November 2, 2005
Adult Stem Cells and the Brain
Ira Black
Founding Director of Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey
Minutes of the Eighth Meeting of the 64th Year
After a congenial Hospitality Hour at Fields Center, President Bill Haynes called to order the 8th meeting of the 64th year at 10:15 AM with 101 present. The invocation was led by John Marks. Stuart Carothers read the minutes of the October 26 meeting, at which we heard the unforgettable remembrances of Charles Rojer, a survivor of the Holocaust. A visitor, Ann Yokana, was introduced by her husband Lucien Yokana.
Don Dickason, congratulated and presented a plaque to new emeritus member Henry Maso. Don then welcomed the new members present who had been elected at the previous meeting, Ben Colbert, Claire Jacobus, Lynn Livingstone, Gordon Mack, Perry Morgan and George Willis, and acknowledged their proposers, Jim Deneen, Rosemary O'Brien, Bob Thompson, J. B. Smith, Jim Harford and Mellick Belshaw respectively.
George Hansen introduced the speaker, Ira Black, whose subject was "Adult Stem Cells and the Brain." At Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Dr. Black is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology and founding Director of the Stem Cell Research Center. He has had a long and distinguished medical career, has chaired and served on numerous national and international boards, is the author of over 200 papers and three books, and is the recipient of major awards in his fields.
Dr. Black began by describing the two main features of stem cells: first, they can convert to different more specialized cells; second, they have the ability to reproduce themselves, offering an unlimited supply of cells for specialization. It is these dual abilities, he said, that hold promise for the treatment of now-hopeless diseases.
He outlined the various types of stem cells, of which embryonic cells are the best known.
Miraculously, however, it has been discovered in the past five or ten years that stem cells exist in a variety of organs of the adult body, and are not restricted to the embryo. Are such adult stem cells therapeutically useful?
In addressing this question, Dr. Black and his colleagues first focused on bone marrow stromal cells (MSCs). Certain MSCs can differentiate into various elements of blood, muscle, tendon and bone. Could MSCs also convert into nerve cells? The speaker showed a sequence of slides showing amoeba-like MSCs alive in a culture medium. Over a period of minutes we saw the cell body shrinking, developing a network of outgrowths or processes, and looking in fact like a neuron. Further studies showed, surprisingly, that the MSCs had differentiated into true nerve cells, and also exhibited self-renewal. These experiments were first performed using rat cells, but have been reproduced with human bone marrow cells that show the same stem cell characteristics.
To extend the work to the living brain, bone marrow cells were injected into the embryonic rat brain. It was discovered that not only did the injected cells survive, but within 48 hours they had migrated throughout the brain, including the frontal cortex, and acted like true nerve cells. Pushing further, the team asked whether the injected cells could express particular genes, taking on the unique characteristics of the cells in the various areas to which they had migrated. A key experiment was done with cells that degenerate in Parkinson's disease, and this indeed revealed that injected bone marrow cells were able to express Parkinson-like characteristics, and at the same time persist, so far for up to a year. The goal of the work now is to convert bone marrow to specialized cells that can replace cells damaged by Parkinson's disease. The use of adult stem cells, such as MSCs, may allow taking the patient's own bone marrow, transplanting it to the brain, and using it to restore function. This would eliminate the danger of immunorejection and also reduce the risk of tumor formation. Of course the use of adult stem cells avoids the complex ethical and policy issues surrounding embryonic stem cells.
A second focus of Dr. Black's research is on cells derived from the amniotic fluid obtained from the uterus of pregnant women. These amnion derived stem cells or ADCs express genes of every different embryonic layer - an enormous list. It may well be that there are a variety of stem cells, each appropriate for treatment of a different disease. This contention is supported by preliminary findings that ADCs can be converted to nerve cells, to bone, to fat, and even to liver.
The speaker took strong issue with the commonly held view that stem cells may be fine as a dream for the future, but there is no application now. He showed a photo of a child with brittle bone disease, a disastrous condition in which just sitting up causes multiple fractures. Recently a colleague has treated these children with bone marrow cells. The child in the photo had been on his back for 21 months but, with support, is now walking. Dr. Black concludes that "stem cells are now, not simply a vain hope for the future."
He gave a brief progress report on the New Jersey Stem Cell Institute announced recently by Governor Codey, being planned jointly by UMDNJ and Rutgers, and to be located in New Brunswick. The strategy of the Institute is to combine basic stem cell biology with clinical trials at the bedside. Dr. Black showed the design of the proposed new building that "we're all hoping becomes a reality. Hope is hope and we shall see."
He concluded by pointing out that the stem cell program is carried out collaboratively with many institutions in the United States, including Princeton, as well as in Canada. He also emphasized that students are the life blood of the many outreach programs of the stem cell research.
The speaker was asked in the question period if the remarkable results (on adult stem cells) described in the talk held the potential to make embryonic stem cells unnecessary. His position is that "The simple answer is we don't know. And that's why it's so critical to proceed simultaneously with the embryonic work and the adult work...we haven't done the cell-to-cell comparisons to answer that question. Unless and until we do that we continue to operate in the dark."
The meeting was adjourned at 11:30 AM.
Respectfully submitted,
Joe Giordmaine
Don Dickason, congratulated and presented a plaque to new emeritus member Henry Maso. Don then welcomed the new members present who had been elected at the previous meeting, Ben Colbert, Claire Jacobus, Lynn Livingstone, Gordon Mack, Perry Morgan and George Willis, and acknowledged their proposers, Jim Deneen, Rosemary O'Brien, Bob Thompson, J. B. Smith, Jim Harford and Mellick Belshaw respectively.
George Hansen introduced the speaker, Ira Black, whose subject was "Adult Stem Cells and the Brain." At Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Dr. Black is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology and founding Director of the Stem Cell Research Center. He has had a long and distinguished medical career, has chaired and served on numerous national and international boards, is the author of over 200 papers and three books, and is the recipient of major awards in his fields.
Dr. Black began by describing the two main features of stem cells: first, they can convert to different more specialized cells; second, they have the ability to reproduce themselves, offering an unlimited supply of cells for specialization. It is these dual abilities, he said, that hold promise for the treatment of now-hopeless diseases.
He outlined the various types of stem cells, of which embryonic cells are the best known.
Miraculously, however, it has been discovered in the past five or ten years that stem cells exist in a variety of organs of the adult body, and are not restricted to the embryo. Are such adult stem cells therapeutically useful?
In addressing this question, Dr. Black and his colleagues first focused on bone marrow stromal cells (MSCs). Certain MSCs can differentiate into various elements of blood, muscle, tendon and bone. Could MSCs also convert into nerve cells? The speaker showed a sequence of slides showing amoeba-like MSCs alive in a culture medium. Over a period of minutes we saw the cell body shrinking, developing a network of outgrowths or processes, and looking in fact like a neuron. Further studies showed, surprisingly, that the MSCs had differentiated into true nerve cells, and also exhibited self-renewal. These experiments were first performed using rat cells, but have been reproduced with human bone marrow cells that show the same stem cell characteristics.
To extend the work to the living brain, bone marrow cells were injected into the embryonic rat brain. It was discovered that not only did the injected cells survive, but within 48 hours they had migrated throughout the brain, including the frontal cortex, and acted like true nerve cells. Pushing further, the team asked whether the injected cells could express particular genes, taking on the unique characteristics of the cells in the various areas to which they had migrated. A key experiment was done with cells that degenerate in Parkinson's disease, and this indeed revealed that injected bone marrow cells were able to express Parkinson-like characteristics, and at the same time persist, so far for up to a year. The goal of the work now is to convert bone marrow to specialized cells that can replace cells damaged by Parkinson's disease. The use of adult stem cells, such as MSCs, may allow taking the patient's own bone marrow, transplanting it to the brain, and using it to restore function. This would eliminate the danger of immunorejection and also reduce the risk of tumor formation. Of course the use of adult stem cells avoids the complex ethical and policy issues surrounding embryonic stem cells.
A second focus of Dr. Black's research is on cells derived from the amniotic fluid obtained from the uterus of pregnant women. These amnion derived stem cells or ADCs express genes of every different embryonic layer - an enormous list. It may well be that there are a variety of stem cells, each appropriate for treatment of a different disease. This contention is supported by preliminary findings that ADCs can be converted to nerve cells, to bone, to fat, and even to liver.
The speaker took strong issue with the commonly held view that stem cells may be fine as a dream for the future, but there is no application now. He showed a photo of a child with brittle bone disease, a disastrous condition in which just sitting up causes multiple fractures. Recently a colleague has treated these children with bone marrow cells. The child in the photo had been on his back for 21 months but, with support, is now walking. Dr. Black concludes that "stem cells are now, not simply a vain hope for the future."
He gave a brief progress report on the New Jersey Stem Cell Institute announced recently by Governor Codey, being planned jointly by UMDNJ and Rutgers, and to be located in New Brunswick. The strategy of the Institute is to combine basic stem cell biology with clinical trials at the bedside. Dr. Black showed the design of the proposed new building that "we're all hoping becomes a reality. Hope is hope and we shall see."
He concluded by pointing out that the stem cell program is carried out collaboratively with many institutions in the United States, including Princeton, as well as in Canada. He also emphasized that students are the life blood of the many outreach programs of the stem cell research.
The speaker was asked in the question period if the remarkable results (on adult stem cells) described in the talk held the potential to make embryonic stem cells unnecessary. His position is that "The simple answer is we don't know. And that's why it's so critical to proceed simultaneously with the embryonic work and the adult work...we haven't done the cell-to-cell comparisons to answer that question. Unless and until we do that we continue to operate in the dark."
The meeting was adjourned at 11:30 AM.
Respectfully submitted,
Joe Giordmaine