For the first time... Successful transplantation of human stem cells in the spinal cord in Japan

A Japanese university announced Friday that it has succeeded in transplanting human stem cells into a patient to treat acute spinal cord injury, the first time in the world that this regenerative technology has been applied to this paralyzing disease.

The patient received induced pluripotent stem (iPS) neurons and progenitor cells.

IPS cells are taken from adult cells, and genetically reprogrammed to multiply in any type of cell, depending on where in the body they are transplanted.

This technique won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2012 and was awarded to Japanese researcher Shinya Yamanaka.

And researchers at Keio University last month in Tokyo transplanted two million of these cells to the first patient, after clinical trials were conducted on small animals to verify that this amount did not affect safety.

The university clarified in its statement that "the primary objective of this clinical study is to confirm the safety" of using this method of treatment, even if it could be therapeutically effective.

A secondary goal is to check whether this method eventually leads to progress in terms of neurological function and patients' quality of life.

According to the Japanese Euronews channel, an independent panel of experts will evaluate the data from the first patient to verify whether it is possible to return around next April to the clinical trial, which will include a total of four patients.

Other clinical trials have previously been conducted on the use of this type of iPS cells on various diseases, such as Parkinson's disease and age-related macular degeneration (AMD), an eye disease.

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