http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25541-first-stem-cell-trial-for-stroke-shows-lasting-benefits.html#.U21tc1dvB0o
People who received the world's first stem cell treatment for strokes have shown measurable reductions in disability and handicap a year after the injection into their damaged brains.
Some can move limbs and manage everyday
tasks that were impossible before they received an injection of neural
progenitor stem cells, which were clones of cells originally taken from
the cortex of a donated fetus.
Apart from physical rehabilitation, there
are few treatments for people left severely disabled by a stroke. Demand
for more options is high, with 800,000 new cases each year in the US
and 150,000 in the UK.
"We're encouraged, and it's a nice
progressive piece of news," says Michael Hunt, the chief executive
officer of ReNeuron, the company in Guildford, UK, that developed the
treatment. "We must be circumspect, but we are seeing what seems to be a
general trend towards improvement in a disparate group of patients," he
says.
ReNeuron presented its latest results on
the first 11 patients on 7 May in Nice, France, at the 23rd European
Stroke Conference. They build on interim findings released last year.
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