Researchers at Tokyo’s Keio University have successfully improved motor function in two out of four patients with a spinal cord injury (SCI) using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS). This groundbreaking clinical study offers new hope for treating paralysis caused by SCI, which affects over 150,000 individuals in Japan, with 5,000 new cases diagnosed annually. The Keio team implanted over two million iPS-derived neural stem cells into the patient’s spinal cords to assess the treatment’s safety. One year after the procedure, none of the four participants experienced severe adverse effects.
Notably, an elderly patient who sustained an injury in an accident can now stand without support and has begun practicing walking. A lead researcher highlighted that they achieved promising results in the world’s first iPS therapy for SCI. The team now aims to advance to clinical trials to treat more…
