A professor from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences
announced that they have succeeded in taking stem cell-based
therapies out of the laboratory and into clinical trials in an
effort to help people with leukemia and other illnesses.
Zhao Chunhua said at a news conference in Beijing?Tuesday
that the Chinese-developed treatment, using an injection of
mesenchymal cells, has gone into its first phase of clinical
testing.
Scientists are also working on stem cell-based therapies in
pre-clinical trials to treat coronary disease, diabetes, liver
failure and other conditions, said Zhao, and this should pave the
way for commercially viable medical products.
Stem cells are cells that have yet to differentiate into
specific types, e.g. muscle, bone, blood. Therapies based on them
aim to use them to repair damaged or malfunctioning organs, and are
hoped to greatly improve the outcomes of future treatments.
How to obtain the right kinds of stem cell and how to encourage
them to develop outside the body so that they may be used to treat
malignant tumors have become vital questions, according to
researchers.
Zhao's team has isolated stem cells from bone marrow that are
able to differentiate into a variety of types of cell, and which
can then be injected to help repair and renew diseased tissue.
The first phase of clinical testing will conclude in three
months. "If everything goes well, we will move on to second and
third phase trials, hopefully in a year," said Zhao.
Zhang Mu, an official with the Ministry of Science and
Technology's Biological Technology Center, said, "Whether this
breakthrough is successful or not depends on the clinical
outcomes."
Jia Jingdun, an official from the Ministry of Science
and Technology, said they are drafting regulations to ensure
effective and ethical use of stem cell-based therapies, along with
the health ministry.
(China Daily February 2, 2005)