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(Nanowerk News) A nanotechnology-derived bone marrow stem cell-mediated treatment has reversed the symptoms of multiple sclerosis in mice and could possibly be used to help humans, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California at Irvine.
"Until now, stem cell therapies for autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases have yielded mixed results in clinical trials, in part because we do not know how the treatments work," said the researcher. Corresponding author Weian Zhao, Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Biomedical Engineering. affiliated with the Stem Cell Research Center Sue & Bill Gross. "This study helps solve this mystery and paves the way for testing on human patients."
In previous experiments, intravenously injected stem cells – derived from the bone marrow and activated with interferon gamma, a protein of the immune system – were often trapped in filter organs before reaching their target. For this study, published in the journal ACS Nano The researchers avoided this problem by extracting nanoparticles called exosomes from stem cells and injecting them into rodents with MS.
Loaded with RNA and anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective protein molecules, the exosomes were able to slide across the blood-brain barrier. In addition to rehabilitating lost motor skills and reducing nerve damage caused by MS, they have normalized the immune system of subjects, something that conventional drugs can not do, said author co-author of the study , Reza Mohammadi, PhD student in Materials Science and Engineering.
Other experiments are in progress.
"This new treatment will be tested on humans in early 2020, initially on people with type 1 diabetes," said co-lead author Milad Riazifar, who has been working on the study as a PhD student in pharmacological sciences in Zhao's laboratory. a clinical trial of the method by City of Hope. "If successful, this could pave the way for the treatment of other autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis."
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