Keio team makes progress in using iPS cells to treat spinal injuries | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

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} </style>  <div class="BreadCrumb"> <p class="Gnavi"><a href="/ajw/">The Asahi Shimbun</a></p><span>></span> <p class="Genre"><a href="/ajw/sci_tech/">Sci & Tech</a></p><span>></span> <p>article</p> <ul class="contentsTag"> </ul> </div>   <div id="MainInner">  <div class="ArticleTitle">  <div class="Title"> <h1> Keio team makes progress in using iPS cells to treat spinal injuries </h1> <p class="EnArticleName">By KENTA NOGUCHI/ Staff Writer</p> <p class="EnLastUpdated">March 23, 2025 at 16:02 JST</p> </div>  </div>   <script src="//p.potaufeu.asahi.com/ajw/js/en-socialbutton2016.js?1214f940d1720c0e0e362cfcacfe0f64"></script> <div class="SnsUtilityArea"> <div class="SnsBtn"> <ul> <li class="Facebook"> <span class="SnsName"><a href="javascript:void(0);">Share</a></span> </li> <li class="Twitter"> <span class="SnsName"><a href="http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15679937&text=Keio team makes progress in using iPS cells to treat spinal injuries：The Asahi Shimbun" target="_blank" id="twshare">Tweet</a></span> <span class="count"><a href="http://twitter.com/search?q=https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15679937" target="_blank" id="twlink">list</a></span> </li> </ul> </div> <div class="UtilityBtn"> <ul> <li class="Print"><span class="ServiceName"><a onclick="openPrintArticle();return false;" href="javascript:void(0);">Print</a></span></li> </ul> </div> </div>   <div class="ArticleBody"> <div class="EnImagesWidthMod"> <div class="Image"> <p> <img src="//p.potaufeu.asahi.com/414b-p/picture/29314385/9fa2d27ce480e241cd28d0a6a39d1d97.jpg" width="600" alt="Photo/Illutration" oncontextmenu="return false" onmousedown="return false" onselectstart="return false" /> <em class="Caption">Hideyuki Okano, left, a professor of physiology at Keio University, and Masaya Nakamura, a professor of orthopedics, attend a news conference on March 21. (Kenta Noguchi)</em> </p> </div> </div>  <div class="ArticleText">  <p>Keio University doctors said they have taken a promising step toward using human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells to treat spinal cord injuries.</p> <p>At a March 21 news conference, Hideyuki Okano, a professor of physiology, and his associates explained the results of clinical trials using iPS cells to create neural cells that were transplanted into patients with spinal cord injuries.</p> <p>Two of the four patients recovered some motor function, and one was even able to stand using a support mechanism after rehabilitation, the scientists said.</p> <p>“We saw light to help us move to the next stage,” Masaya Nakamura, a professor of orthopedics, said.</p> <p>Clinical trials will be expanded through K Pharma Inc., a venture capital company established by Keio University, to confirm the safety and effectiveness of the treatment.</p> <p>The Keio team began its efforts soon after Shinya Yamanaka announced in 2006 the creation of iPS cells in mice.</p> <p>Yamanaka later won a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for this discovery and once headed Kyoto University’s Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, which provided the iPS cells used in the Keio clinical trials.</p> <p>In the latest clinical trial by Okano and his team, the patients all injured their spinal cords between 14 and 28 days before the start of the trial and lost all motor function in some parts of their body.</p> <p>Neural cells were transplanted into the four patients, and their progress was observed over a year while they underwent rehabilitation.</p> <p>The patient who was able to stand with a support mechanism is now undergoing rehabilitation to walk.</p> <p>The doctors said there were no signs that the transplanted cells had turned cancerous.</p> <p>According to data collected at the Spinal Injuries Center in Iizuka, Fukuoka Prefecture, only 10 to 12 percent of patients with spinal cord injuries recover some motor function through rehabilitation.</p> <p>But it is still too early to determine the statistical effectiveness of the latest treatment because the sample size is so small.</p> <p>About 100,000 individuals in Japan have spinal cord injuries, and rehabilitation is now the only way to help improve their lives.</p> <p></p>  </div>  <ul class="contentsTag"> </ul>  <div class="related_news"> <h2>Related News</h2> <ul> <li> <a href="/ajw/articles/14521959"> <figure> <img src="//p.potaufeu.asahi.com/63c5-p/picture/26592204/991d48cc6afbabce7cf81a7b71928c25.jpg" /> </figure> <div class="article_title"> <p class="title">iPS-derived cells used for 1st time to treat spinal cord injury</p> <span class="date">January 14, 2022</span> </div> </a> </li> <li> <a href="/ajw/articles/14355059"> <figure> <img src="//p.potaufeu.asahi.com/bcef-p/picture/26139895/475723a548ef615744824902a6ab2790.jpg" /> </figure> <div class="article_title"> <p class="title">Parkinson’s drug helps treat ALS, trial using iPS cells 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