Stem cell research shows promise for Traumatic Brain Injury on several fronts
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a leading cause of trauma death in the nation and largely falls underneath the radar with respect to cause of death as does trauma in general. Even though the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have helped shed even more light on the problem, there still is little discussion or news on the matter, even though war, and in particular these wars have brought many advances in the treatment of trauma. The sad thing is trauma research barely exists as trauma continues to be the least funded in terms of research of all the major diseases.
In terms of TBI, there is some good news on the research front however. There are several Universities and private biomed firms that are doing extensive stem cell research in this arena.
While all research is still in the clinical phase, there have been great strides made in understanding brain injury, how the brain becomes its own worst enemy after injury and what can be done through stem cells to prevent the brain from damaging itself after injury.
Currently most post-injury treatment focuses on relieving pressure on the brain at the earliest possible stage after the injury. This is preventative in terms of keeping the brain from further damaging itself. There are hypothermic treatments being looked at where they bring core body temperatures down significantly to slow the body to the point that it is unable to cause further damage to the brain through swelling, but that therapy is still in the testing phase.
Researches are finding an amazing resilience in the brain’s own ability to regenerate neural tissues, enter the many stem cell research efforts
At the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, in collaboration with the Memorial Hermann Children’s Hospital, researchers are designing a clinical trial for the treatment of children suffering from TBI. The children will be treated with stem cells derived from their own bone marrow, which offers a promising form of treatment. According to Dr. Charles Cox, professor of pediatric surgery and trauma.
TBI is the main cause of death and disability among children, as studies have shown that 15 to 25% of all children who suffer severe TBI die, and survivors of even moderate TBI often suffer lifelong disability. Approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the university’s Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects, the clinical trial is an extension of previous laboratory and animal research which has indicated that bone-marrow-derived stem cells automatically migrate to an injured area of the brain where they differentiate into new neurons and supporting cells that induce the repair and regeneration of damaged tissue. According to Dr. James Baumgartner, associate professor of pediatric neurosurgery and co-principal investigator of the trial.
In the first phase of the clinical trial, bone marrow will be taken from each child’s hip, used to process 2 types of stem cells (mesenchymal and hematopoietic) the former help to form neutrons, the latter are necessary for the formation of blood.
In a separate study conducted by Dr. McIntosh, in collaboration with researchers in Sweden and Spain, animal models revealed new information about the role of the enzyme known as “nerve growth factor” (NGF) in the regeneration of neural tissue. Dr. McIntosh used two different types of cultures of the same progenitor cells, one of which had not been altered (known as “naive” cells), while the other had been transfected with a gene to produce NGF. Although both types of cells demonstrated a strong capacity for regenerating brain tissue and function, those cells that had been transfected to produced the NGF were also found to protect against further damage throughout the brain. Such findings would seem to indicate that NGF induces brain cells to produce more antioxidant enzymes which scavenge the free radicals that are involved in triggering apoptosis, which causes much of the secondary damage that results from TBI in the days and weeks following the injury.
The University of Pennsylvania houses the nation’s first hospital (built in 1751), the first medical school (established in 1765), and the first university teaching hospital (1874). Now scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine are leading the field of neural stem cell research in the treatment of TBI. Led by Dr. Tracy McIntosh, professor of neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania, researchers have demonstrated in animal models that neural stem cells which are cultured in the laboratory and then transplanted into injured brains will proliferate and improve brain function. According to Dr. McIntosh,
“Transplantation of neural stem cells in mice three days after brain injury promotes the improvement of specific components of motor function. More importantly, these stem cells respond to signals and create replacement cells: both neurons, which transmit nerve signals, and glial cells, which serve many essential supportive roles in the nervous system.”
Neural stem cells require signals from the nervous system to trigger their differentiation into neural tissue. Dr. McIntosh and his colleagues used cells that were cloned from mouse progenitor cells and grown in culture. As Dr. McIntosh explains,
“If you put these cells into normal newborn mice, they would behave exactly like normal cells. They create different neural cell types and they don’t reproduce tumorigenically. In humans, the use of similar neural stem cells would avoid the ethical dilemmas posed by fetal stem cells and the limitations seen in cultures of cloned neurons.”
The transplantation of autologous neural stem cells offers an effective therapeutic intervention in the treatment of several central nervous system diseases such as Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases, as well as ischemic brain injury and spinal cord injury. The research was performed in collaboration with Harvard Medical School and the University of Cologne in Germany. The findings were published in the journal Neurosurgery.
At the University of Minnesota Medical School, researchers have discovered a new population of primitive stem cells in human umbilical cord blood, which is already known to contain a rich supply of the hematopoietic stem cells that differentiate into blood cells. The newly discovered primitive stem cells, however, show properties of greater pluripotency and were successful in improving neurological function after traumatic injury in animal models. Not only did the stem cells regenerate damaged neurons, but they also induced the reorganization of the neurons, thereby contributing to the restoration of function. According to Dr. Walter Low, professor of neurosurgery at the Stem Cell Institute at the University of Minnesota,
“We are excited by this discovery because it provides additional insight into how stem cells can restore function in the brain after injury.”
Findings were published in the journal Stem Cells and Development.
There are other studies in place as well that are showing promise. The good news is that we are largely moving past the problems and the debate of fetal stem cells, which can only speed development.
TBI Injury Prevention
For children and adults alike, the biggest thing you can do to prevent brain injury is to always wear a helmet when biking, roller blading, skate boarding, any activity that requires human power and wheels, helmets should always be warn. Helmets should also always be worn as well. There is an important distinction between the two. Bike helmets are engineered differently and you should never wear a bike helmet on a motorcycle or a motorcycle helmet on a bike or other human powered wheeled devices.
This is one safety item you do not want to just grab off ebay or amazon. You need first to engage the sales person on the quality of the helmet and you must check it carefully for fit and make sure there are no comfort issues with the strap. Helmets left unstrapped might help a little with sun exposure, but they are of no use in preventing injury, so always wear the strap.
Educate your children on the importance of always wearing helmets and make sure they understand that the chin strap must always be secured properly. Work with them in putting on their helmets until they fully understand how to secure the chin strap and how very important it is to always do so, and always leave it secured.
The second thing you can do is to buy a car with a good side airbag system. Studies show that side impact collisions are one of the leading cause of traumatic brain injury in motor vehicle crashes. The other major cause of TBI injury is being ejected from a vehicle in a crash—ALWAYS wear your seat belts!
Dr. McIntosh is presently serving a 3.5-year sentence in a Pennsylvania prison for doping and sexually assaulting the niece of his college roommate.
Thanks for the background check! It’s not our job to do that but it’s interesting info to say the least. My hope is that it won’t slow the research, that’s what this article is about afterall
I hope so too. Any research or study can really help us in the future.