Читать книгу The SAGE Encyclopedia of Stem Cell Research - Группа авторов - Страница 441

In the past, it was thought that stem cells would regenerate into new neurons, the cells in the brain, but it is now becoming quite clear that especially stem cells that are from the bone marrow play more of a nursing function in that they stimulate the body’s own mechanisms of repair and enhance them and make them work harder to get the repair done much better than if the stem cells were not present. They act like small factories, secreting a number of substances that stimulate the brain surrounding the injured environment and help with recovery. The first two stroke patients had been enrolled in a phase 2 clinical trial of a revolutionary new treatment for ischemic stroke being conducted at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital in 2013.

The trial, using a patient’s own bone marrow stem cells, was the first intra-arterial stroke stem cell trial in the United States. The trial examined the efficacy of ALD-401, derived from bone marrow, to repair and regenerate tissue following an ischemic event. The time window for giving the stem cells is about two weeks after the stroke. With intra-arterial delivery, the cells are delivered directly to the brain via the carotid artery, avoiding their becoming trapped in the lungs and liver, which occurs when stem cells have been administered intravenously. In the next couple of days after the procedure, the artery opened up by itself.

There is a limitation to treatments that open up arteries—they have to be done extremely urgently and even after they are done extremely urgently, only about 40 percent of the patients really recover significant brain function. Therefore, there is need for new therapies like stem cells to help the injured brain to recover. This trial will lead to the next study, in which approval can be sought for this kind of therapy; such approval would allow all doctors, not only in the United States but around the world, to use this therapy.