Year 2
In the second year of CIRM funding our objectives were to optimize packaging of the developmental candidate, Wnt3a protein, and then to continue to test its efficacy to enhance tissue healing. We continue to make considerable progress on the stated objectives. In Roel Nusse’s laboratory, human Wnt3a protein is now being produced using an FDA-approved cell line, and Jill Helms’ lab the protein is effectively packaged into lipid particles that delay degradation of the protein when it is introduced into the body.
Each group has continued to test the effects of liposomal Wnt3a treatment for their particular application. In Theo Palmer’s group we have studied how liposomal Wnt3a affects neurogenesis following stroke. We now know that liposomal Wnt3a transiently stimulates neural progenitor cell proliferation. We don’t see any functional improvement after stroke, though, which is our primary objective.
In Jill Helms’ group we’ve now shown that liposomal Wnt3a enhances fracture healing and osseointegration of dental and orthopedic implants and now we demonstrate that liposomal Wnt3a also can improve the bone-forming capacity of bone marrow grafts, especially when they are taken from aged animals.
We’ve also tested the ability of liposomal Wnt3a to improve heart function after a heart attack (i.e., myocardial infarction). Small aggregates of cardiac progenitor cells called cardiospheres proliferate to Wnt3a in a dose-responsive manner, and we see an initial improvement in cardiac function after treatment of cells with liposomal Wnt3a. the long-term improvements, however, are not significant and this remains our ultimate goal. In skin wounds, we tested the effect of boosting Wnt signaling during wound healing. We found that the injection of liposomal Wnt3a into wounds enhanced the regeneration of hair follicles, which would otherwise not regenerate and make a scar instead. The speed of wound closure is also enhanced in regions of the skin where there are hair follicles.
In aggregate, our work continues to move forward with a number of critical successes, and encouraging data to support our hypothesis that augmenting Wnt signaling following tissue injury will provide beneficial effects.