August 21, 2012 | By John Carroll In the first such officially-sanctioned study of its kind, investigators are planning to test whether stem cells can effectively treat autism. And they've drawn some quick criticism of their work from researchers who are skeptical about the small number of young patients which will be recruited for the FDA-approved trial.In the study, investigators at the Sutter Institute for Medical Research in Sacramento, CA, will enroll 30 children between the ages of two and 7. Half will be treated with injections of their own cord blood stem cells drawn from a single stem cell bank over 6 months, while the other half is given a placebo. Then they will switch therapies for the next 6 months."This is the start of a new age of research in stem cell therapies for chronic diseases such as autism, and a natural step to determine whether patients receive some benefit from an infusion of their own cord blood stem cells," said Michael Chez, the director of pediatric neurology with the Sutter Neuroscience Institute and principal study investigator. "I will focus on a select portion of children diagnosed with autism who have no obvious cause for the condition, such as known genetic syndromes or brain injury."
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