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Japanese researchers will begin a clinical trial this week to treat Parkinson's disease using induced pluripotency (iPS) cells, the first test to be performed for this neurodegenerative disease.
which will begin Wednesday, consists of the implantation of healthy nerve cells in the brains of patients to supplement those damaged, as announced by the Kyoto University.
The Japanese government gave birth to the team led by Professor Jun Takahashi of the University's iPS Cell Research and Application Center to begin treatment in seven patients.
IPS cells are pluripotent because they are capable of generating any cell in the body. They are a type of stem cell laboratory, because they are not originally, but are artificially derived or "reprogrammed" from an adult cell that was not pluripotent.
Researchers have already tested monkeys and verified that none of the animals developed brain tumors that could become cancerous in the two years following the experiment , as some experts have warned
It would be covered by the Asian health system and aims to meet the growing number of patients suffering from this disease, about 160,000 people in Japan, according to figures from the Japanese agency Kyodo.
Parkinson's disease, the second most common neurodegenerative disease of Alzheimer's, it reduces the neurons that produce dopamine in the brain and produces tremors in the hands and feet and stiffness in the brain. erpo . It usually occurs after the age of 50, although its prevalence increases in the elderly.
"I would like this treatment to be available to people as soon as possible," he said. Kosei Hasegawa, president of the Parkinson's Association, in a statement to the Kyodo agency
iPS cells were already used in Japan to perform pioneering retinal grafts or to manufacture drugs to treat a disease
The University of Osaka also plans to use them to create muscle tissue and thus treat heart failure
(Source : EFE)
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