Neural Stem Cell Treatment for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (STEMALS)

Phase A: Open, monocentric safety, dose-finding study: The hNSCs will be produced by the UPTA (Unità Produttiva per Terapie Avanzate) of "Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza" according to GMP guidelines and injected using an Ommaya reservoir which will be removed immediately after the transplant procedure. The reservoir consists of an indwelling ventricular catheter with a dome-shaped collapsible silicone reservoir port positioned under the scalp. The distal end of the catheter is surgically positioned into the ipsilateral ventricle and connected to the reservoir. Six patients affected by ALS will be consecutively enrolled after pre- and screening visits. Thereafter, the first three patients will receive 20 million of hNSCs. If none of the three patients will present a serious adverse event classified as related to the study treatment, the dose level will be escalated up to 40 million of hNSCs for the next and last cohort of three patients. An Independent Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) will oversee the safety of the Study Subjects on an ongoing basis, will review all safety data and issue a final recommendation at the end of this phase. Phase B: randomized, controlled vs placebo, in three arms, with two different doses of 20 and 40 *10^6 cells transplanted using an Ommaya reservoir. The reservoir will be placed to all recruited patients in a first surgical session, after randomization half of the subjects will receive the drug product (further randomized for doses) and half the placebo. After three months, patients that already received cells will also be infused with placebo while the others will be randomized and transplanted with one of the two cell doses previously mentioned. This secondary randomization will be performed to provide experimental treatment to all patients and is not intended as a second stage of a cross-over study. In the second surgical session the Ommaya reservoir will be removed and patients will be monitored for 3 months after that.

Inclusion criteria

• Patient provides written informed consent, informed consent signature collection prior to any study procedure (patient has good acceptance and understanding of the informed consent);
• Definite, probable diagnosis according to the revised El Escorial criteria;
• Age: 18-65 years;
• FVC >70%;
• Onset ≤ 24 months;
• Patients with an ALSFRS-R score of at least 26; overall, including a score of at least 2 on each of the 1-9 ALSFRS-R individual component items and of at least 3 of the 10-12 individual components items;
• Evidence of fast progression of the disease. We exclude slow progressors at the time of screening defined as Patient with an ALSFRS-R total score progression between onset of the disease and screening of < 0.3 per month. We document the fast progression of the disease defined as ALSFRS-R total score decrease of ≥ 1 point per month during a 12 week run-in period between screening and randomization;
• Patient should be on a stable dose of Riluzole for > 30 days from pre-screening visit or not taking riluzole at all, nor plan to begin riluzole during the study period;
• Patient is medically able to tolerate transient immunosuppression regimen;
• Presence of a willing and able caregiver who understands the need to attend all follow-up visits, even if mobility declines.

Exclusion criteria

• Psychiatric disease or other neurological diseases different from ALS;
• Evidence of any concurrent illness or treatments limiting the safety to participate or any condition that the neurosurgeon feels may pose complications for the surgery;
• Cancer within the previous 10 years;
• Immunosuppressive therapy within 12 weeks of screening; active autoimmune disease or infection (including hepatitis B, hepatitis C, or HIV);
• Cognitive impairment;
• Contraindications to perform MRI scans, CSF withdrawal and Skin biopsy;
• Patient unable to understand informed consent form;
• Pregnancy and breast feeding;
• Patient has been treated previously with any stem cell or somatic cells therapy;
• Patient has participated in another clinical treatment trial or received other experimental medications outside of a clinical trial within 1 month prior to start of this study.