Stem Cells Help Bridge Nerve Gap

A research team in Milan, Italy has used skin-derived stem cells (SDSCs) along with a collagen tube designed to successfully bridge gaps in injured nerves in rat models to rescue the peripheral nerves in the upper arms of a patient who, otherwise, would have had to undergo amputations. The researchers have followed up on the patient for three years using, among other tests, electrophysiological and MRI examinations.

“Our three-year follow up has witnessed nerve regeneration with suitable functional recovery in the patient and the salvage of upper arms from amputation, ” wrote the researchers. “This finding opens an alternative avenue for patients who are at-risk of amputation after the injury to important nerves.” The study will be published in a future issue of Cell Transplantation.

Yvan Torrente, M.D., of the Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation at the University of Milan, acknowledged that peripheral nerve repair with satisfactory functional recovery is a great surgical challenge, especially for severe nerve injuries. “However, ” he said, “we hypothesized that the combination of autologous (self-donated) SDSCs placed in collagen tubes to bridge gaps in the damaged nerves would restore the continuity of injured nerves and save from amputation the upper arms of a patient with poly-injury to motor and sensory nerves.”

According to the researchers, autologous SDSCs have advantages over other stem cells as they are an accessible source of stem cells that are rapidly expandable in culture and are capable of survival and integration within host tissues.

The technique of using the collagen tubes had been previously tested saving the damaged sciatic nerves on rats, but this is the first trial to have been carried out on a human patient.

Camillo Ricordi, M.D., co-editor-in-chief of Cell Transplantation, said, ” This single case study provides the first step towards a proof-of-principle for a new treatment for peripheral nerve injury” Stacy Joy Goodman, Professor of Surgery and Director of the Cell Transplant Center at the University of Miami, pointed out that “Further studies will be necessary to determine whether the work in this report could be validated, introducing a novel therapeutic strategy for peripheral nerve injury”.