Regenerative solutions
New therapies and treatments for diseases such as diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus and osteoarthritis are among the potential benefits of research being carried out at the Science Foundation Ireland funded Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI) at NUI Galway.
Remedi works at the leading edge of research into stem cell biology and its translation into regenerative therapeutics. The institute has recently embarked on the second phase of its work. “For the first five years we worked on establishing the programme, hiring people, building the infrastructure and starting basic research programmes in a number of areas”, says Remedi director Professor Tim O’Brien.
This basic research was mainly in the areas of understanding fundamental adult stem cell biology and immunology – understanding how the body’s immune system responds to transplanted stem cells and genes.
“The fundamental characteristics of stem cells are the ability to grow and divide rapidly, and the ability to change, or differentiate, into cells that have characteristics very different from the original stem cell”, explains Prof O’Brien. “Our key research area is mesenchymal stem cells, often referred to as MSCs, which are found in bone marrow. They have the capacity to differentiate into connective tissue cells, including bone, fat, cartilage and muscle. Although these cells represent a very small fraction of the total cells in bone marrow, small numbers of these cells can be isolated from a tissue sample and grown to large numbers in the laboratory. They can then be induced or coaxed to differentiate into different cell types under specific defined conditions. They also produce certain factors which promote healing. A stem cell is like a factory for these things.”
Stem cells can be induced to build new tissue of various types including bone, cartilage and muscle. This is regenerative medicine, an evolving and exciting area of medical science, which aims to regenerate tissue thus avoiding the need for organ replacement and the associated problems with sourcing of donor organs. Developments in the field hold enormous potential for the treatment of currently untreatable degenerative diseases.
It has also given rise to hopes that stem cell therapy could be used to regenerate spinal cord tissue in order to cure catastrophic spinal injuries as well as to treat degenerative brain conditions in a similar fashion.
A central focus of Remedi has been on bringing the technologies of gene therapy and stem cell therapy together. For example, stem cells may be used to deliver genetic material to cells or genetic material can be delivered to stem cells to alter their behaviour and dictate what cells they can become or where they go in the body.
“Our vision is to develop a new and realisable paradigm for medicine in the future utilising minimally invasive therapeutic approaches to promote organ and tissue repair and regeneration”, says O’Brien. “Our goal is to undertake basic research in stem cell biology and to translate the outputs into new regenerative therapies. To achieve this, Remedi works with partners in hospitals which are members of the Irish Clinical Research Infrastructure Network, in Irish and overseas universities, and in industry, to translate and commercialise research outputs by developing regenerative medicine therapies for diseases such as diabetes mellitus and osteoarthritis.”
These treatments include “repairing” stem cells. “In some cases of diabetes there is a stem cell which is deficient in terms of producing a certain factor”, O’Brien explains. “We can take those cells out, put the factor back in and put the cells back.”
Looking to the future, Prof O’Brien is keen to play down some of the more overblown expectations which have grown up around stem cell research. “Stem cell technology does hold great potential for the development of new therapies”, he says. “Like any other technology stem cells will have a role to play and they will be used to treat some conditions for which we don’t have good treatments at the moment but the technology is not a magic bullet.”
