Stem cell developments may aid local project to repair nerve cells in
paralyzed patients
Team aims to replace paralyzed nerve cells Monday, December 10, 2007
A novel project begun this summer casts stem cells in a role tailor-
made for Hollywood - microbiological white knights charged with
replacing masses of nerve cells in paralyzed patients.
Whether the Cleveland experiment provides the kinds of dividends that
lead to new and better treatments for spinal cord injuries remains to
be seen. Not even the researchers collaborating on the project know
what the final chapter will say.
But the search for solutions may have gotten a little easier recently
when scientists in Japan and Wisconsin, in separate studies,
manipulated human skin cells to behave like embryonic stem cells by
inserting four fresh genes.
The biological breakthrough, one of the biggest developments in the
field of stem cell research, could become a valuable tool for stem
cell therapy.
The nerve cell project, hatched this summer by a biomedical engineer
at the Functional Electrical Stimulation Center in Cleveland and a
biomedical engineer at Case Western Reserve University, is a good
case in point: Neural pathways rendered extinct because of spinal
cord injuries are resuscitated by an army of neutral cells that adopt
the ways of highly specialized nerve cells and improve mobility.
But there are other examples locally and probably hundreds globally
that stand to benefit if the re-engineered skin cells can be made to
turn on and off the way normal cells do. Best of all, the method
avoids the sensitive political debate over the use of embryonic stem
cells.
"It's going to take a little bit of work before products come out of
this," said Dr. Horst von Rekum, who is applying stem cell technology
in the study of cardiac disease and is one of the main collaborators
on the spinal cord project. "But I think it is going to provide a
tool that will help move therapies rapidly into human study."
It's hard to find scientists who aren't excited about the
possibilities. Research into diseases, from Alzheimer's to diabetes,
could take a new and interesting slant if science is able to produce
vast showrooms of primitive cells without the political controversy
served up by embryonic stem research.
The benefits range from cell replacement, the tantalizing but risky
method that involves moving hordes of stem cells into diseased or
dying human real estate hoping to stimulate the growth of healthy
cells, to the development of targeted therapies that prevent
progression and even lessen the effects of chronic disease.
The 84 researchers who comprise the Center for Stem Cell and
Regenerative Medicine spent about $70 million on stem cell research
this year, according to Executive Director Debra Grega.
http://www.clevelan
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StemCells subscribers may also be interested in these sites:
Children's Neurobiological Solutions
http://www.CNSfoundation.org/
Cord Blood Registry
http://www.CordBlood.com/at.cgi?a=150123
The CNS Healing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CNS_Healing
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