10 ms·

Paralysed man walks again after cell transplant

510 points by pierre-renaux 12y ago

quotient 12y ago
That's amazing. I really hope that more research is done in (stem) cells. It shows outstanding promise, and it seems safe to assume that this is just the start for a technique of treatments that revolutionizes the way we view and treat illness. Edit: The article did not mention stem cells, but I think stem cells will inevitably be discussed in this thread as they're a very closely related topic, hence the mention.
- DigitalJack 12y ago
  It is amazing, but there were no stem cells involved here.
- sdegutis 12y ago
  No matter how noble or good the goal, immoral means should be avoided at all costs. We should seek healing from science and from God, but when all else fails, suffering patiently has a purpose in building character, among other things.
  - quotient 12y ago
    Is that a joke?
    - sdegutis 12y ago
      No, I'm practically quoting St. Francis de Sales.
      - threeseed 12y ago
        Wherever it came from it is an insensitive and antiquated quote. There is nothing noble or character building about someone who has become a quadraplegic, lost all bowel and sexual function control and now relies almost entirely on strangers for day to day living. It recently happened to my sister-in-law and it's a truly devastating situation. If we can remove suffering in the world then we should.
        sdegutis 12y ago
        We agree that if we can remove suffering in the world, then we should. But it's how we respond to things we cannot control that builds character.
        mikeash 12y ago
        Like responding to downvotes by whining about religious oppression?
      - jacquesm 12y ago
        Quoting someone does not make it right.
        logfromblammo 12y ago
        I once heard a story from an old man, about wrestling at a small town school. He was in a very light weight class, such that when the school played matches against other schools, the opposing team might not even have anyone in his class. So rather than sit and watch, he wrestled above his weight class. Instead of seeking to win, sought to delay the pin as long as possible. So he practiced neck bridges, and developed the thickest neck on a skinny kid that you have ever seen. He took his own version of victory--namely that the heavier wrestler could not score a pin on him within the match time limit--from what might otherwise be considered defeat. There was no possibility of true victory, only the choice between aristeia--doing the best you possibly can--and resignation to defeat. There was no expectation that anyone owed him a fair match. He just tackled the challenge before him to the best of his ability, and lost every time, until he finally won. And now he has an interesting story to tell, for as long as he can keep the reaper from pinning him.
  - sdegutis 12y ago
    What can I deduce from all these downvotes? That HN is unwelcoming and intolerant towards people of faith? For people of faith, their faith manifests itself in every aspect of life, not sparing even a corner. Being dismissive is one thing, but actively silencing that person (by downvoting, which here inevitably leads to lower visibility or even invisibility) is tantamount to intolerance. Is it right that a culture so proud of its tolerance should be intolerant?
    - nether 12y ago
      Ya
    - nooron 12y ago
      Your interpretation of your faith != people of faith, sdegutis. I prefer a civil discussion of medical ethics to simple down voting myself. Feel free to drop a little bit more on your views here. I'm a bit rusty but I did once have a very sharp Christian theological blade. I'll see if I can make you feel more at home and respected.
      - geographomics 12y ago
        I assume at least some of the downvotes were given simply that he was off topic. The ethical issues of using embryonic stem cells are hardly applicable to grafting one's own cells from one part of the body to another.
    - melling 12y ago
      Which part of this was immoral? "A paralysed man has been able to walk again after a pioneering therapy that involved transplanting cells from his nasal cavity into his spinal cord."
      - sdegutis 12y ago
        I was referring to the well-known controversy over stem cell research, specifically embryonic stem cell research, mentioned by the person I replied to.
  - alexandre_m 12y ago
    "suffering patiently" Hmm, say that to sick children (of all kinds). I see your point about growing stronger thru suffering, but there are different kind of injuries and life injustice where it just doesn't apply. Breaking your arm is different than being paralyzed from top to bottom or being blind.
    - sdegutis 12y ago
      In the context from which I speak, all injustices are righted in the end. So yes, it should be said even to children, to the dying, to anyone who is suffering even severe injustices for seemingly no reason.
      - petegrif 12y ago
        That must be a great comfort to them. But what an empty context to speak from that reduces all ills to events that will be 'righted in the end.'
      - Dylan16807 12y ago
        I wouldn't say that anything in death and beyond can truly right the wrongs that happen in life. Also suffering has a very damaging effect on character in many people.
      - silencio 12y ago
        My (sensory) neuropathy is total peanuts in comparison to being paralyzed but I still wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. It does not build character in any way. It eats away at me because the pain is so hard to control. No amount of anything in the afterlife is going to balance this out. All I can do is wait it out and try everything thrown at me to see what might stick. The idea that I'm supposed to sit around and take it - because faith! - is quite frankly deeply offensive.
        manmal 12y ago
        Have you looked into methylation protocols already?
- ajuc 12y ago
  Re stem cells - my sister is a vet, she says currently animals get much better treatment than people because stem cells are experimental for people, but routinely used on animals, and the effects are astonishing. She also have this conspiracy theory about sport stars returning to sport 3 months after especially bad injuries - they must get stem cells, it's impossible otherways. I don't know if it's true, I hope it is because it means it will eventually be used on regular people as well.
  - tim333 12y ago
    I think it's a shame that this kind of experimentation is not done in a way that maximises the well being of mankind. Paralysed rats were sucessfully got to walk again at least as early as 2003 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x8e2qsAVGc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x8e2qsAVGc) and it would seem to make sense to experiment on the odd human but instead we have to wait decades I think at least partly to cover the regulators arses in case there are any problems. But it would be better for society to have the odd experimental problem than thousands people suffer for years while they muck about with paperwork and the like. I see from Wikipedia that Geron Corporation have recently submitted 28,000 pages of documents to the FDA for a stem cell related trial so maybe in 2023 or some such we'll be able to do for people what we could do for rats in 2003.
  - mason240 12y ago
    >She also have this conspiracy theory about sport stars returning to sport 3 months after especially bad injuries - they must get stem cells, it's impossible otherways. No conspiracy, they are all using HGH. Someone did some analysis on the shortened recovery times for players with ligament tears (like ACLs) and found that while the recovery times have always been getting shorter thanks to improvements in physical therapy, but the there was a dramatic drop at about the time HGH started to be widely used. The NFL just started lasting for HGH last month. The test supposedly is easy to beat, but it will be interesting to see if it has an effect on times.
tokenadult 12y ago
The article notes, "This process of regeneration is made possible by olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs), which provide a pathway for the fibres to grow back." In other words, this was not an experimental treatment with stem cells (pluripotent cells). The story details here are interesting to me, as my late dad spent the last six years of his life paralyzed from the chin down from a spinal cord injury (a slip and fall on ice on a parking lot). His spinal cord was not completely severed, so he had quite a lot of sensation from the parts of his body that were immobilized, but he was not able to learn to walk with a walking frame even as well as the patient reported on here. (My dad's injury was much higher up on the spinal cord, which makes a big difference. His bruising of his spinal cord was at the second cervical vertebra.) The article continues, "All those involved in the research are keen not to raise false hopes in patients and stress that the success will need to be repeated to show definitively whether it can stimulate spinal cord regeneration." Yes. This is a very early result, but there seems to be something here that has achieved results never before achieved, and if those results can be replicated in other patients, this will be great news. The article mentions what kind of patients the experimental team is looking for. "Dr Tabakow said: "Our team in Poland would be prepared to consider patients from anywhere in the world who are suitable for this therapy. They are likely to have had a knife wound injury where the spinal cord has been cleanly severed." Many spinal cord injuries are bruises or tears rather than cuts, and may not heal as well with the technique described in the article. But this is a start, and may open up investigation of other approaches to repairing injuries to the spinal cord.
- fredkingham 12y ago
  He's been doing this since the 70s. When I broke my back 10 years ago there was another panarama in which he'd shown dramatic improvement in rats. He's only got round to spinal injury's now because its something occasionally improves without aid and is therefore unreliably for scientific tests. He was looking at other types of injury (I can't remember the name) where the nerves to the arm are torn out, as this never shows any signs of recovery. He's now moved on to knife wounds as these offer the cleanest types of complete break ie very unlikely to improve later. Raisman has been thorough and methodical about this. Its his life's work and I have no doubt he'll succeed (I was actually in hospital with Dan Nicholls, whose father has been funding Reiman's research http://www.nsif.org.uk/ http://www.nsif.org.uk/)
pontifier 12y ago
I've heard about the remarkable ability of nasal nerves to regrow, and it's fantastic that they seem to be able to translate this to the spine. I wonder about other nerve bundles. My mother lost her vision due to optic nerve damage, and this seems like a very promising technology. I hope they can repeat the result.
bhousel 12y ago
Completely shameless plug follows, but this is an area of research that matters a lot to me personally. My mother has neuropathy and is in a wheelchair. It's been rough watching her lose function, and now encouraging to see her regain some of her nerve function with immunotherapy and exercise. I'm running the NYC Marathon to raise money for the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of those with paralysis, mobility impairment, and spinal cord injury. The Reeve Foundation has funded over $80 million for paralysis and spinal cord injury research. Scientists are learning more every year about how the spinal cord works, how nerve cells die and can be regenerated, and how new therapies can promote nerve regrowth. As a direct result of this research, there are people today who can breathe, control their bladder, and walk, after receiving treatment for severe spinal injury. If this is an issue that you are interested in, please consider a donation: http://www.christopherreeve.org/nyc2014/bhousel http://www.christopherreeve.org/nyc2014/bhousel Thanks for listening..
- surfy 12y ago
  I ran this for the Reeve Foundation a few years ago. The NYC Marathon is an incredible event - so much energy all along the route. It's like a 26 mile party. Envious!
- bhousel 12y ago
  Update: Wow thank you so much! I posted my comment before going to bed, not really knowing what the response would be. I'm really grateful to everyone who has been visiting my page and donating. Very touched by the generosity of Hacker News. Thank you!
refurb 12y ago
I'm assuming that a treatment like this will likely be much more successful with a more recent injury? From what I understand once a nerve is injured processes continue that result in less and less activity. When you're treating an injury as old as his, you not only have to "make the connections", but also reverse any nerve atrophy (for lack of a better word).
ioddly 12y ago
This is amazing. How was the olfactory bulb removed?
- ape4 12y ago
  I assume they unscrewed it (joke attempt)
  - ajuc 12y ago
    How many Poles does it take to unscrew olfactory bulb?
espinchi 12y ago
Prof Raisman has spent more than 40 years studying how to repair the spinal cord. This type of perseverance is admirable.
- zwischenzug 12y ago
  I just heard this guy on Radio 4. The presenter gave him an opportunity to downplay the significance of this, and he didn't take it. He really believes he's onto something big. When the presenter asked him about the 40-year wait, he went quiet; then said something about having a duty to help these sufferers by continuing the work. Pretty inspiring.
- artursapek 12y ago
  On top of that, the patient himself is 40 years old.
vijaygirija 12y ago
That's so nice. Cell transplantation has increased rapidly in western countries. And saved many lives.
kathrinekennley 12y ago
Astonishing breakthrough that offers great hope to millions of people. When one considers the great complexity of nerves in the spinal column, makes this news even more remarkable.
joeyo 12y ago
As far as I can tell, this is the paper [1]. It was published a little over twelve months ago, so that's a pretty big lag before the news article. Was there perhaps a follow-up that I missed? 1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24007776 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24007776
- alexbate 12y ago
  Yeah - kind of. The BBC's Panorama show (kind of linked to BBC News, but long documentaries) has had special access to his rehabilitation over the last year, that special airs tonight.
- jtheory 12y ago
  The operation itself was two years ago, but then it's taken 2 years of physical therapy (and just healing time...) before it's become clear how successful it was. So there's no single moment when this becomes "newsworthy"; but I'd assume that as of recently, the patient is walking at a level that's sufficiently impressive for a newscast, and so today's the day.
BrindsleyQuives 12y ago
..and all thanks to Jesus! Oh, wait.... science.
adhambadr 12y ago
amazing two thoughts pop onto my head do you think the same technique can be used to reproduce damaged optical nerves ? this could be a huge step towards curing a huge percentage of blindness, something Ive been very personally interested in lately. am I the only one who wonders why the slow pace of such crucial medical discoveries ? after a successful attempt, the future plan is treating only 10 more patients over the next 'years'. In Silicon valley timezone thats centuries, my non-medical tech corrupt mind is screaming pump money, replicate this to 100 patients in the next 60 days and scale, scale, scale!!!
- maccard 12y ago
  > replicate this to 100 patients in the next 60 days and scale, scale, scale!!! Most likely the fear of any unknown side effects that haven't manifested just yet, and the ability to refine whatever procedure was performed to try and minimise any of the long term downsides to this approach?
  - innguest 12y ago
    I doubt what is keeping this from scaling is fear of unknown side-effects. I bet people would be lining up to be a guinea-pig to this if regulation allowed.
- k-mcgrady 12y ago
  >> "replicate this to 100 patients in the next 60 days and scale, scale, scale!!!" Safety. What is there are horrible side effects that only show after 12/18/24 months and suddenly the lives of 100's of people are ruined? You could make that clear to people and if they want to participate despite the warnings let them but most people aren't well informed enough to make a rational decision.
- warcher 12y ago
  There are some very reasonable and very scary tumor possibilities associated with stem cell research. Trading paraplegia for spinal cancer is not a good trade. Caution is a very, very good idea. That said, this result should, in a just world, dramatically increase sources of funding and research worldwide.
toblender 12y ago
Time to go do some extreme sports.
philbarr 12y ago
Counterpoint on the TV on SKY News from Dr. Mark Bacon from "Spinal Research" who says that this is nothing new, that it is not as significant as a "man walking on the moon" as has been claimed. He says that this is essentially a feasibility study showing safety, and that it was the unique situation of the patient where the cut was very narrow and clean that allowed this to happen; most other spinal injuries damage much more of the spinal column. He said he also wants to quantify exactly how much of the shown result was directly a result of the surgery. The patient had lots of different treatments and they don't know how much those had an effect. However, when the interviewer said, "although you've added a note of caution there, should people with these kinds of injuries have a bit more hope now that this news has come out?" the response was, "absolutely, it shows that we are making inroads into this. This area, even just a few years ago was thought to be dead, but now we are making clinical trials." Edit: Changed it from BBC News to SKY News. Oops.
- dazonic 12y ago
  I'm dubious of the "walking again" claims though. Sure it's awesome he's regained feeling - that's the story here. But his so-called walking is between parallel bars or with a walker, both with full calipers. Complete paraplegics can do this by just swinging their legs, and it looks like what this guy was doing. They showed him lying on a bed, I wish they'd show just what leg movement - if any - he's regained.
quattrofan 12y ago
A friend of mine commented on Facebook using the word "merely" as in merely transplanted some cells. I've got the feeling a lot more complex science and medicine went into this, can anyone provide some more detail in layman's terms?
squozzer 12y ago
Congrats. This deserves a beer. Sorry I can't share.
lotsofmangos 12y ago
This is amazing. Hopefully he won't grow a bit of snotty nose on his back like the woman who had a similar treatment in Portugal - http://www.stemcellsportal.com/content/nasal-mass-grows-patient%E2%80%99s-spine-following-stem-cell-transplantation http://www.stemcellsportal.com/content/nasal-mass-grows-pati... - though I dare say the risk is more than worth it.
tsenkov 12y ago
40 years without turning your back on a project... probably "heroic" is one of the words describing it. I suppose the biggest "bottleneck" in the progress of such work is testing. What is the current state of computer simulations of bio systems? Is OpenWorm the biggest project in this direction? If I remember correctly, they weren't exactly simulating completely down to the cellular organelle (or atomic) level, but instead simulated starting from higher level of abstraction (muscle contraction etc.).
- thewillcole 12y ago
  upvote for the casual "turning your back" pun!
  - tsenkov 12y ago
    Ha.Ha. :) Pun (not) intended.
    - thewillcole 12y ago
      That comment cost me 1/12 of my hard-earned 12 points. So this is what martyrpun feels like.
ladytron 12y ago
Human cloning + surrogacy + suspended animation ( theraputic hypothermia ) + nerve regeneration + microsurgery = immortality. Theoretically this now seems possible.
- jeffreyrogers 12y ago
  What about the brain?
  - ladytron 12y ago
    What about it? Scientists are doing a trial run in Pennsylvania now where they put people with multiple gunshot wounds in suspended animation for up to two hours. They expect little brain damage. Get it up to a few more hours, and I think successful transplants can happen. Also, as other posters had noted, this man had been paralyzed for 2 years. If you fixed the cut immediately I assume there would be less functional degeneration and scar tissue.

510 points by pierre-renaux 12y ago

That's amazing. I really hope that more research is done in (stem) cells. It shows outstanding promise, and it seems safe to assume that this is just the start for a technique of treatments that revolutionizes the way we view and treat illness. Edit: The article did not mention stem cells, but I think stem cells will inevitably be discussed in this thread as they're a very closely related topic, hence the mention.

DigitalJack 12y ago
It is amazing, but there were no stem cells involved here.
sdegutis 12y ago
No matter how noble or good the goal, immoral means should be avoided at all costs. We should seek healing from science and from God, but when all else fails, suffering patiently has a purpose in building character, among other things.
- quotient 12y ago
  Is that a joke?
  - sdegutis 12y ago
    No, I'm practically quoting St. Francis de Sales.
    - threeseed 12y ago
      Wherever it came from it is an insensitive and antiquated quote. There is nothing noble or character building about someone who has become a quadraplegic, lost all bowel and sexual function control and now relies almost entirely on strangers for day to day living. It recently happened to my sister-in-law and it's a truly devastating situation. If we can remove suffering in the world then we should.
      - sdegutis 12y ago
        We agree that if we can remove suffering in the world, then we should. But it's how we respond to things we cannot control that builds character.
        mikeash 12y ago
        Like responding to downvotes by whining about religious oppression?
    - jacquesm 12y ago
      Quoting someone does not make it right.
      - logfromblammo 12y ago
        I once heard a story from an old man, about wrestling at a small town school. He was in a very light weight class, such that when the school played matches against other schools, the opposing team might not even have anyone in his class. So rather than sit and watch, he wrestled above his weight class. Instead of seeking to win, sought to delay the pin as long as possible. So he practiced neck bridges, and developed the thickest neck on a skinny kid that you have ever seen. He took his own version of victory--namely that the heavier wrestler could not score a pin on him within the match time limit--from what might otherwise be considered defeat. There was no possibility of true victory, only the choice between aristeia--doing the best you possibly can--and resignation to defeat. There was no expectation that anyone owed him a fair match. He just tackled the challenge before him to the best of his ability, and lost every time, until he finally won. And now he has an interesting story to tell, for as long as he can keep the reaper from pinning him.
- sdegutis 12y ago
  What can I deduce from all these downvotes? That HN is unwelcoming and intolerant towards people of faith? For people of faith, their faith manifests itself in every aspect of life, not sparing even a corner. Being dismissive is one thing, but actively silencing that person (by downvoting, which here inevitably leads to lower visibility or even invisibility) is tantamount to intolerance. Is it right that a culture so proud of its tolerance should be intolerant?
  - nether 12y ago
    Ya
  - nooron 12y ago
    Your interpretation of your faith != people of faith, sdegutis. I prefer a civil discussion of medical ethics to simple down voting myself. Feel free to drop a little bit more on your views here. I'm a bit rusty but I did once have a very sharp Christian theological blade. I'll see if I can make you feel more at home and respected.
    - geographomics 12y ago
      I assume at least some of the downvotes were given simply that he was off topic. The ethical issues of using embryonic stem cells are hardly applicable to grafting one's own cells from one part of the body to another.
  - melling 12y ago
    Which part of this was immoral? "A paralysed man has been able to walk again after a pioneering therapy that involved transplanting cells from his nasal cavity into his spinal cord."
    - sdegutis 12y ago
      I was referring to the well-known controversy over stem cell research, specifically embryonic stem cell research, mentioned by the person I replied to.
- alexandre_m 12y ago
  "suffering patiently" Hmm, say that to sick children (of all kinds). I see your point about growing stronger thru suffering, but there are different kind of injuries and life injustice where it just doesn't apply. Breaking your arm is different than being paralyzed from top to bottom or being blind.
  - sdegutis 12y ago
    In the context from which I speak, all injustices are righted in the end. So yes, it should be said even to children, to the dying, to anyone who is suffering even severe injustices for seemingly no reason.
    - petegrif 12y ago
      That must be a great comfort to them. But what an empty context to speak from that reduces all ills to events that will be 'righted in the end.'
    - Dylan16807 12y ago
      I wouldn't say that anything in death and beyond can truly right the wrongs that happen in life. Also suffering has a very damaging effect on character in many people.
    - silencio 12y ago
      My (sensory) neuropathy is total peanuts in comparison to being paralyzed but I still wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. It does not build character in any way. It eats away at me because the pain is so hard to control. No amount of anything in the afterlife is going to balance this out. All I can do is wait it out and try everything thrown at me to see what might stick. The idea that I'm supposed to sit around and take it - because faith! - is quite frankly deeply offensive.
      - manmal 12y ago
        Have you looked into methylation protocols already?
ajuc 12y ago
Re stem cells - my sister is a vet, she says currently animals get much better treatment than people because stem cells are experimental for people, but routinely used on animals, and the effects are astonishing. She also have this conspiracy theory about sport stars returning to sport 3 months after especially bad injuries - they must get stem cells, it's impossible otherways. I don't know if it's true, I hope it is because it means it will eventually be used on regular people as well.
- tim333 12y ago
  I think it's a shame that this kind of experimentation is not done in a way that maximises the well being of mankind. Paralysed rats were sucessfully got to walk again at least as early as 2003 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x8e2qsAVGc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x8e2qsAVGc) and it would seem to make sense to experiment on the odd human but instead we have to wait decades I think at least partly to cover the regulators arses in case there are any problems. But it would be better for society to have the odd experimental problem than thousands people suffer for years while they muck about with paperwork and the like. I see from Wikipedia that Geron Corporation have recently submitted 28,000 pages of documents to the FDA for a stem cell related trial so maybe in 2023 or some such we'll be able to do for people what we could do for rats in 2003.
- mason240 12y ago
  >She also have this conspiracy theory about sport stars returning to sport 3 months after especially bad injuries - they must get stem cells, it's impossible otherways. No conspiracy, they are all using HGH. Someone did some analysis on the shortened recovery times for players with ligament tears (like ACLs) and found that while the recovery times have always been getting shorter thanks to improvements in physical therapy, but the there was a dramatic drop at about the time HGH started to be widely used. The NFL just started lasting for HGH last month. The test supposedly is easy to beat, but it will be interesting to see if it has an effect on times.

tokenadult 12y ago

The article notes, "This process of regeneration is made possible by olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs), which provide a pathway for the fibres to grow back." In other words, this was not an experimental treatment with stem cells (pluripotent cells). The story details here are interesting to me, as my late dad spent the last six years of his life paralyzed from the chin down from a spinal cord injury (a slip and fall on ice on a parking lot). His spinal cord was not completely severed, so he had quite a lot of sensation from the parts of his body that were immobilized, but he was not able to learn to walk with a walking frame even as well as the patient reported on here. (My dad's injury was much higher up on the spinal cord, which makes a big difference. His bruising of his spinal cord was at the second cervical vertebra.) The article continues, "All those involved in the research are keen not to raise false hopes in patients and stress that the success will need to be repeated to show definitively whether it can stimulate spinal cord regeneration." Yes. This is a very early result, but there seems to be something here that has achieved results never before achieved, and if those results can be replicated in other patients, this will be great news. The article mentions what kind of patients the experimental team is looking for. "Dr Tabakow said: "Our team in Poland would be prepared to consider patients from anywhere in the world who are suitable for this therapy. They are likely to have had a knife wound injury where the spinal cord has been cleanly severed." Many spinal cord injuries are bruises or tears rather than cuts, and may not heal as well with the technique described in the article. But this is a start, and may open up investigation of other approaches to repairing injuries to the spinal cord.

fredkingham 12y ago
He's been doing this since the 70s. When I broke my back 10 years ago there was another panarama in which he'd shown dramatic improvement in rats. He's only got round to spinal injury's now because its something occasionally improves without aid and is therefore unreliably for scientific tests. He was looking at other types of injury (I can't remember the name) where the nerves to the arm are torn out, as this never shows any signs of recovery. He's now moved on to knife wounds as these offer the cleanest types of complete break ie very unlikely to improve later. Raisman has been thorough and methodical about this. Its his life's work and I have no doubt he'll succeed (I was actually in hospital with Dan Nicholls, whose father has been funding Reiman's research http://www.nsif.org.uk/ http://www.nsif.org.uk/)

pontifier 12y ago

I've heard about the remarkable ability of nasal nerves to regrow, and it's fantastic that they seem to be able to translate this to the spine. I wonder about other nerve bundles. My mother lost her vision due to optic nerve damage, and this seems like a very promising technology. I hope they can repeat the result.

bhousel 12y ago

Completely shameless plug follows, but this is an area of research that matters a lot to me personally. My mother has neuropathy and is in a wheelchair. It's been rough watching her lose function, and now encouraging to see her regain some of her nerve function with immunotherapy and exercise. I'm running the NYC Marathon to raise money for the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of those with paralysis, mobility impairment, and spinal cord injury. The Reeve Foundation has funded over $80 million for paralysis and spinal cord injury research. Scientists are learning more every year about how the spinal cord works, how nerve cells die and can be regenerated, and how new therapies can promote nerve regrowth. As a direct result of this research, there are people today who can breathe, control their bladder, and walk, after receiving treatment for severe spinal injury. If this is an issue that you are interested in, please consider a donation: http://www.christopherreeve.org/nyc2014/bhousel http://www.christopherreeve.org/nyc2014/bhousel Thanks for listening..

surfy 12y ago
I ran this for the Reeve Foundation a few years ago. The NYC Marathon is an incredible event - so much energy all along the route. It's like a 26 mile party. Envious!
bhousel 12y ago
Update: Wow thank you so much! I posted my comment before going to bed, not really knowing what the response would be. I'm really grateful to everyone who has been visiting my page and donating. Very touched by the generosity of Hacker News. Thank you!

refurb 12y ago

I'm assuming that a treatment like this will likely be much more successful with a more recent injury? From what I understand once a nerve is injured processes continue that result in less and less activity. When you're treating an injury as old as his, you not only have to "make the connections", but also reverse any nerve atrophy (for lack of a better word).

ioddly 12y ago

This is amazing. How was the olfactory bulb removed?

ape4 12y ago
I assume they unscrewed it (joke attempt)
- ajuc 12y ago
  How many Poles does it take to unscrew olfactory bulb?

espinchi 12y ago

Prof Raisman has spent more than 40 years studying how to repair the spinal cord. This type of perseverance is admirable.

zwischenzug 12y ago
I just heard this guy on Radio 4. The presenter gave him an opportunity to downplay the significance of this, and he didn't take it. He really believes he's onto something big. When the presenter asked him about the 40-year wait, he went quiet; then said something about having a duty to help these sufferers by continuing the work. Pretty inspiring.
artursapek 12y ago
On top of that, the patient himself is 40 years old.

vijaygirija 12y ago

That's so nice. Cell transplantation has increased rapidly in western countries. And saved many lives.

kathrinekennley 12y ago

Astonishing breakthrough that offers great hope to millions of people. When one considers the great complexity of nerves in the spinal column, makes this news even more remarkable.

joeyo 12y ago

As far as I can tell, this is the paper [1]. It was published a little over twelve months ago, so that's a pretty big lag before the news article. Was there perhaps a follow-up that I missed? 1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24007776 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24007776

alexbate 12y ago
Yeah - kind of. The BBC's Panorama show (kind of linked to BBC News, but long documentaries) has had special access to his rehabilitation over the last year, that special airs tonight.
jtheory 12y ago
The operation itself was two years ago, but then it's taken 2 years of physical therapy (and just healing time...) before it's become clear how successful it was. So there's no single moment when this becomes "newsworthy"; but I'd assume that as of recently, the patient is walking at a level that's sufficiently impressive for a newscast, and so today's the day.

BrindsleyQuives 12y ago

..and all thanks to Jesus! Oh, wait.... science.

adhambadr 12y ago

amazing two thoughts pop onto my head do you think the same technique can be used to reproduce damaged optical nerves ? this could be a huge step towards curing a huge percentage of blindness, something Ive been very personally interested in lately. am I the only one who wonders why the slow pace of such crucial medical discoveries ? after a successful attempt, the future plan is treating only 10 more patients over the next 'years'. In Silicon valley timezone thats centuries, my non-medical tech corrupt mind is screaming pump money, replicate this to 100 patients in the next 60 days and scale, scale, scale!!!

maccard 12y ago
> replicate this to 100 patients in the next 60 days and scale, scale, scale!!! Most likely the fear of any unknown side effects that haven't manifested just yet, and the ability to refine whatever procedure was performed to try and minimise any of the long term downsides to this approach?
- innguest 12y ago
  I doubt what is keeping this from scaling is fear of unknown side-effects. I bet people would be lining up to be a guinea-pig to this if regulation allowed.
k-mcgrady 12y ago
>> "replicate this to 100 patients in the next 60 days and scale, scale, scale!!!" Safety. What is there are horrible side effects that only show after 12/18/24 months and suddenly the lives of 100's of people are ruined? You could make that clear to people and if they want to participate despite the warnings let them but most people aren't well informed enough to make a rational decision.
warcher 12y ago
There are some very reasonable and very scary tumor possibilities associated with stem cell research. Trading paraplegia for spinal cancer is not a good trade. Caution is a very, very good idea. That said, this result should, in a just world, dramatically increase sources of funding and research worldwide.

toblender 12y ago

Time to go do some extreme sports.

philbarr 12y ago

Counterpoint on the TV on SKY News from Dr. Mark Bacon from "Spinal Research" who says that this is nothing new, that it is not as significant as a "man walking on the moon" as has been claimed. He says that this is essentially a feasibility study showing safety, and that it was the unique situation of the patient where the cut was very narrow and clean that allowed this to happen; most other spinal injuries damage much more of the spinal column. He said he also wants to quantify exactly how much of the shown result was directly a result of the surgery. The patient had lots of different treatments and they don't know how much those had an effect. However, when the interviewer said, "although you've added a note of caution there, should people with these kinds of injuries have a bit more hope now that this news has come out?" the response was, "absolutely, it shows that we are making inroads into this. This area, even just a few years ago was thought to be dead, but now we are making clinical trials." Edit: Changed it from BBC News to SKY News. Oops.

dazonic 12y ago
I'm dubious of the "walking again" claims though. Sure it's awesome he's regained feeling - that's the story here. But his so-called walking is between parallel bars or with a walker, both with full calipers. Complete paraplegics can do this by just swinging their legs, and it looks like what this guy was doing. They showed him lying on a bed, I wish they'd show just what leg movement - if any - he's regained.

quattrofan 12y ago

A friend of mine commented on Facebook using the word "merely" as in merely transplanted some cells. I've got the feeling a lot more complex science and medicine went into this, can anyone provide some more detail in layman's terms?

squozzer 12y ago

Congrats. This deserves a beer. Sorry I can't share.

lotsofmangos 12y ago

This is amazing. Hopefully he won't grow a bit of snotty nose on his back like the woman who had a similar treatment in Portugal - http://www.stemcellsportal.com/content/nasal-mass-grows-patient%E2%80%99s-spine-following-stem-cell-transplantation http://www.stemcellsportal.com/content/nasal-mass-grows-pati... - though I dare say the risk is more than worth it.

tsenkov 12y ago

40 years without turning your back on a project... probably "heroic" is one of the words describing it. I suppose the biggest "bottleneck" in the progress of such work is testing. What is the current state of computer simulations of bio systems? Is OpenWorm the biggest project in this direction? If I remember correctly, they weren't exactly simulating completely down to the cellular organelle (or atomic) level, but instead simulated starting from higher level of abstraction (muscle contraction etc.).

thewillcole 12y ago
upvote for the casual "turning your back" pun!
- tsenkov 12y ago
  Ha.Ha. :) Pun (not) intended.
  - thewillcole 12y ago
    That comment cost me 1/12 of my hard-earned 12 points. So this is what martyrpun feels like.

ladytron 12y ago

Human cloning + surrogacy + suspended animation ( theraputic hypothermia ) + nerve regeneration + microsurgery = immortality. Theoretically this now seems possible.

jeffreyrogers 12y ago
What about the brain?
- ladytron 12y ago
  What about it? Scientists are doing a trial run in Pennsylvania now where they put people with multiple gunshot wounds in suspended animation for up to two hours. They expect little brain damage. Get it up to a few more hours, and I think successful transplants can happen. Also, as other posters had noted, this man had been paralyzed for 2 years. If you fixed the cut immediately I assume there would be less functional degeneration and scar tissue.