Study Shows Evidence That Transplanted Neural Stem Cells Produced Myelin

A Phase I clinical trial showed that neural stem cells successfully engrafted into the brains of patients and appear to have produced myelin.

The trial was led by investigators from the University of California, San Francisco and sponsored by Stem Cells Inc.

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The study, published in the Oct. 10, 2012 issue of Science Translational Medicine, also demonstrated that the neural stem cells were safe in the patients’ brains one year post transplant.

The results of the investigation, designed to test safety and preliminary efficacy, are encouraging, said principal investigator David H. Rowitch, MD, PhD, a professor of pediatrics and neurological surgery at UCSF, chief of neonatology at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator.

"For the first time, we have evidence that transplanted neural stem cells are able to produce new myelin in patients with a severe myelination disease," said Nalin Gupta, MD, PhD, associate professor of neurological surgery and pediatrics and chief of pediatric neurological surgery at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, and co-principal investigator of the PMD clinical trial.

Signaling Pathway and Neural Stem Cells
Researchers have identified a signaling pathway, that plays a key role in regulating the fate of neural stem cells in the adult brain, reveals research published in Neuron.



		IMAGE:This is Nalin Gupta, M.D., Ph.D.

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Source-Eurekalert

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