When will we have enough smarts in the government to allow us to start performing stem cell research?  Real stem cells, not engineered ones.  Ones that will let us truly help our sick, our maimed, our hurt citizens?

Here’s one new example of what this can mean.  There are 7 million Americans who have had a stroke- one that left their brains and bodies severely damaged.  And, while it is possible- if we catch a stroke patient early to improve a patient’s outcome and with physical therapy for a few weeks to a few months- after that window closes, there’s not much we can do.

But after some 5 or 6 months, that window is clearly closed.  There are no real improvements for the patient after this time period.  Except…

A study of 18 patients at Stanford is providing some very exciting results.  Even though this was an early clinical trial, one aimed at demonstrating injecting stem cells into a patient’s brain is safe, the tests indicated much more than that.

These results were reported in Stroke (Clinical Outcomes of Transplanted Modified Bone Marrow–Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Stroke: A Phase 1/2a Study). Gary K. Steinberg, MD, PhD, Maria L. Coburn, BA, Jeremiah N. Johnson, MD,  and Neil E. Schwartz, MD, PhD  (all of Stanford Medical); Douglas Kondziolka, MD of NYU Langone Medical Center; Lawrence R. Wechsler, MD, L. Dade Lunsford, MD, and Julia B. Billigen, RN, BS of University of Pittsburgh Medical; Anthony S. Kim, MD of UC San Francisco; Damien Bates, MD, PhD, Casey Case, PhD, Michael McGrogan, PhD, and Ernest W. Yankee, PhD of SanBio; and Bill King, MS of Western Statistical Consulting were the team of researchers in this effort.

The researchers found that motor function was restored in some of the patients.  Read that sentence again.  It means that our concept that brain damage is permanent and irreversible is probably wrong.   It means we have to reexamine our concept for patients who have had TBI (traumatic brain injury), suffered a stroke, or even are suffering from Alzheimer’s.

These 18  patients had a stroke beneath the outermost layers of their brains, with arm and/or leg mobility significantly impaired.  Some participants suffered the trauma 3 to 5 years before joining the study.

Their skulls were drilled open and stem cells were injected in various damaged areas of the brain- while the subjects remained conscious.  (All stem cells were harvested from adult donor bone marrows.) The subjects had minimal adverse effects ranging from temporary headaches, nausea, and/or vomiting. (One patient did suffer brain fluid build-up, but after drainage, the patient fully recovered.)

The subjects were reexamined at 1, 6, and 12 months after the injections.  The examinations included brain imaging, as well as determining speech, vision, and motor ability functionality.  And, the changes were not just the ability to wiggle a thumb; for example, a 71 year old patient was able to walk and abandoned his need for a wheelchair. A 39 year old female regained her speech, is walking, got married, and is pregnant.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/video/national/health-science/how-stem-cell-treatment-can-restore-motor-function-for-stroke-patients/2016/06/03/88637f80-29b7-11e6-8329-6104954928d2_video.html

please note:  You can click on the link above and see a movie that describes the astounding results.

It should be noted that these stem cells did NOT become neurons.  That was not the modality of improvement.  Instead, the injected stem cells triggered at least one biochemical process that allowed the brain to self-repair. (It may be the adult brain was “converted” to a neonatal state, that afforded the repair to occur.  But, that is just a theory.)

But, this clearly provides a great deal of hope for stroke and TBI patients.

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