Intravenous injection of bone marrow-derived stem cells (MSCs) in patients with spinal cord injuries has led to significant improvement in motor function, researchers at Yale University and Japan report on February 18 in the Journal of Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery.
For more than half of the patients, substantial improvements in key functions – such as the ability to walk or use their hands – were seen within weeks of stem cell injections, the researchers report. No substantial side effects have been reported.
Patients suffered sustained spinal cord injuries that did not penetrate, in many cases from falls or minor trauma, a few weeks before stem cell implantation. Their symptoms involved loss of motor function and coordination, sensory loss, as well as bowel and bladder dysfunction. The stem cells were prepared from the bone marrow of the patients, through a culture protocol that lasted several weeks in a specialized cell processing center. Cells were injected intravenously into this series, with each patient serving as their own control. The results were not orbital and there were no placebo controls.
Yale scientists Jeffery D. Kocsis, professor of neurology and neuroscience, and Stephen G. Waxman, professor of neurology, neuroscience, and pharmacology, were lead authors of the study, which was conducted in conjunction with investigators at the University of Medicine. Sapporo from Japan. Sapporo’s key investigators, Osamu Honmou and Masanori Sasaki, both serve as assistant professors of neurology at Yale.
Kocsis and Waxman emphasize that further studies will be needed to confirm the results of this preliminary, blind-free study. They also point out that this could take years. Despite the challenges, they remain optimistic.
“Similar stem cell results in stroke patients increase our confidence that this approach may be clinically useful, “noted Kocsis. This clinical study is the culmination of extensive preclinical laboratory work using MSCs between Yale colleagues and Sapporo for many years.
““The idea that we might be able to restore function after brain and spinal cord injuries using the patient’s own stem cells has intrigued us for years,” said Waxman. “Now, in humans, we have a hint that it might be possible.”