Cell Therapy News/Articles, page-85

They’ve got your back
by Metro NewsPublished October 25, 2017

AN INJECTION of stem cells could finally bring relief to millions of people with chronic lower back pain. The treatment could also help fight the opioid epidemic which led to 33,000 deaths in America in 2015 alone, many as the result of addiction to the drugs prescribed for back problems.
The stem cells are being tested specifically for treating degenerative disc disease, which accounts for around 22 per cent of cases of chronic lower back pain. The discs between our vertebrae act as shock absorbers, but can dry out through wear and tear or ageing. This causes them to shrink, reducing their cushioning power, and potentially leading to trapped nerves. Disc injury can also trigger inflammation that further aggravates the condition.
The treatment involves a dose of around 6million mesenchymal precursor cells injected into damaged discs between the vertebrae which dampen down inflammation and secrete factors that help rebuild tissue.
In experiments in sheep, the cells completely rebuilt damaged discs. Then Silviu Itescu of the firm Mesoblast in Melbourne, Australia, and his team tried the technique in people. ‘In 100 patients, we’ve shown substantial improvements in function and pain relief that last two years or more,’ he said. ‘If we’re successful in [our] larger trial, we can hopefully keep people away from opioids.’
MRI scans found that the cells seem to rebuild damaged discs. One injection was enough to help stop back pain for two years in around half of those treated. Some participants have been free of pain for three years.
Almost half of those treated became more mobile, dropping 15 points on a 100-point ‘disability’ scale. Fewer than 13 per cent of the control group, who received a placebo salt water jab, showed the same improvement.
The stem cells are extracted from donor bone marrow, and then grown in a laboratory to create large quantities. The injected cells reinflate vertebral discs that have dried out and cracked, losing their strength, says Mr Itescu. They do this by causing water to be trapped in the discs, ‘almost like pumping up a tyre’, he says.
The rationale makes sense, says Dr David Thomas of the opioid and pain working group at the US National Institute on Drug Abuse in Maryland. He says other teams are developing promising treatments for lowering inflammation in painful discs.
President Donald Trump was this week preparing to declare the US opioid crisis a national emergency.
But there are fears that a similar painkiller addiction epidemic is on the way in the UK. Codeine-related deaths have also more than doubled in Australia since 2000.
Associate professor Caleb Alexander of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Maryland says existing alternatives to opioids — such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and physical therapy — have more immediate potential for alleviating the epidemic than new treatments.
‘Any practical application of these types of treatments is a long way off, and there are countless reasons why these promising early results may not translate into tomorrow’s cures,’ he said.
But Dr Thomas says existing back pain treatments often fail or are only minimally effective. ‘We really do need better treatments for lower back pain, so this is encouraging. We need to see how it works out.’
https://www.metro.news/theyve-got-your-back/795188/