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Biotech / Medical : Stem Cell Research -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SnowShredder who wrote (129)	7/22/2005 4:11:38 PM
From: SnowShredder	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 495

Stem cells may protect brain Just parking... Best of Luck, SS heraldsun.news.com.au >>>>> Stem cells may protect brain: study From correspondents in Milan, Italy 14jul05 STEM cells may protect the brain and nervous system against damage from tumours and conditions such as multiple sclerosis, researchers at Milan's San Raffaele Scientific Institute found. Experiments with mice with a disease similar to multiple sclerosis showed stem cells injected into the blood stream migrated to inflamed areas in the brain and spinal cord, killing inflammatory cells, the researchers said. This means a single injection of stem cells could be used to treat many different areas of damage in the body, reducing the clinical signs of the disease. "There is a therapeutic potential in this discovery, but it's still too early to talk about a cure for humans," head of research Gianvito Martino told a news conference. Mice treated with stem cells at the onset of the disease started to recover between one or two months, the team reported. Stem cells are primitive cells that can transform themselves into many specialised forms, such as blood cells. Their potential of regenerating organs or tissue has given hope to sufferers from nervous diseases such as multiple sclerosis. The researchers said the stem cells could also potentially be used as a natural anti-inflammatory drug to treat damage by diseases such as stroke, brain tumours, and spinal cord injuries. "With this discovery, we are moving closer to a targeted use of stem cell therapy without side effects," researcher Stefano Pluchino said. "The interesting thing is that adult stem cells grow in vitro without becoming specialised, they are injected and the find the damaged organ by themselves and decide autonomously how to treat it." The results of the study will be published in Nature magazine this week. >>>>> ncbi.nlm.nih.gov 1: Nature. 2005 Jul 14;436(7048):266-71. Related Articles, Links Neurosphere-derived multipotent precursors promote neuroprotection by an immunomodulatory mechanism. Pluchino S, Zanotti L, Rossi B, Brambilla E, Ottoboni L, Salani G, Martinello M, Cattalini A, Bergami A, Furlan R, Comi G, Constantin G, Martino G. Neuroimmunology Unit-DIBIT, Vita-Salute University, San Raffaele Hospital, via Olgettina 58, 20132 Milan, Italy. In degenerative disorders of the central nervous system (CNS), transplantation of neural multipotent (stem) precursor cells (NPCs) is aimed at replacing damaged neural cells. Here we show that in CNS inflammation, NPCs are able to promote neuroprotection by maintaining undifferentiated features and exerting unexpected immune-like functions. In a mouse model of chronic CNS inflammation, systemically injected adult syngeneic NPCs use constitutively activated integrins and functional chemokine receptors to selectively enter the inflamed CNS. These undifferentiated cells survive repeated episodes of CNS inflammation by accumulating within perivascular areas where reactive astrocytes, inflamed endothelial cells and encephalitogenic T cells produce neurogenic and gliogenic regulators. In perivascular CNS areas, surviving adult NPCs induce apoptosis of blood-borne CNS-infiltrating encephalitogenic T cells, thus protecting against chronic neural tissue loss as well as disease-related disability. These results indicate that undifferentiated adult NPCs have relevant therapeutic potential in chronic inflammatory CNS disorders because they display immune-like functions that promote long-lasting neuroprotection. PMID: 16015332 [PubMed - in process]