News Releases & Research Results Production of glial cells, effective for spinal cord injury, from clinical human iPS cells - Promising cell sources for clinical applications -

The results of the collaborative research and development project conducted by graduate student Yasuhiro Kamata of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Associate Professor Jun Kohyama of the Department of Physiology, Keio University School of Medicine and Ph.D. Researcher Miho Isoda of the Regenerative & Cellular Medicine Kobe Center, Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd.

• A clinically applicable method was developed for efficiently inducing differentiation of clinical human iPS cells into glial cells. The glial cells were demonstrated to improve motor dysfunction when administered to the spinal cord of an animal model of spinal cord injury.
• The results of this R&D project should allow the seamless transition from basic to clinical medicine and promote clinical applications.

This project was conducted with the support of the Research Center Network for Realization of Regenerative Medicine by AMED.

The results were published online in STEM CELLS Translational Medicine on November 23.

Kamata Y., et al. A robust culture system to generate neural progenitors with gliogenic competence from clinically relevant induced pluripotent stem cells for treatment of spinal cord injury STEM CELLS Translational Medicine
DOI: 10.1002/sctm.20-0269