Professor Armin Curt, leading the study, described the result as fundamental.
He said: To find something that can repair the spinal cord is a huge breakthrough. If we can show that something has changed for the better [as a result of stem cell therapy] thats fundamental.
He presented the findings at the annual conference of the International Spinal Cord Society in London on Monday.
Prof Curt was working in partnership with StemCells Inc., a Californian company which also has a base in Cambridge.
Dr Stephen Huhn, from the firm, said: We think these stem cells are one of the first tools we have for actually repairing the central nervous system.
"To see this kind of change in patients who truly have the worst-of-the-worst type of injury to the spinal cord is very exciting."
The three patients, who all had complete spinal injury where they could feel nothing below the break, were each given a dose of 20 million adult neural stem cells about six months ago.
This was primarily a safety trial, and Prof Curt said monitoring had shown a very good safety profile.
But detailed questioning and objective tests also showed signals were passing up the injured spine to the brain, when they had not before.
One of the patients, Knut lstad, a 46-year-old Norwegian financial consultant, said: Ive noticed changes. When somebody touches my stomach, I can feel something. I cant be specific, but I can sense it.
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Stem cells help paraplegics regain feeling