Research advance for prem babies

A WORLD-FIRST treatment using cells from a human placenta to protect and repair the damaged lungs of premature babies has been successfully trialled in humans, raising hopes for the first effective treatment for our smallest and most vulnerable patients.

In the first in-human trial – the result of 10 years of research and $10 million in investment – six extremely premature babies with chronic lung disease received the cell therapy at Victoria’s Monash Children’s Hospital, jumping one of the first hurdles of medical research, proving the treatment is safe.

With results from the landmark trial published today, the next stage starts this month to test if the treatment actually works to normalise the growth of underdeveloped lungs.

Researchers from the Hudson Institute of Medical Research and Monash University say they are hopeful these placental cells can reduce the need for ventilation, the lifelong respiratory problems premature babies suffer, and associated brain-related injuries such cerebral palsy.

Co-lead author and neonatologist Atul Malhotra said the very ventilation technology that was keeping smaller and younger babies alive, was stopping the development of their immature lungs, born not yet ready for this world.

“The premature babies we worry about make up 2 per cent of all babies born – those born under 32 weeks and weighing less than 1.5kg – because more than half have this incurable significant lung disease called bronchopulmonary dysplasia,” Dr Malhotra said.

“We think if we fix their breathing problems, their brain outcomes will be better, too.”

Hudson Institute stem cell researcher and co-lead author Rebecca Lim said their previous research testing these amnion epithelial cells — extracted from the amnion sac within the placenta — in multiple types of animals, showed they could fully repair damaged lungs by kickstarting the lung’s own repair process.