premise: If 20 multiple sclerosis patients were in a room, all would exhibit different symptoms, she says. "The disease is not clear and not set. It's highly unpredictable." In particular, in the relapsing-remitting stage, there are symptoms such as fatigue, blurry vision, numbness or tingling that the patient feels but are not noticeable to others. As a result, outsiders may not be aware of the extent of the patient's suffering. "Sometimes, they think if you're not in a wheelchair, M.S. must not be that bad. That's not true," Caesar observed. In Florida, 20,000 individuals have been diagnosed with the disease. Nationwide, that number is 400,000. Although it is still in the basic research stage, stem cell therapy shows promise, says Caesar. The research focuses on getting stem cells to regenerate the nerve-insulating myelin.
hypothesis: Stem cells could be useful to treat multiple sclerosis.