\n<\/p>\n
Giving stem cells to unborn babies diagnosed with spina bifida while they have in utero surgery could be \u201ca major milestone\u201d in the treatment of birth defects, doctors say.<\/p>\n
A trial in the US found that applying stem cells from the mother\u2019s placenta to her baby\u2019s spine while it was being repaired was safe and improved the child\u2019s mobility and quality of life.<\/p>\n
Dr Diana Farmer, who led the study, said it was \u201cconceivable\u201d that the experimental therapy could become the usual way that spina bifida is treated before babies are born.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it makes more children able to walk who wouldn\u2019t have then it would become their standard of care,\u201d she said. \u201cThe results are super exciting and pave the way for lots of potential new treatments for spina bifida and other birth defects.\u201d<\/p>\n
The trial, reported in the Lancet on Friday, took place in 2021 and 2022 and involved six unborn babies with myelomeningocele, the \u201copen\u201d \u2013 more serious \u2013 form of spina bifida.<\/p>\n
Surgeons at the Davis school of medicine at the University of California applied placenta-derived mesenchymal stem cells on to the exposed spinal cord of the babies, who were at 24 to 25 weeks of gestation at the time.<\/p>\n
MRI scans after their birth confirmed that hindbrain herniation \u2013 brain abnormalities associated with spina bifida, in which the lower part of the brain slips into the neck area \u2013 was reversed in all six.<\/p>\n
The stem cells did not cause tumours, interfere with the wound healing or prevent hindbrain herniation being reversed \u2013 all side-effects the researchers were aware could occur.<\/p>\n
Kate Steele, the chief executive of the charity Shine, said the results were \u201cvery exciting\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe advances in stem cell science that have enabled this first-in-human trial to be possible are remarkable and we are delighted \u2026 that the safety of the procedure has been demonstrated,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving seen the difference foetal surgical repair is already making to the lives of children with myelomeningocele, and knowing that adding stem cell therapy to these established surgery techniques might one day improve outcomes for babies born with spina bifida, is very encouraging and very exciting.<\/p>\n
\u201cImprovements in bladder and bowel function will be particularly welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lancet published a linked comment piece about the findings by Dr Magdalena Sanz Cortes, a foetal medicine expert in Texas who was not involved in the trial.<\/p>\n
If further studies confirmed its apparent benefits then \u201csuch results would herald a new era in foetal surgery and potentially lead the way to improving and reversing the neurological damage seen in utero in spina bifida\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n
Between 8,100 and 11,900 people in England and Wales are believed to live with open spina bifida. Shine said that an estimated 536 pregnancies a year involve the condition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Giving stem cells to unborn babies diagnosed with spina bifida while they have in utero surgery could be \u201ca major milestone\u201d in the treatment of birth defects, doctors say. A trial in the US found that applying stem cells from the mother\u2019s placenta to her baby\u2019s spine while it was being repaired was safe and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[733,23387,5747,10185,189,1718,337,3140,7180,3141,23386,2857,2131,23385],"class_list":{"0":"post-45397","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-babies","9":"tag-bifida","10":"tag-boosts","11":"tag-cells","12":"tag-finds","13":"tag-giving","14":"tag-life","15":"tag-medical","16":"tag-quality","17":"tag-research","18":"tag-spina","19":"tag-stem","20":"tag-trial","21":"tag-utero"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}