Zeitschrift für Stammzellforschung und -therapie

Abstrakt

Cloned Microglias with Novel Delivery System in Multiple Sclerosis

Abdul Mannan Baig

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory neurological disease of the Central Nervous System (CNS), characterized by demyelination and activation of microglia. Mitochondrial mutations and dysfunctions in microglial cells are thought to contribute to the detrimental effects of neuroinflammation seen in MS. The Somatic Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) technology offers a more practical mode of therapy in MS, this method would attempt to dilute and/or progressively replace the mutated and activated microglia with cloned Olfactory Ensheathing Cells (OEC) with remyelinating and scavenging properties which would attempt to limit the progression of MS. Applying SCNTderived Embryonic Stem (ES) cells based therapy by cloning Olfactory Ensheathing Cells (OEC), engineered with an autologous nuclear component of the recipient OEC with a healthy donor oocyte. The inner cell mass of the subsequently developed blastocyst would be the source to generate the radial microglia to be used for cell therapy in MS. The novel proposed transcribrial route device offers a painless mode of cell transplantation to the brain. This mode of generating cloned glia and its transplantation to the brain is expected to replace the mutated and activated microglia of the patients with MS and use the regenerative and remyelinating and scavenging properties of the OEC’s, as has been seen in clinical trials in patients with spinal cord injuries. The use of SCNT to develop isogenic ES cellbased therapies for the prevention and treatment of MS associated with mtDNA mutations may open a new avenue of designer’s targeted cell therapy unique for the patients with MS. The proposed “transcribrial device” to access the brain can be an advantageous route of delivery of cloned cells to the brain.