In the Bulte lab at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Dr. Jeff Bulte and his colleagues are capitalizing on funding from the Maryland Stem Cell Research lab to develop new non-invasive imaging techniques to allow physicians to visualize injected cell therapies in real-time, to determine effectiveness of these treatments earlier than currently possible.
To learn more about the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund (MSCRF), visit www.mscrf.org
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Many promising future therapies and technologies involve injecting cells at sites of injuries or to replace defective or excised tissues. However, once these cells are injected, monitoring the cells is impossible using many conventional imaging technologies. Light-based imaging typically doesn’t penetrate tissues well unless the light is a short-wavelength, like X-rays. However, X-ray imaging can be mutagenic if performed over long time periods. Without real-time imaging, outcomes are usually determined months after injection based on whether diseases progression continued, which may be too late for some patients.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) does not use light to image. Rather, MRI detects changes in magnetic fields - caused by contrast agents, natural magnetic compounds in the body, or other detectable compounds - to image tissues in real time using. Current MRI technology developments are focused primarily on improving contrast agents (i.e., stability, effectiveness, safety) and/or detection (i.e., sensitivity, detection without contrast agents, detecting new types of molecules).
As a real-time imaging technique, MRI can be combined with cell therapies to image injected cells and monitor their post-injection movement or lifespan. Stem cells can be migratory, moving throughout the body, and if the donor cells are not from the patient themselves, have higher likelihood of immune rejection. Stem cells also must proliferate and differentiate (change cell-type) as necessary for successful treatment.
Dr. Jeff Bulte and his lab, with long-term support from the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund (MSCRF), have developed MRI and other imaging techniques for studying stem-cell implantation. Combining stem cell therapies with real-time magnetic imaging techniques, the Bulte lab can determine if an injection is at the correct site, if cells migrate to the desired area, if cells can evade immune attack, and the proliferation state of implanted tissues. These techniques can be applied regularly over a long course of visits, because unlike high-energy light therapies, MRI is not inherently mutagenic.
The Bulte lab has applied these techniques for treatment development of many diseases and disorders, including multiple sclerosis (MS), Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease), diabetes, stroke, and radiation damage. Recently the lab has developed imaging using Fluorine19, a relatively safe, directly-detectable “tracer” agent. Another development is the use of Super-paramagnetic Iron Oxide compounds as a contrast agent in a technique called Magnetic Particle Imaging. These tools are being developed for long and short-term use in conjunction with stem-cell therapies. The lab credits MSCRF funding not only for technological development, but for professional development of the personnel. Several members of the Bulte lab have received post-doctoral support from MSCRF and have become research faculty and heads of their own respective labs.
www.ncbi.nlm.n...
Dr. Bulte is also supported by the ALS Association and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
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26 окт 2024
