Stem cell treatment for als trial#
“Because this is a fatal and untreatable disease, we hope this could enter a clinical trial relatively soon.Due to their reported ability to differentiate into neurons and astrocytes to replace the dead or injured neurons, we utilize Mesenchymal stem cells, as a potential treatment remedy for ALS patients.įor suitable candidates we offer an extensive treatment protocols for ALS patients which includes the option of applying hundreds of millions of umbilical cord tissue cells, or harvesting and applying large quantities of mesenchymal stem cells, usually drawn from the patient’s own bone marrow. In the future, Suzuki hopes to apply his approach by using clinical grade stem cells. Importantly, mesenchymal stem cells have been already used in clinical trials for various human diseases. “This model has been accepted as the best test bed for ALS experiments,” says Suzuki.īy using adult mesenchymal stem cells, the technique avoided the danger of tumor that can arise with the transplant of embryonic stem cells and related “do-anything” cells. But we aim to keep the neurons alive and healthy using the same growth factors that the body creates, and that’s what we have shown here.”įor the test, Suzuki used ALS model rats with a mutation that is found in a small percentage of ALS patients who have a genetic form of the disease. “These motor nerve cells have extremely long connections, and replacing these cells is still challenging. Originally, much of the enthusiasm for stem cells focused on the hope of replacing damaged cells, but Suzuki’s approach is different. Instead, their contribution was to secrete one or both growth factors.
The injected stem cells survived for at least nine weeks, but did not become neurons. The new research was supported by the ALS Association, the National Institutes of Health, the University of Wisconsin Foundation, and other groups.
The results would provide a new hope for people with this terrible disease.” “In terms of disease-free time, overall survival, and sustaining muscle function, we found that delivering the combination was more powerful than either growth factor alone. That result mirrored his earlier study with GDNF.īut the real advance, Suzuki says, was finding an even better result from using stem cells that create both of these two growth factors. In the study, Suzuki found that using stem cells to deliver vascular endothelial growth factor alone improved survival and delayed the onset of disease and the decline in muscle function. The new study, published in the journal Molecular Therapy on May 28, expands the research to show a similar effect from a second compound, called vascular endothelial growth factor. Previously, Suzuki found that injecting glial cell line-derived neurotropic factor (GDNF) at the junction helped the neurons survive. It might not be an innocent victim of damage that starts elsewhere.” “We know that the neuro-muscular junction is a site of early deterioration, and we suspected that it might be the villain in causing the nerve cell to die. “This is one of our primary differences,” Suzuki says.
The connection between the neuron and the muscle, called the neuro-muscular junction, is where Suzuki focuses his attention. Many scientists have focused on the closer end of the neuron, at the spinal cord, but Suzuki observes that the distant end, where the nerve touches and activates the muscle, is often damaged early in the disease. These nerve cells are often the first to suffer damage in ALS, but it’s unclear where the deterioration begins. In people, the motor neurons that trigger contraction of leg muscles are up to three feet long. The researchers then implanted the cells directly into the muscles of rats that were genetically modified to have symptoms and nerve damage resembling ALS.
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