barbara
07-14-2010, 06:39 PM
The Mainichi Daily News
In a move providing hope for treatment of spinal cord injuries, researchers have succeeded in restoring the mobility of mice with damaged spinal cords using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells.
Experiments using the cells were successfully performed by a team of Japanese researchers including Keio University professor Hideyuki Okano and Kyoto University professor Shinya Yamanaka.
"With strict evaluation of the safety of iPS cells, the path to using them in the future to treat spinal cord injuries has been opened," Okano said.
Medical applications for iPS cells, which can transform into cells that form human tissue and organs, are being widely researched, but the danger of the cells producing tumors has posed a problem.
In its research, the Japanese team transplanted iPS cells into the brains of mice, and picked out cells that didn't form tumors after six months. Next, they converted them into neural stem cells that form various nerve cells, and transplanted 500,000 of them into the damaged spinal cord of a mouse nine days after its injury. As a result, the mouse recovered and regained mobility in its hind legs, which it had been unable to move.
When the same experiment was performed with iPS cells that had a risk of producing tumors, the mouse's movements were temporarily restored, but five weeks later a tumor emerged in its spinal cord, and its mobility again declined.
The group's research appeared in the online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).
(Mainichi Japan) July 7, 2010
In a move providing hope for treatment of spinal cord injuries, researchers have succeeded in restoring the mobility of mice with damaged spinal cords using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells.
Experiments using the cells were successfully performed by a team of Japanese researchers including Keio University professor Hideyuki Okano and Kyoto University professor Shinya Yamanaka.
"With strict evaluation of the safety of iPS cells, the path to using them in the future to treat spinal cord injuries has been opened," Okano said.
Medical applications for iPS cells, which can transform into cells that form human tissue and organs, are being widely researched, but the danger of the cells producing tumors has posed a problem.
In its research, the Japanese team transplanted iPS cells into the brains of mice, and picked out cells that didn't form tumors after six months. Next, they converted them into neural stem cells that form various nerve cells, and transplanted 500,000 of them into the damaged spinal cord of a mouse nine days after its injury. As a result, the mouse recovered and regained mobility in its hind legs, which it had been unable to move.
When the same experiment was performed with iPS cells that had a risk of producing tumors, the mouse's movements were temporarily restored, but five weeks later a tumor emerged in its spinal cord, and its mobility again declined.
The group's research appeared in the online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).
(Mainichi Japan) July 7, 2010