INDEX:

CureMS.net Mission

Our mission is to:

📌 Help patients and healthcare providers make informed decisions about AHSCT.

📌 Make scientific evidence understandable to the general population.

📌 Present scientific facts (i.e., evidence-based research) without promoting unrealistic hopes.

Your opinion is important to us. All feedback, whether positive or negative, helps us improve this website.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
How would you rate CureMS.net?(Required)
1 = very poor, 5 = excellent
Who are you?(Required)
Was the information on CureMS.net clear and easy to understand?(Required)
Please share your testimonial below...

Your opinion is important to us. All feedback, whether positive or negative, helps us improve this website.

Why This AHSCT Site?

We have chosen to dedicate this website mainly to AHSCT (autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation) because this topic continues to be only marginally addressed in both the scientific literature and at major scientific meetings.

To date, interest in this procedure remains limited, despite a growing body of evidence showing that no other treatment has consistently demonstrated greater effectiveness—radiologically, clinically, or immunologically—than AHSCT in appropriately selected patients with highly active relapsing MS. At recent international conferences, including ECTRIMS 2025, AHSCT accounted for only a small fraction of oral presentations and posters when compared with pharmacological disease-modifying therapies, continuing a pattern seen in previous years.

Scientific journalism (see figures) has increasingly focused on innovative and experimental therapies for autoimmune diseases, including MS. However, even in comprehensive and well-researched articles discussing immune modulation, immune “resetting,” or the possibility of curative approaches, AHSCT is frequently omitted or mentioned only briefly, despite its established use and long-term outcomes.

Illustration: Antigen presenting cells (illustrated, right) can sometimes train T cells (left) not to attack. Credit: Juan Gaertner/Science Photo Library.
Photo of the article published in Nature 625, 646-648 (2024), in the “News Feature” section. Source: Nature

Photo of the article published in the New Scientist health section. Source: New Scientist, February 24, 2025.

It should be noted that AHSCT is an intensive procedure with specific risks and is not appropriate for all people with MS, requiring careful patient selection, experienced centers, and thorough informed consent.
This omission remains striking, particularly as international expert groups such as EBMT, in collaboration with ECTRIMS, now recognize AHSCT as a standard-of-care option for selected patients with aggressive, treatment-refractory relapsing MS, when performed in experienced centers.
The purpose of this website is therefore to provide clear, evidence-based information about AHSCT, and to address a persistent gap between its demonstrated clinical impact and the limited attention it receives in scientific communication and public discourse

Who We Are

I am Antonio Bertolotto, a neurologist with experience in clinical management and research on MS. I’ve created this website with the aim of expanding information regarding therapies and procedures that could lead to the curing of MS. Specifically, the site is dedicated to AHSCT.

Supporting me in the management and updating of this website is Sabdi Valverde, a tech-enthusiast, and biologist who attended the University of Turin, graduating from the Department of Molecular Biotechnology in 2020 with a thesis on NURR1 in MS.

Since graduation, Sabdi worked in a dedicated MS lab, in an NHS (National Health System) lab and in private industry.

Contributors' Feedback

Any suggestions or corrections are welcome to help improve this website. Please write us at info@curems.net

Thanks to:

  • Bruno Amaral (from GregoryAI) for improving the sections on “Long-term Benefits” (“Ideal condition for regenerative therapies”) and “AHSCT Centers & Costs” (with data on Portugal)
  • Bram Platel for improving the clarity of the home page, the data about the Netherlands in the section “AHSCT Centers and Costs” and images of conditioning protocols.
  • Alice Mariottini for improving table on comparison between AHSCT vs. DMT and for risk of transplantation.
  • Susan Goelz, for reading and correcting the first drafts of CureMS.

Conflict of Interest

Dr. Bertolotto:

– is not a direct prescriber of DMTs (Disease Modifying Therapies), as he does not work in an authorized MS Center for DMT prescriptions.

– does not work in a Clinical Center that performs AHSCT.

– has no financial interest in the use of AHSCT.

In the years 2023-2025, Dr. Bertolotto has received:

– support to attend scientific conferences from Merck, Sanofi, Roche, FORB, Biogen, AISM (Italian MS Association) and Sandoz

– honoraria for lectures from Novartis, Sandoz

Dr. Valverde has received support from FORB to attend scientific conferences in 2024.

Disclaimer

Medical Liability Disclaimer

The information presented on this website “curems.net” is intended for general knowledge and informational purposes only. Therefore, it is not a substitute for professional medical advice provided by a qualified healthcare practitioner (i.e., an individual legally authorized to practice medicine), or, as appropriate, other healthcare professionals such as dentists, nurses, psychologists, pharmacists, veterinarians, physiotherapists, etc.

Fondazione Ricerca Biomedica, ONLUS

The content on the website “curems.net” represents the opinion of the Site’s responsible party (Dr. Bertolotto) and does not necessarily reflect the views of the FORB (Fondazione per la Ricerca Biomedica), ONLUS.

Funding

The “Cure MS” project and this website are funded by donations and bequests to the “Fondazione per la Ricerca Biomedica”, a non-profit organization (ONLUS), with the purpose of “Research coordinated by Dr. Bertolotto”.

The “Fondazione per la Ricerca Biomedica”, ONLUS (FORB), is a non-profit organization, and, thanks to donations from businesses and private individuals, it funds research projects.

“Fondazione per la Ricerca Biomedica” is located at Via Nizza, n. 52, at the Center for Molecular Biotechnology Research, Turin.

Donations

You can support this website with a donation in two different ways:

🟢 Bank transfer to “Fondazione per la Ricerca Biomedica-ONLUS”

IBAN – IT 64 S030 6909 6061 0000 0010 185 – BIC/SWIFT – BCITITMM

Fondazione per la Ricerca Biomedica – ONLUS, Via Nizza, 52 – 10126 TORINO

Please specify in the reference/reason “Donation for CureMS.net so that the Foundation can use your donation for the fight against MS.

🟢 Satispay

1. Scan the QR code with your Satispay App.

2. Enter the amount you would like to donate. There is no minimum amount required.

3. Once the donation is completed, download the donation receipt.

4. Send an email to forb@unito.it with the subject “Donation for CureMS.net”

5. Attach the donation receipt to the email.

6. Sent the email.

Contacts

Readers can contact us, send an email to info@curems.net