Cellular Therapy for In Utero Repair of Myelomeningocele - The CuRe Trial — CuRe  

Myelomeningocele Clinical Trial

Official title: Phase 1/2a Trial of Placental Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Repair of Fetal Myelomeningocele

Status Recruiting

Clinical Trial Summary

Spina bifida, or myelomeningocele (MMC), is a disorder where the lower part of the spinal cord of the fetus is exposed, meaning there is no bone or skin covering it. This is dangerous because the spinal cord contains cells which control one's ability to move their legs and walk, and also to be able to urinate and have bowel movements normally. One of the current treatments for fetal MMC is to perform a surgery on the fetus before it is born which has many names including in utero surgery, prenatal surgery, or fetal surgery. This is a surgery that occurs inside the uterus (the womb) where the surgeon closes the opening in your fetus' back to cover the exposed spinal cord. Researchers have found that adding stem cells to the repair is effective in improving the ability of animals with MMC to walk, and that the stem cells are safe in animal studies. These stem cells are thought to protect the cells in the spinal cord that control movement and developmental outcomes. This study is being performed to look at the safety and effectiveness of stem cells on the fetus's exposed spinal cord during prenatal surgery.

Clinical Trial Description

Historically, treatment of MMC was limited to post-natal surgery to close the dura and skin over the spinal cord to prevent meningitis, which had no effect on motor function. The potential benefit of earlier intervention was realized when prenatal ultrasound of patients with MMC early in gestation revealed near-normal leg movements despite displaying paralysis at birth. This finding gave credence to the two-hit hypothesis that paralysis was progressive during prenatal life and suggested that fetal intervention could prevent the secondary damage to the spinal cord. Fetal repair of MMC did confer improvement in motor function of children treated in the Management of Myelomeningocele (MOMS) randomized controlled trial. The promising results of the MOMS trial demonstrated the potential for improvement of paralysis for these patients, but distal motor function still remained severely impaired in the majority of patients with MMC with standard in utero repair alone. While this demonstrated that the ideal time to intervene to prevent paralysis is in utero with the goal of preventing the accrual of ongoing damage to the spinal cord, there is still room for improvement. The remarkable regenerative capacity of the fetal environment combined with regenerative capacity of placental mesenchymal stem cells offers potential for augmentation of the fetal repair of MMC with a novel therapy to further reduce and repair the sustained spinal cord damage. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Meningomyelocele
• Myelomeningocele

• NCT number: NCT04652908
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: University of California, Davis
• Contact: Maria G Hernandez, CPT1
• Phone: 916-734-4156
• Email: mghernandez@ucdavis.edu
• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: Phase 1/Phase 2
• Start date: June 21, 2021
• Completion date: March 2024