Engineered stem cells benefit rats
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From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Treatment with genetically modified stem cells helped rats with a paralyzing disease live significantly longer, U.S. researchers said this week.
Rats with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, that were treated with the gene-engineered stem cells lived 28 days longer than untreated mice, the researchers told a conference.
The injection contained adult nerve stem cells that were engineered to release a growth factor called glial cell-line derived neurotrophic factor, or GDNF.
“It’s a fertilizer for neurons that die in ALS,” said Clive Svendsen, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of neurology, who led a panel meeting on ALS at the World Stem Cell Summit in Madison.
