Embryonic Stem Cells With Big Results in Rats With Neck Injuries

November 10th, 2009

We have just been informed that the first human embryonic stem cell treatment may be approved by the FDA for human testing. While the treatment was approved for testing back in January, testing in humans with cervical damage wasn’t approved because preclinical testing with rats hadn’t been completed.

Results of the cervical study currently appear online in the journal Stem Cells on the UC Irvine website. UCI scientist Hans Keirstead hopes the data will prompt the FDA to authorize clinical testing of the treatment in people with both types of spinal cord damage. About 52 percent of spinal cord injuries are cervical and 48 percent thoracic.

“People with cervical damage often have lost or impaired limb movement and bowel, bladder or sexual function, and currently there’s no effective treatment. It’s a challenging existence,” said Keirstead, a primary author of the study. “What our therapy did to injured rodents is phenomenal. If we see even a fraction of that benefit in humans, it will be nothing short of a home run.”

If you took a picture of my face with a Canon camera upon reading this you would see a nice smile . For more on this read here.