all Ole Isacson stories

Safer stem cells for therapy

50443248 — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:20:53 -0400

When stem cell researchers in Japan and the United States announced in 2007 that they had developed long-sought methods to return fully developed adult human cells to an embryonic-like state, the world of stem cell research was turned upside down.

Reprogrammed adult skin cells treat Parkinson's disease in animal model

404132862 — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:01:23 -0400

Researchers at the Whitehead Institute and Harvard Stem Cell Institute(HSCI) have reported successfully reducing symptoms in a Parkinson's disease rat model by using dopamine producing neurons derived from reprogrammed adult skin cells(iPS).

The work was reported in a study published in the online Early Edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

Fetal-cell transplants reverse Parkinson's in two patients

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:20:49 -0400

The two patients were part of a small exploratory study in Halifax. In the study, the cells were bathed in the trophic factor GDNF before being implanted into the striatum, the target of dopamine-producing cells. One patient also had cells implanted into the substantia nigra, the origin of the dopamine neurons involved in Parkinson's.

The study provides a picture of both the clinical improvements in the patients and the physiological outcomes of the experiment. The two patients both experienced progressive improvement in symptoms over a three- to four-year period after their transplantation. The patients also showed positive PET scans for dopamine activity in the regions where grafts had been placed. In their postmortem analysis, Isacson's team found dopamine-producing neurons along the graft sites, representing about a 10- to 30-percent survival rate in the putamen and slightly lower survival rate in the substantia nigra.

This is the first reported evidence that cells can survive and form connections in the substantia nigra, which Isacson believes may be an important target for future transplant therapies. The postmortem findings also closely correlate to clinical improvements.

Isacson's team believes it can continue to improve cell-based therapies for Parkinson's disease by better characterizing and controlling specific populations of cells.