A Japanese man who was paralyzed after a spinal cord injury has been able to walk again thanks to a stem cell transplant he received as part of a clinical trial a few years ago. The treatment involved using cells from another person, which were transformed into stem cells and implanted into the site of the injury to regenerate nerve tissue. The man's condition improved from being unable to feel anything below the injury site to being able to stand on his own and relearn to walk, a step toward full mobility. About the trial results told in Nature.
Japanese scientists began testing the technology of transplanting stem cells from donors back in 2021, when the first paralyzed patient received them. Three more operations were performed in 2022-2023 within 2-4 weeks after the patients suffered spinal cord injuries. All patients were male and had the highest degree of spinal cord injury, when they could not feel anything below the level of injury.
Although the clinical trial was only designed to test the safety of the therapy, one patient was able to stand on his own, and another began to feel and move his leg muscles. Two other patients have not yet experienced improvement after the therapy, but all four had no serious side effects related to the treatment. This is despite the fact that they all received drugs to suppress the immune response for six months after surgery.
However, some researchers believe that the mobility of the two patients was restored independently of the use of stem cells, through natural regenerative processes. To refute this and confirm the effectiveness of the therapy, Japanese scientists plan to conduct the next stage of clinical trials involving a larger number of patients.
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