Stem Cell Stimulation through Drugs

The hype about drugs that could treat ALS with stem cell stimulation was taken to a new level with the revelation that researchers studying MS found a new molecule, XAV939, that was cited as the missing link in the treatment of such disease. This molecule was found to be able to stimulate stem cells to repair myelin and the work was published in Nature Neuroscience in the middle of 2011. Cambridge scientists collaborated this time with those from California San Francisco University and the teams are hopeful that the discovery could lead to the development of drugs to treat patients with MS, and feasibly with ALS.

Axon Regrowth for ALS Patients

Any stem cell therapy that would help to reinsulate demyelinated axons would have applications for patients with cerebral palsy, cognitive disabilities, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and other white matter diseases and injuries. The researchers in California and Cambridge identified Axin2 as a key factor in cell differentiation and myelination, essential for normal remyelination to occur. In white matter injured by hypoxia or demyelinating event the molecule inhibitor XAV939 acted on the enzyme tankyrase which then has the effect of stabilizing the Axin2 levels in order to prompt remyelination and repair of the white matter.

Patients Waiting for ALS Cure

Patients desperate for a cure for ALS are likely to have to wait a long time before stem cell treatments become available; a wait that will prove too long for many. Drugs such as beta-interferon which are used in demyelinating diseases in an attempt to slow down the progression of the illness took around fifteen years to move from early research to the clinic and stem cell therapies for ALS are likely to have a similar timescale. Bureaucracy surrounding stem cell research makes it a tricky area for scientists to work in, which is just one reason why many now concentrate on adult stem cell research rather than embryonic stem cells once hailed as the miracle cure for almost every diseases imaginable. Autologous stem cell transplants have been studied as a treatment for MS through immunosuppression but this type of treatment still relies on the theory of such disease being autoimmune in nature, and on adult stem cells being necessarily immunosuppressive rather than immunostimulatory as has been shown in some cases.

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