Stem cells have eased the consequences of stroke

Injection of stem cells into the brain put the paralyzed on their feet

Roman Fishman, N+1

After an experimental procedure to inject stem cells into the brain, stroke-paralyzed patients showed noticeable improvements in speech and mobility. Some of them were even able to walk again. A report on the new work of American physicians was published by the journal Stroke (Steinberg et al., Clinical Outcomes of Transplanted Modified Bone Marrow–Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Stroke: A Phase 1/2a Study).

The new procedure was tested by Stanford University researcher Gary Steinberg and his colleagues at the startup SanBio on 18 patients aged 33 to 75 years who had a stroke from six months to three years ago. The condition of all remained stable for a long time, but showed no signs of improvement. The authors evaluated it using four tests, including the European Stroke Scale (ESS, average score 58.44) and the Fugl-Meyer Motor Scale (FMSS, average score 30.44).

For treatment, the scientists used pluripotent mesenchymal stem cells from the bone marrow of donors, into which a plasmid carrying the Notch-1 receptor protein gene (SB623 cells) was introduced. It is believed that this protein is involved in the differentiation of neuroglial tissues.

SB623 cells were injected into patients in the areas of the motor cortex damaged by stroke. The first group received a "dose" of about 2.5 million cells, the second – 5 million, the third – 10 million. The intervention was performed by a minimally invasive stereotactic method, according to the spatial scheme of the operated area previously established by tomography.

A few months after the procedure, the authors re-evaluated the motor functions of the patients, noting an overall improvement. Thus, the average ESS indicator increased by 6.50 points in six months, and by 6.88 points in a year. Over the same 12 months, FMSS results rose by 11.40 points. "A 71-year–old woman who could only move her left thumb before treatment can now walk and raise her arm above her head," comments Gary Steinberg. "We thought that the affected neural networks were dead. Now it's worth rethinking."

The overall effectiveness of experimental therapy seems certain, but the mechanism of its action remains unclear. Experiments on rats are known, which have shown that with such an injection, SB623 cells disappear from them after about a month, but secrete growth factors that stimulate the growth of new vessels and the formation of connections between neurons.

Steinberg and his co-authors were not the first to test experimental therapy on stroke survivors. In particular, such work is actively conducted by the British company ReNeuron. In 2014, Polish doctors reported on the successful rehabilitation of a patient with a damaged spine using a very similar procedure: to restore connections between spinal cord neurons, cells multiplied in the laboratory, taken from his olfactory bulb, were transplanted to him.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  03.06.2016