41 years ago, Oliver Semler was born with multiple bone fractures. Doctors soon realised that he had been born with a debilitating genetic disease called osteogenesis imperfecta (OI). This disease causes bones to break very easily.
The disease made life very difficult for Oliver as he would often suffer damage to his bones from minor falls and collisions with objects. Over the years, Oliver went through 27 surgeries to repair damage to his bones.
Fast forward to 2016 and Oliver is working as a paediatrician in Germany, helping other people with the same condition. He is now working on a trial to see if OI can be treated with stem cells.
The trial aims to identify foetuses with the condition and treat them before they are born. It is hoped that a foetus treated with stem cells will be completely cured of the condition by the time they are born.
It is very difficult for Dr Semler to organise the trial because obtaining approval for experiments on foetuses can be tricky. Finding willing participants can also be difficult.
Scientists have suspected that OI may be treated with stem cells since the 1980s. They believed that a foetus might be able to accept stem cells easily because their immune system isn’t fully developed.
Doctors had hoped that the transplanted stem cells would turn into healthy blood cells and provide the elements that the foetus lacked — curing the disease. Unfortunately some of the tests resulted in stem cell rejection by the foetus.
Subsequent discoveries in the 2000s helped scientists understand why the foetus could reject stem cells. They eventually found out that use high doses of maternal cells and injecting them into the foetal bloodstream was effective.
The many discoveries in the past 30-years have led researchers to a point where they think that this condition will be treated with stem cells. The research project will involve participants from across Europe and runs for more than 10-years.
Source: Ailing Fetuses to be treated with Stem Cells
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