W. Jeremy Beckworth and his co-workers at Emory Orthopaedics and Spine Center, in collaboration with several other orthopedic care groups, have participated in a clinical trial that demonstrated that a single injection of stem cells into degenerative intervertebral discs significantly reduced lower back pain for at least 12 months according. Beckworth’s clinical trial consisted of 100-patients and was a phase II, international clinical trial.
Beckworth, assistant professor of Orthopaedics and Rehab Medicine, gave patient injections of a subset of mesenchymal stem cells isolated from bone marrow stem cells called mesenchymal precursor cells (MPCs) in order to attenuate pain in patients with lower back pain. On average, Beckworth and his colleagues discovered that stem cell injections led to a reduction in pain levels greater than 50 percent at 12 months. Additionally, patients who received stem cell injections felt less of a need for pain medications, showed an improvement in function, and less need for further surgical and non-surgical spine interventions. These results were compiled from patients with moderate to severe disc-related lower back pain.
“These are very exciting findings,” explains Beckworth. “The results provide significant hope for a condition that has been very tough to treat. Discogenic low back pain, a painful degenerative disc, is the most common cause of chronic low back pain.”
This phase II clinical trial builds on a previously reported preclinical study showed that highly purified MPCs were able to repair and restore disc structure. All the data from this trial showed that there were statistically significant improvements in patients who received stem cell injections compared to those in control groups who received no such injections.
“Currently there is no adequate treatment for discogenic low back pain,” says Beckworth. “Both conservative and surgical treatments fall short. These positive results pave the way for a phase III study that may be starting later this year.”
Beyond the Dish 