Researchers in Japan to use stem cell to treat spine injuries

A team of Japanese researchers will carry out an unprecedented trial using a kind of stem cell to try to treat debilitating spinal cord injuries, the specialists said on Monday. The team at Tokyo’s Keio University has received government approval for a trial using so-called induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) cells—which have the potential to develop into any cell in the body—to treat patients with serious spinal cord injuries. The trial, expected to begin later this year, will initially focus on four patients who suffered their injuries just 14 to 28 days beforehand. The team will transplant two million iPS cells into the spines of the patients, who will then go through rehabilitation and be monitored for a year.