Surgeons Inject Stem Cells in ALS Trial

Surgeons at Emory University, Atlanta, have implanted stem cells from the brain and spinal cord of aborted fetuses into the spinal cord of a patient with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Researchers hope the injections will slow the progress of the disease and release growth factors that will prevent the motor neurons from dying. The injected cells are produced by Neuralstem, Inc. which harvests the cells from a fetus of a particular gestational stage. This allows the cells to divide and also turn into a specific type of cell, such as spinal cord cells.

“We have found that the procedure is extremely safe, ” said Eva Feldman, a neurologist at the University of Michigan and the lead investigator of the trial. “In a subset of patients, we seem to see that the disease is no longer progressing.” Another ALS and stem cell trial is underway at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. In this trial the stem cells are the patient’s own, taken from fat tissue. Both the Emory trial and the Mayo Clinic trial are focused on safety.

“When you have a disease like ALS, where the average survival is two to three years after diagnosis, and it is uniformly fatal, investigators and the FDA think it’s ethical to try these more desperate approaches that carry potentially higher risk, ” said Anthony Windebank, the neurologist who is heading the Mayo Clinic trial.