Japanese researchers to trial stem cell therapy in four patients with serious spinal injuries

pharmafile | February 19, 2019 | News story | Manufacturing and Production Japan, Keio University, Parkinson's, cell therapy, iPS 

The Japanese health ministry has approved a study testing the use of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells to treat four patients with serious spinal cord injuries, according to researchers at Keio University.

The “unprecedented, world-first clinical trial” is scheduled to begin later this year. The study will enrol four adults who have lost all motor and sensory function as a result of sports or traffic incidents.

The initial four patients will have suffered their injuries within 14 and 28 days of enrolment.  

Advertisement

The team hope to develop cells that can grow into nerves from iPS cells stored at Kyoto Univeristy’s Center for iPS Research and Application. Investigators will inject two million iPS cells into the participant’s injured areas. The patients will then be rehabilitated with the aim of helping them regain motor control of their limbs.

A team of researchers at Keio University led by Hideyuki Okano have already been successful in restoring motor function in a paralysed monkey, using the same approach.

The therapy has also shown promise in primates with a Parkinson’s-like disease through which the Keio University researchers restored nerve cells in 2017. The treatment was tried in a human patient with Parkinson’s disease in November last year.     

Louis Goss

Related Content

Major breakthrough in T-cell receptor therapy manufacturing

For the first time, researchers at the University of Chicago in the US have successfully …

eye1

Eyestem secures $10m to advance cell therapy for advanced eye disease

Indian cell therapy company, Eyestem Research, has raised $10m in a funding round to support …

handshake-1910702_960_720

Sartorius Stedim Biotech partners with Nanotein Technologies to develop cell therapy manufacturing

Sartorius Stedim Biotech has partnered with Nanotein Technologies to expand access to immune cell activation …

The Gateway to Local Adoption Series

Latest content