Cell therapy: Japan rushes into the lead
Pioneer of Stem cell research puts on a great future
Dmitry Tselikov, Compulenta
The progress of stem cell therapy is depressingly slow, because in addition to purely scientific problems, research is hampered by so-called ethical as well as legal barriers, because of which investors are in no hurry to put money on the barrel.
The pioneer of stem cell research Shinya Yamanaka from Kyoto University (Japan) intends to push the development of the industry by creating a stem cell bank for therapeutic use. The bank will store dozens of lines of induced pluripotent stem cells, as a result, Japan will be able to become the foremost biomedical research leader for the first time.
Shinya Yamanaka (photo M. Naka / Aflo / Newscom).
Mr. Yamanaka's long-held dream, the iPS Cell Stock project, received a new boost in July when the local Ministry of Health authorized the creation of cell lines from embryonic cord blood samples stored in abundance throughout the country.
Mr. Yamanaka was the first in 2006 to show that mature mouse skin cells can be turned back into stem cells, that is, capable of forming all body tissues. In 2007, he repeated the experiment on human cells, and thus there was hope that it would be possible to circumvent the "ethical issues" associated with stem cells obtained from embryos. In addition, IPS cells can be obtained from the cells of the patient himself, which will avoid their rejection by the immune system.
Since then, eight long-term projects have been established in Japan aimed at ensuring that treatment with IPS cells goes beyond laboratories and reaches ordinary hospitals. One of them, headed by Mr. Yamanaka, is trying to find a panacea for Parkinson's disease for $2.5 million a year. According to the scientist, clinical trials are at least three more years away. But already in 2013, experiments are planned to restore the retina using IPS cells at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology.
This project will not need cells from Mr. Yamanaka's bank. But as soon as these or some other tests are successful, the demand for cells will increase dramatically, and obtaining IPS cells and checking them for compatibility with the body of a particular patient can take six months (for each cell line) and cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Therefore, Shinya Yamanaka plans to create a permanent stock of 75 cell lines by 2020, which are suitable for 80% of the Japanese population. To do this, you need to find donors with two identical copies of each of the three key genes that encode proteins related to the immune system and located on the cell surface, that is, human leukocyte antigens (HLA). The scientist believes that at least 64 thousand people will have to comb through the samples.
Using a collection of eight Japanese cord blood banks will greatly simplify the task. The banks contain about 29 thousand samples indicating the characteristics of their HLA, and Mr. Yamanaka is already negotiating. The question remains whether banks should ask for the consent of donors, most of whom donated blood for the treatment and study of leukemia.
Mr. Yamanaka has already installed the appropriate equipment on the second floor of the IPS Cell Research Center at Kyoto University and is now waiting for management approval. The first batch of copies, suitable for 8% of the Japanese population, may arrive in March.
The project has a great chance of success also because the genetic diversity in Japan is relatively small, whereas in other countries such banks should be larger and more expensive. Therefore, such collections are created there primarily for study, not for treatment. For example, the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (USA) has planned a bank of about three thousand cell lines that will be available only for research.
Prepared based on Nature News: Stem-cell pioneer banks on future therapies.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru13.08.2012