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Adults’ Stem Cells May Lead To Alzheimer’s Breakthrough RAYMOND DUNCAN - The Herald, UK April 30 2004 DRAMATIC evidence that adult bone marrow cells can be used to regenerate neurons in the brains of patients has been reported by scientists in the United States. Researchers in Florida pinpointed marrow stem cells that had transformed themselves into brain tissue in three women. The discovery points the way to using adult stem cells to treat degenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis. Scotland has the highest prevalence of MS in the world. Using cells from a patient's own bone marrow would avoid the ethical objections to treatment with embryonic stem cells. Last night, Jim Jackson, chief executive of Alzheimer's Scotland, described it as a very interesting study. He added, however, that caution was required. He said: "Things are still an awful long way from being developed into a treatment for any forms of dementia. "It is an area of long-term potential, but we do have to recognise that much work needs to be done before there is safe treatment for human beings." Stem cells are immature master cells that can be programmed to develop into different kinds of tissue. Those extracted from early-stage embryos have the potential to become any type of cell in the body. However using them entails cannibalising an embryo, which many people find unacceptable. Previous research has suggested that, in some circumstances, adult bone marrow stem cells could be used instead of embryonic stem cells. Transplantation of human bone marrow cells has generated new nerve cells in the brains of mice, and a recent study showed that adult bone marrow cells could be used to build new tissue in the cheeks of women patients. The American scientists examined post-mortem brain tissue from three women who had received bone-marrow transplants to treat leukaemia. All the transplants had come from male donors. The researchers found that cells containing a Y chromosome, which marked them out as being of male origin, were present in the brains of all three women up to six years after their transplants. In the longest survivor, three different types of brain tissue had the tell-tale Y chromosome, including neurons. The only place the Y chromosome cells could have come from was the bone marrow from the male donors. The team that reported the findings published in The Lancet medical journal was from the University of Florida Shands Cancer Centre in Gainsville and was led by Dr Edward Scott. He said: "This study suggests that bone marrow could be used as a therapeutic source of readily harvestable cells for the regeneration of nerve cells, with potential application to various neurodegenerative diseases and traumatic central nervous system damage." Last year, scientists demonstrated that therapeutic cloning can be used to treat brain diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, marking a significant step towards developing new ways of tackling degenerative and incurable brain disorders. Neurons grown from embryonic stem cells had been used previously to treat Parkinsonian mice. But these cells raised genetic safety concerns, and were not cloned. Therapeutic cloning opens the way to implanting replacement tissue without it being rejected by the immune system. Parkinson's disease is caused by the loss of cells that generate dopamine, an essential chemical messenger. Although the condition can be alleviated with drugs, there is no cure. But replacing the lost neurons with new cells grown in the laboratory could potentially reverse the disease. SOURCE: The Herald, UK http://www.theherald.co.uk/15131.shtml * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn