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[caliban]

StemCells Inc (STEM)

Researching stem cell and progenitor cell therapies to repair neural tissue; it has discovered markers for CNS stem cells and a way to reproduce them for transplant. Its lead therapy candidate may treat Batten disease, a fatal genetic enzyme deficiency.
In addition to its CNS research, StemCells is also studying liver and pancreas cells.

http://www.stemcellsinc.com/

[caliban]

StemCells Shares Jump on Mouse Study

http://www.forbes.co.../ap2234678.html

StemCells Inc. shares climbed nearly 20 percent Tuesday after the company said its human neural stem cells helped restore lost muscle use in mice with spinal cord injuries. [my emp]

The study:
http://www.pnas.org/...ct/0507063102v1

We report that prospectively isolated, human CNS stem cells grown as neurospheres (hCNS-SCns) survive, migrate, and express differentiation markers for neurons and oligodendrocytes after long-term engraftment in spinal cord-injured NOD-scid mice. hCNS-SCns engraftment was associated with locomotor recovery, an observation that was abolished by selective ablation of engrafted cells by diphtheria toxin. Remyelination by hCNS-SCns was found in both the spinal cord injury NOD-scid model and myelin-deficient shiverer mice. Moreover, electron microscopic evidence consistent with synapse formation between hCNS-SCns and mouse host neurons was observed. Glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive astrocytic differentiation was rare, and hCNS-SCns did not appear to contribute to the scar. These data suggest that hCNS-SCns may possess therapeutic potential for CNS injury and disease. [my emp]

Moreover, several human cell transplantation paradigms recently have been reported to promote locomotor recovery: human umbilical cell infusion in a rat spinal cord injury model, although only within 3 weeks or less postgrafting (Saporta-Sanberg 2003); neurons differentiated in vitro under retinoic acid from human embryonal teratocarcinoma cells and transplanted into a rat spinal cord injury model (Saporta-Sanberg 2002); human ES cells differentiated in vitro to oligoprogenitors and transplanted into a rat spinal cord injury model (Keirstead-Steward 2005); and human neural stem progenitor cells transplanted into a monkey spinal cord injury model (Iwanami-Ando 2005). In general, these studies lack some or all of the following: definitive identification of transplanted cells, longterm survival and engraftment data, evidence of differentiation, and or direct evidence of functional integration of human cells in the injured spinal cord. [my refs]

Good enough?