Human Stem Cells repair damage caused by radiation therapy for Brain Cancer

For patients with brain cancer, radiation is a powerful and potentially life-saving treatment, but it can also cause considerable and even permanent injury to the brain. Now, through preclinical experiments conducted in rats, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center researchers have developed a method to turn human stem cells into cells that are instructed to repair damage in the brain.
During radiation therapy for brain cancer, progenitor cells that later mature to produce the protective myelin coating around neurons are lost or significantly depleted, and there is no treatment available to restore them. These myelinating cells, called oligodendrocytes, are critical for shielding and repairing the brain's neurons throughout life.
A team led by neurosurgeon Viviane Tabar, MD, and research associate Jinghua Piao, PhD, of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, wondered whether stem cells could be coaxed to replace these lost oligodendrocyte progenitor cells. They found that this could be achieved by growing stem cells, either human embryonic stem cells or induced pluripotent stem cells derived from skin biopsies, in the presence of certain growth factors and other molecules.
"Being able to repair radiation damage could imply two important things: improving the quality of life of survivors and potentially expanding the therapeutic window of radiation," said Dr. Tabar. "This will have to be proven further, but if we can repair the brain effectively, we could be bolder with our radiation dosing, within limits." This could be especially important in children, for whom physicians deliberately deliver lower radiation doses.