Stem cell therapy in multiple sclerosis: promise and controversy.

Stem cells offer the potential for regeneration of lost tissue in neurological disease, including multiple sclerosis (MS). Their development in vitro and their use in vivo in animal models of degenerative neurological disease and recent first efforts in human clinical trials were the topics of a recent international meeting sponsored by the Multiple Sclerosis International Federation and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society on "Stem Cells & MS: Prospects and Strategies" Participants reviewed the current state of knowledge about the potential use of stem and progenitor cells in MS and other degenerative neurological disorders and outlined a series of urgent fundamental and applied clinical research priorities that should allow the potential of regeneration of damaged tissue in MS to be assessed and pursued.