Table 2.
Published clinical studies on the use of G-CSF for SCI treatment.
| Drug/dosage | Application/treatment duration | Outcome | Pat. Nr. | Patient characteristics | Side effects | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G-CSF (a) 5 μg/kg/day + surgery (n = 5) or (b) 10 μg/kg/day + surgery (n = 10) | iv. injection for 5 consecutive days | • Suppressed the progression of myelopathy in all 15 patients • Neurological improvements in both motor and sensory function |
15 | Cervical myelopathy patients, JOA score decreased during recent 1-month period | No serious adverse events occurred during or after treatment | Sakuma et al., 2012 |
| G-CSF (Gran®) (a) 5 μg/kg/day (n = 5) or (b) 10 μg/kg/day (n = 11) | iv. injection, within 48 h after injury for 5 consecutive days | • AIS grade increased by one step in 80% of patients treated like a) and 50% of patients treated like b) • Increase in AIS motor scores detected 1 day after G-CSF administration in 10 μg group • Improvement in light touch and pin prick scores in the 10 μg group |
16 | Traumatic SCI patients recruited within 48 h of the primary injury | No severe adverse effects after G-CSF injection | Takahashi et al., 2012 |
| G-CSF (Gran®) 10 μg/kg/day (n = 17) control group (n = 24) | iv. injection, within 48 h after injury for 5 consecutive days | • AIS grade improvement at least 1 step in 88.2% in the G-CSF group and 33.3% in the control group • Increased AIS improvement within patients with incomplete paralysis • No differences in pinprick score • Significant differences maintained 1 year after treatment |
41 | Traumatic SCI patients recruited within 48 h of the primary injury | No serious adverse effects (One patient in the G-CSF group developed fever proved to be an urinary tract infection One patient developed mild hepatic dysfunction) | Inada et al., 2014 |
| G-CSF Filgrastim (Neupogen®) 5 μg/kg/day | sc. injection for 5 days | • Upper extremity but not lower extremity motor scores improved • Improved light touch sensory scores • Pinprick sensory scores improved • Increase in SCIM III score • Improvements in bladder and bowel management |
19 | Patients with chronic motor complete spinal cord injury, at least 3 months of active rehabilitation, at least 3 months duration of SCI | Mild side effects such as bone pain, rash, fever, neuropathic pain, and spasticity, all of them resolved after 1 week | Derakhshanrad et al., 2013 |
| Filgrastim (Neupogen®) 5 μg/kg/day | sc. injection for 7 consecutive days | • Motor incomplete patients had increased improvement in AIS motor score, light touch, and pinprick sensory scores compared to motor complete patients • Less improvement in SCIM III scores of motor incomplete patients compared to motor complete patients |
74 | Traumatic SCI of at least 6 months duration, with stable neurological status in the last 3 months, undergone at least 3 months of standard rehabilitation, 52 motor complete and 22 motor incomplete patients | Not mentioned | Saberi et al., 2014 |
AIS, ASIA Impairment Scale; ASIA, American Spinal Injury Association; JOA, Japanese Orthopedic Association score; SCIM Spinal Cord Independence Measure.