Results of a cellular therapy clinical trial for traumatic brain injury (TBI) using a patient’s own stem cells showed that the therapy appears to dampen the body’s neuroinflammatory response to trauma and preserve brain tissue, according to researchers at UTHealth.
The results, which also confirmed safety and feasibility as cited in earlier studies, were published online in the journal STEM CELLS.
“The data derived from this trial moves beyond just testing safety of this approach,” said Charles S. Cox, Jr., M.D., principal investigator, the George and Cynthia Mitchell Distinguished Chair in Neurosciences at UTHealth, professor in the Department of Pediatric Surgery and co-director of the Memorial Hermann Red Duke Trauma Institute. “We now have a hint of a treatment effect that mirrors our pre-clinical work, and we are now pursuing this approach in a Phase 2b clinical trial sponsored by the Joint Warfighter Program within the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity, as well as our ongoing Phase 2b pediatric severe TBI clinical trial – both using the same autologous cell therapy.” Read full article