Our goal is to develop a cellular strategy for repairing the damage seen in children's myelin disease, Multiple Sclerosis and other neurological diseases.

 
Cord Blood Programme - Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto

The primary concern for all new parents is the health of their child. Fortunately, most children reach adulthood with few, if any, serious health problems.
However, some children will be stricken with such cancers as childhood leukemia (one child in 1000), malignant lymphoma or neuroblastoma.

While childhood cancer is a rare event, we now know that stem cells can be used to successfully treat many of these diseases, and that these stem cells are readily available in the umbilical cord at the time of birth.

As a result, The Toronto Cord Blood Programme was established to offer parents the opportunity to retrieve and store these cells for possible future use. The Programme is an initiative of the University of Toronto, Department of Obestetrics and Gynaecology.


posted by Canadian Myelin Research Initiative at 4:03 PM

 
Incara Pharmaceuticals is currently preparing an IND to be filed with the FDA to begin initial Phase 1 clinical trials for the transplantation of human liver cells as a treatment for adults with end-stage liver diseases. Incara's cell population is a well-characterized mixture of liver cells that contains hepatic stem cells.

This year approximately 30,000 people in the United States will die from chronic liver disease. Although decades of research have led to a better understanding of diseases that affect the liver, the only cure for many of these diseases is a liver transplant. There are only about 5,000 transplantable donor livers available in the United States each year while there are approximately 18,000 patients currently on waiting lists for a liver transplant. The incidence of chronic liver failure is expected to increase over the next 10 years as a result of the "silent epidemic" of hepatitis C. The NIH estimates that up to four million people in the U.S. have been infected with this virus and researchers project that over the next 10 years, approximately 15% of these people will develop cirrhosis. Incara believes that cell therapy offers promise to patients afflicted with devastating liver diseases.
posted by Canadian Myelin Research Initiative at 1:20 AM