The research team from Tokyo's Keio University planned to inject
about two million iPS cells into the damaged areas of an individual
patient and review the results over the course of a year, according
to the plan approved by the health ministry.
So-called iPS cells are made by removing mature cells from an
individual - often from the skin - and reprogramming them to behave
like embryonic stem cells.
Last year, clinical trials began in Japan on using reprogrammed stem
cells in a treatment for Parkinson's disease.
The health ministry panel has already given a greenlight to use iPS
cells for treating patients with rare eye disease or blood disease.
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The Keio University team headed by professors Hideyuki Okano and
Masaya Nakamura will seek four patients, aged 18 or older, who have
lost mobility and sensory functions due to a spinal cord injury
sustained two to four weeks earlier.
The professors were not immediately available for comment.
The Japan Spinal Cord Foundation estimates more than 100,000 people
have spinal cord injuries in the country.
(Reporting by Takashi Umekawa; editing by Darren Schuettler)
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