Who Plans to Attend Working 2 Walk 2011 ? - Page 12

KofQ · 09-12-2011, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsilver

Dear KofQ,

If I am not mistaken a clinical grade source of chondroitinase has been around for some time from Seikagaku. I believe they own the pioneering patent for the enzyme. The application that I have seen the enzyme being administered to humans is for a use in repairing intervertebral disc disease. I'm not sure how successful this was but making a pharmaceutical grade chondroitinase is a no brainer.

Jerry

I hope you are correct, because this looks like an important part of the equation.

From 5/17/11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wise Young

There are several reasons why chondroitinase has not yet gone to trial.

First, chondroitinase is a very old compound. The composition of matter patent is held by a food company in Japan that has had little interest in licensing it. The processing patent is held by a company called Seikagaku in Japan and that company gave up of developing chondroitinase for spinal cord nearly a decade ago after having spent some money trying to develop the enzyme for soften spinal discs. The use patent for the treatment was licensed by Acorda Therapeutics, which is just beginning to make enough money to consider investing in the development of chondroitinase for spinal cord injury...
...I have been pushing as hard as I can within Acorda to urge them to invest into chondroitinase and more into spinal cord injury research. Hopefully, the fruits of that pushing will show up soon...
Wise.

From 5/26/11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wise Young

Many of the therapies that have been postulated to be potentially synergistic are not available or ready for use in combination. For example, there is no axon growth inhibitor blocker available for trials even if people wanted to use them. For example, the Nogo antibody is not available. There is no pharmaceutical grade chondroitinase available. There is no cethrin available...
Wise.

from 7/25/11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wise Young

There have been several reports of newer forms of chondroitinase that are heat-resistant and non-bacterial (i.e. human). So, there are other advances coming down the pike.

Wise.

kivi66 · 09-14-2011, 12:36 PM

jsilver, what do you think, is it possible to initiate the true and pure regeneration process replicating intrauterine spinal cord development that will patch it in the needed lesion sites? The "bridging the gap" conception to me looks outdated and misleading, admissible just as temporary interim solution. The material for replacement - propelly genetically treated neural stem cells derived neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. The outgrowth helpers and inhibitors-blokers - they are also well known. The guide sign is here: (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0608131330.htm). What remains a most unsolved part of the puzzle is remyelination, and what particularly puzzles me is to how replicate the Nodes of Ranvier formation. Whould like to know your vision of the above.

jsilver · 09-15-2011, 01:54 AM

Dear Kivi,

The VEGF story you cite added yet one more molecule (among many many dozens) that control axon guidance during development. Adding just one molecule such as VEGF in abundance after cord lesion has been attempted many times in the adult and has failed. See papers by Theo Hagg. Remember this: "on is never enough." Any time somebody hypes just one strategy that Mother Nature uses to guide axons in the embryo that if re-introduced in the adult is going to bring about miraculous regeneration and especially at chronic stages, is giving false hope. You're asking above for the miracle that some preach is possible with stem cells. I just attending a wonderful workshop about stem cells in spinal cord injury here in Prague (where I am this week). The talks by Michael Chopp but especially the one by Ted Teng of Harvard were terrific. Finally, researchers in the SCI field are coming to grips with what stem cells really do for SCI. 1) they help protect the spinal cord acutely from further damage due to inflammatory attack (they are neuroprotective) and 2) they can promote sprouting and reformation of connections from some of the REMAINING more primitive systems of axons in the brainstem reticular formation and propriospinal system that are spared by the initial lesion and can bring about a measure of functional recovery. He accomplished this by the use of an elegant series of re-lesion experiments of particular nuclei and specific tracts above the lesion to see if the returned function brought about by his stem cell/scaffold implant was abolished. Only lesion of the reticular nuclei far above the lesion reduced returned function. Lesion of the red nucleus, or the cortico spinal tract had no effect on returned function. Thus, THERE WAS NO REGENERATION OF LONG DESCENDING AXONS such as the cortico and rubro spinal tracts, something that certain stem cell hypers have claimed can happen. I stood up to the mic and congratulated him on his achievement and asked whether there was any work showing effects at chronic stages. The answer was he "was working on it." The bridging approach we use to bypass the lesion is equally accepted as yet another strategy that could lead to a permanent, not temporary fix as you suggest. Yet it has its limitations as well. It is not just my opinion but that of many other well-grounded scientists that stem cells have their place but are not going to "replicate embryonic development" and restore neuronal circuitry with fantastic function. There is a massive amount of hype that stem cells can work miracles at chronic stages but there is little credible evidence of this.

jsilver · 09-15-2011, 01:56 AM

erratum "one is never enough" This typing window keeps jumping all over the place when I try to make corrections.

fanette32 · 09-15-2011, 06:27 AM

Hello, I just registered for the Rockville Meeting (sunday 16th) but I'll stay at the Hilton H till tuesday.Hope I'll meet carecure forum people.
Fanette (Françoise from Paris France)

GRAMMY · 09-15-2011, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fanette32

Hello, I just registered for the Rockville Meeting (sunday 16th) but I'll stay at the Hilton H till tuesday.Hope I'll meet carecure forum people.
Fanette (Françoise from Paris France)

That's wonderful fanette32! I'm glad you were able to slide W2W into your travel schedule. I'm looking forward to meeting you. Travel safe!

GRAMMY · 09-23-2011, 04:52 PM

There's a nice group of people lining up to attend Working 2 Walk 2011. I can't wait to meet everyone!

SharonD · 09-27-2011, 05:45 AM

Hi Grammy, I am attending as well. So excited, cant wait to meet you and the others!

kivi66 · 09-27-2011, 05:46 AM

"Testing on nerves lacking myelin, both on the lab bench and in diseased mouse models, showed the OPCs derived from the process flourished into oligodendrocytes and restored NORMAL MYELIN within days, demonstrating their potential use in therapeutic transplants" (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...cience+News%29)

jsilver, it stay unclear whether this "normal myelin" is capable to conduct nerve impulses - nodes of Ranvier are not mentioned. What's your thoughts concerning this work?

jsilver · 09-27-2011, 10:22 AM

It's nice to see Paul Tesar doing well. Great for CWRU. He is on one of my student's thesis committees. The result seems very promising, given the large number of pure oligos that are generated so quickly. sounds like they could give Geron a run for their money. for diseases like MS this could be a big advance. For SCI we have to get the cells to migrate robustly. Not surprisingly, it has been shown in a very nice paper by Michel Fehlings ( J Neuroscience) that stem cells primed toward an oligodendrocyte fate can migrate and remyelinate better and restore a better measure of function even after chronic SCI when chondroitinase is given as part of the therapy. so Tesar's cells plus ch'ase could be very interesting. Next time I see him around I'll have to talk with him about a collaboration.

Jerry

Quote:

Originally Posted by kivi66

"Testing on nerves lacking myelin, both on the lab bench and in diseased mouse models, showed the OPCs derived from the process flourished into oligodendrocytes and restored NORMAL MYELIN within days, demonstrating their potential use in therapeutic transplants" (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...cience+News%29)

jsilver, it stay unclear whether this "normal myelin" is capable to conduct nerve impulses - nodes of Ranvier are not mentioned. What's your thoughts concerning this work?

09-23-2011, 04:52 PM	#117
GRAMMY Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: USA Posts: 1,646	There's a nice group of people lining up to attend Working 2 Walk 2011. I can't wait to meet everyone! __________________ http://spinalcordresearchandadvocacy.wordpress.com/

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09-14-2011, 12:36 PM	#112
kivi66 Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Posts: 388	jsilver, what do you think, is it possible to initiate the true and pure regeneration process replicating intrauterine spinal cord development that will patch it in the needed lesion sites? The "bridging the gap" conception to me looks outdated and misleading, admissible just as temporary interim solution. The material for replacement - propelly genetically treated neural stem cells derived neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. The outgrowth helpers and inhibitors-blokers - they are also well known. The guide sign is here: (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0608131330.htm). What remains a most unsolved part of the puzzle is remyelination, and what particularly puzzles me is to how replicate the Nodes of Ranvier formation. Whould like to know your vision of the above.

09-15-2011, 01:54 AM	#113
jsilver Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 214	Dear Kivi, The VEGF story you cite added yet one more molecule (among many many dozens) that control axon guidance during development. Adding just one molecule such as VEGF in abundance after cord lesion has been attempted many times in the adult and has failed. See papers by Theo Hagg. Remember this: "on is never enough." Any time somebody hypes just one strategy that Mother Nature uses to guide axons in the embryo that if re-introduced in the adult is going to bring about miraculous regeneration and especially at chronic stages, is giving false hope. You're asking above for the miracle that some preach is possible with stem cells. I just attending a wonderful workshop about stem cells in spinal cord injury here in Prague (where I am this week). The talks by Michael Chopp but especially the one by Ted Teng of Harvard were terrific. Finally, researchers in the SCI field are coming to grips with what stem cells really do for SCI. 1) they help protect the spinal cord acutely from further damage due to inflammatory attack (they are neuroprotective) and 2) they can promote sprouting and reformation of connections from some of the REMAINING more primitive systems of axons in the brainstem reticular formation and propriospinal system that are spared by the initial lesion and can bring about a measure of functional recovery. He accomplished this by the use of an elegant series of re-lesion experiments of particular nuclei and specific tracts above the lesion to see if the returned function brought about by his stem cell/scaffold implant was abolished. Only lesion of the reticular nuclei far above the lesion reduced returned function. Lesion of the red nucleus, or the cortico spinal tract had no effect on returned function. Thus, THERE WAS NO REGENERATION OF LONG DESCENDING AXONS such as the cortico and rubro spinal tracts, something that certain stem cell hypers have claimed can happen. I stood up to the mic and congratulated him on his achievement and asked whether there was any work showing effects at chronic stages. The answer was he "was working on it." The bridging approach we use to bypass the lesion is equally accepted as yet another strategy that could lead to a permanent, not temporary fix as you suggest. Yet it has its limitations as well. It is not just my opinion but that of many other well-grounded scientists that stem cells have their place but are not going to "replicate embryonic development" and restore neuronal circuitry with fantastic function. There is a massive amount of hype that stem cells can work miracles at chronic stages but there is little credible evidence of this.

09-15-2011, 01:56 AM	#114
jsilver Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 214	erratum "one is never enough" This typing window keeps jumping all over the place when I try to make corrections.

09-15-2011, 06:27 AM	#115
fanette32 Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: france Posts: 6	Hello, I just registered for the Rockville Meeting (sunday 16th) but I'll stay at the Hilton H till tuesday.Hope I'll meet carecure forum people. Fanette (Françoise from Paris France)

09-27-2011, 05:45 AM	#118
SharonD Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Richmond VA Posts: 751	Hi Grammy, I am attending as well. So excited, cant wait to meet you and the others!

09-27-2011, 05:46 AM	#119
kivi66 Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Posts: 388	"Testing on nerves lacking myelin, both on the lab bench and in diseased mouse models, showed the OPCs derived from the process flourished into oligodendrocytes and restored NORMAL MYELIN within days, demonstrating their potential use in therapeutic transplants" (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...cience+News%29) jsilver, it stay unclear whether this "normal myelin" is capable to conduct nerve impulses - nodes of Ranvier are not mentioned. What's your thoughts concerning this work?