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Stem Cell First For British Company By Roger Highfield, Science Editor (Filed: 06/10/2004) An unlimited supply of human nerve stem cells that can be used for brain and eye repair is being grown for the first time in the laboratory by a British company. The firm, ReNeuron, will apply next year to treat stroke patients with brain stem cells grown from cells isolated years ago from the brain of a foetus that had been aborted for medical reasons. The company has found a way to mass-produce the foetal stem cells. By cloning and growing them in the laboratory and by inserting a special gene, to 'immortalise' them, it has been able reliably to turn these brain stem cells into specific cell types in the laboratory. ReNeuron, has generated a bank of millions of nerve stem cells, the first of its kind in the world. It believes that, in the body, these cells will be turned by naturally- present growth factors into cortex cells to treat stroke; and in other situations, striatal cells for the degenerative disorder Huntington's disease; and retinal cells for the treatment of blindness. John Sinden, the chief scientific officer of the Guildford-based company, yesterday presented encouraging studies of the use of the human stem cells to repair the effects of stroke in rats. "It is a functional effect rather than an anatomical effect," he said. The treated rodents had a "significant" restoration of movement and an enhanced sense of feeling, in detecting sticky tape on their paws, compared with two types of control, Dr Sinden told the American Neurological Association Annual Meeting in Toronto, Canada. Later this month, the company will also publish encouraging results on the use of its human nerve stem cells to treat animal models of the devastating and incurable brain disorder, Huntington's Disease. Previously, scientists have tried to treat diseases such as Parkinson's with implants of foetal brain tissue. But this required several foetuses for each patient, which raised practical and ethical concerns. SOURCE: Telegraph.co.uk, UK http://tinyurl.com/5fpye * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn