Aldagen, a North Carolina biopharmaceutical company developing proprietary regenerative cell therapies, and UC Davis Health System will collaborate to explore the activity of Aldagen's unique adult stem cell population in a preclinical model of ischemic stroke. Adult stem cells hold promise in the treatment of this condition and other neurological disorders, including Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, traumatic brain injury and cerebral palsy.
According to the American Stroke Association, nearly 800,000 people a year suffer a new or recurrent stroke. It is the third leading cause of death and the leading cause of disability in adults. This year, Americans will pay about $65.5 billion for stroke-related medical costs and disability. Current treatment for an ischemic stroke calls for the immediate use of a clot-busting drug, which must be administered within three hours of the event. Stem cells as therapeutics may represent a novel approach to the treatment of ischemic stroke.
Aldagen's technology isolates specific populations of adult stem cells that express high levels of aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH-bright cells). Preclinical studies conducted by leading research institutions and academic centers have shown that ALDH-bright cells from bone marrow and cord blood may be able to repair neural tissue, which hold promise for the treatment of damaged tissue in the brain from ischemic stroke. In ischemic stroke, for example, both blood vessels and neural tissue in the brain need to be restored. ALDH-bright cells can induce formation of new vessels in animal models, and can restore functional nerves and ameliorate symptoms in mouse models for inherited lethal human nervous system diseases. Aldagen has two clinical trials currently under way in patients with chronic vascular disease to test the effectiveness of revascularization of blood vessels in the leg and the heart using ALDH-bright cells from a patient's bone marrow.
Aldagen will be collaborating with Martha O'Donnell, a professor of physiology and membrane biology, and with Jan Nolta, director of the new UC Davis Institute for Regenerative Cures - a facility supported by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. "Aldagen's technologies for stem cell isolation offer an approach for developing therapies that may be successful in clinical practice," said Nolta, who recently participated in groundbreaking - more - ceremonies for UC Davis' $100 million regenerative cures facility in Sacramento. "The promise and potential of our stem cell work is greatly enhanced by this type of collaborative partnership with private industry."
"It is exciting to see the wide range of stem cell work now taking place at UC Davis," said Ed Field, president and chief operating officer at Aldagen. "They've been able to recruit a team of internationally recognized stem cell experts, which complements the focus we have at Aldagen. We look forward to working with Jan Nolta and Martha O'Donnell to further expand our portfolio in vascular biology and to explore the potential of our stem cell therapies for the treatment of neural disease."
UC Davis could begin participating in clinical trials using adult stem cells by the end of 2009. Nolta says she looks forward to testing Aldagen's stem cell populations and hopes the research will lead to a novel cell therapy for clinical testing.
"We're planning to have some of our key laboratories in the stem cell institute's new building up and running by late next year," said Nolta. "Those facilities will play a key role in enabling us to advance cellular therapies for treatments of numerous life-threatening diseases."
UC Davis has more than 125 scientists working on a variety of stem cell investigations in both Davis and Sacramento. The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has awarded more than $34 million to researchers at UC Davis to develop stem cell cures.
Aldagen is a biopharmaceutical company developing proprietary regenerative cell therapies that target significant unmet medical needs.