Mesenchymal stem cells can be cultured in large quantities to help treat diseases.

Taiwan Province Province has made a new breakthrough in stem cell research! On June 5438+06, Yang Rong announced that the breakthrough of stem cell culture technology can cultivate a large number of high-quality "mesenchymal stem cells" and obtain a good source of stem cells for the treatment of peripheral arterial embolism, autoimmune diseases, articular cartilage injury and Crohn's disease. The research results have been published in the international journal MolecularCell, and an application for human clinical trials will be submitted to the Department of Health from now on.

Su Dongping (left), vice president of Taipei Rongzong, presided over the press conference, which was explained by Professor Hong Shijie from the Teaching and Research Department. (Photo/Huang Zhiwen) Hong Shijie, a professor at the Institute of Clinical Medicine of Yangming University, the teaching and research department of Taipei Veterans General Hospital and the attending physician of orthopedics, pointed out that hypoxia stress can lead to the damage and death of mature cells, while mesenchymal stem cells, on the other hand, thrive in an anoxic environment and grow fast and well.

Take the treatment of degenerative arthritis as an example. Early degenerative arthritis can only be treated with anti-inflammatory drugs or hyaluronic acid preparations as symptoms, but there is no drug that actively inhibits the course of disease. In the late stage of degenerative arthritis, artificial joint replacement is mainly used. These methods can not repair the damaged cartilage, and the probability of recurrence or secondary surgery in the future increases.

Mesenchymal stem cells have the ability to differentiate into cartilage and promote angiogenesis. At present, foreign studies show that mesenchymal stem cells can greatly improve the therapeutic effect of arthritis patients in the second phase of clinical trials, thus reducing the need for artificial knee replacement. Femoral head necrosis, which is common in the elderly, can also relieve symptoms and perform artificial hip replacement because of the regenerative ability of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells. Mesenchymal stem cells provide an effective and safe solution for the increase of bone and muscle system diseases caused by social aging.

Dr. Hong Shijie pointed out that the technical breakthrough of Yang Rong's team lies in the low oxygen concentration of 1% to 2%. At the low density of 50 to 100 cells per square centimeter, after 60 days of subculture, the number of mesenchymal stem cells obtained is 1000 times that of normal oxygen concentration and low density.

Moreover, 80% to 90% of the mesenchymal stem cells of the offspring are similar to embryonic stem cells, which are called "universal stem cells". Because the expression characteristics of Oct4 and Nanog genes in embryonic stem cells also appear in these mesenchymal stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells are not derived from embryos, and their sources are less controversial.

Dr. Hong Shijie emphasized that in May this year, Canada approved 1 stem cell therapy drug, that is, using mesenchymal stem cells to treat "graft-versus-host disease". This disease often occurs in patients with bone marrow transplantation. The donor's bone marrow rejects the recipient, leading to organ failure. Mesenchymal stem cell therapy can improve the survival rate of patients.

In addition, related research shows that mesenchymal stem cells will be used to treat many chronic diseases, such as acute injury, inflammation, autoimmune diseases and degeneration. At present, Yang Rong's team has conducted a clinical study on 18 patients with peripheral arterial embolism of lower limbs. At the same time, Rong Zong has completed the construction and verification of the core laboratory of cell therapy, and this technology may be applied to the clinical treatment of many diseases in the near future.