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While the cells are still missing features, such as ion channels, necessary to support the kind of communication that neurons conduct, they could be a major step in developing new therapies to help patients who have suffered a stroke, according to lead researcher Dr Kylie Ellis, a doctoral graduate in Physiology and Commercial Development Manager of the university’s commercial arm, Adelaide Research & Innovation. She said that other methods of induction using a different composition of factors may be necessary to support the full transition of the stem cells into neurons. Her team is now investigating the time window after a stroke in which these stem cells will be useful in helping aid recovery and how they may have this effect.
“Should our results continue to be as successful as they have been, we hope to see this work entering clinical trials within the next five years,” she told Dental Tribune Asia Pacific.
The centre, a collaboration of academic and medical institutions at the university, has been working on brain therapies based on dental stem cells since 2005. Among other findings, it has discovered that treatment with stem cells after a stroke can lead to improved cognitive and motor skills in rodents. The recent findings published in the Stem Cell Research and Therapy journal were part of wider research on developing a laboratory-based model for actual treatment in humans.
“Ultimately, we want to be able to use a patient’s own stem cells for tailor-made brain therapy that doesn’t have the host rejection issues commonly associated with cell-based therapies,” Ellis said. “Dental pulp stem cell therapy may also provide a treatment option available months or even years after the stroke has occurred.”
According to research, dental stem cells derived from the pulp of primary or adult teeth hold great potential for future regenerative therapies. For example, they have been successfully transformed into a variety of tissues, including blood, bone and nerves, by researchers. In comparison with stem cells extracted from bone marrow and other sources, they are easier to collect and pose fewer ethical problems.
