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Unethical “Stem Cell” Therapy for Autism In India?
By Neuroskeptic | March 17, 2017 4:29 pm
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I just read a concerning paper about an experimental stem cell treatment for children with autism.
The authors are Himanshu Bansal and colleagues of India. The senior author, Prasad S Koka, is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Stem Cells where the paper appeared, which raises questions about whether the manuscript received a thorough peer review. Koka is actually an author on all five of the research papers published in that issue of the journal. But that’s a minor issue compared to the content of the paper.
Bansal et al. describe a procedure in which they extracted fluid from the bone marrow of each child. This fluid (bone marrow aspirate) was treated in the laboratory to purify the stem cells within, and then injected into the child’s spinal canal. The whole operation took place under general anaesthesia. 10 autistic children aged 4-12 were treated.
I found this pretty shocking. An invasive procedure involving general anaesthesia should only be performed if it’s medically justified – especially in children as young as 4! Bansal et al. provide no scientific explanation for why they thought this treatment was suitable for these patients. They vaguely name “immunological and neural dysregulation” believed to underlie autism as the target of the cells.
For what it’s worth, the results showed a slight improvement in autism symptoms after the treatment. However, there was no control group, so placebo effects are likely, and we’re told that the patients were also given “speech therapy, occupational therapy and psychological intervention” which might account for the benefits.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/neuro ... M0PD2ekLIU
18 Mar 2017, 5:50 am
