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Japan Times
17-04-2025
- Health
- Japan Times
Japan succeeds in improving Parkinson's symptoms with iPS cells
A Japanese group said Thursday that it succeeded in improving symptoms of Parkinson's disease patients with nerve cells produced from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Symptoms improved in four of the patients participating in a clinical trial in which nerve cells made from iPS cells were transplanted into their brains, said Kyoto University Hospital and the national university's Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA). Sumitomo Pharma, which supplied the nerve cells, plans to apply for a state approval for the treatment under a fast-track system for regenerative medicine products that gives approvals on certain conditions for use over limited periods. The Osaka-based company aims to gain such an approval within this fiscal year at the earliest. A paper on the clinical trial was published on the British journal Nature. Parkinson's is a neurodegenerative condition in which motor function is impaired due to a decrease in nerve cells that produce dopamine, a chemical that works in the brain. Japan is believed to have about 290,000 people with the disease. While symptomatic treatment using drugs is available, no fundamental cure has been established. Between 2018 and 2023, Kyoto University Hospital and CiRA transplanted 5 million to 10 million dopamine neurons made from iPS cells into the central part of the brains of seven patients between the ages of 50 and 69. The institutes observed the progress for two years to examine the effectiveness and safety. As a result, no serious side effects were seen in any of the seven. In the six patients checked to see whether the treatment was effective, dopamine nerve activity increased after the transplantation and the amount of dopamine in the brain also rose. Motor function improved in four of them. Younger patients with milder symptoms tended to show bigger improvements, according to the institutes. "The treatment has been shown to be effective in patients. It's a great achievement," said Jun Takahashi, professor at CiRA. "We hope to deliver the cell transplant treatment to many patients as soon as possible."
Japan Times
15-04-2025
- Health
- Japan Times
Kyoto hospital succeeds in iPS sheet transplant to diabetic patient
Kyoto University Hospital has succeeded in transplanting pancreatic cell sheets made from induced pluripotent stem, or iPS, cells into a diabetic patient, achieving the first clinical application of such sheets in Japan. Announcing the results Monday, the hospital said that the patient in her 40s has already been discharged with a favorable prognosis. It was the first transplant surgery in the hospital's clinical trial for treating Type 1 diabetes through the transplantation of pancreatic cell sheets made from iPS cells. The patient was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2001 and underwent the surgery in February this year. The transplanted sheets secrete insulin, a hormone that controls the amount of sugar in the blood. The hospital observed her for one month after the surgery and confirmed that there were no safety problems. The targets of the clinical trial are three patients with Type 1 diabetes aged between 20 and 64, including the patient who had the surgery. The hospital is preparing to perform the second transplantation. After their operations, the targets will be monitored for five years, during which blood sugar and insulin levels will be checked. In 2026 or later, the effectiveness of the treatment will be examined in a clinical trial including patients abroad. The hospital aims to realize practical application of the treatment in the 2030s. In Type 1 diabetes, pancreatic islet cells, which produce insulin in the pancreas, break down, making it impossible to control blood sugar levels. Japan has about 100,000 to 140,000 patients with the disease. Patients need daily injections of insulin. Transplantation of pancreatic islet cells is covered by the country's public medical insurance. But only a few cases per year have been recorded due to a shortage of donors. In Europe and the United States, clinical trials using embryonic stem cells are under way, but iPS cells are considered safer. Professor Daisuke Yabe of Kyoto University Hospital said, "We hope to further advance our research to defeat Type 1 diabetes as soon as possible."
