iPSCs are going to clinical trials

Induced stem cells have reached the clinical level

Copper news

Japanese ophthalmologists will submit an application to the country's Ministry of Health in March 2013 to test the medical potential of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), Nature News (Stem cells cruise to clinic) reports.

As the publication notes, "seven years after the discovery of these cells, which modified fundamental research, and the award of the Nobel Prize to their discoverers," scientists intend to transplant the material obtained using the method of reprogramming adult cells into the likeness of embryonic cells to patients with severe eye disease. We are talking about age-related macular degeneration, a common cause of blindness in one percent of people over 50 years of age worldwide.

Masayo Takahashi from the Center for Developmental Biology at the RIKEN Institute in Kobe, the head of the upcoming clinical trials, will be able to start recruiting patients in September.

It is planned to involve six people with the so-called wet age-related macular degeneration, in which new blood vessels begin to grow behind the retina in the direction of the macula.

The prospect of medical use of iPSC worldwide depends on the outcome of these studies, because if they are successful, it will eliminate the current doubts about the safety of cell cultures grown from reprogrammed material.

The Japanese Government hopes that its efforts to accelerate the clinical use of induced pluripotent stem cells, expressed in intensive financial support for research in this area, will be justified by favorable results of experimental therapy.

To obtain a graft that will restore the degenerated retinal pigment epithelium, Takahashi and colleagues will take a peppercorn-sized skin sample from each patient's shoulder and reprogram these cells with the help of certain proteins into induced pluripotent cells that can turn into cells of different specialization. Adding other factors will turn them into retinal cells. A small layer of the resulting retinal cells will be placed under the damaged area of the patient's retina, where, if everything goes well, they will begin to grow and restore the pigment epithelium.

The researchers hope that the transplant will slow down or restrain the development of the disease, but the main goal of this work is to show that retinal cells grown from cells obtained by reprogramming are safe. One of the concerns expressed earlier was related to the results obtained in mice, where reprogrammed cells triggered an immune response. Subsequently, it was shown that this can be avoided. Of great concern is the possible uncontrolled and malignant growth of the introduced cells.

The Takahashi group's study has already been approved by two institute councils in Kobe, currently the final decision on its conduct depends on the committee of the Ministry of Health of Japan, which includes 18 doctors, lawyers, as well as scientists, including three stem cell specialists.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru 28.02.2013