Dr. Lauralyn McIntyre, OHRI Scientist and ICU Physician at The Ottawa Hospital

A team of researchers from the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) and the University of Ottawa (uOttawa) will lead the first clinical trial in the world of a stem cell therapy for septic shock.

Septic shock accounts for 20 per cent of all Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admissions in Canada and costs $4 billion annually. This deadly condition occurs when an infection spreads throughout the body and over-activates the immune system, resulting in severe organ damage and death in 30 to 40 per cent of cases.

Led by Dr. Lauralyn McIntyre, this new Phase I trial will test the experimental therapy in up to 15 patients with septic shock at The Ottawa Hospital’s ICU.

The treatment involves mesenchymal stem cells, also called mesenchymal stromal cells or MSCs. Like other stem cells, they can give rise to a variety of more specialized cells and tissues and can help repair and regenerate damaged organs. They also have a unique ability to modify the body’s immune response and enhance the clearance of infectious organisms.

They can be found in adult bone marrow and other tissues, as well as umbilical cord blood, and they seem to be easily transplantable between people, because they are more able to avoid immune rejection.

There has been a great deal of interest in using MSCs to treat disease, with most research so far focused on heart disease, stroke, inflammatory bowel disease and blood cancers. Hundreds of patients with these diseases have already been treated with MSCs through clinical trials, with results suggesting that these cells are safe in these patients, and have promising signs of effectiveness.

“Mesenchymal stem cell therapy appears promising in animal studies, but it will require many years of clinical trials involving hundreds of patients to know if it is safe and effective,” said Dr. Lauralyn McIntyre, a Scientist at the OHRI, ICU Physician at The Ottawa Hospital, Assistant Professor of Medicine at uOttawa and a New Investigator with CIHR and Canadian Blood Services. “This trial is a first step, but it is a very exciting first step.”

As with all Phase I trials, the main goal of this study is to evaluate the safety of the therapy and determine the best dose for future studies. The 15 patients in the treatment group will receive standard treatments (such as fluids, antibiotics and blood pressure control), plus a planned intravenous dose of 0.3 to 3 million MSCs per kg of body weight.

The researchers also plan to evaluate 24 similar septic shock patients who will receive standard treatments only (no MSCs). All patients will be rigorously monitored for side effects, and blood samples will be taken at specific time points to monitor the cells and their activity.

This trial will not be randomized or blinded and it will not include enough patients to reliably determine if the therapy is effective. It will be conducted under the supervision of Health Canada and the Ottawa Hospital Research Ethics Board, and will have to be approved by both of these organizations before commencing.