INTR10

Authors:

Dunnett SB 1
Brundin P 2
Mendez I 3
Rosser AE 1

Institutions:

1 Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
2 Lund University, Lund, Sweden
3 Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada

Title of abstract : Getting cells ready for clinical transplantation

Abstract text:

Taking cells to clinical trial involves a range of challenges over and above the biological issues of cell survival, integration and function addressed in experimental studies in the laboratory. As we consider new trials of primary fetal cell transplantation for PD, several key issues still need to be addressed:
• Do we now better understand the source of graft-induced dyskinesias, and can we derive a transplantation strategy that circumvents this side effect?
• Have we yet optimized cell preparation protocols? In particular, critical factors such as the parameters of cell hibernation still require experimental validation for human-derived donor tissues.
• Can we ensure not only good survival of implanted cells, but reliability and reproducibility in graft survival, placement and integration?
• And what are the new challenges of regulatory compliance, at least in Europe, with the introduction of the EU Tissues and Cells Directive?
I will report on the current status of ongoing discussions and experiments from a multicentre international collaboration sponsored by the UK Parkinson’s Disease Society to address these issues.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 11:42 and is filed under PD: models and applications, all. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.