European Consortium for Stem Cell Research—EuroStemCell

THE EUROSTEMCELL CONSORTIUM brings together sixteen partners, integrating a broad range of disciplines and combining the expertise of the best laboratories in Europe. The centers involved are all international leaders in their respective fields, and collectively provide the skills and technologies necessary for groundbreaking stem cell research. The collaborative activities of the consortium are laying the groundwork for taking stem cell technology to the clinic in the form of well characterized cell lines and a solid pre—clinical skills and knowledge base.

EuroStemCell, the European Consortium for Stem Cell Research, most recently has produced promising results for treating the debilitating and often fatal genetic disorder of muscular dystrophy (MD). Researchers from the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan, Italy, led by Dr. Giulio Cossu, have been studying the most common form of the disease, known as Duchenne muscular dystrophy. They discovered that the mesoangioblast muscle stem cell, present in the walls of blood vessels, produced encouraging results when injected in mice. They took mesoangioblast stem cells from the blood vessels of dogs with the mutation, corrected it using gene therapy, and re—injected the modified stem cells.

They also repeated the procedure with cells from healthy dogs, using drugs to prevent immune rejection. Both treatment procedures resulted in the increased production of dystrophin, though the injection of the donor stem cells yielded the most encouraging results. Repeated doses of cells [Page 194]from the healthy dogs restored muscle function in four of five dystrophic dogs.

EuroStemCell, which published this educational DVD, has dedicated considerable resources to public outreach.

In their experiment, researchers found that stem cells successfully established themselves in the host tissue, allowing for the production of dystrophin, offsetting the effects of muscular dystrophy. The injected stem cells not only produced dystrophin in the affected leg, but in other areas of the body as well, including respiratory muscles, leading researchers to believe that they are on the right track to finding an effective treatment for MD sufferers.

EuroStemCell's research program is organized into eight work packages on specific areas of stem cell research, supported by six flagship projects that span the work package areas. Five work packages focus on the fundamental biology of stem cells.

The focus of the Identification and Isolation of Stem Cells work packages is to identify, isolate and undertake comparative characterization of stem cells for tissues of major clinical importance: neural stem cells for brain repair; mesodermal stem cells for giving rise to blood cells and muscular tissue; epithelial stem cells for skin replacement and for generation of thymus and other epithelial organs.

The purpose of the third work package, Lineage Analysis and Differentiation Potential, is to determine the normal routes a stem cell takes when differentiating into specialized cells and contributing to tissues. Analyzing these lineages will highlight the intermediate cell types generated by stem cells, as well as their locations, migratory routes and cellular environments in normal individuals. This is an important source of information for the isolation, culture and differentiation of stem cells in the laboratory, and is therefore crucial if stem cells are to be used for stem cell regenerative therapies and drug discovery.

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