"We do not know whether this will work in patients," Cossu said in a telephone interview. He said he hopes to start a small experiment in children in the next year or two.

The scientists worked with golden retrievers that suffer a crippling form of dystrophy very much like the human one. Researchers studied the effect of repeated injections into the bloodstream of a kind of stem cell extracted from blood vessel walls.

The best results appeared when the cells were taken from healthy dogs. But Cossu said scientists should pursue the possibility of genetically manipulating a patient's own cells and using them instead. That way, patients wouldn't have to undergo lifelong treatment to avoid rejection of donated cells.

In one of several experiments, three dogs that had not yet shown impairment in walking were injected five times, a month apart, with cells taken from other dogs.

One dog completely avoided symptoms and continued to walk well even five months after both the injections and the anti-rejection therapy were stopped.

A second dog also did well initially but died suddenly of a heart problem after just two months on the treatment. It's not clear whether the problem had anything to do with the treatment, or whether the initial good result would have continued, Cossu said.

The third dog showed partial protection, being able to walk and even run with a limp, but then progressively lost walking ability within a few days after the anti-rejection treatment was stopped.

The researchers also treated two dogs that were severely impaired by the disease. Both gained the ability to move much faster and to jump, and one was even able to run, although neither could use the hind legs normally.

One of these dogs rapidly lost walking ability when the anti-rejection treatment was stopped, but the other continued to walk well for five months until succumbing to pneumonia. That's a common fate for dogs with the genetic condition because of weakness in breathing muscles.

Cossu said he believed that a human treatment could be directed more at breathing muscles than it was in the dogs.

The cells helped strengthen muscle by fusing with regenerating muscle fibers and pumping out a protein that's missing in dogs with the disease.

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