The Stem Cell Educator (SCE) is an attempt to cure established type-1 diabetes by exposing a patient's immune cells to umbilical stem cells, and then returning the cells back to the patient. Each person had a blood draw, and then a particular kind of immune cell was separated from the blood and specially processed. The processing phase uses umbilical cord stem cells previously donated by a third party. The patient's own "educated" immune cells were then returned to the patient. The stem cells did not go into the person; they were only used for the external processing.
In the last six months, two new studies have started, which I blog on below. The first is in New Jersey and the second Beijing.
The New Jersey Clinical Trial (NCT02624804)
This study will enroll 10 people. Everyone will be treated (no control group, no blinding).
The end points are mostly safety related, but there will be some efficiency related end points as well. There is no mention of collecting efficiency data (such as C-peptide numbers, A1c data, blood glucose, insulin usage, etc.)
This study has started recruiting. There was hope it would start in mid 2017, but the study needed some lab infrastructure which the medical center did not have at that time, hence the delay while the new labs were set up.
Recruiting at one site: Hackensack University Medical Center
Hackensack, New Jersey, United States, 07601
Contact: Mariefel Vendivil 551-996-5828 Mariefel.Vendivil@HackensackMeridian.org
Contact: Andrea Ortega 551-996-3923 Andre.Ortega@HackensackMeridian.org
Clinical Trial Records: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02624804
But note that this clinical trial record is out of date. The study has not yet started recruiting, no efficiency end points are listed, and the completion dates are too short.
The Beijing Clinical Trial (NCT03390231)
This study will enroll 100 people. Everyone will be treated (no control group, no blinding).
The primary end point will measure specific immune cells (which are involved in type-1 diabetes) one month after treatment. Secondary end points will cover insulin sensitivity after a month, and A1c, blood glucose, and c-peptide measurements after three months.
They started in Nov-2017, and hope to finish in either July-2018 or Dec-2020 (see discussion below).
Recruiting at one site: Department of Endocrinology, Chinese PLA General Hospital
Beijing, China, 100853
Contact: Yu Cheng, MD,PhD 86 10 55499301 chengyu_301@163.com
Contact: Yiming Mu, MD,PhD 86 10 55499301 muyiming@301hospital.com.cn
Discussion
Differing Results: This treatment has been previously tested twice before. One of these clinical trials had strong results, but the other one had very weak results. I've blogged on these in the past:
http://cureresearch4type1diabetes.blogspot.com/search/label/Stem%20Cell%20Educator
The researchers believe they understand why the two trials had different results, and are hoping to apply this knowledge to the current two trials, in order to get better results.
Date confusion: The FDA's clinical trial registration page requires researchers to list three dates for a clinical trial: start date, primary completion, and study completion. (Once the trial starts, the first is known, while the second two are estimated.) The primary completion date is when the last data for the primary outcome will be gathered. The study completion date is when the last data for the study will be gathered.
For the Beijing study, the primary completion date is May-2018 and the study completion date is Dec-2020. However, the primary end point is a month after treatment, while the secondary end points are either one or three months after treatment. So that means the study completion date should be two months after the primary completion date, not 2 1/2 years! My guess is that there are some two year end points as well, which are not listed in the clinical trial registry. (The New Jersey trial also has two year end points which are not listed in the registry database.)
Joshua Levy
https://ift.tt/29DuN3o
publicjoshualevy at gmail dot com
All the views expressed here are those of Joshua Levy, and nothing here is official JDRF or JDCA news, views, policies or opinions. My daughter has type-1 diabetes and participates in clinical trials, which might be discussed here. My blog contains a more complete non-conflict of interest statement. Thanks to everyone who helps with the blog.
via Cure Research
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