A press release from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School. Whom is going to do the same testing for stroke and then in humans?
http://www.uthouston.edu/media/story.htm?id=1aa60db0-e4b5-4b5c-a450-db6fb8ffda04
A stem cell therapy previously shown to reduce inflammation in the
critical time window after traumatic brain injury also promotes lasting
cognitive improvement, according to preclinical research led by Charles
Cox, M.D., at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
(UTHealth) Medical School.
The research was published in today’s issue of STEM CELLS Translational Medicine.
Cellular damage in the brain after
traumatic injury can cause severe, ongoing neurological impairment and
inflammation. Few pharmaceutical options exist to treat the problem.
About half of patients with severe head injuries need surgery to remove
or repair ruptured blood vessels or bruised brain tissue.
A stem cell treatment known as
multipotent adult progenitor cell (MAPC) therapy has been found to
reduce inflammation in mice immediately after traumatic brain injury,
but no one had been able to gauge its usefulness over time.
The research team led by Cox, the
Children’s Fund, Inc. Distinguished Professor of Pediatric Surgery at
the UTHealth Medical School, injected two groups of brain-injured mice
with MAPCs two hours after the mice were injured and again 24 hours
later. One group received a dose of 2 million cells per kilogram and the
other a dose five times stronger.
After four months, the mice receiving
the stronger dose not only continued to have less inflammation—they also
made significant gains in cognitive function. A laboratory examination
of the rodents’ brains confirmed that those receiving the higher dose of
MAPCs had better brain function than those receiving the lower dose.
“Based on our data, we saw improved
spatial learning, improved motor deficits and fewer active antibodies in
the mice that were given the stronger concentration of MAPCs,” Cox
said.
The study indicates that intravenous
injection of MAPCs may in the future become a viable treatment for
people with traumatic brain injury, he said.
Cox, who directs the Pediatric
Surgical Translational Laboratories and Pediatric Program in
Regenerative Medicine at UTHealth, is a leader in the field of
autologous and blood cord stem cells for traumatic brain injury in
children and adults. Results from a Phase I study were published in a
March 2011 issue of Neurosurgery, the journal of the Congress of
Neurological Surgeons. Cox also directs the Pediatric Trauma Program at
Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital.
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