ORLANDO, FLORIDA  Jan. 17, 2012

Contact: Barbara Abney
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407-823-5139
University of Central Florida

A first: Brain support cells from umbilical cord stem cells

ORLANDO, Jan. 17, 2012 -- For the first time ever, stem cells from umbilical cords have been converted into other types of cells, which may eventually lead to new treatment options for spinal cord injuries and multiple sclerosis, among other nervous system diseases.

"This is the first time this has been done with non-embryonic stem cells," says James Hickman, a University of Central Florida bioengineer and leader of the research group, whose accomplishment is described in the Jan. 18 issue of the journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/cn200082q?prevSearch=Hickman&searchHistoryKey=

"We're very excited about where this could lead because it overcomes many of the obstacles present with embryonic stem cells."

Stem cells from umbilical cords do not pose an ethical dilemma because the cells come from a source that would otherwise be discarded. Another major benefit is that umbilical cells generally have not been found to cause immune reactions, which would simplify their potential use in medical treatments.

The pharmaceutical company Geron, based in Menlo Park, Calif., developed a treatment for spinal cord repair based on embryonic stem cells, but it took the company 18 months to get approval from the FDA for human trials due in large part to the ethical and public concerns tied to human embryonic stem cell research. This and other problems recently led to the company shutting down its embryonic stem cell division, highlighting the need for other alternatives.

Sensitive Cells

The main challenge in working with stem cells is figuring out the chemical or other triggers that will convince them to convert into a desired cell type. When the new paper's lead author, Hedvika Davis, a postdoctoral researcher in Hickman's lab, set out to transform umbilical stem cells into oligodendrocytes--critical structural cells that insulate nerves in the brain and spinal cord--she looked for clues from past research.

Davis learned that other research groups had found components on oligodendrocytes that bind with the hormone norephinephrine, suggesting the cells normally interact with this chemical and that it might be one of the factors that stimulates their production. So, she decided this would be a good starting point.

In early tests, she found that norepinephrine, along with other stem cell growth promoters, caused the umbilical stem cells to convert, or differentiate, into oligodendrocytes. However, that conversion only went so far. The cells grew but then stopped short of reaching a level similar to what's found in the human nervous system.

Davis decided that, in addition to chemistry, the physical environment might be critical.

To more closely approximate the physical restrictions cells face in the body, Davis set up a more confined, three-dimensional environment, growing cells on top of a microscope slide, but with a glass slide above them. Only after making this change, and while still providing the norephinphrine and other chemicals, would the cells fully mature into oligodendrocytes.

"We realized that the stem cells are very sensitive to environmental conditions," Davis said.

Medical Potential

This growth of oligodendrocytes, while crucial, is only a first step to potential medical treatments. There are two main options the group hopes to pursue through further research. The first is that the cells could be injected into the body at the point of a spinal cord injury to promote repair.

Another intriguing possibility for the Hickman team's work relates to multiple sclerosis and similar conditions. "Multiple sclerosis is one of the holy grails for this kind of research," said Hickman, whose group is collaborating with Stephen Lambert at UCF's medical school, another of the paper's authors, to explore biomedical possibilities.

Oligodendrocytes produce myelin, which insulates nerve cells, making it possible for them to conduct the electrical signals that guide movement and other functions. Loss of myelin leads to multiple sclerosis and other related conditions such as diabetic neuropathy.

The injection of new, healthy oligodendrocytes might improve the condition of patients suffering from such diseases. The teams are also hoping to develop the techniques needed to grow oligodendrocytes in the lab to use as a model system both for better understanding the loss and restoration of myelin and for testing potential new treatments.

"We want to do both," Hickman said. "We want to use a model system to understand what's going on and also to look for possible therapies to repair some of the damage, and we think there is great potential in both directions."

Besides Hickman and Davis, the other authors on the paper were Xiufang Guo, Stephen Lambert, and Maria Stancescu, all from the University of Central Florida.

UCF Stands For Opportunity --The University of Central Florida is a metropolitan research university that ranks as the second largest in the nation with more than 58,000 students. UCF's first classes were offered in 1968. The university offers impressive academic and research environments that power the region's economic development. UCF's culture of opportunity is driven by our diversity, Orlando environment, history of entrepreneurship and our youth, relevance and energy. For more information visit http://news.ucf.edu

Article Source: Eureka Alert

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Athersys has entered a partnership with a nonprofit multiple sclerosis group to investigate its adult stem cell technology for the treatment of MS.

Fast Forward, a nonprofit subsidiary of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, will commit up to $640,000 to fund animal studies of Athersys’ MultiStem in treating MS, a disease that attacks the central nervous system and can lead to paralysis, according to a statement from Cleveland-based Athersys.

The goal of the animal studies is to support the submission of an Investigational New Drug application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and then begin human trials in patients diagnosed with chronic progressive MS. If the MS project hits unspecified milestones related to development and commercialization, Athersys would remit some payments to Fast Forward.

Because research into MultiStem’s application to MS is in such an early stage, it would likely be about 10 years before any treatment would make it onto the market. Lots of expensive development and clinical trial work stands between Athersys and getting a MultiStem MS treatment approved for commercialization.

“Fast Forward’s partnership with Athersys reflects our commitment to seek out and fund innovative biotechnology companies with products that address critical unmet needs for treating MS that could lead to improved quality of life for people living with this debilitating disease,” said Timothy Coetzee, Fast Forward’s chief research officer.

MS wreaks havoc when the body’s own immune system begins to attack myelin, a fatty insulating substance that protects and sheaths nerve fibers. Myelin is important because it helps transmit electrical signals from one part of the brain to another.

When myelin becomes damaged, scar tissue forms and inhibits the body’s ability to transmit nerve signals. That can lead to numbness in the limbs, or more seriously, paralysis and blindness. About 400,000 Americans are affected by MS.

For a small biotech company like Athersys that’s operating on a shoestring budget and has no products on the market, partnership deals like the one with Fast Forward are key to defraying the high cost of drug development.

Athersys has entered several similar development partnerships with various companies for the application of MultiStem to different therapeutic areas, including inflammatory bowel disease with Pfizer,heart attack with Angiotech Pharmaceuticals and orthopedics with RTI Biologics.

Source: MedCity News

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October 13, 2011

Scientists have improved upon their own previous world-best efforts to pluck out just the right stem cells to address the brain problem at the core of multiple sclerosis and a large number of rare, fatal children’s diseases.

Details of how scientists isolated and directed stem cells from the human brain to become oligodendrocytes – the type of brain cell that makes myelin, a crucial fatty material that coats neurons and allows them to signal effectively – were published online and in the October issue of Nature Biotechnology by scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center and the University at Buffalo.

[Areas in red indicate mouse brain cells coated with myelin, a crucial substance lacking in patients with M.S.]

Scientists injected the cells into the brains of mice that were born without the ability to make myelin. Twelve weeks later, the cells had become oligodendrocytes and had coated more than 40 percent of the brain’s neurons with myelin – a four-fold improvement over the team’s previous results published in Cell Stem Cell andNature Medicine.

“These cells are our best candidates right now for someday helping patients with M.S., or children with fatal hereditary myelin disorders,” said Steven Goldman, M.D., Ph.D., the leader of the team and professor and chair of the Department of Neurology at the University of Rochester Medical Center. “These cells migrate more effectively throughout the brain, and they myelinate other cells more quickly and more efficiently than any other cells assessed thus far. Now we finally have a cell type that we think is safe and effective enough to propose for clinical trials.”

The first author and co-corresponding author of the paper is Fraser Sim, Ph.D.,assistant professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University at Buffalo, who did much of the work while he was a researcher at Rochester.

Sim and Rochester graduate student Crystal McClain ran extensive analyses looking at gene activity in different types of stem cells, leading to the conclusion that stem cells carrying a protein known as CD140a on their surface seemed to be most likely to become the desired cells – oligodendrocytes.

“Characterizing and isolating the exact cells to use in stem cell therapy is one key to ultimately having success,” said Sim. “You need to have the right cells in hand before you can even think about getting to a clinical trial to treat people. This is a significant step.”

Read more from: University of Rochester Medical Center forum

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In a small uncontrolled study, 35 people with MS underwent bone marrow stem cell transplantation aimed at “rebooting” the immune system, and were followed for two to 15 years. Two deaths occurred which were attributed to the treatment, and three other patients died over the follow-up period, two of which were attributed to complications of their MS. The treatment showed the most benefit in people considered to have aggressive disease. This procedure is experimental, and is the subject of ongoing clinical trials to determine its benefits and risks in people with MS. Drs. A. Fassas, Vasilios K. Kimiskidis, and colleagues (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Medical School, Greece) report their findings in Neurology (March 22, 2011 76:1066-1070).

Bone marrow transplantation is a lifesaving treatment for certain cancers. It is variously called “hematopoietic stem cell therapy” and “autologous stem cell transplantation.” People are given infusions of their own bone marrow stem cells, which are first extracted and treated. Chemotherapy and sometimes whole-body radiation are used to wipe out the person’s immune system before the bone marrow cells are reintroduced by injection. The hope is that the new immune cells will no longer attack myelin or other brain tissue, so that the person develops a new more tolerant immune system.

This procedure is strictly investigational. In clinical trials over the years, it has produced some good results in MS, usually for younger, less disabled people, however, others have seen their MS return, and experienced more progression. And, sadly, a few have died. The National MS Society’s list of Clinical Trials in MS 2010 lists three ongoing studies in the U.S. and Canada using this approach;read more about these trials.

The team from Greece conducted 35 transplants from June 1995 until May 2001 in people whose MS symptoms had progressed in the year preceding treatment. Two people died from transplant-related complications at two months and 2.5 years after the procedure, and three others died over the follow-up period, two of which were attributed to complications of their MS. Sixteen people improved on the EDSS scale measuring disability, with improvements lasting for a median of 2 years. Two of the individuals stabilized and remained improved over 7 and 8 years, respectively. Seven worsened during follow-up but remained better than their disability level at baseline, while seven others worsened compared to their disability level at baseline. The results appeared to be most beneficial in those who had evidence of active areas of disease activity (“gadolinium-enhancing lesions”) on MRI scans at the time of the transplant.

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BY DALSON CHEN, WINDSOR STAR MAY 3, 2010 9:43 AM

WINDSOR, Ont. — Ottawa doctors, who claim a new medical technique can cause a “very long-lasting remission,” are giving hope to multiple sclerosis patients.

“The inflammatory nature of the disease has virtually ceased in everyone who has received this transplant,” said neurologist Dr. Mark Freedman, who led the study with bone marrow transplant specialist Dr. Harold Atkins.

Freedman said he’s hesitant to say that the transplant of bone marrow stem cells can “cure” multiple sclerosis.

“I hate to use the C-word ... but we’ve induced a very long-lasting remission,” he said.

Aaron Prentice, 35, said he has been “blessed” to be part of the study, which investigates the theory that a person’s immune system can be reset.

Stem cells are harvested from the patient’s blood. Next, the patient’s immune system is destroyed through intense chemotherapy. Then the stem cells are reintroduced with the hope that when the immune system grows back, it will no longer attack the nervous system.

“Kind of like rebooting a computer,” said the Windsor man.

Multiple sclerosis causes the body’s own immune system to attack the fatty myelin sheaths that surround the axons that transmit electrical signals between the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. This hampers the ability of the cells to communicate, leading to a weakening and wasting of the muscles.

Freedman and Atkins plan to release the results of the research later this year.

Continue to read from Canada.com

UKSCF partners with MS Society to financially support clinical development

Susan Aldridge, Ph.D.

The UK Stem Cell Foundation (UKSCF) and the Multiple Sclerosis Society joined forces to accelerate the transfer of stem cell science into the clinic to help patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Up to £1 million of seed funding is to be made available to applicants starting in September. The hope is to get Phase I/II trials of stem cells in MS under way over the next year or so, with initial results expected in 2012.

This is the first disease-specific collaboration for UKSCF, whose mission is to fund the gap between promising stem cell research and clinical trials. It was announced at a special meeting of the London Regenerative Medicine Network (LRMN) on January 14. “MS and advanced stem cell-based therapies—an ABC guide” was the first of a series of new disease-themed meetings to be hosted by LRMN.

“Everyone thinks there is potential for stem cell therapy in MS, but there have been some studies of dubious worth,” noted Mary Archer, UKSCF trustee and chairman of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. “Benefit will only be seen from long-term clinical trials. There is no shortcut, but we are seeking to accelerate the process by joining with the MS Society.”

Stem cell therapies for MS aim to prevent or repair the demyelination of nerve fibers, which is the hallmark of the disease. Two different approaches were described at the LRMN meeting. Professor Robin Franklin, director of the MS Society Cambridge Centre for Myelin Repair, explained that a major problem in MS is that the inherent regenerative process, which would otherwise remyelinate nerve fibers, is not sustained. Therapy could be based on either transplanting myelinogenic oligodendrocytes into the patient or on promoting remyelination by endogenous neural stem cells (NSCs).

Targeting the Wnt Pathway

As long ago as 1993, Franklin and colleagues were able to show remyelination in animals by transplanting NSCs. “We thought we were not far from transplantation, but there was a problem in obtaining cells from humans.” It was not until 2008 that Steve Goldman of the University of Rochester Medical Centershowed that human NSCs can remyelinate the entire brain in a mouse model of a genetic demyelinating disease.

MS, however, is not genetic. It is an autoimmune disease, and transplanted cells are not likely to patch up damaged areas in this way. “We should be able to get the brain to repair the damage itself rather than use a transplant,” Franklin pointed out.

Continue to read from the Genetic Engineering website

• By BRENDA HAWKINS - Collier Citizen
• Posted January 20, 2010

Taking an injection of pureed sheep fetus organs mixed with saline solution may sound like something out of the television show “Fear Factor,” but for two local women suffering from multiple sclerosis, live organo cell therapy brings relief.

First injected into patients intramuscularly by Swiss doctor Prof. Paul Niehans in 1931, live cell therapy uses stem cells from other mammal species to trigger the growth of new cells in humans. The therapy is used to treat a variety of ailments from premature aging and immune deficiencies to degenerative bone disorders, liver and kidney disease and even impotence in men.

The unusual procedure is not without medical controversy regarding health benefits and resulting allergic reactions and is generally debunked in the United States.

For that reason, Naples residents Dr. Debbie Heil and RN Lisa Luthringer travel to Villa Medica in Edenkoben, Germany, twice a year for treatments under the direction of third-generation therapy physician Dr. Robert Janson-Muller.

It was Janson-Muller’s demonstrated success with treating neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis and paralysis following stroke that caught Heil’s attention.

“MS is a mystery disease,” she says. “No one knows what causes it or whether it’s environmental, genetic or viral. It’s so unpredictable, there’s no standard course of treatment and at any moment, you can experience a new, unexpected crisis. Not one person who has MS shows symptoms or signs that follow the textbook cases.”

Heil and Luthringer met at a tea for physicians’ wives in 2000 and later founded two nonprofit organizations, the Multiple Sclerosis Center of SWFL, a support group, and the Heil Luthringer Foundation, which focuses on education.

Despite her husband’s misgivings, Heil completed her first live cell treatment in October 2002 and has completed 13 injections since. Luthringer completed her first therapy in April 2002. The following accounts detail their experiences.

> Continue reading from the Collier Citizen

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