Human skin show promise in treating myelin disorders

Myelin sheaths


A study out February 7 in the journal Cell Stem Cell shows that human brain cells created by reprogramming skin cells are highly effective in treating myelin disorders, a family of diseases that includes multiple sclerosis and rare childhood disorders called pediatric leukodystrophies.The study is the first successful attempt to employ human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) to produce a population of cells that are critical to neural signaling in the brain. In this instance, the researchers utilised cells crafted from human skin and transplanted them into animal models of myelin disease.
 
“This study strongly supports the utility of hiPSCs as a feasible and effective source of cells to treat myelin disorders,” said University of Rochester Medical Centre neurologist Steven Goldman, M.D., Ph.D., lead author of the study. “In fact, it appears that cells derived from this source are at least as effective as those created using embryonic or tissue-specific stem cells.”
 
The discovery opens the door to potential new treatments using hiPSC-derived cells for a range of neurological diseases characterized by the loss of a specific cell population in the central nervous system called myelin. Like the insulation found on electrical wires, myelin is a fatty tissue that ensheathes the connections between nerve cells and ensures the crisp transmission of signals from one cell to another. When myelin tissue is damaged, communication between cells can be disrupted or even lost.
 
The most common myelin disorder is multiple sclerosis, a condition in which the body’s own immune system attacks and destroys myelin. The loss of myelin is also the hallmark of a family of serious and often fatal diseases known as pediatric leukodystrophies. While individually very rare, collectively several thousand children are born in the U.S. with some form of leukodystrophy every year.

-- Punch