Brain cell transplants help Huntington's patients

An operation involving the transplant of fetal brain cells into sufferers from a devastating brain disease has slowed the patients' decline.

Three patients who had holes drilled in their skulls and millions of cells extracted from aborted fetuses inserted into their brains were still benefiting from the treatment six years later, a study has shown.

The patients have Huntington's disease, an inherited brain disorder that leads to gradual mental and functional decline ending in death in 15 to 20 years. It is caused by a single faulty gene and parents who carry it have a 50 per cent chance of passing it on to their children.

Researchers have been experimenting with fetal brain cell transplants to treat the most serious brain disorders, including Huntington's and Parkinson's disease, for two decades. Several hundred patients have received the transplants in Europe and the US.

Six to eight fetuses are required to provide the necessary brain cells for each operation. Women were asked to donate fetal material only after they had decided to have an abortion.

- INDEPENDENT