Thousands of MS sufferers could benefit from a revolutionary treatment that injects them with stem cells taken from their own bone marrow.
Researchers have long believed that the stem cells could halt and even reverse the effects of the disease by patching up the damaged parts of the brain and spinal cord.
Now British scientists carrying out one of the first ever trials into the procedure believe that they have proved that it works.
The research team, led by Professor Neil Scolding, at the University of Bristol and North Bristol NHS Trust, believe that the treatment has stabilised the condition and shown some "benefits".
"We are encouraged by the results of this early study," he said.
"We believe that stem cells mobilised from the marrow to the blood are responsible, and that they help improve disease in several ways."
MS or multiple sclerosis is an incurable disease that affects around 85,000 people in Britain slowly attacking the central nervous system and leaving many sufferers eventually wheelchair bound.
For some reason the immune system turns on healthy nerve cells and damages them.
Previous studies in the laboratory have shown that stem cells are able to develop into other cell types, travel through the bloodstream to the brain and are actively taken up by damaged areas.
The trial, which lasted a year, is one of the first to use patients' own bone marrow stem cells to treat their MS.
It involved six people with MS, aged between 30 and 60, having a pint of bone marrow extracted from their pelvises.
The material is filtered of bone and fat leaving pure stem cells which are then injected on the same day back into the patients' arms.
Over the year, the patients were monitored closely and given regular brain scans to see what impact the treatment has had on them.
The study, journal Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, carried out at Frenchay Hospital avoids the ethical controversy that surrounds many stem cell studies because it does not use human embryos.
Researchers found that the patients suffered "no serious adverse effects" from the treatment and tests suggested the disease was stable and there had been improvement in the effectiveness of damaged nerve cells.
They showed that the damaged nerve pathways were able to carry electrical pulses more effectively after the treatment.
Now the researchers want to carry out a longer and larger study to see if the treatment can be improved and works consistently.
Professor Neil Scolding said: “The safety data are reassuring and the suggestion of benefit tantalising."
Dr Claire Rice, co-author, said: "The results are very encouraging. We would have expected these pathways to get worse but they have actually got better.
"It is exciting because the treatment is relatively pain free and patients do not need to stay overnight in hospital."
Bone marrow is known to contain stem cells capable of replacing cells in many types of tissues and organs – and so is of great interest to those working to develop new treatments for many diseases, including those affecting the nervous system.
An earlier study on 21 adults in the Lancet also showed that stem cells could halt the progress of the disease and even show some improvement.
The idea is that if caught early enough the stem cells could protect patients from the permanent damage caused to nerve cells and prevent disability.
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