A study has been published showing how injecting foetal neural cells into the damaged spinal cords of rats led to a marked regeneration of the neural pathways.

According to a team from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and colleagues in the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Slovakia, once cells extracted from the foetal spinal cord were grafted on to the damaged region, links between the injected cells and existing ones developed and debilitating muscle spasms subsided.

"The primary benefits were improvement in the positioning and control of paws during walking tests and suppression of muscle spasticity," said Martin Marsala, a professor in UC San Diego's department of Anesthesiology and coauthor on the paper, published in the Stem Cell Research and Therapy journal online. "We have also demonstrated that grafted neurons can develop contacts with the host neurons and, to some extent, restore the connectivity between centres, above and below the injury, which are involved in motor and sensory processing."

The rats were injured three days prior to treatment, with a circular rod used to compress the L3 vertebra for 15 minutes. Damage to the L3 is associated most commonly with herniated discs and is a hot spot for chronic back pain in humans. Mice that received the graft also received immunosuppressants for the duration (they died two months later, in a "planned sacrifice") and the grafts were stained with immunofluorescence so it was clear where the original tissue began and ended. The subjects were then monitored for any improvements in movement -- noting things like gait and ability to climb ladders -- and frequency of muscle spasms during computer-controlled ankle rotations.

Although there wasn't any improvement of note when it came to things like the ladder climbing test, muscle spasms did significantly subside, normal heat and pain sensitivities returned and the rats appeared to have better control over their paws. Perhaps more significantly, the team came away with physical evidence of the regeneration with MRI scans picking up the immunofluorescent stem cell grafts and showing how they had filled the hole in the spinal region left by the rod damage, with the "development of putative GABA-ergic synapses between grafted and host neurons".

Although the study provided significant results, the team ultimately wants to opt-out of using embryonic spinal stem cells. This is not because of the inevitable moral questions that arise from using foetal cells, but because in an ideal world we don't want to be administering immunosuppressants -- the only way of avoiding that is to use cells produced by our own bodies. This could be achieved by using pluripotent stem cells from patients, then turning them into neural precursors. Making sure these cells are stable enough to insert into a human spinal cord is key to the therapy being taken forward, but there are already plans to take the study up a notch with human trials involving patients with injuries between T2 and T12 that have no motor or sensory functions below the injury. It's also already being done elsewhere in the world.

StemCells Inc has been using human neural stem cells derived from adult tissue -- known as HuCNS-SC cells (an engineered cell devised by the company) -- in small trials on patients suffering from severe spinal cord injuries. After six months, sensory functions had begun to return in two of the three patients involved in the trial, with those improvements persisting for the duration of the year-long trial.

"Between the six- and 12-month evaluations, one patient converted from a complete to an incomplete injury," said Armin Curt, professor at the Spinal Cord Injury Centre at Balgrist University Hospital in Zurich, where the trial took place. "While much more clinical research needs to be done to demonstrate efficacy, the types of changes we are observing are unexpected and very encouraging given that these are patients in the chronic stage of complete spinal injury."

Unlike the rat study, the Zurich trial is not however a controlled clinical study and took in just those three patients. Nevertheless, the results are astounding and show great promise for using a patient's own cells one day in the future.

Elsewhere this week, a team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine has announced it has managed to induce improved muscle function in rats with a model of terminal motor neurone disease ALS, using adult stem cells from human bone marrow. The cells were once again engineered to fulfill a specific function -- in this case the team wanted them to promote regrowth of damaged nerve cells and targeted the point where the nerve meets the muscle (where degeneration commonly begins). The cells would not become neurons, but release growth factors.

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Study: foetal stem cells repair spinal cord injury in rats

Health

May 29, 2013

JTA

An Australian Jewish man donated his stem cells to a Jewish patient who is believed to be dying of a rare blood disorder.

Craig Rosen, 42, of Melbourne began donating his stem cells three months ago and underwent procedures until May 20, Melbournes Herald Sun newspaper reported. The stem cells were called a perfect match.

It is rare for a complete stranger to match someone theyve never met, said Yehuda Kaplan of the Gift of Life Australia.

Usually a genetic match is easiest to find from blood relatives or within the same ethnic group.

This patient I helped was overseas somewhere and there was no match from his family, Rosen told the Herald Sun. I know when they reach out around the world its because the person has no other chance for survival.

He added, Im very humbled by the fact that I was given the opportunity to save someone. This is somebodys child, somebodys sibling, somebodys parent a few days of discomfort for me, big deal.

The recipients personal details remain confidential, but if the stem cell donation is successful, Rosen may meet his recipient.

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Australian Jew donates stem cells to unknown recipient

Washington, May 30 : In type 1 diabetes patients, their immune system attacks the very insulin-producing cells it was designed to protect.

Now, a University of Missouri scientist has discovered that this attack causes more damage than scientists realized.

The revelation is leading to a potential cure that combines adult stem cells with a promising new drug.

Habib Zaghouani, PhD, J. Lavenia Edwards Chair in Pediatrics, leads the research with his team at the MU School of Medicine.

"We discovered that type 1 diabetes destroys not only insulin-producing cells but also blood vessels that support them," Zaghouani said.

"When we realized how important the blood vessels were to insulin production, we developed a cure that combines a drug we created with adult stem cells from bone marrow. The drug stops the immune system attack, and the stem cells generate new blood vessels that help insulin-producing cells to multiply and thrive," he explained.

Often called juvenile diabetes, type 1 diabetes can lead to numerous complications, including cardiovascular disease, kidney damage, nerve damage, osteoporosis and blindness.

The disease attacks the pancreas. The organ, which is about the size of a hand and located in the abdomen, houses cell clusters called islets. Islets contain beta cells that make insulin, which controls blood sugar levels. In people with type 1 diabetes, beta cells no longer make insulin because the body's immune system has attacked and destroyed them.

When the immune system strikes the beta cells, the attack causes collateral damage to capillaries that carry blood to and from the islets. The damage done to the tiny blood vessels led Zaghouani on a new path toward a cure.

In previous studies, Zaghouani and his team developed a drug against type 1 diabetes called Ig-GAD2. They found that treatment with the drug stopped the immune system from attacking beta cells, but too few beta cells survived the attack to reverse the disease. In his latest study, Zaghouani used Ig-GAD2 and then injected adult stem cells from bone marrow into the pancreas in the hope that the stem cells would evolve into beta cells.

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Cure for type 1 diabetes may lie in adult stem cells

May 29, 2013 Millions of people with type 1 diabetes depend on daily insulin injections to survive. They would die without the shots because their immune system attacks the very insulin-producing cells it was designed to protect. Now, a University of Missouri scientist has discovered that this attack causes more damage than scientists realized. The revelation is leading to a potential cure that combines adult stem cells with a promising new drug.

The discovery is reported in the current online issue of Diabetes, the American Diabetes Association's flagship research publication. Habib Zaghouani, PhD, J. Lavenia Edwards Chair in Pediatrics, leads the research with his team at the MU School of Medicine.

"We discovered that type 1 diabetes destroys not only insulin-producing cells but also blood vessels that support them," Zaghouani said. "When we realized how important the blood vessels were to insulin production, we developed a cure that combines a drug we created with adult stem cells from bone marrow. The drug stops the immune system attack, and the stem cells generate new blood vessels that help insulin-producing cells to multiply and thrive."

Surrounded by an army of students and a colony of mice, Zaghouani has spent the past 12 years in his lab at MU studying autoimmune diseases like type 1 diabetes. Often called juvenile diabetes, the disease can lead to numerous complications, including cardiovascular disease, kidney damage, nerve damage, osteoporosis and blindness.

Type 1 diabetes attacks the pancreas. The organ, which is about the size of a hand and located in the abdomen, houses cell clusters called islets. Islets contain beta cells that make insulin, which controls blood sugar levels. In people with type 1 diabetes, beta cells no longer make insulin because the body's immune system has attacked and destroyed them.

When the immune system strikes the beta cells, the attack causes collateral damage to capillaries that carry blood to and from the islets. The damage done to the tiny blood vessels led Zaghouani on a new path toward a cure.

In previous studies, Zaghouani and his team developed a drug against type 1 diabetes called Ig-GAD2. They found that treatment with the drug stopped the immune system from attacking beta cells, but too few beta cells survived the attack to reverse the disease. In his latest study, Zaghouani used Ig-GAD2 and then injected adult stem cells from bone marrow into the pancreas in the hope that the stem cells would evolve into beta cells.

"The combination of Ig-GAD2 and bone marrow cells did result in production of new beta cells, but not in the way we expected," Zaghouani said. "We thought the bone marrow cells would evolve directly into beta cells. Instead, the bone marrow cells led to growth of new blood vessels, and it was the blood vessels that facilitated reproduction of new beta cells. In other words, we discovered that to cure type 1 diabetes, we need to repair the blood vessels that allow the subject's beta cells to grow and distribute insulin throughout the body."

Zaghouani is pursuing a patent for his promising treatment and hopes to translate his discovery from use in mice to humans. He is continuing his research with funding from the National Institutes of Health and MU.

"This is extremely exciting for our research team," he said. "Our discovery about the importance of restoring blood vessels has the potential to be applied not only to type 1 diabetes but also a number of other autoimmune diseases."

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Adult stem cells could hold key to cure type 1 diabetes

May 30, 2013

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports Your Universe Online

Damage caused to insulin-producing cells by the immune systems of type 1 diabetes patients could be more damaging than previously believed, but a University of Missouri scientist believes that their new discovery could lead to the development of a potential cure for the condition.

Individuals suffering from type 1 diabetes rely upon their daily insulin injections in order to survive, and without those shots their bodys defense system would attack the very cells that they were designed to protect.

Now, Dr. Habib Zaghouani of the MU School of Medicine reports that these types of attacks can be more harmful than scientists had realized, and that this research could lead to improved treatment options featuring a combination of a promising new diabetes drug and adult stem cells.

We discovered that type 1 diabetes destroys not only insulin-producing cells but also blood vessels that support them, Dr. Zaghouani, who details his findings in the current online edition of the journal Diabetes, said in a statement.

When we realized how important the blood vessels were to insulin production, we developed a cure that combines a drug we created with adult stem cells from bone marrow, he added. The drug stops the immune system attack, and the stem cells generate new blood vessels that help insulin-producing cells to multiply and thrive.

Dr. Zaghouani has spent the last dozen years studying autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes, which is also known as juvenile diabetes and can result in cardiovascular disease, kidney and nerve damage, osteoporosis and other complications. This form of diabetes attacks the pancreas, an organ which houses cell clusters known as islets which themselves contain beta cells, the researchers explained.

In most people, those beta cells make insulin, a substance which controls blood sugar levels, but in those with type 1 diabetes, they no longer do so because they have been attacked by the bodys immune system, they noted. When the immune system attacks those beta cells, the capillaries that help transport blood to and from the islets are also damaged, and it is this discovery that has inspired the Missouri researchers to work on a potential new cure.

Previously, Dr. Zaghouani and his colleagues developed Ig-GAD2, a new type of medicine used to help treat type 1 diabetes. They discovered that treatment with this drug helps prevent the immune system from attacking the beta cells. However, too few of the beta cells survived the attack to reverse the disease. Based on their new findings, he and his associates used Ig-GAD2 and then injected adult stem cells from bone marrow into the pancreas, hoping that those stem cells would ultimately evolve into replacement beta cells.

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Using Stem Cells Could Help Cure Type 1 Diabetes

The world's first human trials of synthetic blood could take place in Scotland, it has been reported.

Researchers from the Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine (SCRM) in Edinburgh have been granted a licence to make blood from stem cells which could be tested on humans, The Scotsman has reported.

The licence from the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency will allow scientists at SCRM to attempt to manufacture blood on an industrial scale which will help to tackle shortages and stop the transfer of infections from blood donors, according to the paper.

Trials on humans, if approved, would be the first stage in establishing more large-scale clinical trials and could result in regular use of synthetic blood.

Researchers will use stem cells from adult donors - known as induced pluripotent stem cells - as part of this project instead of the more controversial embryotic ones.

Project leader Marc Turner said: "In the first part of the project we used human embryonic stem cell lines and one of the problems with using those lines is you can't choose what the blood group is going to be.

"Over the last few years there has been a lot of work on induced pluripotent stem cells and with those an adult can donate a small piece of skin or a blood sample and the technology allows for stem-cell lines to be derived from that sample.

"This makes our life a lot easier in some ways because that means we can identify a person with the specific blood type we want and get them to donate a sample from which we could manufacture the cell lines."

With the licence scientists will also be able to work on stem cell products used to help patients with Parkinson's disease, diabetes, cancer or those who have suffered a stroke.

Prof Turner hopes that the preparations to begin human testing will be completed in the next two to three years, the paper reported.

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Stem cells blood trial licensed