ARTICLE: Cross-species Stem Cell Transplantation Holds Promise for Treating Brain Disorders

[Murray Charters <mcharters@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Betterhumans, Canada 

Cross-species Stem Cell Transplantation Holds Promise for Treating Brain 
Disorders
Dwayne Hunter
Betterhumans Staff

Friday, June 20, 2003, 1:38:20 PM CT

Stem cells have been found that can be successfully transplanted from one 
species to another without immune system
rejection, a discovery that could bring stem cell treatments for brain 
disorders closer.

Researchers from Kansas State University, publishing in the journal 
Experimental Neurology (read abstract), report that
they have xenotransplanted umbilical cord matrix stem cells from a pig into the 
brain of a rat without the rejection of
the foreign cells by the rat's immune system.

Umbilical cord matrix stem cells are extracted from a material called Wharton's 
jelly, a gelatinous connective tissue
that helps maintain the umbilical cord's structure and protect its blood 
vessels.

While they aren't sure why or how, the researchers found that the transplanted 
cells survived for six weeks undetected,
without rejection and without the use of any drugs to suppress an immune 
response.

Developed into brain cells

It is common for the immune system to reject foreign cells, especially those 
from other species, and the response poses
serious limitations on the success of cell and organ transplants -- especially 
xenotransplants.

To counteract immune system rejection, patients are usually put on 
immunosuppressive therapy. But often, complications
arise from immune suppression or from secondary effects of immunosupressive 
drugs.

Something about stem cells from pig umbilical cord matrix, however, allows them 
to be ignored by the immune system.

And because a subset of the transplanted stem cells respond to the chemical 
environment of the brain and develop into
cells commonly found in the nervous system, they could eventually be used to 
treat human brain disorders.

"Specifically, the umbilical cord matrix cell source may offer us a basis for 
treating nervous system disorders like
Parkinson's disease," says neuroscientist and study first author Mark Weiss.

As evidence from previous studies 
 shows that 
human
umbilical cord matrix cells can differentiate into nervous system tissue, 
Kansas State researchers are now extending
the findings to test human transplant suitability.

SOURCE: Betterhumans, Canada 


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