Therapeutic/Technology: Gene-modified, donor cell therapy
MSC engineered to produce BDNF for the treatment of Huntington’s disease
One in every ten thousand people in the USA has Huntington’s disease, and it impacts many more. Multiple generations within a family can inherit the disease, resulting in escalating health care costs and draining family resources. This highly devastating and fatal disease touches all races and socioeconomic levels, and there are currently no cures. Screening […]
Neural Stem Cells as a Developmental Candidate to Treat Alzheimer Disease
Alzheimer disease (AD), the most common cause of dementia among the elderly and the third leading cause of death, presently afflicts over 5 million people in the USA, including over 500,000 in California. Age is the major risk factor, with 5% of the population over age 65 affected, with the incidence doubling every 5 years […]
Sustained siRNA production from human MSC to treat Huntingtons Disease and other neurodegenerative disorders
One in every ten thousand people in the USA have Huntington’s Disease, and it impacts many more. Multiple generations within a family can inherit the disease, resulting in escalating health care costs and draining family resources. This highly devastating and fatal disease touches all races and socioeconomic levels, and there are currently no cures. Screening […]
Stem Cell-Mediated Oncocidal Gene Therapy of Glioblastoma (GBM)
Brain tumors (BTs) are incurable, whether they start in the brain or spread there from other sites. Despite advances in surgical, radiation, pharmacologic, and gene therapies, survival with a BT remains dismal. Current therapies are limited by their inability to reach widely disseminated tumor cells that become dispersed within normal brain structures. Interestingly, the therapeutic […]
Stem Cell-mediated Therapy for High-grade Glioma: Toward Phase I-II Clinical Trials
Despite aggressive multimodal therapy and advances in imaging, surgical and radiation techniques, malignant brain tumors (high-grade gliomas) remain incurable, with survival often measured in months. Treatment failure is largely attributable to the diffuse and invasive nature of these brain tumor cells, ineffective delivery of chemotherapeutic agents to tumor sites, and toxic side-effects to the body, […]