Cord Blood Hope for Spinal Cord Injury

Some potentially exciting news out of China for people like me who are paralyzed.

Scientists are preparing for a large clinical trial in 2008 which aims to use stem cells to help 400 patients with spinal cord injuries in Hong Kong, mainland China and Taiwan grow new cells and nerve fibers.

Stem cells from umbilical cord blood will be injected into the spinal cords of the participants, who will also be given lithium to help stimulate cell regeneration, said Wise Young, a leading neuroscientist and spinal cord injury researcher.

"What we'd like to do is study a broad range of patients, not just (those with) complete (spinal cord injuries)," said Young, professor at Rutgers' department of cellbiology and neuroscience. Rutgers is the state university in New Jersey in the U.S.

20 patients at Hong Kong University are testing the safety of lithium in a Phase I trial. Wise Young told me in the past that lithium stimulates cord blood to produce neurotrophins and growth factors that have been shown in animal studies to stimulate robust regeneration after spinal cord injury. Nobody knows whether the cord blood plus lithium trial will prove effective, but it's worth a shot.

If it doesn't work? Lithium counteracts depression, so it's not a total loss.

Scientists plan China, HK, Taiwan stem cell trial [Scientific American]