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

 
Stem cell technique shows promise as MS treatment

By Ann Lukits
The Kingston-Whig Standard

A leading Canadian neurologist who is experimenting with stem cell transplants to cure multiple sclerosis says the technique appears to be halting � and possibly reversing � the disease. Dr. Mark Freedman said there is no sign of multiple sclerosis in the first six patients enrolled in a $4-million multi-centre study investigating the effectiveness of bone marrow transplants in stopping the disease.
There is also early evidence that the transplants are contributing to a �regeneration� of myelin, the substance that surrounds and protects the central nervous system but can be damaged permanently in people with MS.

�We�re very hopeful that if that continues we�re seeing something we�ve never seen before with MS,� Freedman told The Whig-Standard.

Led by Freedman, Dr. Harold Atkins, a bone marrow transplant physician at the University of Ottawa, and Dr. Roland Martin of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the study will involve 36 people diagnosed with rapidly progressing multiple sclerosis who are likely to become severely disabled.

Of the 36 patients, approximately 24 will receive bone marrow transplantation while the others will serve as a control group.

Freedman said that the goal of the bone marrow transplantation study is to wipe out the old immune system in MS patients �because it doesn�t work or it doesn�t work very well� and replace it with a new one. Following transplantation, participants will be monitored closely for signs that the disease has either disappeared, regressed or returned. As part of that monitoring, patients will undergo complex immune system tests that may pinpoint specific genes that contribute to a genetic susceptibility.

Participants in the study will be hospital inpatients for several weeks in one of three treatment centres in Ottawa, Toronto or Montreal. Before receiving treatment, patients will undergo an operation to remove bone marrow from their pelvis. (The marrow will be frozen and reserved in case it is needed to restore the immune system if the treatment fails.)

Participants will also be given a chemotherapy drug that causes the bone marrow to grow more white blood cells. About two weeks after receiving the drug, a portion of the white blood cells will be collected and purified to remove any trace of the old system before being frozen and reserved.

Freedman said the multiple sclerosis study is specifically recruiting patients �who have not yet been so disabled as to have no other recourse but to take this procedure. If you walk with more than a cane you�re out.�
Although no one from Kingston is enrolled in the study, Freedman said there is nothing to stop physicians from referring people to Ottawa for screening.

At this point, three drugs will be administered to destroy the existing immune system. Then the purified stem cells will be thawed and given back to each individual in a procedure similar to a blood transfusion



posted by Canadian Myelin Research Initiative at 11:55 AM

 
Trial of High-Risk Therapy for Severe MS Planned

By Richard Woodman
LONDON (Reuters Health) - Scientists announced plans on Monday for a major trial of a controversial stem cell therapy in people with severe multiple sclerosis (MS) who do not respond to conventional treatment.

Professor Giovanni Mancardi from the University of Genoa in Italy said up to 240 people in 30 centers would take part, even though early studies suggest that the new therapy carries a high mortality risk as well as possible clinical benefits.
"The mortality is important and cannot be eliminated. The justification is that there is a population of MS patients who worsen rapidly in spite of conventional therapy," he told Reuters Health.

Multiple sclerosis is a progressive neurological disease characterized by inflammation and destruction of myelin, the protective coating surrounding neurons in the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms can include numbness, muscle weakness, extreme fatigue, impaired vision, coordination problems and sometimes paralysis. There is no clear cause for the disease, which affects about twice as many women as men.

Mancardi told the European Federation of Neurological Societies congress in Vienna that a study of 16 patients he had carried out in Italy suggested that this method can suppress inflammation in severe MS for at least 2 year
posted by Canadian Myelin Research Initiative at 5:39 PM

 
Dr. Jacek Kwiecien of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario Canada is working in collaboration with Aventis in the test of a new myelination drug. The drug replicates the function of myelin in the nervous system and the results of Dr. Kwiecien's studies with his LES/LeBo rats indicates that nerve transmission rates, impacted by myelin lesions, return to almost normal with the application of the Aventis drug. He writes:

I am back after a long and very eventful sequence of 2 major meetings -
Neurotrauma in Tampa Bay and Neuroscience in Orlando. The drug was received with great interest by researchers, neurosurgeons, neurologists and foundations including Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation and International Spinal Trust (a large group based in UK) and specialized press. Craig and I think that this interest will result in company considering the drug as priority resulting in a number of additional applications including developing it as treatment for MS. CRPF people even asked me whether I would be interested in conducting a study on chronic effect of the drug on the axonal function in the LES rats, if funded by them. I am trying not so much to get money from them (their typical level of funding would not be sufficient to perform this study properly) but use this interest in getting Aventis people in higher management to get interested in such and other important projects.

The drug is being developed now for treatment of chronic spinal cord injury because it improves function of unmyelinated axons in a variety of animal models and is not toxic in people. This compound has also a number of other beneficial effects: one which I am interested now involves apparent increase in robustness of remyelination in rodents with spinal cord injury.

Regarding the remyelination study in the LES and LE-bo rats by humand stem cells:

� I spoke with Jane S. Lebkowski, Vice-President R&D, Regenerative Medicine, Geron Corporation about testing their humand embryonic stem cells in my rats and she said that they are in the financial crunch right now so they will not be able to fund such a project anytime soon. However, I offered to test such cells in my rats for free if they provide me with cells and protocol how to culture them to differentiate into oligodendroglial lineage. Cells from Geron and from WiCell (University of Wsconsin) are derived from the same embryos (the seminal work on hES cells by James Thompson at U of Wisconsin-Madison was funded by Geron) therefore such a deal if it comes to a close will constitute saving of U$6,000 from my point of view. I already sent an e-mail to Jane reiterating my willingness to perform this study.

posted by Canadian Myelin Research Initiative at 1:16 PM