Stem cell therapy after radiation therapy can help patients with brain tumors to restore lost functions - information about this is published in the journal of the American Cancer Research Association.

> Radiation therapy is the generally accepted standard for the treatment of most types of brain cancer, but this method poses a rather serious problem for oncologists. The fact is that the consequences of radiation therapy are very destructive: almost all patients have progressive deterioration of memory and cognitive ability of the brain after it, which negatively affects the patient's quality of life. In children with oncology, after treatment, the IQ index decreases to three points per year.

In search of solutions to this problem, a team of researchers at the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of California, led by Professor Charles Limoli, conducted a series of experimental studies in rats. The animals were injected with human neural stem cells two days after irradiation. As a detailed examination showed, part of the injected stem cells in the brain of the animals became brain cells, and this effect was observed for four months. The result was a significant improvement in brain activity in comparison with the control group of animals not treated with stem cells.

"To date, adult stem cells (derived from bone marrow, cord blood and peripheral blood) are actively used to restore the patient's immune system after chemotherapy and radiation therapy. The results of the study of Professor Limoli will allow doctors to use stem cells not only to save the lives of patients with brain cancer, but also help to improve the quality of their lives after treatment, "said Andrei Lakhturov, Director General of the Ukrainian Family Cord Blood Bank" Hemafund ".

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