Posted by
vikingmother on Monday, May 07, 2007 4:18:52 PM
My initial title is not a joke without substance.
It is slightly incorrect, as I actually refer to the "olfactory mucosa" inside the nose---
the cells which might produce mucus (i.e. "snot" to the lay person or to the teacher or mom who has to clean it off a child) ---That is, if I, a non-scientist, understand this study correctly.
Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine Vol 29 Number 3 - 2006
Olfactory Mucosa Autografts in Human Spinal Cord Injuries - A Clinical Pilot Study You can find them online.
This small study basically was done with seven adult patients - all who had some kind of major spinal injury. They found some moderate gains in movement (and for some, even some return of bladder function). The patient's own inner nose cells were grafted into the spinal injury....the seven patients were carefully monitored over a length of time, and the study details the range of motion, etc. that returned to each patient.
They are optimistic that this procedure could be further refined to bring possibly significant improvement to other spinal injury patients. However, I quote the last paragraph of the article below with an added comment.
...I insert the implied comment in brackets because the article elsewhere specifically warns against using embryonic stem cells for this kind of treatment.
"...Although using one's own stem cells may be safer, easier, and more effective [than other techniques such as using embryonic stem cells or any stem cells not from the patient] support for such a clinical trial is difficult due to the lack of commercial product or patentable procedures that would engender biotech company support."
Is money part of what's driving the rush to use embryonic stem cells??? How sad!
How many promising small studies like this will NOT be pursued...because there isn't something to patent???