Italian News Release on Staminal Cells for MS

[Guest guest]

Hi everybody,

I would like to share with you this interview released by Doctor

Grimaldi who has directed in 1992 the research neurology unit of the

Saint Raffaele Hospital of Milan to the Italian press. This interview

will be published tomorrow in the Quindicinale Siciliano. I do

apologise for any imprecision in my Italian to English translation

found below.

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This the title:

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Specialized staminal nervous cells reconstruct the myelin.

DEFEAT THE MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS BETWEEN FIVE YEARS?

The experiments on the rats demonstrate that it can be recovered.

Started the experimentation on the monkeys in Holland. In 2005 it

would be tested on man - Our interview in exclusive right to the

investigator who directed in 1992 the neurology unit of the Saint

Raffaele Hospital of Milan, Doctor Luigi Grimaldi

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Here the article interview

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On April the 17th Natures has published an article on the staminal

cells. This was an announcement that represents more than one hope

for MS patients. Experiments on rats have demonstrated that it is

possible to recover from MS. Some days ago the experimentations

already are begun in Holland on monkeys and probably, from the half

of the 2004 they will begin also on man. This announcement comes from

Prof. Luigi Grimaldi, director of the research unit of the Saint

Raffaele Hospital of Milan in 1992, now directed by Doctor Gianvito

o. This exclusive interview tells how they reached this

discovery according which, adult staminal nervous cells, injected for

intravenous way, can reconstruct the myelin destroyed from the

multiple sclerosis.

--- Doctor Grimaldi, we can say that we are near the target? That

this is more than a new hope of recovering from MS?

" Definitely, this is a fundamental step in the history of the therapy

for MS. For the first time it has been consistently shown from

scientific assessment the possibility of not only arresting the MS

progression but also restoring the lost functionality. The fact that

the mechanism of reconstruction is not specific and depending of the

nature of the lesion that has happened, on a practical point of view,

it is an advantage. Independently from the reason of why such lesions

have been generated, whether because of a virus or an allergic lesion

or a genetic defect, this experimentation at the San Raffaele

Hospital, demonstrated the capability of reconstructing the damage " .

--- In what consists this transplant of staminal nervous cells? Which

are the mechanisms through which they go to find damaged cells and

they reconstruct them?

" This result comes from the joint of two scientific abilities.

Firstly, thanks to the study of Doctor Angelo Viscovi, that is the

person who has developed the technique to capture staminal cells from

any organ of the body and to direct them towards one cellular organ

such a bone or the brain or an eye. These cells, purposely

stimulated, can be directed in all the directions.

Then we come to the mechanisms. The cells are from the same rat that

has been induced with the disease, injecting great amounts of myelin

and creating the of immunity reaction. Therefore they develop

multiple inflammations in the brain, a model that is similar the MS.

Then, from its blood, are obtained the staminal cells. In vitro they

are stimulated, made to grow and re-injected in the blood. Alone,

these cells find their way to the brain and incredibly they find

alone the point where the myelin lacks. They stop and start

reconstructing the myelin allowing the previously damaged nerve, to

work again. After a month, fully paralysed rats in all four legs and

the tail, return to jump. This experiment, which has been repeated on

one hundred rats, works. The next step is now to repeat the

experiment on more complex animals similar to man. The intermediate

phase will be experimentation on monkey. And the monkey resembles a

lot the man. As much as 98% the monkey genome is equal to that man

one. If it works in the monkey, there is good possibility that it

will work also for man. The experiments on the monkey started already

4 days ago. It will take few months before monkeys develop the

multiple sclerosis. After that, it will begin the therapies of using

staminal cells also in the monkeys. First results are expected in the

second half of 2004 " .

--- How long would it take to have the first experimentations on man?

" I can tell you, also because I started this search already in 1994,

that there is not jet in the world a suitable centre suitable for

this passage from experimental model to man. I do not want to reveal

too much at the moment and precede announcements that they will

possibly come next, but are taking place negotiations between the San

Raffaele Hospital and the Sicily Region, in order to create such

centre for the experimentation on man in the island. Probably I will

direct this centre myself with the collaboration of the San Raffaele.

The Sicilians could be the first that will be able to have benefit

from this therapy " .

--- Why do we need about 5 years before having this therapy

available? Doesn't it look like this can be achieved earlier?

" I have discussed this with Gianvito o before announcing the

news to the press. I suggested saying about five years. The

experimentation on monkey will end in 2004. Than it will be necessary

at least an other year in order to start it on man, plus another year

for looking at the results and for the publications on scientific

reviews. Therefore, we are reaching 2007, that it is a reasonable

time, for bringing this therapy to all the patients. If we start in

Sicily by 2005, the first experimentation on man could start in two

years, but still on a limited number of patients. Before extending

the treatment to everybody else, we must be absolutely sure that it

works. This is why we are talking of about five years " .