{"id":94236,"date":"2014-06-11T15:43:18","date_gmt":"2014-06-11T19:43:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=94236"},"modified":"2014-06-25T09:39:00","modified_gmt":"2014-06-25T13:39:00","slug":"embryonic-stem-cells-offer-treatment-promise-for-multiple-sclerosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2014\/06\/embryonic-stem-cells-offer-treatment-promise-for-multiple-sclerosis\/","title":{"rendered":"Embryonic Stem Cells Offer Treatment Promise for Multiple Sclerosis"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"ImStem<\/a>
ImStem Biotechnology\u2019s Xiaofang Wang, seated, and Ren-He Xu. (Tina Encarnacion\/UConn Health Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Scientists in the University of Connecticut\u2019s Technology Incubation Program<\/a> have identified a novel approach to treating multiple sclerosis (MS) using human embryonic stem cells, offering a promising new therapy for more than 2.3 million people suffering from the debilitating disease.<\/p>\n

The researchers demonstrated that the embryonic stem cell therapy significantly reduced MS disease severity in animal models, and offered better treatment results than stem cells derived from human adult bone marrow.<\/p>\n

The study was led by ImStem Biotechnology Inc.<\/a> of Farmington, Conn., in conjunction with UConn Health Professor Joel Pachter, Assistant Professor Stephen Crocker, and Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) Inc. of Massachusetts. ImStem was founded in 2012 by UConn doctors Xiaofang Wang and Ren-He Xu<\/a>, along with Yale University doctor Xinghua Pan<\/a> and investor Michael Men.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cutting-edge work by ImStem, our first spinoff company, demonstrates the success of Connecticut\u2019s Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine funding program in moving stem cells from bench to bedside,\u201d says Professor Marc Lalande, director of the UConn\u2019s Stem Cell Institute.<\/p>\n

The research was supported by a $1.13 million group grant from the state of Connecticut\u2019s Stem Cell Research Program that was awarded to ImStem and Professor Pachter\u2019s lab.<\/p>\n

\u201cConnecticut\u2019s investment in stem cells, especially human embryonic stem cells, continues to position our state as a leader in biomedical research,\u201d says Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. \u201cThis new study moves us one step closer to a stem cell-based clinical product that could improve people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cutting-edge work by ImStem … demonstrates the success of Connecticut\u2019s Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine funding program in moving stem cells from bench to bedside. — Marc Lalande<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The researchers compared eight lines of adult bone marrow stem cells to four lines of human embryonic stem cells. All of the bone marrow-related stem cells expressed high levels of a protein molecule called a cytokine that stimulates autoimmunity and can worsen the disease. All of the human embryonic stem cell-related lines expressed little of the inflammatory cytokine.<\/p>\n

Another advantage of human embryonic stem cells is that they can be propagated indefinitely in lab cultures and provide an unlimited source of high quality mesenchymal stem cells \u2013 the kind of stem cell needed for treatment of MS, the researchers say. This ability to reliably grow high quality mesenchymal stem cells from embryonic stem cells represents an advantage over adult bone marrow stem cells, which must be obtained from a limited supply of healthy donors and are of more variable quality.<\/p>\n

\u201cGroundbreaking research like this furthering opportunities for technology ventures demonstrates how the University acts as an economic engine for the state and regional economy,\u201d says Jeff Seemann, UConn\u2019s vice president for research.<\/p>\n

The findings also offer potential therapy for other autoimmune diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and type-1 diabetes, according to Xu, a corresponding author on the study and one of the few scientists in the world to have generated new human embryonic stem cell lines.<\/p>\n

There is no cure for MS, a chronic neuroinflammatory disease in which the body\u2019s immune system eats away at the protective sheath called myelin that covers the nerves. Damage to myelin interferes with communication between the brain, spinal cord, and other areas of the body. Current MS treatments only offer pain relief, and slow the progression of the disease by suppressing inflammation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe beauty of this new type of mesenchymal stem cells is their remarkable higher efficacy in the MS model,\u201d says Wang, chief technology officer of ImStem.<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s findings<\/a> appear in the current online edition of Stem Cell Reports,<\/em> the official journal of the International Society for Stem Cell Research. ImStem is currently seeking FDA approval necessary to make this treatment available to patients.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scientists in UConn’s Technology Incubation Program have identified a novel approach to treating multiple sclerosis using human embryonic stem cells.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":72954,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2076,179,1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[117],"class_list":["post-94236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","category-uconn-health","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-12 15:59:22","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94236"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94250,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94236\/revisions\/94250"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/72954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94236"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=94236"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=94236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}