Japan performs world's first iPS cell spinal surgery

Japanese Keio University specialists performed the world's first spinal injury treatment using induced iPS stem cells. Find out more breaking news by following the link.

As noted in a press release from the university, clinical trials started in December last year. As part of the trial, specialists will transplant nerve cells grown from iPS cells to four patients.

The first such operation was performed at a university hospital. Age, gender and nature of the injury were not specified. In the course of it, 2 million nerve cells were transplanted to a person. The patient is currently undergoing rehabilitation at the Murayama Medical Center in  Toki Island .

As Professor Hideyuki Okano noted during a press conference, the condition of the person who underwent the operation is "extremely good." Over the next three months, the specialists intend to collect data on the state of health of the patient or patient, after which they will be submitted for examination by independent experts.

In the event that the procedure is considered safe, the operation of the second of the four patients may take place after April.

 In 2006, 44-year-old  Shinya Yamanaka , a professor at the University of  Kyoto ,  obtained the world's first stem cell from a normal human skin cell. The cells are called induced pluripotent (artificial multifunctional) stem cells-iPS. In 2012, Yamanaka was awarded the Nobel Prize. The discovery sparked an explosion of research in regenerative medicine. Scientists have learned to grow from them cells of the heart muscle, intestines, pancreas, retina, blood, skin, nerve cells, egg, sperm cells and kidney nephrons.

The world's first operation using artificial multifunctional iPS cells was performed in  Japan  in 2014. Skin cells were taken from a 70-year-old patient with a severe retinal disease - age-related macular degeneration (macular degeneration), from which iPS artificial stem cells were grown. From them, cells of the retinal pigment epithelium of the retina were then grown, which were transplanted during the operation.