Biotechnology & The Future of Medicine
Hip fracture. Each year, 754,000 people in North America, Japan and the U.S. suffer a hip fracture. During recovery from the fracture and surgery to repair it, these individuals often suffer significant loss of strength and muscle mass. Currently under investigation is an examination of the benefits of ThGRF measuring hip fracture patients' ability to perform daily activities and regain their strength and balance. This study also will measure patient independence and level of consumption of health care services following surgery.
Novel delivery systems for therapeutic peptides
Therapeutic drug delivery is a particularly difficult issue with regard to peptides as they cannot be taken orally. Studies have found that compliance is likely to be poor if subcutaneous injections are the only drug delivery method that works. One potential option is the development of a new transdermal peptide delivery system that features a skin patch lined with a titanium microprojection array, which opens up miniscule pathways through the skin. These pathways allow the painless and direct introduction of peptides, drugs or vaccines.4,5 The transdermal patch is coated with whatever drug is being used, and when applied the patch can introduce the necessary amount of drug in a short time span. Animal studies have shown that the potency of the dose given increases with this delivery system. This means that lower dosages can be effectively given. There is decreased likelihood of skin irritation compared to traditional drug delivery patches.
Autologous stem cells
One of the most promising areas of medical exploration is in the area of stem cell research. Stem cells are immature, undifferentiated cells that can mature into any type of cell that exists in the body. Modern stem cell technology enables scientists to direct the maturation of these stem cells, encouraging them to develop into a specific type of cell. The potential use of stem cells taken from embryos has aroused a significant amount of controversy because of ethical concerns. There are now ways around this issue by utilizing autologous stem cell transplantation. Stem cells from the patient's own body are extracted and cultured or treated for eventual reimplantation into the patient. This technique also circumvents the common problem, where the patient's immune system reacts strongly against the implantation of foreign-cells or organs.
Cultured and implanted stem cells could restore the function of organs or tissues destroyed by disease. Autologous stem cell therapy holds huge promise in the treatment of disorders that are now incurable, including Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's disease, juvenile diabetes, spinal cord injury and the neurological damage caused by stroke and brain tumors. Celmed's stem cell work is progressing on two different platforms: the use of neural stem cells to treat neurodegenerative diseases, and the use of hematopoetic (bone marrow) stem cells in the treatment of cancers that involve blood cells-non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).
One key study in the realm of neural stem cell transplantation recently focused on a Parkinson's disease patient whose symptoms greatly decreased within a year of transplantation.6 Researchers discovered that while many of the transplanted cells developed the ability to make dopamine-the neurotransmitter that is lacking in Parkinson's patients-the symptomatic improvement appeared to be due to some other variable. Symptoms continued to improve a year after the transplant, despite the fact that dopamine uptake in the brain declined to levels seen at the beginning of the study by that time. No other therapy has shown so much promise in the treatment of Parkinson's disease.
Photodynamic stem cell therapy
Bone marrow makes most of the components of blood and of the immune system, and when its function is compromised, life-threatening infections and other problems can set in. Chemotherapy often results in a loss of bone marrow function. This is why bone marrow transplant is often a necessary part of cancer therapy. Unfortunately, about 70% of patients aren't able to receive a bone marrow transplant because a compatible donor cannot be found. Even when a match is found, graft vs. host disease (GvHD) is a distinct and dangerous possibility.
The oncology research community has explored the possibility of autologous bone marrow transplants-where the marrow is taken from the patient before chemotherapy and reintroduced post-chemotherapy-but there is always the possibility that cancerous cells will remain in the transplanted marrow, potentially reintroducing the cancer. Celmed has developed a new technology called TheraluxTM that solves this problem, making autologous bone marrow transplants a viable option. Bone marrow is drawn from the patient and treated with a photosensitive molecule-a peptide called TH 9402. In studies performed in 1999, it was found that TH 9402 accumulates in cancerous cells and causes them to be destroyed when exposed to a specially designed light. When marrow is exposed to this light source, cancerous cells are eradicated and healthy ones preserved. The resulting marrow is ready for transplantation back into the patient after chemotherapy has ended. Animal studies suggest that TheraluxTM circumvents the problems of graft vs. host disease and preserves the cancer-therapeutic and immune-stimulating effects of bone marrow transplantation.7-10
Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), characterized by uncontrolled proliferation of certain types of blood cells, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), where immune components become malignant and multiply, are also in advanced study phases. Both cancers are on the rise. CML is responsible for 10,000 new cases each year in Japan, Canada the U.S. and Europe, and 25,000 people dying from NHL each year in the U.S. alone. Sixteen CML patients have had autologous transplant of photodynamically treated bone marrow. Thus far, four of them have entered complete remission, with 82% survival rate at 15 months. In January 2001, researchers in Montreal, Canada began a trial of TheraluxTM in the treatment of 28 NHL patients.
Currently, ThGRF is undergoing several phase II human trials, and a series of Investigational New Drug (IND) applications for this unique product have been formally filed. Research has indicated that elements of the endocrine system, particularly growth hormone and IGF-1, are actively involved in the function of the immune system. Currently, a study is underway to determine whether ThGRF administration will improve immune response to the flu vaccine in 160 elderly people. The clinical usefulness of such a therapy is potentially enormous; influenza kills 40,000 people each year, and over 90% of those people are aged 65 or older. The study will measure improvement in levels and activity of T lymphocytes and antibodies, as well as any decline in common flu complications, such as pneumonia.
A second Phase II study of 90 men and women aged 35 to 50 is currently underway to further test the effectiveness and safety of ThGRF for the treatment of sleep maintenance insomnia. This study, involving seven different centers in Canada and Europe, will measure the effects of varying doses of ThGRF over a two-week period on daytime alertness, subjects' assessment of their sleep quality, and polysomnographic recordings taken during the night.
Type 2 diabetics have been warned against growth hormone replacement and GRF therapy because it exacerbates insulin resistance. Because so many aging people suffer from type 2 diabetes and prediabetes, researchers have now implemented a study designed to ascertain whether the drug is safe for this population.
The above studies and applications are at the forefront of the new applications that will surely emerge from cellular research. New products taming degenerative diseases will change the understanding of the human body as we now know it.
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