First embryonic stem cells to be used in US trials to treat spinal injuries

EMBRYONIC stem cells are to be used in a clinical trial in the US for the first time to treat spinal injuries.

Ten paraplegic patients who are unable to walk will receive a single injection of therapeutic cells in their spinal cords.

The “progenitor” cells were grown in the laboratory from stem cells taken from human embryos.

Scientists hope to see signs of physical improvement such as returning muscular control or sensation. Unlike adult stem cells, human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) have the potential to develop into any kind of body tissue, from bone to brain.

However, ESC treatments are controversial because they involve cannibalising and destroying human embryos.

Former US president George W Bush placed restrictions on state-funded embryonic stem cell research. Many of these are likely to be swept away under the Barack Obama administration.

However, Obama’s arrival in the White House had nothing to do with the research announced yesterday by Californian biotech company Geron Corporation. The company said the project involved stem cells that were eligible for federal funding under Bush.

Patients at several centres will be injected with GRNOPC1, a Geron-patented product containing embryonic stem cell-derived progenitor cells that have already been shown to repair nerves in animals with spinal damage.

The cells are essentially embryonic stem cells that have been coaxed in the laboratory to start developing in a chosen direction. Once injected into the spinal cords of patients, it is hoped they will mature on their own and begin to generate myelin, the essential “insulation” that wraps around nerve fibres.

They are also expected to release chemicals that stimulate nerve growth.

Dr Thomas B Okarma, Geron’s president and chief executive, said yesterday: “This marks the beginning of what is potentially a new chapter in medical therapeutics — one that reaches beyond pills to a new level of healing: the restoration of organ and tissue function achieved by the injection of healthy replacement cells.”