Fourth Paralyzed Patient Enters Geron Stem Cell Study

A spinal cord injury patient from California recently became the fourth participant in Menlo Park’s Geron Corp’s landmark, first-ever embryonic stem cell study on humans. Stanford doctors gave the unidentified patient an injection of 2 million stem cells at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. The patient, who is the first from California to participate in the clinical trial, has since been moved to the medical center’s rehabilitation center.

Geron plans to enroll at least 10 spinal cord injury patients into the study, with the first one already enrolled in October 2010 (see our previous blog post: “First FDA Approved Human Stem Cell Trial Begins in Atlanta“). The first three patients were reportedly doing well and so far experienced no side effects, according to Geron. Currently, the trial only targets patients with spinal cord injuries that cause paralysis below the waist. Geron hopes to eventually expand the trial to include a broader group of patients with spinal cord injuries and increase the dosage of stem cells used.

Stanford neurosurgeon Dr. Gary Steinberg, who injected the stem cells into the California patient, insists that they are not suggesting stem cells as a cure for paralysis. The study’s objective is to determine if embryonic stem cell research on humans is safe. Patients will be closely observed for side effects, tumors resulting from stem cell replication, or any adverse immune reactions.

Geron also insisted that the study is not an attempt to prove whether stem cells can cure or even improve the patients’ condition, but to establish if the treatment is safe and to see what happens when stem cells are introduced in the human body. This study is viewed as a significant step in stem cell research, and scientists worldwide are eagerly awaiting the results.

The use of embryonic stem cells have been controversial in the U.S. because they are derived from human embryos. Doctors and researchers view embryonic stem cells as a critical medical tool, however, because the cells have the ability to turn into any type of cell in the human body. Clinical trials in rats showed improved motor function when the rats were given stem cells, the effect of stem cells in humans remains to be seen–until now. The world will be watching.

To understand more of the background of the Geron study, watch this video of neuroscientist Hans Keirstead discussing the embryonic stem cell testing results on neck-injured rats that lead to Geron’s current human clinical trials:

Followup on our previous blog:
First FDA Approved Human Stem Cell Trial Begins in Atlanta

Source(s):

http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-09-21/news/30182748_1_geron-trial-cells-regenerative-medicine