Nerve cells obtained from induced pluripotent stem cells have the ability to reverse paralysis.Credit: Ikelos GMBH/Dr. Christopher B. Jackson/SPL
A paralyzed person may stand on his own after receiving an injection of nerve stem cells to treat his spinal cord injury. The Japanese man was one of the four individuals in the first testing, who used Reprogramd Stem Cells to treat those who are fully paralyzed.
Another person can now carry his hands and feet after treatment, but two other people did not show enough improvement. The test was conducted by a Stem-cell scientist at KO University, Tokyo, and his colleagues.
Researchers say that the results, which were declared at a press conference on March 21 and have not yet reviewed the colleague, suggest that treatment is safe.
“This is a great positive result. It is very exciting for the region,” says James St. John, a translational neurocystist at Griffith University in Gold Coast, Australia.
Previous tests using other types of stem cells have also demonstrated that therapy is safe, but mixed results have been shown so far. St. John says, “Nothing really is working.”
It would require large trials to install whether the current study had the results of improvement treatment in two individuals. It is possible that patients experienced a natural recovery, saying St. John.
In 2019, around 0.9 million people experienced a spinal cord injury globally, and some 20 million people were living with condition.1,
Recurrence cells
Reprogrammed or induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells are made by converting adult cells into a fetal -like position, from which they can be co -coached to develop in other cell types.
In this test, IPS cells obtained from a donor were used to create nerve precursions cells. Two million of these were injected into the injury site of each patient, in the hope that they would eventually develop into neurons and glial cells.
The first trial surgery was performed in December 2021; The other three were held between 2022 and 2023. All four recipients were adult men and two were 60 or older. Ocono says that two to four weeks after the loss, everyone underwent surgery. The recipients were given immune-drugs to prevent cells from attacking for six months after surgery.
The results are the latest in a range of small human tests, which test the ability of IPS cells to revive tissue and treat the disease.
Learn to walk
In a one -year follow -up, researchers did not inspect any serious adverse effects.
All individuals began testing with the highest injury classification of A, as measured by the American Spinal Injury Association Impression Scale (AIS). People with loss of this level have no sensory or motor function below the point of injury. Two of the participants did not show their ability to feel or move at the lowest part of their spinal cord. A person moved to the classification of C in the period after surgery, and could move some of his hands and leg muscles, but cannot stand on its own. Another person improved a level D (normal function is classified as E) and may stand independently. “That person is now training to walk,” says Okano. “This is a dramatic recovery.”
Initial analysis of data suggests that the treatment works, says Okano.
