Brainstorm Coming

Some more very good news for PALS in the USA: Brainstorm is bringing it's stem cell clinical trial to the US! This technology, named NurOwn, uses a patient's own mesenchymal stem cells to produce little factories for neurotrophic factors (proteins that nourish and strengthen neurons). This would provide a constant and lifetime production of support for the neighboring neurons, a much more effective approach than drugs which are only present for a short time or may be reduced or blocked by the Blood-Brain-Barrier. Note that this is not a replacement therapy, but rather one to help feed and protect existing neurons. You can read about the trial protocol here. For recently diagnosed patients they will inject into muscles to try to take advantage of axonal uptake in the hope that this will preserve the axon and its attachment to the muscle (neuromuscular junction). Patients in later stages of disease will have an injection into the spine to treat the neurons' cell bodies directly.