When someone suffers a stroke, the cells at the center of the catastrophic brain damage may be too injured to be saved.
But scientists are striving to rescue the area that surrounds the wound using stem cells -- a new approach that offers hope that these supported cells can take over the work of their dead comrades.
There's no proof yet that this novel approach will work in humans. Carefully controlled studies of its effectiveness won't be complete for several years.
However, it shows signs of safety and effectiveness in animals, according to new data presented at a weekend conference on brain injury sponsored by the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center Rehabilitation Research Center.
No ill effects have been seen in the first dozen patients treated in a study at Stanford University and four other research hospitals, using a product called SB623. The Mountain View-based biotech company SanBio produces it from adult, not embryonic, stem cells culled from the bone marrow of healthy donors. The cells are genetically modified and given a booster that seems to improve their function.
Tests in mice show that symptoms improve, enabling the animals to eat and walk more normally over a six-month period.
In the lab, SB623 is proven to secrete chemicals that boost healing and reduce dangerous inflammation.
"It is going well," said SanBio researcher Casey Case, who presented the data at the Santa Clara Valley Brain Injury Conference,
Many other biotech companies are trying a similar approach.
Stroke is the third largest cause of death and the single largest cause of adult disability in America, causing paralysis, impaired thinking, speech and motor control, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Stanford-based research seeks to help stroke patients