In the United States, more than 11,000 children per year are diagnosed with cerebral palsy (CP), according to the United Cerebral Palsy Research and Education Foundation. These children can suffer from a variety of life-altering symptoms, including mobility and speech impairments, seizures, blindness, and in some cases, reduced intelligence. Such symptoms may be somewhat alleviated by a variety of physical and drug therapies, but until recently, repairing the underlying neural condition that caused them was still out of reach.
Now, Chinese researchers have stepped forward with a surprising treatment that has helped six children with CP to significantly improve their functional abilities. According to a team led by Lin Chen, PhD, of the Center for Neurorestoratology at the Beijing Rehabilitation Center, 85 percent of children with CP whom they examined had brain scans that showed abnormalities including white-matter damage and shrinkage, tissue loss, inadequate or delayed myelination, and glial scars. To address these problems, the team implanted in the children’s brains olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs), which normally ensheath neurons within the nose. According to Chen’s team, OEC’s possess the ability to regenerate, are relatively easy to obtain, and, when transplanted, have helped repair lesions in disorders including multiple sclerosis (MS), spinal cord injury, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The researchers implanted aborted fetal OECs into the frontal lobes of the patients at a spot known as the bilateral corona radiata¸ which they call a “key point for neural network restoration (KPNNR).”
According to corresponding author Hongyun Huang, MD, PhD, the researchers conducted a randomized, controlled clinical trial with 33 volunteers, 14 of whom completed the six-month study, with six children receiving the cell transplant and eight serving as controls. Results were measured on two scales, the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM-66) and the Caregiver Questionnaire Scale. According to the team’s report, published in the journal Cell Transplantation, volume 19, number 2, the OEC treatment group showed GMFM-66 scores of 26.67 ± 25.33, compared with 19.00 ± 20.00 for the control group. Their Caregiver Questionnaire Scale scores decreased more impressively, to 77.83 ± 15.99, compared to 138.66 ± 64.06 for the controls.
“This trial, albeit small in sample size, indicates that OEC KPNNR transplantation may be effective for functional improvement in children and adolescents with CP,” Huang said. “Our results showed that transplanting OECs into CP patients could improve the neurological function of the patients and did not cause significant side effects. The procedure may be a plausible method to treat this as yet incurable disorder.”
Cell Transplantation associate editor Cesar V. Borlongan, PhD, concluded, “In parallel with recently FDA-approved U.S. clinical trials of cell therapy for adult stroke and cerebral palsy, this clinical study in China advances the use of stem cells for treating brain disorders, but a very careful assessment of this experimental treatment needs to be exercised in order to gauge its safety and efficacy.”
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