Soares and colleagues launch stem cell study

Jair Soares，医学博士，博士, professor and chair for theFaillace Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences，正在领导一项临床试验，以评估干细胞疗法与治疗耐药性躁郁症抑郁症的安全性和功效UTHealth情绪障碍卓越中心。

Bipolar disorder causes dramatic high and low moods that can change an individual’s sleep patterns, energy, thinking, and behavior. Those with bipolar disorder can feel happy and energized but just as quickly can fall into a period of feeling very sad, hopeless, and sluggish. Some with severe cases have a hard time completing daily tasks such as waking up or even taking a shower.

Soares and his team will conduct a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study, utilizing allogenic mesenchymal stem cells as an infusion in bipolar patients, aimed at reducing inflammation – which has been linked to a decreased likelihood of effective treatment for bipolar disorder.

Mesenchymal stem cells are multipotent stem cells found in bone marrow that are important for making and repairing skeletal tissues, such as cartilage, bone, and the fat found in bone marrow. These cells show the ability to have a dampening effect on inflammation.

Thirty patients will be enrolled in the trial. Half will be given the cells; the other half will receive a placebo.

“Since mesenchymal stem cells are known to counteract inflammation and promote neurogenesis, we’re hopeful they provide an innovative therapy for patients with treatment-resistant bipolar depression,” Soares said. “Depending on the results, these stem cells could reduce mortality associated with the disease.”

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