As the era of regenerative medicine came upon us, the ability for scientist to replenish destroyed cells by disease was seen as the next medical revolution. What we discovered was that we were far away from accomplishing that goal.
A neurological disease known as myelin disorder has scientists Steve Goldman, M.D., Ph.D., Maiken Nedergaard, Ph.D., and Martha Windrem, Ph.D., contend that researchers are opening doors for human application of stem cell therapies for a class of neurological disease.
"Stem cell biology has progressed in many ways over the last decade, and many potential opportunities for clinical translation have arisen," said Goldman. "In particular, for diseases of the central nervous system, which have proven difficult to treat because of the brain's great cellular complexity, we postulated that the simplest cell types might provide us the best opportunities for cell therapy."
Two important cells that support the central nervous system functions are the oligodendrocyte, and the glial progenitor cell. One of these cells, the oligodendrocyte is a common factor in myelin disorder. The oligodendrocyte is created by another cell which is called the glial progenitor cell, this cell is found in the central nervous system.
The oligodendrocytes produce myelin. When the cells that make myelin are lost or destroyed the signals that travel between the nerves become weak or even lost. This happens in conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis and spinal cord injuries. The sister cells, astrocytes also play a major role in the brain. As time passed scientist who focused on illness such as multiple sclerosis came to understand that the astrocytes played a big and important role in the human body. It is now understood that these cells are critical to the signaling function of oligondendrocytes.
Glial progenitor cells are readily manipulated and transplanted which is very promising for stem cell therapies. Although similar in some ways the oligodendrocytes differ in many ways, one way which stands out is once injected into the body -discovered after multiple animal studies- the cells spread and begin to repair damaged areas.
The research on myelin disorder is moving faster and faster from these findings and discoveries to the point where human studies are close to begin. Multiple sclerosis patients are those who will benefit most from this discovery, MS can cause permanent damage to the central nervous system and these findings could be a path to fixing these damages.
Reference: Science Daily (Stem Cell Therapies for Multiple Sclerosis, Other Myelin Disorders Expected Soon) Oct. 24th, 2012
Gabriel D.
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