Ground-breaking research on stem cell repair system
The process of repairing human tissue damaged by ageing, injury or disease through stem cell therapies may only be a few years away. A study headed by researchers from UNSW Australia was published on April 4 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.
Their research has successfully demonstrated a repair system which reprogrammed bone and fat cells into induced multipotent stem cells (iMS). This new method is similar to the technique used by salamanders to regenerate their lost limbs. This has the potential to repair bone fractures to broken spinal discs and transform present treatment approaches to regenerative medicine.
UNSW Associate Professor John Pimanda, haematologist, and the study’s lead author said, “This technique is a significant advance on many of the current unproven stem cell therapies, which have shown little or no objective evidence they contribute directly to new tissue formation.” He also added, “We are currently assessing whether adult human fat cells reprogrammed into iMS cells can safely repair damaged tissue in mice, with human trials expected to begin in late 2017.”
This salamander limb regeneration technique depends on the plasticity of differentiated cells which are able to repair multiple tissue types. Currently, there are no adult stem cells that are capable of regenerating multiple tissue types so this is ground-breaking research, according to Pimanda.
DrVasheChandrakanthan, the first author of the study and the one who developed the technology said that this new technique has overcome the issues they are facing with embryonic stem cells. “Embryonic stem cells cannot be used to treat damaged tissues because of their tumour forming capacity. The other problem when generating stem cells is the requirement to use viruses to transform cells into stem cells, which is clinically unacceptable.”
Once the safety and effectiveness of this method using human cells in mice has been demonstrated, Dr. Ralph Mobbs, a neurosurgeon and Conjoint Lecturer with UNSW’s Prince of Wales Clinical School, will lead human trials.
Along with confirming that human adult fat cells reprogrammed into iMS stem cells can safely repair damaged tissue in mice, the researchers said further work is required to establish whether iMS cells remain dormant at the sites of transplantation and retain their capacity to proliferate on demand.
Source: Science Daily
