Multiple sclerosis conference synopsis and discussion: cellular therapy for treatment of autoimmune diseases (October 2005).

At a conference held in October 2005, participants presented studies on high dose immunosuppression with hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) for multiple sclerosis (MS), including neuroimmunological and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) mechanistic approaches, clinical registry reports, and ongoing or newly-designed protocols. A discussion panel considered questions on how to define success, timing of controlled clinical trials, difficulty in patient recruitment, and future direction of high dose therapy.