Neural Stem Cell Treatment Sees a Future

The key to successful stem cell research and treatment is being able to create stable, self-renewing stem cells. For years, scientists have been able to make massive quantities of stem cells to enhance brain activity. The problem was that when they tested their treatments in mice, the stem cells often caused tumors to grow, creating a new disease that is much worse than the original.

Now, a team of 30 researchers at University of California San Diego have made groundbreaking advancements in neural stem cell research which may change the future for patients with vision problems and eventually help those with Parkinson’s disease.

Dr. Kang Zhang has been focused on studying eye problems. The ophthalmologist studies ocular genetics and has a particular interest in stopping macular degeneration, glaucoma and other diseases of the eye.

Now his team has found a way to slow the progression of macular degeneration using the novel stem cell treatment.

The self-renewing stem cell approach that Dr. Zhang’s team created can grow a very large quantity of neural stem cells without the dire consequences of developing tumors.

While Dr. Zhang is busy creating eye-specific neurons to repair the ones lost in diseases like macular degeneration he believes his treatment can be used to fight other neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s or Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

Not everyone is as enthusiastic about this breakthrough. The North County Times talked to two researchers who recognized this advance as an important step but reiterated the incremental nature over the breakthrough.

UC Davis cell biologist Paul Knoepfler says, “The fact that [the] group made the neural progenitors from human embryonic stem cells using only a fairly straightforward chemical cocktail should make this approach one that other researchers in the field can readily replicate.”

Sanford-Burnham Research Institute cell researcher Evan Snyder was less enthusiastic about Dr. Zhang’s development.

He called the research an incremental advance not the big leap forward. He told the newspaper, “The neural stem cell derivatives are still limited in the range of cell types they can yield; the authors are still not seeing the full spectrum of neurectoderm derivatives that they should be seeing — including neural crest and glial cells (that determine neuron function). He adds, “True neural stem cells should be able to give rise to the range of neurectodermal progeny, including glia and neural crest in addition to neurons.