Clinical Trial Finds Evidence that Transplanted Neural Stem Cells Produce Myelin

A Phase I clinical trial led by investigators from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and sponsored by Stem Cells Inc. has shown that neural stem cells can be successfully engrafted in the brains of patients and appear to produce myelin. The study, which appears in the Oct. 10, 2012, issue of Science Translational Medicine, also demonstrated that the neural stem cells were safe in the patients’ brains one year post-transplant.

The results of the investigation, which was designed to test safety and preliminary efficacy, are encouraging, reports principal investigator David H. Rowitch, MD, PhD, a professor of pediatrics and neurological surgery at UCSF, chief of neonatology at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. For more information, click here to read the full release.