Article March 20, 2008
A startup stem cell company with part of its operations in San Diego has discovered a new type of stem cell in menstrual blood, a finding that might allow researchers to avoid the medical and ethical issues surrounding the use of human embryonic stem cells.
Medistem Laboratories said these new cells are more like human embryonic stem cells than most so-called adult stem cells because they can turn into nine tissue types in the body. They also can replicate themselves faster than other adult stem cell types, giving them the potential to be banked and creating the possibility of a plentiful supply of cells for therapies, said Thomas Ichim, the company's new chief executive.
Medistem announced Tuesday that Ichim, who was previously chief science officer, had been named CEO. Ichim is based in San Diego. The company also has employees in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Ichim succeeds Neil Riordan, who will retain the title of president and continue serving as chairman of the board, devoted to directing research and expanding market opportunities for Medistem.
The company and its collaborators, which include the Bio-Communications Research Institute in Wichita, Kan., the University of Western Ontario and the University of Alberta, this week received the honor of top research article from BioMed Central, a medical publisher with 170 peer-reviewed science journals.
?We believe that these cells, which we have termed endometrial regenerative cells (ERC), offer a novel way of circumventing the medical and ethical issues posed by embryonic stem cells today,? Ichim said.
Some people oppose work with human embryonic stem cells because an embryo must be destroyed to harvest the stem cells.
Endometrial regenerative cells can be harvested noninvasively and do not destroy an embryo.
The scientific team from Medistem and its collaborators thought these stem cells might be unique because the uterus lining expands rapidly each month. As a result, they found, these stem cells can replicate themselves faster than other types of stem cells and produce 100,000 times the growth factors produced by stem cells found in the blood of the spinal cord.
Medistem scientists and their collaborators made the cells multiply 68 times and they still had normal chromosomes, Ichim said. Bone-marrow-derived stem cells cannot be multiplied more than 20 times before they develop abnormalities, he said.
But some scientists remain skeptical of the endometrial regenerative cells' abilities.
?People have found stem cells in a lot of places, but until you can actually demonstrate what they can become and what they are useful for, they are not really valuable,? said Jeanne Loring, head of the embryonic stem cell program at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla.
For instance, a cell might look like a nerve cell, but it has got to show it has electrical activity and can make a neurotransmitter, Loring said.
Medistem has applied for patents related to the endometrial regenerative cells and is developing a pipeline of products around them.
Its lead product is based on preventing amputation through restoring blood flow to the limbs of patients with diabetes and advanced peripheral artery disease.
For therapy purposes, these cells would not have to be matched to their recipient, said Xialong Meng, associate director of the Bio-Communications Research Institute.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/biotech/20080320-9999-1b20medistem.html
A startup stem cell company with part of its operations in San Diego has discovered a new type of stem cell in menstrual blood, a finding that might allow researchers to avoid the medical and ethical issues surrounding the use of human embryonic stem cells.
Medistem Laboratories said these new cells are more like human embryonic stem cells than most so-called adult stem cells because they can turn into nine tissue types in the body. They also can replicate themselves faster than other adult stem cell types, giving them the potential to be banked and creating the possibility of a plentiful supply of cells for therapies, said Thomas Ichim, the company's new chief executive.
Medistem announced Tuesday that Ichim, who was previously chief science officer, had been named CEO. Ichim is based in San Diego. The company also has employees in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Ichim succeeds Neil Riordan, who will retain the title of president and continue serving as chairman of the board, devoted to directing research and expanding market opportunities for Medistem.
The company and its collaborators, which include the Bio-Communications Research Institute in Wichita, Kan., the University of Western Ontario and the University of Alberta, this week received the honor of top research article from BioMed Central, a medical publisher with 170 peer-reviewed science journals.
?We believe that these cells, which we have termed endometrial regenerative cells (ERC), offer a novel way of circumventing the medical and ethical issues posed by embryonic stem cells today,? Ichim said.
Some people oppose work with human embryonic stem cells because an embryo must be destroyed to harvest the stem cells.
Endometrial regenerative cells can be harvested noninvasively and do not destroy an embryo.
The scientific team from Medistem and its collaborators thought these stem cells might be unique because the uterus lining expands rapidly each month. As a result, they found, these stem cells can replicate themselves faster than other types of stem cells and produce 100,000 times the growth factors produced by stem cells found in the blood of the spinal cord.
Medistem scientists and their collaborators made the cells multiply 68 times and they still had normal chromosomes, Ichim said. Bone-marrow-derived stem cells cannot be multiplied more than 20 times before they develop abnormalities, he said.
But some scientists remain skeptical of the endometrial regenerative cells' abilities.
?People have found stem cells in a lot of places, but until you can actually demonstrate what they can become and what they are useful for, they are not really valuable,? said Jeanne Loring, head of the embryonic stem cell program at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla.
For instance, a cell might look like a nerve cell, but it has got to show it has electrical activity and can make a neurotransmitter, Loring said.
Medistem has applied for patents related to the endometrial regenerative cells and is developing a pipeline of products around them.
Its lead product is based on preventing amputation through restoring blood flow to the limbs of patients with diabetes and advanced peripheral artery disease.
For therapy purposes, these cells would not have to be matched to their recipient, said Xialong Meng, associate director of the Bio-Communications Research Institute.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/biotech/20080320-9999-1b20medistem.html