Japanese scientists use stem cells to restore movement in patients with spinal cord injuries

Stem cell treatment helped improve motor function in two out of four patients with spinal cord injury in the first clinical trial of its kind, Japanese scientists have reported.

There is currently no effective treatment for paralysis caused by severe spinal cord injuries, which affects more than 150,000 patients in Japan alone, with 5,000 new cases reported each year.

Researchers at Keio University in Tokyo are conducting their study using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS), created by stimulating mature, already specialized cells that revert to a juvenile state.

They can then be induced to maturation of different types of cells. Researchers at Keio University used iPS cells derived from neural stem cells.

The university said Friday that two patients had improved motor function after surgery that implanted more than two million iPS cells into their spinal cords.

After a year of follow-up, no serious adverse events were noted in all four patients, the university said.

The main purpose of the study was to examine the safety of cell injection.

Public broadcaster NHK reported that one of the two patients, an elderly man injured in an accident, can now stand without support and has begun practicing walking.

“We were able to achieve results in the world’s first spinal cord treatment with iPS,” said Hideyuki Okano, a professor at Keio University who is leading the study.

Okano said the team hopes to move on to clinical trials, which would be a step toward bringing the treatment to patients.

The university received government approval for the initial study in 2019, with the first surgery in 2022.

Details of the patients were not released, but the team focused on people who were injured between 14 and 28 days before surgery.

The number of cells to be implanted was determined through animal safety experiments.