A UC Irvine researcher will receive $4.8 million to develop a potential treatment for multiple sclerosis using stem cells, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine announced Thursday.
Thomas Lane, a neuroimmunologist whose stem-cell treatment has allowed mice with M.S.-like disease to regain the use of their limbs, said he will use the grant to test a variety of neural stem-cell lines developed by a neurobiologist at the Scripps Research Institute, Jeanne Loring.
Further work with mice should help Lane narrow down which lines are most effective, preparing the way for trials of the treatment on human patients.
"This is a fantastic step forward for patients with this horrible disease," Lane said Thursday.
Multiple sclerosis debilitates its victims by destroying the sheaths that protect nerve cells, called myelin. As the axons, or fibers between nerve cells, are stripped of myelin, they can degenerate, causing loss of motor skills and paralysis.
Researchers are investigating stem cells because they have the potential to become a variety of cell types within the body, holding out hope for treatment of spinal cord injury, Alzheimer's disease and other conditions.
"When we transplanted these cells into mice with M.S.-like disease, they regained motor skills that were sustained out to about six months post-transplant," Lane said.
The work, which Lane is preparing to submit for publication in a science journal, was done within the past year.
But much work lies ahead to learn precisely how the cells restored limb function in the mice, as well as finding the best cell lines for the job.
The grant will allow him to investigate not only the properties of human embryonic stem cells from federally approved lines, but also of "inducible pluripotent" stem cells, in which adult cells, such as skin cells, are induced to revert to state allowing them to change into many cell types.
That would avoid much of the controversy that has grown up around the use of human embryonic stem cells.
Lane is part of the Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center at UCI, where a variety of stem-cell research projects are under way.
The center is home to Brian Cummings and Aileen Anderson, whose stem-cell treatment for spinal-cord injury is now being tested on human patients in Switzerland, and Hans Keirstead, whose stem-cell treatment for spinal cord injury became the world's first to be tested on humans until Geron Corp. shut down the trial last November, citing economic difficulties.
UCI has so far received $76.6 million in funding from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, or CIRM.
On Thursday, the institute, created through voter initiative in 2004, gave out 21 grants worth $69 million to 11 institutions around the state.
Among them was a $5.5 million for Phil Schwartz, a neuroscientist at the Children's Hospital of Orange County who specializes in stem-cell biology.
Schwartz is also working with mice to develop a stem-cell treatment for Hurler's disease, a neurodegenerative disorder that affects children.
Thomas Lane, a neuroimmunologist whose stem-cell treatment has allowed mice with M.S.-like disease to regain the use of their limbs, said he will use the grant to test a variety of neural stem-cell lines developed by a neurobiologist at the Scripps Research Institute, Jeanne Loring.
"This is a fantastic step forward for patients with this horrible disease," Lane said Thursday.
Multiple sclerosis debilitates its victims by destroying the sheaths that protect nerve cells, called myelin. As the axons, or fibers between nerve cells, are stripped of myelin, they can degenerate, causing loss of motor skills and paralysis.
Researchers are investigating stem cells because they have the potential to become a variety of cell types within the body, holding out hope for treatment of spinal cord injury, Alzheimer's disease and other conditions.
"When we transplanted these cells into mice with M.S.-like disease, they regained motor skills that were sustained out to about six months post-transplant," Lane said.
The work, which Lane is preparing to submit for publication in a science journal, was done within the past year.
But much work lies ahead to learn precisely how the cells restored limb function in the mice, as well as finding the best cell lines for the job.
The grant will allow him to investigate not only the properties of human embryonic stem cells from federally approved lines, but also of "inducible pluripotent" stem cells, in which adult cells, such as skin cells, are induced to revert to state allowing them to change into many cell types.
That would avoid much of the controversy that has grown up around the use of human embryonic stem cells.
Lane is part of the Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center at UCI, where a variety of stem-cell research projects are under way.
The center is home to Brian Cummings and Aileen Anderson, whose stem-cell treatment for spinal-cord injury is now being tested on human patients in Switzerland, and Hans Keirstead, whose stem-cell treatment for spinal cord injury became the world's first to be tested on humans until Geron Corp. shut down the trial last November, citing economic difficulties.
UCI has so far received $76.6 million in funding from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, or CIRM.
On Thursday, the institute, created through voter initiative in 2004, gave out 21 grants worth $69 million to 11 institutions around the state.
Among them was a $5.5 million for Phil Schwartz, a neuroscientist at the Children's Hospital of Orange County who specializes in stem-cell biology.
Schwartz is also working with mice to develop a stem-cell treatment for Hurler's disease, a neurodegenerative disorder that affects children.
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