On Thursday, 26 June, a team of Japanese scientists led by Haruhisa Inoue announced in the American journal, Stem Cell Reports, that it had succeeded in “slowing down the advance of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in mice” by using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS). According to the scientists, the lifespan of a mouse suffering from ALS was prolonged by 8%. To arrive at this result, the scientists carried out the “transplantation of neuronal progenitors with a high glial protein content“. This substance, derived from iPS cells, “can nurture and maintain neurones“.
ALS is a disease that leads to “degradation of the patient’s physical condition including muscle wasting“. The degeneration of motor neurones was achieved with iPS cells.
As far as the scientists are concerned, these “studies highlight the potential efficacy of regenerative cell therapy for ALS using iPS cells as the source“.
In Japan, research into IPS cells has become a priority. The State has made a substantial financial commitment to this research. This work constitutes “an extremely promising field where Japan should pave the way“.
