Transplanted Neural Stem Cells Produced Myelin, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Study

A Phase I clinical trial led by investigators from the University of California, San Francisco and sponsored by Stem Cells Inc., showed that neural stem cells successfully engrafted into the brains of patients and appear to have produced myelin. The study, published in the Oct. 10, 2012 issue of Science Translational Medicine, also demonstrated that the neural stem cells were safe in the patients' brains one year post transplant. The results of the investigation, designed to test safety and preliminary efficacy, are encouraging, said principal investigator David H. Rowitch, MD, PhD, a professor of pediatrics and neurological surgery at UCSF, chief of neonatology at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator.