Can stem cell transplantation stop a rare, fatal disease?

Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
Date: December 14, 2006

Summary:

A team of doctors at Doernbecher Children's Hospital at Oregon Health and Science University recently began testing an unprecedented, radical therapy for Batten disease, a fatal brain disorder. The phase-one clinical trial involves transplanting neural stem cells into the brains of six children afflicted by Batten's. The trial is believed to be the first time that a pure composition of neural stem cells has been used to treat a brain disorder. Doctors are conducting the trial to see if the brain-infused cells will make enough of the enzyme missing in Batten disease that cells throughout the brain will no longer become congested with unrecycled waste.