊，約150萬台幣，30萬人民幣，這費用相當於多發性硬化症病人一年的醫療費用。

As well as stopping the disease in its tracks the treatment, known as autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation, seems to heal damage that has already been done.
自體造血幹細胞移植療法似乎不僅可以停止疾病的病程，甚至可以修復已經受傷的部位。

以下列出其他MS例證

A man who was blind in one eye has almost normal vision again. 
失明的眼睛重現光明

A woman in Canada who needed 24-hour care appears free of MS more than a decade after being given a transplant of her own stem cells.
24歲的加拿大女性治療前需要24小時得看護照顧，現在已經有10年沒有再復發。

Despite these dramatic improvements, the treatment is not suitable for all patients.
這種治療並不適用每個病患。

 A US trial on almost 150, reported last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association, showed it to help roughly half the time.
在美國的實驗性結果報告顯示：150個實驗中，只有半數75人有幫助。

There are also concerns about complications including potentially lethal infections.
過程中也會有致命的危險(一但感染)。

Professor Sharrack and colleagues are seeking patients with relapsing-remitting MS, the most common form, for an NHS-funded trial.
目前英國國民保健服務處（NHS）教授 Sharrack 團隊正在募集較規模的實驗。

The MS Society described the Sheffield work as ‘very encouraging’ and said it is eagerly awaiting the results of larger trials.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2974675/MS-stem-cell-treatment-hailed-miraculous-patients-make-dramatic-recovery.html#ixzz3TF2Zd6ml 

附上幹細胞治療影片簡介

盼望已久的另一道曙光：幹細胞治療 from UK