A British boy with cerebral palsy is to travel to America where he will undergo experimental treatment using stem cells, according to reports.
Seven-year-old Jay Shetty will reportedly be injected with his baby brother’s cord blood as part of a trial at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina.
Jay was left with severe brain damage after he was born prematurely at 36 weeks. He is unable to walk, sit up or feed himself unaided.
Professor Peter Hollands, WideCells Group’s CSO, responds to the news:
There are several groups around the world, perhaps most notably Joanne Kurtzberg at Duke University, carrying out clinical trials on the efficacy of cord blood transfusion in the treatment of cerebral palsy.
There appears to be some benefit to cerebral palsy patients and a similar approach is now being investigated in the treatment of autism.
Such clinical trials are to be encouraged as we strive to understand the true potential of stem cell technology.