Clinical Trials

The primary objective of this study is to determine the safety of intrathecal delivery of autologous mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with ALS using a dose-escalation study. The trial will include 25 adult, non-ventilator-dependent patients with clinically definite amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Cells will be isolated from adipose tissue, expanded ex vivo and then, after ~8 weeks, intrathecal (IT) autologous delivery of MSCs will be performed. There will be 5 treatment groups of up to 5 patients each. Groups 1, 2, and 4 will receive a single dose of cells. Groups 3 and 5 will receive 2 doses of cells separated by 1 month. Groups will be completed sequentially so that patients will not be enrolled into the next treatment group until at least 3 patients in the preceding group have completed the treatment and 1 month of additional observation without significant toxicity. All patients will be followed on a regular basis until death or for a minimum of 2 years after completion of the final infusion. Initial clinical follow-up will be weekly with scheduled blood, CSF and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evaluations. After 1 month, patients will have clinical evaluations at 3 month intervals, or earlier if indicated by clinical status.

This study is intended to obtain clinical information and establish a repository of DNA, RNA, peripheral blood monocyte, lymphocyte and skin tissue samples from people with ALS and related neurodegenerative motor neuron diseases, people with a family history of these conditions, and healthy people with no family history of these disorders. The samples will be used in future research to learn about how these disorders affect people, what causes these conditions, and how the investigators can tell when someone has this kind of disease. Future research may also include the generation of stem cells from stored blood cell and skin cell samples.

The purpose of the research study is to collect blood samples and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). These samples will be collected approximately every 4 months.