ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT01777646Updated Mar 8, 2018

Autologous Mesenchymal Bone Marrow Stromal Cells Secreting Neurotrophic Factors (MSC-NTF), in Patients With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

A Phase 2 interventional study of MSC_NTF cells transplantation by multiple intramuscular injections at 24 separate sites, in addition to a single intrathechal injection into the CSF in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, sponsored by Brainstorm-Cell Therapeutics. Completed at 1 site in Israel. Open to participants aged 20 Years to 75 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2018-03-08.

Sponsored by Brainstorm-Cell Therapeutics · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
14
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
20 Years to 75 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The study will evaluate the safety, tolerability and therapeutic effects of transplantation of escalating doses of autologous cultured mesenchymal bone marrow stromal cells secreting neurotrophic factors (MSC-NTF), in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Read the detailed description

This is a phase IIa prospective, open label, dose-escalating, three patient-group clinical study, to evaluate the safety, tolerability and preliminary efficacy of autologous cultured mesenchymal bone marrow stromal cells secreting neurotrophic factors (MSC-NTF), as a potent treatment for patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) at the early disease stages. This study is a single center trial. It is anticipated that the study will be conducted at the Department of Neurology \& Laboratory of Neuroimmunology, at the Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem in Israel. In addition, ALS patients could also be referred to the clinical site above by other medical centers.

All patients enrolled will have a documented history of ALS disease prior to study enrollment. Patients diagnosed as early stage ALS disease with duration of less than 2 years. ALS patients identified as "predisposed" will be approached and requested to sign an Informed Consent Form (ICF). Overall, 14 patients will be recruited.

Treatment will start with the lowest dose (94x106 cells) and the dose will be increased to the next medium and high dose (141x106 and 188x106 respectively), for the next patients group only following safety analysis.

The expected duration of patient screening period prior to enrollment into this study is in-between two weeks up to 2 days prior to the study enrollment day during visit 2 (verification of compliance with inclusion/exclusion criteria including clinical laboratory results). Eligible patients will be enrolled into the study and will be observed for every month during a "run in period" of 3 months for determination of the progression rate of the disease (allowing a time window of ± 5 days for all visits). During the "run in period" after about 6 weeks following enrollment, patients of both study groups will undergo a Bone Marrow Aspiration (BMA) procedure and MSC-NTF cells will be produced from the bone marrow aspirate based on Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics Ltd proprietary method. On the last "run in period" visit, patients will undergo the treatment and MSC-NTF will be transplanted by IM+IT to the early ALS patients.

After the MSC-NTF transplantation patients will be observed on a monthly basis for a post treatment follow up period of 6 months (allowing a time window of ± 5 days for all visits). Treatment safety, adverse events and exploratory parameters, to establish ALS progression rate assessment of the disease will be recorded throughout the duration of the "run in period" and the post treatment follow up period.

02

Conditions studied

  • Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Keywords

  • Mesenchymal Strmal Cells (MSC)
  • Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
  • Neuroprotection
  • Neurodegeneration
  • Stem cells
03

In context

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

978 studies on the registry are indexed under Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis; 277 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 14 is below the median of 38 across 662 interventional studies indexed under Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Browse Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis studies →

Lead sponsor

Brainstorm-Cell Therapeutics is the lead sponsor of 7 studies on the registry; 1 is open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
20 Years to 75 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  1. Patient must fulfill El Escorial criteria (APPENDIX 2) for definite or probable ALS (sporadic and not familial)
  2. Participants, either men or non pregnant women are between 20 and 75 years of age.
  3. The patient is mentally intact and psychologically stable
  4. Patients will be with an ALS-FRS-R scale (APPENDIX 3) of at least 30 and disease duration of less than 2 years.
  5. Patient has sufficiently bulky muscles.
  6. Participant understands the nature of the procedure and provides written prior to any study procedure.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Patient has a positive test for , or .
  2. Patient has high protein in the CSF (Protein > 70 mg/ml).
  3. Patient has lymphocytosis in the CSF (lymphocytes > 5/ml).
  4. Patient is positive for anti-GM1 antibodies.
  5. Patient has significant conduction blocks or slow nerve conduction velocities (a reduction of more than 30%) confirmed by nerve conduction velocity - EMG studies.
  6. The patient is a respiratory dependent patient.
  7. Patients with renal failure (Cr > 2 mg/dl).
  8. Patients with impaired hepatic function (, AST or GGT 2-fold higher than normal upper limit).
  9. Patients suffering from significant cardiac disease, malignant disease or any other disease that may risk the patient or interfere with the ability to interpret the results
  10. Patient with active infections.
  11. Participation in another clinical trial within 1 month prior to start of this study.
  12. Patient has not been treated previously with any cellular therapy.
  13. Subject unwilling or unable to comply with the requirements of the protocol.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(5)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Hepatitis B tests

Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.

Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.

Hepatitis C tests

Hepatitis C is a virus that infects the liver. An HCV antibody test can stay positive after an infection has cleared (and is occasionally positive without one); an HCV RNA test shows whether the virus is there now.

After treatment, hepatitis C counts as cured when HCV RNA is still undetectable 12 weeks or more after the treatment ended. Studies often accept people cured this way.

HIV

The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.

Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.

ALT and AST (liver enzymes)

Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.

Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
14 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    MSC-NTF

    Biological: MSC_NTF cells transplantation by multiple intramuscular injections at 24 separate sites, in addition to a single intrathechal injection into the CSF

Interventions

  • BiologicalMSC_NTF cells transplantation by multiple intramuscular injections at 24 separate sites, in addition to a single intrathechal injection into the CSF
06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Safety evaluation and tolerability of a single treatment administration in an escalating-dose of autologous cultured mesenchymal bone marrow stromal cells secreting neurotrophic factors (MSC-NTF)

    Time frame: At baseline and up to 6 month following treatment administration

Secondary outcomes

  1. Changes in the progression rate of the disease as evidenced by changes in the ALS functional rating scale

    Time frame: At baseline and up to 6 month following treatment administration

  2. Changes in muscle strength grading (MVIC) by muscle chart

    Time frame: At baseline and up to 6 month following treatment administration

  3. Changes in muscle bulk estimated by MRI of the upper and lower extremities

    Time frame: At baseline and up to 6 month following treatment administration

  4. Change in upper and lower extremities circumference (cm)

    Time frame: At baseline and up to 6 month following treatment administration

  5. Changes in EMG parameters

    Time frame: At baseline and up to 6 month following treatment administration

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Hadassah Medical Organization
    Jerusalem, 91120, Israel
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Gothelf Y, Kaspi H, Abramov N, Aricha R. miRNA profiling of NurOwn(R): mesenchymal stem cells secreting neurotrophic factors. Stem Cell Res Ther. 2017 Nov 7;8(1):249. doi: 10.1186/s13287-017-0692-1. PubMed 29116031 ↗
  • Petrou P, Gothelf Y, Argov Z, Gotkine M, Levy YS, Kassis I, Vaknin-Dembinsky A, Ben-Hur T, Offen D, Abramsky O, Melamed E, Karussis D. Safety and Clinical Effects of Mesenchymal Stem Cells Secreting Neurotrophic Factor Transplantation in Patients With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: Results of Phase 1/2 and 2a Clinical Trials. JAMA Neurol. 2016 Mar;73(3):337-44. doi: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2015.4321. PubMed 26751635 ↗
09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Ran from Dec 2012 to primary completion in Sep 2014, 21 months.

Of 36 industry-sponsored phase 2 interventional studies under Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, half reached primary completion within 21 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 15 and three quarters within 35. This study's 21 months is close to that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 73 studies reached it within 24 months; a quarter within 16 and three quarters within 35.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Dec 12, 2012
First posted
Jan 29, 2013
StartActual
Dec 2012
Primary completionActual
Sep 2014
CompletionActual
Sep 2015
Last update
Mar 8, 2018
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Mar 8, 2018, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT01777646
Lead sponsor
Brainstorm-Cell Therapeutics
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jan 29, 2013
Start date
Dec 2012
Primary completion
Sep 2014
Completion
Sep 2015
Last update
Mar 8, 2018

Study contacts

Dimitrios Karusis, MD, PhD
principal investigator · Hadassah Medical Organization
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Mar 2018. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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