Injections of stem cells that are induced to secrete neurotrophic factors in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are safe, well tolerated, and possibly clinically beneficial, results of a small open-label study suggest.
Although the results have to be confirmed with a clinical trial, they are “ground-breaking” and open the door for this line of investigation, author Dimitrios Karussis, MD, PhD, a neuro-immunology expert and professor, Neurology Department, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel, told Medscape Medical News.