Acceleration in iPS cells clinical applications!!

[lacazette]

Damn Jay , it's the biggest thing of the summer!the best new that we could ever had!

Fear of DNA mutations was the last major issue that was slowing every iPSC therapy to enter human clinical trial

the two others were:
-simply and cheaper methods for mass iPSCs production: already solved
-kill all the cells that failed to differentiate during the reprogramming process to have tumor free risk cells: solved by japanese researchers this july

The fear of DNA damage that could lead to mutations was the last and biggest problem that was slowing the process for mass clinical trials with iPSC treatments
(macular degenerence was the first and only one accepted and already taking place in trial in japan and usa, the slow process was ONLY because of that DNA damage fear)

Now this spanish team have just made the biggest progress on iPSCs since 2006 and it's discovery! It's huge huge huge


"A finding reveals why the transformation process of differentiated cells into stem cells results in significant damage to the DNA. Researchers have managed to rectify this damage using a simple modification to the culture medium

While the fact that the method damaged the DNA of iPS cells was known, the reasons were not.

According to an article published this week in Nature Communications, the team headed by Fernández-Capetillo states that the damage to the genome of iPS cells lies in a very specific kind of stress that the cells are subjected to during cell reprogramming: replication stress, which occurs when the cells increase the pace of division. In addition, and based on these findings, the authors of the paper have managed to develop strategies to reduce this type of stress, resulting in pluripotent stem cells with less damage to their genome.

The results represent a significant step forward regarding the possible use of iPS cells, because after almost a decade since they were developed, there is now a more efficient way of obtaining them, with less damage to the DNA, making them potentially safer.


The nature of the damage to the DNA observed in iPS cells has been intensely discussed for some years, due to the fact that it is linked to the rearrangement of large fragments of chromosomes which could lead to potentially dangerous mutations if used clinically

Now the team headed by Fernández-Capetillo has not only identified the origin of the damage, replication stress, but has managed to reduce it significantly; potentially improving the safety of induced stem cells for use in biomedicine

The simplicity of this nucleoside-based strategy means that it can be implemented easily by laboratories around the world working with iPS cells, and thus contribute significantly to the field of regenerative biology, one of the greatest aspirations of biomedicine this century.



With this incredible new jay combined with the tumor free risk cells new of july, that mean for Terskish team from S&B could have the autorisation to test his technique on human in a just a few weeks!!

Cause before the summer he was saying that he would need 2 years before enter clinical trial because of the safety issues. Now with those two major breaktrhoughs from this summer, it changes everything in the timelines!

Sisheido, regience, sung jan lin and all the others in the world could now planning for government authorisation for iPSC human trial testing in the coming weeks/months!! For the septics who don't believe it , just ask them directly (company/researchers) how these two breakthroughs of the summer change everything in term of timeline

and it's huge not only for our hair in the really near future, but it will also save a lot of us from death and major diseases that we were programmed to have in 10/20 years

So now let's just be careful when we drive our car,etc stupid accidents like this, cause we will really soon be able to enjoy our life at 100% with a beautiful Nwd 0 and without that baldness feeling in our stomach anymore

[JayM]

Man I love your optimism lacazette it's good news indeed. Were you in contact with any of these guys? It would be fantastic to know whether they are that excited about it. The funny thing is if you just think about it, the actual process is so simple to reduce mutations.

[lacazette]

Hehe how can I not be optimist when in one summer the major issues for clinical translation are being solved

With that new easy technique, many iPSC treatments will alreday have far more easily the government permission to enter human trials (of course even more in japan, but also South korea, china, Singapore, taiwan, usa, russia, etc)

But it will be even more bigger,cause now that they found the origin of the DNA damage (replication stress) and show an easy and cheap method to reduce it significantly, it's just a matter of days before the same team or another one in the world published the 2.0 method for 100% free DNA damage, that would lead to a big rush to enter and complete human trials from all the ones in the world who work on the iPSC hair cure

I'm sure it's already what happening now since that spanish discovery, but at more lower rate as when they will found the 100% zero genome damage method

Just a matter of days

With those major news in iPSCs and also bioengineering, IMO at least one trial will begin before the end of 2015 or beginning 2016. So 2017 would be the year for a japan temporally approval for one/some cure and 2020/22 for the definitive approval there and asian market

ps: for the septics, you have to fight against your aderans trauma life of science is exponential progress, not an infinite infernal circle

[JayM]

I hope you're right lacazette I wonder if I try to contact some of these guys and ask them what this means ect. Might say I write a blog or something :')

[Hairismylife]

Hehe how can I not be optimist when in one summer the major issues for clinical translation are being solved

With that new easy technique, many iPSC treatments will alreday have far more easily the government permission to enter human trials (of course even more in japan, but also South korea, china, Singapore, taiwan, usa, russia, etc)

But it will be even more bigger,cause now that they found the origin of the DNA damage (replication stress) and show an easy and cheap method to reduce it significantly, it's just a matter of days before the same team or another one in the world published the 2.0 method for 100% free DNA damage, that would lead to a big rush to enter and complete human trials from all the ones in the world who work on the iPSC hair cure

I'm sure it's already what happening now since that spanish discovery, but at more lower rate as when they will found the 100% zero genome damage method

Just a matter of days

With those major news in iPSCs and also bioengineering, IMO at least one trial will begin before the end of 2015 or beginning 2016. So 2017 would be the year for a japan temporally approval for one/some cure and 2020/22 for the definitive approval there and asian market

ps: for the septics, you have to fight against your aderans trauma life of science is exponential progress, not an infinite infernal circle

2017 temp approval but 2022 for full approval?
5 years time…but i know you're just speculating.
Not going to be negative but I just don't know why the DELAY always appears in hairloss world. Just see the Pilofocus, the trial was scheduled to start at July but it turned out to be a lie. Where is Wesley? Keep us waiting and waiting and their supporters tell us to be patient. Replicel still hasn't begun their phase2 trial. A delay happens even in a treatment simple as transplant, how can I be optimistic when they're playing with cells? I'm tired of hearing they've found the missing puzzle and accelarate the process and in whatever years they'll blah blah blah…is that really so funny to play with our hopes? If they can't stick to what they said please STFU!

[lacazette]

But the definitive approval don't matter for us who are motivated to have the procedure done in 2017-18 under the temp approval
The only thing is that we will have to pay for something that don't have long safety data (just 12/16months data) and the guaranteed for 100% effectiveness ( we will have the hair we want of course, but there will be no data to know if those hair will last more than 3,5,10 years, etc. We will have to sign papers to confirm that we are aware of these two parameters and that it's kinda like a real life person to person clinical trial.

So yes the 5 years between the two approval is a normal process to complete the trial phases, to confirm the long term safety and long term effectiveness of the treatment.
The recent temp approval system in japan is a benediction for the ones of us who don't want to wait many years and are aware of the risks, without it we would be condamned to wait so much time.

Who will pay to be a guinea pig in some months? I do

[JayM]

but the definitive approval don't matter for us who are motivated to have the procedure done in 2017-18 under the temp approval
the only thing is that we will have to pay for something that don't have long safety data (just 12/16months data) and the guaranteed for 100% effectiveness ( we will have the hair we want of course, but there will be no data to know if those hair will last more than 3,5,10 years, etc. We will have to sign papers to confirm that we are aware of these two parameters and that it's kinda like a real life person to person clinical trial.

So yes the 5 years between the two approval is a normal process to complete the trial phases, to confirm the long term safety and long term effectiveness of the treatment.
The recent temp approval system in japan is a benediction for the ones of us who don't want to wait many years and are aware of the risks, without it we would be condamned to wait so much time.

Who will pay to be a guinea pig in some months? I do :d

take my money!

[lacazette]

I hope you're right lacazette I wonder if I try to contact some of these guys and ask them what this means ect. Might say I write a blog or something :')

Yes I will try too jay, but i will try also with all the ones who work on iPSC treatment for hair (or even for other diseases). Since this summer, they have the easy tools to make tumor free iPSCs, and iPSCs with so much less DNA damage. The two major issues overcomed, human trial autorisation is now becoming a possibility unlike before, hope they will confirm that

[JayM]

Yeh I just want to get some inside knowledge, not really of the companies just what the industry is feeling kind of thing.

[TJT]

Sisheido, regience, sung jan lin and all the others in the world could now planning for government authorisation for iPSC human trial testing in the coming weeks/months!! For the septics who don't believe it , just ask them directly (company/researchers) how these two breakthroughs of the summer change everything in term of timeline

I love your optimism, but this sounds like pure speculation. Do you have any information from Shiseido or any other leading-edge hair restoration research labs to back up your claim that this changes or strengthens their timeline?

[lacazette]

I love your optimism, but this sounds like pure speculation. Do you have any information from Shiseido or any other leading-edge hair restoration research labs to back up your claim that this changes or strengthens their timeline?

Not about hair area, but for every kind of iPSC treatments, the first ever ipsc treatment was done in riken center in a woman with macular disease and she is doing well, they then move on second patient but they found dna mutations in some of the reprogrammed cells, and even if the leader researcher said that the risk was low for these mutations turn dangerous, they halted the expansion of the trial to study these mutations and to saw if they came from the patient's disease or the reprogramming process. then they confirmed that the reprogramming process was in fault

https://www.ipscell.com/2015/07/firstipscstop/

http://www.signalsblog.ca/the-waiting-game-first-human-ipsc-clinical-trial-on-hold/

"One patient was transplanted in September 2014 with their own IPSC-derived retinal pigment epithelial cells (using an innovative RPE sheet, see image) for treatment of macular degeneration.

The study then moved on to a possible second patient, whose IPSC did not pass a genomic validation step. Reportedly, these IPSC contained a mutation, potentially in a known oncogene, which is a serious concern. Thus, the team decided to at least temporarily suspend the trial pending a possible redesign. The new plan could involve a change in how the IPSC are produced.


"Initially, the nature of these mutations was unclear. In a series of comments on the original blog post, Dr. Takahashi explains that a total of six mutations were found in iPSCs prior to transplantation into a second patient. These mutations were not present in the genome of the patient, indicating that they arose during the reprogramming process. Dr. Takahashi maintains that the likelihood of tumour formation due to these mutations is low."

"The hope now is that further study of the mutations in the RIKEN iPSCs will help us to refine the reprogramming process to avoid future pitfalls"


So it's exactly what the spanish team resolved They found the origin and when this Dna damage occurs during the reprogramming process (replication stress) and not only that, they found an easy way to reduce it significantly, that every lab in the world could use and work on.


Dr. Knoepfler (stem cell researcher) was saying on his blog that if that halted trial is coming back in the game , it would be the major step forward for every iPSC therapy.

So the discovery of the spanish clearly reduce the timelines, and Im sure it will go even faster, cause now that they found the origin of these mutations and some easy ways to reduce it, every ipsc labs can work on it, so the 2.0 method for 100% Dna stability will be published in a few days, IMO

Let's ask the researchers working on iPSC themselves to confirm, but everything I read was that the large expansion of iPSCs trials was moving slow just because of the fear of these possible dna mutations

[TJT]

Not about hair area, but for every kind of iPSC treatments, the first ever ipsc treatment was done in riken center in a woman with macular disease and she is doing well, they then move on second patient but they found dna mutations in some of the reprogrammed cells, and even if the leader researcher said that the risk was low for these mutations turn dangerous, they halted the expansion of the trial to study these mutations and to saw if they came from the patient's disease or the reprogramming process. then they confirmed that the reprogramming process was in fault

https://www.ipscell.com/2015/07/firstipscstop/

http://www.signalsblog.ca/the-waiting-game-first-human-ipsc-clinical-trial-on-hold/

"One patient was transplanted in September 2014 with their own IPSC-derived retinal pigment epithelial cells (using an innovative RPE sheet, see image) for treatment of macular degeneration.

The study then moved on to a possible second patient, whose IPSC did not pass a genomic validation step. Reportedly, these IPSC contained a mutation, potentially in a known oncogene, which is a serious concern. Thus, the team decided to at least temporarily suspend the trial pending a possible redesign. The new plan could involve a change in how the IPSC are produced.


"Initially, the nature of these mutations was unclear. In a series of comments on the original blog post, Dr. Takahashi explains that a total of six mutations were found in iPSCs prior to transplantation into a second patient. These mutations were not present in the genome of the patient, indicating that they arose during the reprogramming process. Dr. Takahashi maintains that the likelihood of tumour formation due to these mutations is low."

"The hope now is that further study of the mutations in the RIKEN iPSCs will help us to refine the reprogramming process to avoid future pitfalls"


So it's exactly what the spanish team resolved They found the origin and when this Dna damage occurs during the reprogramming process (replication stress) and not only that, they found an easy way to reduce it significantly, that every lab in the world could use and work on.


Dr. Knoepfler (stem cell researcher) was saying on his blog that if that halted trial is coming back in the game , it would be the major step forward for every iPSC therapy.

So the discovery of the spanish clearly reduce the timelines, and Im sure it will go even faster, cause now that they found the origin of these mutations and some easy ways to reduce it, every ipsc labs can work on it, so the 2.0 method for 100% Dna stability will be published in a few days, IMO

Let's ask the researchers working on iPSC themselves to confirm, but everything I read was that the large expansion of iPSCs trials was moving slow just because of the fear of these possible dna mutations

Would be interesting to find out how this affects Tsuji labs, because I think their neogenesis approach is based on iPSCs.

[lacazette]

Terskish representant was saying in june, that the team needed 1M to make the protocol for human use and 5M for the tumorigenicity issue during 2 years before enter clinical trial

-In july , jap researchers found how kill ALL the cells that don't reprogramming well and could become cancerigen= 1 problem resolved

- But even in the cells that reprogramming well with the traditionnal method, there's could little DNA mutations due to the reprogramming process. The risk is low according to the leader scientist of the riken center trial, but they halted it to study the mutations and found a new design for the reprogramming process:
In august the spanish team, found WHY these DNA damages occurs during the reprogramming process, but also found HOW significantly improve the DNA stability.

So the risk was low, now with this new technique, the risk is really low ( and as I said, it's just a matter of days before the same team or another lab in the world published the 2.0 method for 100% dna stability ( cause before that spanish team discovery, no one knew why and when this DNA damage occur (replication stress), so now the hundreds of iPSCs labs can work on it, so believe me the 2.0 method is for really soon

And last but not least:
-September 3, researchers have found a way for that after the transplantation of iPSCs in therapic use, if there is side effects that appears with these cells, they can eliminate all the iPSCs-derived in the patient !! (just by delivering the specific drug then)

"This demonstrates that if side effects were to appear in therapeutic use, it would be possible to eliminate the iPSC-derived T-cells in the patient.

This research provides a means to control any potential side effects that might occur as a result of the iPSC-derived T-cell therapy. It greatly advances the possibility of safe and effective T-cell therapies.

Nakauchi said, “This safety mechanism can also be applied to other iPSC-derived therapies.”
https://<br /> <br /> http://www.asi...afe-icaspase9/


So in one summer, if you combined these discoveries, we're about to reach almost 100% safety
it's exactly what Terskish team since january had to study and resolved before enter trial. So their 2 years timeline is logically really lowered now
And I let you imagine what's goin on in Japan

Sounds good guys, in just 2 months we approached the 100% safety unlike before. The speed of discovery in iPSC aera these last weeks is so fast, it's just a matter of days before 100% safety and so even more large expansion of clinical iPSC based therapy

[lacazette]

Earlier state and chromosomal damage free iPS!

https://www.minervabio.com/news/minerva-granted-worldwide-license-to-sendai-virus-technology-for-stem-cell-generation/

WALTHAM, Massachusetts and Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan, August 27, 2015

Minerva Biotechnologies and ID Pharma Co., Ltd. (formerly DNAVEC) announced today that they have signed an agreement granting Minerva worldwide rights to use and commercialize their non-integrating Sendai virus vectors, together with Minerva’s proprietary technology, for generating Induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) cells. Sendai virus enables delivery of genes into a host cell without permanently altering the cell’s chromosome, which is critical for stem cell therapies. Professor Shinya Yamanaka, MD, Ph.D., won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2012 for his discovery that four genes can reprogram an adult’s cell to go back in time to become that person’s own stem cell. Minerva Biotechnologies discovered a naturally occurring, primitive growth factor that continues this reprogramming to an even earlier, embryonic-like point called the ‘naïve’ state.

Scientists believe that because these earlier, naïve stem cells have a clean slate, they are more easily directed to develop into functional mature cells, which could be used for transplant. Naïve stem cells have several advantages over currently available stem cells (known as ‘primed’ state). These advantages are important for the future of stem cell therapies. Naïve stem cells do not yet have DNA methylation marks that commit the cells to certain developmental decisions. Additionally, naïve stem cells have a much higher cloning efficiency than primed state cells, which is critical for the realization of stem cell based gene therapies. Importantly, only naïve stem cells can contribute to the generation of chimeric animals. A futuristic stem cell therapy, which may not be that far off, is the generation of human-non-human chimeras that would express some human tissues or even entire human organs, for transplant.

Minerva’s proprietary primitive stem cell growth factor dramatically increases the efficiency of making human iPS cells, which greatly reduces the time and the cost of making iPS cells for research or for personalized stem cell banking. A problem that currently plagues the stem cell field is that although protocols have been devised that direct stem cells to mature into specific cell types, not every iPS cell line can mature into any cell type. As a consequence, researchers have to test many stem cell clones to determine which ones can form heart cells, which ones can form liver cells, etc. This problem is called ‘clonal restriction’ and would make personalized stem cell therapy impractical. In contrast, human iPS cells generated with Minerva’s technology are not clonally restricted; each of our human iPS cell clones has been demonstrated to have the ability to mature into heart cells, liver cells or neural cells. Minerva’s naïve state human iPS cells, or mature cells generated from, can be rapidly and inexpensively generated for use in basic research, drug toxicity testing or for personalized stem cell banking.

The agreement with ID Pharma Co., Ltd. allows Minerva to generate and sell naïve state human iPS cells as well as mature cells derived from them for research, drug toxicity testing and for personalized stem cell banking. Minerva Biotechnologies is the first company to generate human naïve state iPS cells using a single, naturally occurring human stem cell growth factor. Previous attempts to grow human stem cells in the elusive naïve state, which used ****tails of biochemical inhibitors and mouse growth factors, were prone to develop abnormal karyotype. Naïve stem cells generated with Minerva’s primitive growth factor have normal and stable karyotype. The generation of iPS cells from adult skin or blood cells does not involve the use of embryos and so does not invoke ethical issues.

“The agreement with ID Pharma Co., Ltd. provides Minerva with a powerful combination of technologies that will advance the study of basic science as well as accelerate the timeline to clinical applications of regenerative medicine,” said Dr. Cynthia Bamdad, CEO Minerva Biotechnologies. “We are very excited about our relationship with ID Pharma Co., Ltd. that allows us to disseminate our technology to others.”

“We have developed cell reprogramming kit based on our SeV vector technology as CytoTune®-iPS which could generate chromosomal damage free iPS cells easily with high efficiency. Now, the kit is well accepted in the field of stem cell research.” said Mr. Toyotaka Mori, Chairman of the board of ID Pharma Co., Ltd. “With the Minerva’s technology, we hope the iPS cells using CytoTune®-iPS technology will accelerate the development of regenerative medicine for unmet medical needs. That is very exciting.”

[lacazette]

8 sept 2015, another team have found how reprogramming cells without Oct4 factor ( Oct4 is one of the 4 factor used for iPSC reprogramming, but according to the researchers was the most critical one for possible genome instability )

http://www.cell.com/stem-cell-reports/pdf/S2213-6711%2815%2900223-4.pdf

This activator in combination with guide RNAs targeted to the OCT4 promoter can be used to completely replace transgenic OCT4 in human cell reprogramming. Furthermore, we generated a chemically controllable dCas9 activator version by fusion with
the dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) destabilization domain. Finally, we show that the destabilized dCas9 activator can be used to control
human pluripotent stem cell differentiation into endodermal lineages.

We demonstrate that the dCas9 activator can be used to replace transgenic OCT4 in human cell reprogramming and that human pluripotent cell differentiation can be induced by the activator in a TMP-dependent manner."

In one month of discoveries, genome stability during reprogramming process is now reality