international exchanges on the field ofregenerative medicine

By Atsushi Ebihara


KOBE Cheap Darren Helm Hoodie , Japan Oct. 31 (Xinhua)-- Prior to the world's first transplantation of human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells to regenerate human retinas, the leader of a research team at an institute in this western Japanese city has argued that shortening the production period for autologous iPS cells and reducing costs will be key to spurring developments in regenerative medicine, in the hope that more research using iPS-derived cells will be carried out for other diseases in the near future.


The new clinical research will be conducted by a group led by Dr. Masayo Takahashi at the Laboratory for Retinal Regeneration, RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology. Her team now plans to transplant autologous iPS-cell derived retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cell sheets into patients with exudativeage-related macular degeneration to check the safety and feasibility of the technique, which is expected to become a new therapy to improve vision.


According to the institute Cheap Martin Frk Hoodie , the eye disease is the most common cause of visualimpairment in the elderly and affects up to 1 percent of people over 50 years of age in Japan.


Commencing the clinical research this autumn, the ophthalmologist expressed in a recent interview with Xinhua her confidence that the pilot scheme will succeed. She stressed that her team's technology ensures the safety of the newly-created iPS cell-derived RPE cells for the new treatment.


To ensure safety, Takahashi said her team has recently begun selecting suitable test subjects to produce autologous iPS cells before transplanting them into human bodies a year later. The primary goal of their research is to find out whether the cells have the potential to form tumors or not. She added that the safe use of iPS cell-derived RPE cells has been repeatedly observed in similar tests using animals such as rats and mice. "Many researchers in the world have become concerned that iPS cell-derived cells have the potential to multiply themselves and create tumors, so our study must demonstrate that the donor cells are medically safe and will survive in the bodies over the following period,"she added Cheap Luke Glendening Hoodie , "We will see the results by 2017, observing a total of six patients."


Takahashialso noted that her team will use"purified" iPS cell- derived cells where no original iPS cells are observed. She attributed the purification process' successful completion to the special character of RPE cells. "Because epithelial cells are usually brown, it is relatively easier for us to purify the iPS cell-derived RPE cells than many other iPS cell-derived cells from the human body,"she said."Our team could produce the safe cells thanks to the color."


As a secondary goal, Takahashi emphasized that her team will see whether the new products are effective or commercially viable as therapy for patients with wet-typeage-related macular degeneration Cheap Henrik Zetterberg Hoodie , of whom there are around 600,000 in Japan.


She said the production and validation of the autologous iPS cells and subsequent RPE cell sheets will take approximately 10 months, stating that this period of time is too long to cope with all such patients at once. "If we need 10 months, we can cover only one or two patients per year, meaning that the method simply isn't suitable as a practical therapy Cheap Anthony Mantha Hoodie , and our next challenge is to shorten the production time,"she said.


Regarding the production period, Takahashi also noted that her team will step up their efforts to develop techniques for producing a so-called"iPS stock,"aiming to introduce an allogeneic transplantation method instead of the current auto- transplantation method. She expects the new production process will take only three to four months before actual transplantation. "If we are able to prepare several types of iPS cell-derived RPE cells according to leukocyte type in advance, we can expect to speed up the transplantation process using allogeneic transplantation Cheap Jimmy Howard Hoodie ,"she added."In addition, the allogeneic transplantation method we anticipate will also save a lot on treatment costs, perhaps millions of yen."


Regarding other diseases which iPS cell-derived cells may be effective at treating, Takahashi identified diseases affecting thrombocytes, spinal disease and Parkinson's disease as the most promising Cheap Tomas Tatar Hoodie , for which related clinical research or similar trials may be carried out by other researchers around in the world.


Expecting international exchanges on the field ofregenerative medicine, meanwhile, Takahashi hopes her team will accelerate its cooperation with a team in the United States, whose members have already used embryonic stem cell-derived cells to cure eye diseases.


In addition, she hopes to strengthen research ties with a Chinese team whose leader was once a student at her laboratory. Takahashi also said during the interview Cheap Gustav Nyquist Hoodie , which was conducted a few days after a trip to China, she expects three"excellent" foreign researchers from China and Thailand to also contribute a good deal to her research project. "Those foreign researchers have stayed very highly motivated to succeed in the new research, surprising our 50-member study group with their enthusiasm for regenerative medicine."She suggested wryly that "young Japanese students should learn from their attitude."


Reflectingon her research background, Takahashi recalled a chance she had in 1995 to study stem cells in the brain as an ophthalmologist at a laboratory in the United States, where she exchanged views with many neuroscientists who were already trying to cultivate neural stem cells Cheap Justin Abdelkader Hoodie , which triggered her later research into iPS cells. "Of course neuroscience had not been my part of work until that time, but that encounters with this unknown field at a new place was the starting point for me to apply new ideas about stem cells to ophthalmology -- first to retinalregeneration, which I had already studied by researching the mechanisms of many diseases of the eye."TakaSo you want t. Air Max 95 Sale Air Max Outlet Air Max 90 Sale Wholesale Soccer Jerseys Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys Wholesale Cheap Womens Nike NBA Jerseys Wholesale MLB Jerseys China Wholesale Soccer Jerseys From China Cheap Kids Adidas NHL Jerseys Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys Online