Full article c/o mol iii site23 Jan 2017 17:04
Stem cells: will they redefine stroke treatment?
The Pharmaceutical Journal17 JAN 2017By Dara Mohammadi
Researchers are investigating whether stem cells can be used to restore brain tissue and reverse disability in people who have suffered a stroke, or even to stop the damage from happening in the first place. Recent trial results indicate that the field is making progress towards human application.
Illustration of stem cells
Source: Shutterstock.com
In a business park next to a motorway in Bridgend, South Wales, tucked between a petrol station and a fast-food restaurant, is a nondescript office building. Inside that building, John Sinden, the chief scientific officer at stem-cell company ReNeuron, is showing me something extraordinary. It’s a time-lapse recording of the company’s neural stem cells. Four days of their lives sped up to fit in a two-minute clip. At this speed their actions are unmistakable. “We don’t know how they’re doing it,” says Sinden, “but we think they are looking for each other.”
John Sinden, the chief scientific officer at stem-cell company ReNeuron
Source: ReNeuron
John Sinden, chief scientific officer at stem-cell company ReNeuron, says that evidence of a treatment effect in the phase II trial justifies the move to a phase III trial, which is what the field needs
The cells are groping around the petri dish, extending finger-like processes to find each other. When they do, they pull themselves together until, around a minute into the video, they’ve formed large, chattering crowds, glowing white in the middle. “They seem to like contact and when they get it they seem to divide — you can see them divide when they go bright,” he says. “It’s at this point that we usually take them out.” Once out, the cells are put through rigorous testing, are amplified further and are vialled up and stored in large cryogenic freezers at the back of the building ready for shipment to testing centres.
Sinden and his colleagues have big plans for these cells. Stem cells can differentiate into specialised cell types and might thus work as a treatment to restore the damage to brain tissue caused by stroke. Each year, more than 150,000 people in the UK have a stroke: 1 in 8 die within the first 30 days; 1 in 4 die within a year. Around 80% of strokes are ischaemic, caused by a blockage that deprives brain tissue of blood and oxygen. The rest are haemorrhagic, in which a weakened blood vessel bursts and causes bleeding within the brain. Half of people who survive a stroke are left with disabilities that affect their movement, their ability to talk or their ability to think (see Table 1). There are 1.2 million stroke survivors living in the UK today.
Table 1: Range of disabilities caused by stroke
Difficulty % of people affected
Source: Stroke Association. State of the nation: stroke statistics; January 2016
Upper limb/ar
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