Cell discovery at UGA could open path to breakthroughs
By BILL HENDRICK
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/26/07
One of Georgia's top research scientists said Thursday that he's discovered a way to quickly manufacture billions of a type of cell — derived from embryonic stem cells — that could grow into nerve and brain tissue, a development that could shorten by years the search for cures to debilitating conditions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases as well as spinal cord injuries.
University of Georgia scientist Steve Stice calls his discovery "very significant" because no one else is able to make the "progenitor neural cells" in quantities significant enough to meet the needs of researchers at pharmaceutical companies and other universities.
Stem cells are prized by researchers because of the cells' unique ability to morph into other body cells, promising to repair and rebuild damaged or diseased tissues. Neural progenitor cells, Stice said, are immature neural cells — derived from human embryonic stem cells — that can replicate themselves, or turn into one of many different types of cells in the nervous system.
Stice, a University of Georgia professor and director of the school's Regenerative Bioscience Center, said the discovery won't result in immediate treatments or the injection of regenerative cells into diseased brains. What's important, he said, is that now, "billions and billions" of these cells will be available to other scientists.
That is likely to expedite the development of future medications and treatments, possibly within just a few years, he said.
"The opportunity for others to make breakthroughs is the breakthrough," Stice said. And the potential impact "on the neural research community could be astounding," he added.
James H. Shepherd, founder and chairman of the board of the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, which treats hundreds of spinal cord and brain injury victims, said he was excited because the development "gets this limited line of approved cells into the hands of more researchers.
"There are a lot of researchers out there who have the capacity to continue to do research with the cells, but not grow or cultivate them on the front end," Shepherd said. For Shepherd Center patients, "it brightens the hope and gives it more immediacy for everyone with a disability."
Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), who described himself as "Steve Stice's biggest fan," said he's not surprised that the UGA scientist "is at the leading edge of technology in this area." Stice's research has "remarkably propelled Georgia into one of the major research centers in the United States."
Isakson said he has worked with Stice for the last 18 months on a Senate bill that would direct the National Institutes of Health to invest in stem cell research "derived in processes that don't destroy viable embryos."
Embryonic stem cell research has generated great religious and political controversy because embryos are destroyed when their stem cells are harvested. Stice has recently pioneered in a compromise for researchers: the taking of stem cells from imperfect embryos, incapable of becoming babies, that would be discarded by fertility clinics. That development, he said, is not involved in the latest breakthrough.
Stice said his neural stem cells were derived from one of the original embryonic stem cell lines approved by the NIH for federally funded research.
Aruna Biomedical Inc., Stice's company, has discovered how to manufacture the neural cells by the billions, he said, a major advance because only a few labs are able to make the cells, and then only in the thousands. He would not disclose how the process works.
His company has a technology licensing agreement with the UGA Research Foundation that will allow the firm to market and sell the human neural progenitor cells, with the university getting a cut. Neither Stice nor the university would discuss financial details of the deal. But Stice said it gives Aruna, founded in 2003, "an exclusive worldwide license" to develop and market the neural cells to laboratories, scientists and drug companies.
"We're going to be able to distribute a cell that has the ability to produce all the different cell types in the nervous system," Stice said. "Right now we're in production of these cells and will be working with a major distributor," which he declined to name.
He said the discovery is a first step, but a big one, in the search for brain and spinal cord diseases and injuries.
"The important point here is, before there may have been a handful of laboratories that had these cells available to them," Stice said. "Probably you can count on one hand the number of labs that have [neural progenitor] cells. Now we believe we can get these cells into the hands of tens of thousands of investigators. The more people working with these cells, the faster the treatments and cures will come. This increases exponentially the possibility of finding new cures."
David Lee, UGA vice president for research and an executive officer of the school's research foundation, said the cells derived by Stice "have the capacity to differentiate into a variety of different neural lineages. ... That makes them an excellent tool for scientists to use to discover new drugs for treatment of various neurological conditions, Parkinson's being an example."
Lee agreed with Stice that drug companies and other scientists could use the neural progenitor cells to develop medications within a few years that could help patients with brain and spinal cord problems.
Stice said the discovery will raise Georgia's image in the biomedical research world and place it among "the first states [along with California and Wisconsin] to put embryonic stem cell technology to work."
Researcher Alice Wertheim contributed to this article.
