Fat-Derived stem cells injected into muscles in new myositis trial
NCT ID NCT04975841
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026
Summary
This study tested whether stem cells taken from a person's own fat tissue are safe to inject into weakened muscles. Nine people with inclusion body myositis received injections in their forearm and thigh. The main goal was to check for side effects, not to measure improvement, though researchers hope this approach might eventually slow or reverse muscle weakness.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- adipose-derived regenerative cells (stem cells from fat tissue)
- What this could lead to
- If safe and effective, this could point toward a treatment that slows or reverses muscle weakness in inclusion body myositis.
- What could go wrong
- This is a very early, small safety study with only 9 people. It is not designed to prove the treatment works, and larger trials are needed.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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9 people
The number who actually took part.
- Started
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Mar 2022
- Finished
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Sep 2025
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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45 years and older
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: 1. Meet any of the European Neuromuscular Centre Inclusion Body Myositis research diagnostic criteria 2011 categories for IBM. (see Appendix 3) 2. Demonstrate being able to arise from a chair without support from another person or device. Subjects may use their arms to push up. 3. Able to ambulate at least 20 ft/6 meters with or without assistive device. Once arisen from the chair, participant may use any walking device, i.e. walker/frame, cane, crutches, or braces. They cannot be supported by another person and cannot use furniture or wall for support. 4. Age at onset of weakness \> 45 years 5. Able to give informed consent 6. Muscle strength graded between 6 and 9 for finger flexion and knee extension unilaterally on one side of the body (right or left) using the Kandell 0-10 scale. A subject may meet this criterion bilaterally and still be included in the study. Exclusion Criteria: 1. History of any of the following excludes subject participation in the study: chronic infection particularly HIV or Hepatitis B or C; cancer other than basal cell cancer less than five years prior, or other chronic serious medical illnesses. 2. Presence of any of the following on routine blood screening: WBC \< 3000; platelets \< 100,000; hematocrit \< 30%; BUN \> 30 mg/dL; creatinine \> 1.5 x upper limit of normal; symptomatic liver disease with serum albumin \< 3 g/dl 3. History of most recent creatine kinase \>15x the upper limit of normal without any other explanation besides IBM. 4. History of non-compliance with other therapies. 5. Use of testosterone except for physiologic replacement doses in case of androgen deficiency. Participants must have documented proof of the androgen deficiency. 6. Coexistence of any other neurological, cardiac, pulmonary, psychiatric, or rheumatologic disease that would likely to affect outcome measures. 7. Drug or alcohol abuse within past three months. Patient has recent history (within 6 months before Screening) of chronic alcohol or drug abuse which may compromise the patient's safety or ability to participate in study activities. 8. Use of cannabis 9. Participation in a recent drug study in the last 30 days prior to the screening visit or use of biologic agents less than 6 months prior to the screening visit. 10. Women who are lactating or pregnant, or men or women unwilling to use a highly effective method of birth control if not surgically sterile (defined as bilateral tubal ligation, bilateral oophorectomy, or hysterectomy for women; vasectomy for men) for both male and female participants until 4 weeks after last dose. Pre-menopausal women must have a negative pregnancy test prior to dosing with trial medication. Acceptable methods of birth control are: i. Hormonal methods associated with inhibition of ovulation such as oral, implantable, injectable, or transdermal contraceptives for a minimum of 1 full cycle (based on the patient's usual menstrual cycle period) before IMP administration. ii. Total abstinence from sexual intercourse since the last menses before IMP administration. (The reliability of sexual abstinence needs to be evaluated in relation to the duration of the clinical trial and the preferred and usual lifestyle of the subject. Periodic abstinence (calendar, symptothermal, post-ovulation methods), are not acceptable methods of contraception). iii. Intrauterine device (IUD) or intrauterine hormone-releasing system (IUS). If the subject is a sexually active male with female partners of child-bearing potential (postmenarchal)\* he must use a condom with or without spermicide in addition to the birth control used by his partners during the trial until 3 months after the last dose of trial medication. \*Non child-bearing potential is defined as post-menopausal (minimum of 12 months with no menses and follicle-stimulating hormone in the post-menopausal range) or sterilisation (hysterectomy, oophorectomy, or bilateral tubal ligation). 11. Participants taking corticosteroids within the previous 30 days prior to screening. Participants on intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) or other immunosuppressants within the last 3 months. Topical, nasal, and ocular corticosteroids are allowed unless they are being widely applied or the severity of the underlying condition makes them unsuitable in the Investigator's opinion. Local steroid injections are allowed. 12. Patients who have aPTT (Activated Partial Thromboplastin Time) values ≥ 1.8 X the normal value. 13. Patients who have received any anticoagulant within 1 hour prior to liposuction. 14. Patients who have received any anticoagulant within 1 hour of stem cell procedure 15. Patients who are on substantial anticoagulation (eg: GIIb/IIIa inhibitor class drugs) who cannot stop it within two weeks prior to adipose harvest 16. Participants who's IBM age of onset is under of 45 17. Participants with an elevated alkaline phosphatase level which may indicate Paget disease 18. Participants allergic or sensitive to lidocaine and or epinephrine 19. Participants with known drug exposures associated with neuromuscular side effects including antimalarial drugs (eg, chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine), colchicine, glucocorticoids, cholesterol-lowering drugs (eg, HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors \[statins\]) except if on stable dose for more than a year without impact on IBM progression, alcohol abuse, and cocaine 20. Use of other concomitant myositis treatment drugs, or cell or gene therapies (e.g. Arimoclomol, Bimagrumab, Follistatin, Rapamycin) 21. Any patient with an area of active skin infection at the site of lipoharvest 22. Participants that are current smokers, defined as an adult who has smoked 100 cigarettes in his or her lifetime and who currently smokes cigarettes.
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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University of Kansas Medical Center
Kansas City, Kansas, 66160, United States
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