Scimitar Equity Blog

MultiStem therapy reduces inflammatory damage and improves functional recovery in preclinical models of Ischemic Stroke.

Medical researchers from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) presented new research results at the American Heart Association International Stroke Conference that:

• Illustrates the potential benefits of MultiStem therapy for treating stroke;
• Researchers observed that intravenous administration of MultiStem, 1 day after a stroke reduced inflammatory damage in the brain and resulted in a significant improvement in motor skills;
• In the rat model of stroke used in the study, animals that received treatment with MultiStem showed statistically significant improvement in motor skills relative to animals that received placebo, and also showed reduced cell death, reduction of inflammatory cytokines and an increase in anti-inflammatory cytokines;
• Researchers found that animals treated with placebo showed a reduction in spleen size and an increase in inflammatory cytokines in the blood, whereas animals that were treated with MultiStem showed normal spleen size and increased levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines in the blood;
• The spleen is believed to play a significant role in promoting and sustaining the inflammation that can result in substantial long-term damage following brain injury.

The Bottom Line: How many therapies for stroke have failed – too many!Ischemic stroke represents an enormous clinical burden that is expected to increase dramatically in the years ahead as a result of an aging population and the corresponding increase in the number of individuals that are susceptible to all forms of cardiovascular disease. Some types of stem cells may enhance recovery from stroke exerting some of their effects on other organs such as the spleen. The spleen seems to play an important role in some neurological disorders by contributing to ongoing inflammation and brain injury after stroke.    MultiStem appears to have profound effects in multiple neurological injury models, by reducing inflammation, protecting at-risk brain tissue, and promoting tissue repair.