Stem cell therapy for spinal cord injury

First stem cell therapy tested for spinal cord injury.

Stem cells as the basis of the medicine of tomorrow. Scientists have long been saying that the use of stem cells could offer completely new therapeutic options for many existing diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or cardiovascular diseases. So far, however, few approaches to a viable therapy have been developed. However, as part of a Phase I study, American doctors have now for the first time tested the treatment of a partially paralyzed embryonic stem cell patient. The success remains to be seen.

Physicians see great potential in embryonic stem cells
On stem cells rests for a long time a huge pressure of expectations of the doctors. A distinction must be made between embryonic and adult stem cells. In general, stem cells can differentiate into different cell types or tissues, with embryonic stem cells having the potential to differentiate into any tissue and adult stem cells to be able to replicate only certain specified tissue types. Thus, the hope of the medical profession is based primarily on the embryonic stem cells, with whose use they can imagine the treatment of numerous diseases. However, the use of embryonic stem cells has been highly controversial due to ethical concerns. Embryonic stem cells are mainly derived from human embryos left over from artificial insemination. Critics see a disregard for human life, as they believe that this already begins with the fertilization of the egg.

Paraplegic patient treated with stem cells
Now, for the first time, an officially approved treatment with embryonic stem cells has taken place. The patient had a spinal cord injury and was then partially paralyzed. In a clinic in Atlanta (US state of Georgia), embryonic stem cells were then injected according to the reporting of the „Washington Post. "The initiator of the study is Geron, a California biotechnology company from Menlo Park, which received the world's first human embryo stem cell (TM) approval from the US Food and Drug Administration in January 2009. The company had 21,000 pages As part of the so-called Phase I study, the safety and tolerability of stem cell therapy will first be reviewed, and patients will have to volunteer to participate in the Geron trial, with only patients with paraplegia for treatment in which the spinal cord injury is still fresh, up to 14 days after the injury, they should be injected within the framework of the so-called GRNOPC1 therapy, the cells derived from embryonic stem cells, which in theory means the injured Nerve cells are repaired and the patients regain their feeling and mobility. In addition to the clinic in Atlanta, six other US treatment centers are involved in the selection of patients.

The biggest risk of using embryonic stem cells is cancer
According to the experts, the greatest risk in the context of treatment could be the development of cancer, because whether the cells develop as desired or grow unchecked is by no means guaranteed. For example, the spokeswoman for the biotechnology company Geron has not commented on the outcome of the current test in the Shepherd Center. Despite all doubt, stem cell research in America is currently in an optimistic mood. While under George W. Bush in 2001, the state funding of stem cell research was limited to the then existing 21 stem cell lines, the current US President Barack Obama has now repealed this regulation. In addition, the use of new stem cell lines derived from embryos that would have been destroyed after a fertility treatment in clinics is now also allowed. (fp, 12.10.2010)