New research from Case Western suggests a new drug could help damaged tissue regenerate. ideastream’s Anne Glausser has the details.
Case Western Reserve researcher Dr. Sandy Markowitz and colleagues found a drug that helps the body repair itself, at least in mice. When given this experimental compound, mice regrew damaged blood, liver, and colon tissue. Markowitz says it acts like a booster shot to the body’s own repairing system. "The stem cells, the cells that grow and divide in order to repair tissues, grow a lot better when we give our drug. What we think we are doing is providing food for stem cells, if you will," he said.
If this drug pans out in future human clinical trials, it could have broad applications for diseases of the colon, liver, and blood. Researchers are especially hopeful about it’s potential to speed recovery and improve outcomes for bone marrow transplant recipients, who have had their blood cells and immune system wiped out by the procedure."So if we can get the bone marrow that’s being given to the patient to grow back a week earlier, so that somebody is without blood cells for a few days instead of a couple weeks, we really shift the likilhood of a good outcome to be much much better, much much more favorable," he said.
Dr. David Scadden is Co-Director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and says the new discovery is exciting and a big step for the field.
Scadden says the search for drugs that can help tissue regenerate is a hot area of research across the country. "My lab has been very interested in this. I think the field in general has been very interested in this," he said.
Markowitz’s findings, published in Sciencethis June, have the potential to fill an unmet clinical need, says Scadden. "I think this really paves the way for further development of this compound. And if it can be made to be given to patients who need a transplant or have the injuries tested in this model, then you could see a path forward to the clinic," he said.