Open AccessSafety of intrathecal injection of Wharton’s jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis therapy
Author(s) -
Monika Barczewska,
Mariusz Grudniak,
Stanisław Maksymowicz,
Tomasz Siwek,
Tomasz Ołdak,
Katarzyna Jezierska-Woźniak,
Dominika Gładysz,
Wojciech Maksymowicz
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
neural regeneration research/neural regeneration research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.93
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1876-7958
pISSN - 1673-5374
DOI - 10.4103/1673-5374.243723
Subject(s) - mesenchymal stem cell , medicine , amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , neurotrophic factors , wharton's jelly , adverse effect , stem cell , stem cell therapy , neuroprotection , oncology , surgery , anesthesia , pathology , biology , receptor , disease , genetics
Animal experiments have confirmed that mesenchymal stem cells can inhibit motor neuron apoptosis and inflammatory factor expression and increase neurotrophic factor expression. Therefore, mesenchymal stem cells have been shown to exhibit prospects in the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. However, the safety of their clinical application needs to be validated. To investigate the safety of intrathecal injection of Wharton's jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis therapy, 43 patients (16 females and 27 males, mean age of 57.3 years) received an average dose of 0.42 × 10 6 cells/kg through intrathecal administration at the cervical, thoracic or lumbar region depending on the clinical symptoms. There was a 2 month interval between two injections. The adverse events occurring during a 6-month treatment period were evaluated. No adverse events occurred. Headache occurred in one case only after first injection of stem cells. This suggests that intrathecal injection of Wharton's Jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells is well tolerated in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. This study was approved by the Bioethical Committee of School of Medicine, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland (approval No. 36/2014 and approval No. 8/2016). This study was registered with the ClinicalTrials.gov (identifier: NCT02881476) on August 29, 2016.