Stem cells may be able to repair the brain
Researchers transplanted brain stems cells without anti-rejection drugs in mice. These findings may reveal new techniques for stem cells to heal the brain.
John Hopkins Medicine
Johns Hopkins Medicine research may have discovered a method to transplant brain cells without lifelong anti-rejection drugs, as published in the journal Brain. In fact, their application navigates around the immune system so that transplanted cells can heal brain tissues long after stopping immunosuppressive drugs.
Current Research
“Because these conditions are initiated by a mutation causing dysfunction in one type of cell, they present a good target for cell therapies, which involve transplanting healthy cells or cells engineered to not have a condition to take over for the diseased, damaged or missing cells,” says Piotr Walczak, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of radiology and radiological science at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Novel Methods
Furthermore, the researchers are advancing methods to guide the immune system responses and find ways to manipulate T cells. In fact, these cell represent the immune system’s infection protection that attack foreign substances. Therefore, T cells activate as a defense while a group of costimulatory signals appear.
Conclusion
Gerald Brandacher, M.D., is professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery and scientific director of the Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation Research Laboratory at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is also a co-author of this study. He concluded: “These signals are in place to help ensure these immune system cells do not go rogue, attacking the body’s own healthy tissues”.