{"id":79354,"date":"2025-10-24T10:16:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T10:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/hertfordshire-mum-is-first-uk-patient-to-trial-new-ms-treatment\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T10:16:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T10:16:00","slug":"hertfordshire-mum-is-first-uk-patient-to-trial-new-ms-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=79354","title":{"rendered":"Hertfordshire mum is first UK patient to trial new MS treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Lucy North\/PA Media<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Emily Henders is taking part in a trial of T-cell therapy, which has proved successful in treating blood cancer<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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A biology teacher and mother-of-two has become the first UK patient to receive a “gamechanger” therapy to treat multiple sclerosis (MS).<\/p>\n
Emily Henders, 37, from Bushey, Hertfordshire, was treated at University College London Hospital (UCLH) as part of a global clinical trial.<\/p>\n
Mrs Henders had experienced “really scary” relapse episodes since being diagnosed in December 2021 during which, she said: “My legs don’t work, I can’t walk.”<\/p>\n
Experts believe the targeted immunotherapy treatment could “transform” lives by slowing or even halting progression of the disease.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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“I hope taking part in the trial means I will never have to experience another relapse and that my MS symptoms will not progress,” Mrs Henders said.<\/p>\n
“I know it is still experimental but it offers a scientific rationale which, as a biology teacher, makes sense to me.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Family handout\/PA Media<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Mrs Henders and her husband Brandon would like to have a third child, but are concerned about the impact on her MS<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Multiple sclerosis is an “autoimmune” disease, which happens when the immune system attacks nerves in the brain and spinal cord by mistake.<\/p>\n
The experimental treatment, known as CAR T cell therapy, aims to reset the immune system.<\/p>\n
It works by depleting B cells, which are thought to drive the autoimmune attack in MS.<\/p>\n
The patient’s own T cells, which hunt out infected or damaged cells, are genetically engineered and fed back into the patient via an infusion to “re-set” the immune system.<\/p>\n
Mrs Henders, who has sons aged six and four, told the PA news agency she was feeling well after receiving the infusion in a three-minute procedure.<\/p>\n
“I’m actually feeling really good. I’m feeling normal and I’ve got energy back.<\/p>\n
“I don’t have any nausea, I’ve had no fevers. I’m feeling pretty relaxed,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Lucy North\/PA Media<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The trial aims to recruit up to 18 patients globally by early 2027<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Mrs Henders, whose father also has MS, was diagnosed on Christmas Eve after suffering tingling in her hands.<\/p>\n
“Physically, my symptoms have progressively got worse,” she said.<\/p>\n
“I notice sometimes my foot hits the pavement in a funny way. Or when I’m teaching and my hands are shaking.”<\/p>\n
Mrs Henders will “never forget” her first major relapse when her children saw her taken away by ambulance.<\/p>\n
“I was getting out of bed and I couldn’t stand up – it was very scary,” she said.<\/p>\n
“I’ll never forget my children’s faces as the medics were rushing in and strapping me to a chair.<\/p>\n
“Emotionally, I worry for them and how they’re dealing with it.<\/p>\n
“I worry that this might be passed on to them. It’s very scary for the future, not knowing what the next relapse would bring.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Lucy North\/PA Media<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Emily is one of 150,000 people in the UK with Multiple Sclerosis<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Mrs Henders hopes the treatment will avoid the decline typical in MS patients, who often require a wheelchair.<\/p>\n
“It would mean I’ll be able to chase my children around, and I’ll still be able to work,” she said.<\/p>\n
“I wouldn’t be able to be a science teacher in a wheelchair or even on crutches.<\/p>\n
“It’s too much of a health and safety hazard, so that would have a real impact on my job.”<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the MS Society said: “It’s early days but, if trial results prove successful, CAR T-cell therapy could be a gamechanger for how we treat the condition.”<\/p>\n
UCLH consultant haematologist Claire Roddie said the team was “excited” about the trial.<\/p>\n
“We are taking a treatment developed to treat cancers and re-purposing it for a whole new spectrum of conditions,” she said.<\/p>\n
“We give CAR T-cell therapy – bang, you’re in, you get the treatment, and that’s it.<\/p>\n
“Hopefully you don’t need any more drugs beyond that point.<\/p>\n
“If we could achieve that in MS, it would transform so many people’s lives.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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