Stem Cells May Be Key To Healing Limbs
UConn researcher hopes his work may someday help wounded soldiers
By Associated Press Writer , Dave Collins Published on 9/23/2007
By Bob Child
Hartford — David Rowe says a special breed of mice he is developing
at the University of Connecticut Health Center may one day help
reveal new treatments for severe limb injuries, like the ones U.S.
troops are returning with from Iraq.
Rowe, a professor of reconstructive medicine, has recently begun work
on growing mice that won't reject human embryonic stem cells. The
goal is to put the cells into the mice and regrow fractured bones and
damaged tissue.
"The hope is you can use these strategies ... to potentially recreate
the tissue that was traumatically lost," he said. "The war injuries
that our troops are sustaining ... are causing unimaginable
destruction of the limbs. In the past they succumbed to these
injuries. Now they're surviving them."
Rowe is one of several Connecticut-
first grants from the state's nine-year, $100 million stem cell
research program in March.
Six months into the projects, the scientists say labs and equipment
are in place, staffs have been trained and the research is about to
begin.
Stem cells are the body's foundation cells and can be manipulated to
grow into all types of human tissue and organs, according to the
International Society for Stem Cell Research. Scientists say stem
cells appear very promising in finding cures for cancer, Alzheimer's,
Parkinson's, diabetes and other debilitating diseases.
Because the federal government does not fund research on new
embryonic stem cell lines, several states have approved or are
considering programs for such research. California's $3 billion
commitment is the largest in the country.
Rowe's project was awarded $3.5 million by the state after its
scientific merits were reviewed by a panel of experts from outside
the state who look at all applications to Connecticut'
Rowe said his focus is on turning embryonic stem cells into bone,
cartilage, joints, skeletal muscle and skin. Besides repairing limb
damage, the research has the potential to develop therapies for
muscular dystrophy, osteoporosis and severe burns.
If the UConn researchers are successful in getting the human stem
cells to regenerate bones in the mice and documenting exactly how to
do it, they can apply to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to
test the procedure on humans. But Rowe said such an FDA request is
several years away.
"What we're all interested in ... is how do you take stem cells and
direct them to be useful in some kind of reparative strategy," he
said. "We're going to grow them under a number of different
conditions and see how far they progress toward the cells we want
them to become."
Rowe and fellow UConn scientists have been working on the concept for
the past five years. They have already succeeded in getting mouse
bones to grow back using adult stem cells from other mice. Now
they're going to see if they can get human stem cells to do the same
thing.
Yale University received a $3.8 million grant from the state's stem
cell research program earlier this year to study how to turn human
embryonic stem cells into nerve cells.
Michael Snyder, a biology professor at Yale and director of the
university's Center for Genomics and Proteomics, said nerve cell
therapy has the potential for helping people with paralysis,
Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
"If we understand the basic steps to forming nerve cells, hopefully
we can control it in cases where you need to fix them," Snyder
said. "It's a really complex process. Nobody really knows all the
steps that go on."
Yale is trying to grow embryonic stem cells into human dopamine
cells, which control motor function and disappear in people who
develop Parkinson's disease. The research does not involve animals.
Snyder said he and his colleagues recently moved into a new stem cell
research center in Yale's Amistad Building, and he expects to begin
work on the embryonic cells soon.
The Connecticut Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee, which oversees
the grant program, awarded $20 million in the first round of funding
in March to 21 projects across the state and will dole out $10
million a year through 2015.
The first grants included $5 million for two centers that will
acquire human embryonic stem cells, test them for quality and provide
certified cells to researchers.
Regional
http://www.theday.
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StemCells subscribers may also be interested in these sites:
Children's Neurobiological Solutions
http://www.CNSfoundation.org/
Cord Blood Registry
http://www.CordBlood.com/at.cgi?a=150123
The CNS Healing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CNS_Healing
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