Autologous bone marrow derived mononuclear cell therapy for spinal cord injury: A phase I/II clinical safety and primary efficacy data.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to assess the safety and therapeutic efficacy of autologous human bone marrow derived mononuclear cell transplantation on spinal cord injury in a phase I/II, nonrandomized, open-label study, conducted on 297 patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We transplanted unmanipulated bone marrow mononuclear cells through a lumbar puncture, and assessed the outcome using standard neurologic investigations and American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) protocol, and with respect to safety, therapeutic time window, CD34-/+ cell count, and influence on sex and age.

RESULTS: No serious complications or adverse events were reported, except for minor reversible complaints. Sensory and motor improvements occurred in 32.6% of patients, and the time elapsed between the injury and the treatment considerably influenced the outcome of the therapy. The CD34-/+ cell count determined the state of improvement, or no improvement, but not the degree of improvement. No correlation was found between level of injury and improvement, and age and sex had no role in the outcome of the cellular therapy.

CONCLUSION: Transplant of autologous human bone marrow derived mononuclear cells through a lumbar puncture is safe, and one-third of spinal cord injury patients show perceptible improvements in the neurologic status. The time elapsed between injury and therapy and the number of CD34-/+ cells injected influenced the outcome of the therapy.