The safe delivery of injection of spinal cord stem cells into the spines of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients may provide treatment implications for the disease, according to results from an early-stage clinical trial. The trial’s findings were published online in the peer-reviewed journal Stem Cells. 

According to a recent news release, the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich, Emory University, headquartered in Atlanta, Ga, and the study’s sponsor Rockville, Md-based biotech company NeuralStem reported the trial’s results. The trial began January 2010. The study reports that the first 12 patients received neural stem cell transplants in the lumbar region of the spinal cord. The results indicate that none of the patients experienced any long-term complications related to either the surgical procedure or the implantation of cells. Researchers add that patients also did not exhibit any signs of rejecting the cells and in the following months, none of the patients showed evidence of disease acceleration.

Researchers say that following a safety review of the data from these patients, the FDA granted approval for the trial to advance to the final two groups of patients who would be transplanted in the cervical region of the spinal cord.

U-M Medical School ALS Eva Feldman, (pictured above, right) MD, PhD, reportedly served as the trial’s principal investigator. “This important publication reinforces our belief that we have demonstrated a safe, reproducible, and robust route of administration into the spine of these spinal cord stem cells,” Feldman says.

Source: Stem Cells