STEM CELLS TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE, 2018 · DOI: 10.1002/sctm.17-0269 · Published: August 7, 2018
Spinal cord injuries (SCI) have devastating consequences and lack effective regenerative treatments. The authors developed a method to generate myelinating oligodendrogenic tripotent neural progenitor cells (oNPCs) directly derived from a patient’s own somatic bone marrow cells. Results of this study show a promising approach using oNPCs to replace cells, re-myelinate axons and provide trophic support for tissue sparing, ultimately resulting in functional recovery post-SCI. The study generates a novel tripotent human NPC, which has been biased prior to transplant toward an oligodendrogenic fate, and assesses its efficacy in a highly clinically relevant contusion-compression model of T-cell deficient rodent thoracic SCI.
Human drNPC-derived oNPCs are an exciting therapeutic option to regenerate the traumatically injured spinal cord with clear evidence of efficacy and data suggestive of safety in vivo.
This process represents a feasible approach to induce and transplant autologous directly reprogrammed cells originating from the patient’s own somatic cells in a real-istic time frame and decreasing the chance of rejection and increasing the survival of transplants.
Cells derived from transplanted oNPCs are capable of remyelinating host axons and generating new neurons. Furthermore, engrafted oNPCs migrated throughout the lesional and perilesional regions, reduced the total lesional area, and increased white matter volumes due to differentiation of myelinating oligodendrocytes and preservation of host tissues.