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Intravenous injection of bone marrow-derived stem cells (MSCs) in patients with spinal cord injuries has led to significant improvement in motor functions, researchers from 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 a few weeks after the stem cell injection, the researchers report. No significant side effects have been reported.
The patients had sustained non-penetrating spinal cord injury, in many cases from falls or minor trauma, several weeks prior to stem cell implantation. Their symptoms included loss of motor function and coordination, sensory loss, as well as bowel and bladder dysfunction. The stem cells were prepared from the patients’ own bone marrow, via a culture protocol that took a few weeks at a specialized cell treatment center. The cells were injected intravenously in this series, each patient serving as a control. The results were not blinded 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 the lead authors of the study, which was conducted with researchers from the ‘Sapporo Medical University in Japan. The principal researchers of the Sapporo team, Osamu Honmou and Masanori Sasaki, both hold assistant professor positions in neurology at Yale.
Kocsis and Waxman point out that more studies will be needed to confirm the results of this unblinded preliminary trial. They also point out that it could take years. Despite the challenges, they remain optimistic.
“Similar results with stem cells in stroke patients increase our confidence that this approach can be clinically useful, ”noted Kocsis. “This clinical study is the culmination of extensive preclinical laboratory work using MSCs between colleagues at Yale and Sapporo over many years.”
“The idea that we may be able to restore function after injury to the brain and spinal cord using the patient’s own stem cells has intrigued us for years, ”said Waxman. “Now we have a clue, in humans, that it may be possible.”
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