- Email: [email protected]
Will not be presented
21st ISCT Annual Meeting
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designation of a multi-compartment poly-pharmacophore using only an advanced cluster of cost-effective chemo-algorithms for the efficient linkage of small nanomolecules to a number ligand-based neurogenic peptides for the discovery of a number of novel chemo-compunds in identifying drugs with novel scaffolds that differ from those of reference compounds. We present here also for a first time that an in-silico poly-pharmacophore designed chemo-structure may target Neuropoietic-like Stem Cell Neural Pathways with a potential to ex-vivo clonally and efficiently differentiate into mature and functional neural lineages, including motor neurons (MNs) and midbrain dopaminergic neurons (mDANs) as well as neural crest lineages, including peripheral neurons and mesenchymal cells. and fluorescent labelled MSC containing sub-networks (D,E) was performed using ImageJ network analysis plugin. MSCs isolated from aortic ring co-cultures and analysed for endothelial (CD31,CD34) and pericyte(CD146) markers. Results: FTM-PVCs induced greater EPC sprouting, integrated more efficiently into the developing aortic ring tubular network with elongated morphology, induced more network formation and upregulated the endothelial markers CD31 and CD34 more than term-PVCs and BMSCs. Conclusion: FTM-PVCs are a promising candidate to support and induce angiogenesis for tissue regeneration therapy. 187 IDENTIFICATION AND COMPUTER-AIDED DISCOVERY OF A POLY-CHEMICAL MOTIF-LIKE PHARMACO-PEPTIDOMIMETIC 4D-STRUCTURE TARGETED ON THE STEM CELL DEVELOPMENTAL STAGE-SPECIFIC MANNER CARDIAC DIFFERENTIATION AND PROLIFERATION MOLECULAR PATHWAY I Grigoriadis Cardiogenea, Biogenea Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Thessaloniki, Greece Life-threatening heart diseases, such as myocardial infarction and heart failure, are major causes of death in developed countries. The low levels of proliferation and regeneration ability of cardiomyocytes must be overcome to effectively treat these diseases. Due to the almost non-existent cardiomyocyte turnover in the human heart after birth, recovery of cardiac function after heart disease is insufficient. We hypothesized that a chemical biological approach would be a suitable answer to this problem. Thus, identifying novel chemicals have been an efficient approach to elucidate novel mechanisms regulating cardiomyocyte proliferation and finally employ cardiac regeneration as a therapeutic strategy. Nevertheless, no efficient chemical screening platform for cardiomyocyte proliferation has been explored to date. Here, for the first time we combined our cardiac stem cell network simulation technology and chemical-biology informatic automated cluster of our Bayesian Machine-based set of cardio-algorithms with HCS to identify and in silico designed of in silico conserved peptide targeted Poly-Chemical comprising superagonistic properties on cardiomyocyte proliferation molecular mechanisms. We also successfully identified several chemicals with distinct molecular targets and confirmed their binding pocket docking effects on cardiac differentiation molecular pathways. 188 EX VIVO DERIVATION AND EXPANSION OF HUMAN NEUROPOIETIC CELL PROGENITORS USING HIGHLY CONSERVED POLY-PEPTIDOMIMIC LINKEDPHARMACOPHORES TARGETED TO NEURAL PATHWAYS FOR NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASE MODELING. AN ADVANCED FRAGMENT-BASED MULTI-DIMENSIONAL CHEMICO-INFORMATIC APPROACH I Grigoriadis1,2 1 MyoncoTherapy Dprt., Biogenea Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Thessaloniki, Greece, 2Neurogenea, Biogenea Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Thessaloniki, Greece A representative ligand-fragment based 4D dimensional approach is the similarity zinc-ensemble approach which predicts new binding pocket domains using structure similarity technical fields of selected neuro-ligands whereas drug discovery requires billions of neuronic for high-throughput screening (HTS) campaigns. Neurodegenerative Devastating diseases are particularly challenging because neural tissue and human neurons are post-mitotic and cannot be expanded and clinically released for implementation in cell therapy regenerative clinical applications. Here, we demonstrate HTS for the identification of neuro-protective compounds requiring a specific cell type that is highly expandable and able to differentiate into all of the neuronic-tissue subtypes involved in neurogenetic disease pathogenesis. Here, we discover and report for the first time the derivation and the in silico
189 CORD BLOOD DERIVED CELL THERAPY PRODUCT, DUOC-01, ACCELERATES REMYELINATION IN A MURINE MODEL OF CUPRIZONE INDUCED DEMYELINATION A Saha1, S Buntz1, S Patel1, M Bentz1, D Snyder2, A Ozamiz1, B Rusche1, T Gentry1, M Glenn3, J Kurtzberg1, A Balber1 1 DTMI, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States, 2Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States, 3UNC School of Medicine, Chapel HIll, North Carolina, United States We have developed a cell product, DUOC-01, derived from banked human umbilical cord blood [UCB] for use in the treatment of CNS demyelination. To assess the ability of these cells to help remyelinate neurons we have adapted the cuprizone [CPZ] model of reversible brain demyelination using immune-incompetent NOD/ SCID-IL2Rgnull[NSG] mice. Mice were fed CPZ for 5 weeks and then were stereotactically injected in the corpus callosum [CC] region with 105 DUOC-01 cells or with excipient. Brains were harvested one week following injections and CC myelination was evaluated by Luxol-fast blue-staining [LFB] and immunohistochemistry [IH]. In 4 experiments, the CC midline regions of NSG mice were severely demyelinated with glial infiltration following CPZ feeding. LFB and IH with antiMBP antibody one week after cell treatment showed that mice injected with DUOC-01 had significantly increased myelination and decreased gliosis and cellular infiltration in the CC region compared to control mice injected with excipient. The number of proliferating mouse oligodendrocyte lineage cells co-labeled by Ki67 and olig2 antibodies was higher in DUOC-01 treated than excipient injected mice. Morphometric analysis of electron micrographs showed: (a) a significantly higher percentage of correctly myelinated axons per field, (b) higher g-ratio (the ratio of axon diameter and axon diameter wrapped with myelin) and (c) higher number of myelin sheath turns around an axon in the CC of DUOC-01 treated group, as compared to excipient injected controls. These data demonstrate that DUOC-01 is capable of accelerating the remyelination of neurons by reducing gliosis and promoting oligodendrocyte proliferation and suggest that could be beneficial in treating demyelinating conditions. A phase I clinical trial testing the safety of intrathecal administration of DUOC-01 cells as adjunct therapy to a standard myeloablative unrelated donor UCB transplant in children with leukodystrophies is underway. 190 SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS OF EFFICACY AND SAFETY OF STEM CELL THERAPY IN AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS H Jeong1, HW Yim1, Y-s Cho2, H-b kim1, I-H Oh4, S Jeong3 1 Department of Preventive Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea (the Republic of), 2Seo-myeon Branch Office of the Community Health Center, Uljin-gun, Moldova (the Republic of), 3Medical Library, St. Mary’s Hospital, Seoul, Korea (the Republic of), 4Catholic High-Performance Cell Therapy Center & Department of Medical life science, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea (the Republic of) Stem cell therapy may be promising options for the treatment of ALS. However, the effects of these treatments are not yet fully understood and there is a lack of firm evidence on the efficacy of stem cell therapy for those patients due to the absence of sufficiently powered randomized controlled trials. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis of available single-arm studies using stem cellbased therapy in patients with ALS. A systematic search and critical review of the literature published from its inception through February 2013 was performed. The articles included in the search were restricted to the English language, studies with at least 5patients, 3 or more month follow-up, and efficacy evaluation using ALSFRS. Article selection and data extraction were conducted by two authors independently with standard methods. Data analyses were performed using Comprehensive
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Poster Abstracts
Meta-analysis version 2.2. (Biostat Inc., Englewood, NJ). We conducted fixed or random effects model meta-analyses to assess efficacy outcomes. The quality of studies was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. We included 11 studies in the single arm meta-analysis. The pooled mean difference in ALS-FRS from the baseline to primary end points was decreased by 3.3 points (95%CI: -5.38 to -1.22) in which ALS-FRS declined 0.4 points per month. In terms of FVC, the pooled mean difference from the baseline was decreased by 14% (95%CI: -19 to -6%), average decline in FVC was 1.2% per month. According to natural history data, ALS-FRS score was declined 1.01 points and FVC reduced 2.7% and per month in patients with ALS. Compared to natural history stem cell therapy for patients with ALS can be judged as slowing the disease progression based on single arm clinical studies. However, clinical benefits of stem cell therapy for patients with ALS need further investigation and reevaluation to test the clinical efficacy. 191 NEURAL ENGRAFTMENT OF A CORD BLOOD-DERIVED CELL PRODUCT FOLLOWING INTRATHECAL TRANSPLANTATION R Storms1, J Lew1, C Liu2, T Gentry1, A Ozamiz1, B Rusche1, A Balber1, J Kurtzberg1 1 Robertson Clinical and Translational Cell Therapy Program, Duke Translational Medicine Institute, Durham, North Carolina, United States, 2Department of Surgery, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States We have developed an umbilical cord blood-derived cell product, DUOC-01, as a potential adjunct therapy to facilitate neural repair in patients with leukodystrophies. In clinical practice, DUOC-01 cells will be transplanted by intrathecal injection several weeks after the patient receives a systemic cord blood transplant. To validate this strategy, we developed a preclinical model whereby DUOC-01 cells were transplanted by intrathecal injection into neonatal ( 2 days old) NOD/SCID-IL2Rgnull (NSg) mice. In our prior work, we analyzed the tissue distribution of the cells using quantitative PCR to detect human Alu DNA sequences. That work demonstrated that, within the first 24 hours, the DUOC-01 cells were detectable in all mice that had been transplanted (n¼5); and, localized to both neural and non-neural tissues, including the brain, spinal cord, lungs and liver. Human cells remained detectable within approximately half of all mice for periods of up to 56 days post-transplantation (n¼22); however, from day 7 onward, the cells were only detectable within the brain and spine. To confirm that the DUOC-01 cells reach the target tissue for this therapy, the current study sought to directly visualize the cells within the brain tissue of transplanted mice. To facilitate their detection in vivo, the DUOC-01 cells were modified with carboxyfluorescein succimidyl ester (CFSE) prior to transplantation. Neonatal NSg mice were transplanted with 105 fluorescein-modified cells by intrathecal injection and were sacrificed at 7 days post-transplantation. Using confocal microscopy, the human cells were identified within brain sections based on their green fluorescence and were confirmed by their co-expression of the human nuclear antigen. Using this strategy, human cells were detected at low frequencies within the brains of 6 of 11 mice analyzed. These studies confirmed that, following intrathecal injection, DUOC-01 cells reach the tissue targeted for repair by this cellular therapy. 192 PREPARATION OF AUTOLOGOUS BONE MARROW-DERIVED MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS (MSCS) FOR MESENCHYMAL STEM CELL THERAPY FOR CANADIANS WITH MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS (MESCAMS) TRIAL S Khan1, CSt Germain1, S Hodgins1, C Hilliker2, M Freedman2,1,3, DW Courtman1,2,3 1 Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 2The Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 3University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada MESCAMS is a phase IIa “proof-of-principle” study to examine the feasibility, safety and potential benefit of autologous mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapy for inflammatory forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). This is a randomized, doubleblind, sham-controlled crossover trial using autologous MSCs to treat MS. Bone marrow (BM) aspirate from donors was transferred to a BioSpherix Xvivo Isolater unit (constantly maintaining and recording critical environmental conditions), diluted in DMEM containing human platelet lysate and plated in T-175 cell bind flasks. Cells were passaged into HYPERFlasks after 7 to 10 days and cultured for a further 7 to 10 days, harvested and resuspended in Plasma-Lyte A containing 5% human albumin and 10% DMSO prior to being cryopreserved.
BM-derived MSCs from 3 different donors were cultured in our GMP facility with the current MESCAMS protocols. The cells were plastic adherent with a spindle shaped morphology. MSCs displayed 88.32.3% viability after being thawed and no significant change in viability after 3h (883%) of incubation at room temperature post-thaw. Single nucleotide polymorphism array based genotyping showed genomic stability in BM-derived MSCs. These MSCs were capable of trans-differentiating into both adipocytes and osteocytes; tested positive (>95%) for CD-90, CD-73 and CD-105 and negative (< 2%) for CD-14, CD-19, CD-34, CD-45 and HLA-DR; demonstrated enhanced levels of Indoleamine-pyrrole 2, 3dioxygenase in response to IFN-g treatment and an ability to suppress lymphocyte proliferation. Finally, MSCs passed sterility testing (BacT/Alert SA/SN) and displayed endotoxin levels of < 0.2 EU/mL (Endosafe-PTS system). These results indicate that we have successfully propagated MSCs as a potential therapeutic product in HYPERFlasks with controlled critical cell parameters in a BioSpherix Xvivo Isolator unit and based on this data have been awarded a no objection letter from Health Canada to initiate the clinical trial. 193 HUMAN UMBILICAL CORD PERIVASCULAR CELLS (HUC-PVCs) PROTECT AXONS FROM DEGENERATION IN AN IN VITRO PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM INJURY MODEL T Barretto1, K Park1, L Maghen1, S Kenigsberg1, A Gauthier-Fisher1, C Librach1,3,2 1 Create Fertility Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2Department of Gynaecology, Women’s College Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 3Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada HUC-PVCs are novel mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) therapy candidates for regenerative medicine applications such as neural injuries and neurodegenerative diseases. HUC-PVCs derived from first trimester (FTM) and term cords have previously been shown to exhibit pericyte-like properties. Because of the intimate relationship that exists between pericytes and axons, we hypothesized that HUCPVCs can prevent axonal degeneration. Axonal degeneration induced by withdrawal of nerve growth factor (NGF) in rat sympathetic cervical ganglia (SCG) neuronal compartment cultures was used as an in vitro PNS injury model. Injured axon compartments were treated with ultraculture media or with established lines of fluorophore-labeled HUC-PVCs, bone marrow-derived MSCs (BMSCs) (Lonza) or neonatal fibroblasts (ATCC) and immunostained for bIII tubulin to quantify the proportion of degenerating axons by microscopy. When compared to control conditions (injury alone), treatment with term HUC-PVCs reduced the number of degenerating SCG axons by 40 6% (n4), first trimester HUCPVCs by 8 12%, BMSCs by 14 1% and fibroblasts by 10 9% (n¼3). Term HUC-PVCs had the most profound effect on rescue of SCG axonal degeneration (p0.01).Term HUC-PVCs and axons displayed dynamic interactions and made localized contacts after injury. Western blot analysis revealed an upregulation of pERK and pAKT in lysates of axon compartments treated with Term HUCPVCs. Blocking experiments indicate that NT3 alone is not required for this effect. Our data suggest that term HUC-PVC-mediated protection against axonal degeneration is dependent on direct HUC-PVC-axon interactions; however, effects of HUC-PVC conditioned media are also being examined. This suggests that local delivery of HUC-PVCs to injured nervous system would be a more effective approach for repairing certain types of neuronal injuries using these cells. The precise mechanism of rescue is currently being investigated. 194 EXPLORING THE SECRETOME OF BONE MARROW MESENCHYMAL AND NEURAL CREST-DERIVED STEM CELLS FOR TREATING SPINAL CORD INJURIES V Neirinckx, G Agirman, C Coste, B Rogister, R Franzen, S Wislet GIGA Neurosciences, University of Liège, Liège, Liège, Belgium Spinal cord injury (SCI) represents a critical issue in clinical research and patient care. Stem cell-based therapies have been proposed worldwide, especially studying stem cells from the adult bone marrow stroma. Previous studies focusing on those cells did not specifically consider their intrinsic embryonic heterogeneity, thus intermingling different stem cells subpopulations to treat experimental SCI or even injured patients. In this study, we compared adult bone marrow neural crest-derived (NCSC) and mesenchymal stem cells (MSC), and highlight which of their specific properties could be relevant in therapeutic perspectives. We isolated NCSC and MSC from
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designation of a multi-compartment poly-pharmacophore using only an advanced cluster of cost-effective chemo-algorithms for the efficient linkage of small nanomolecules to a number ligand-based neurogenic peptides for the discovery of a number of novel chemo-compunds in identifying drugs with novel scaffolds that differ from those of reference compounds. We present here also for a first time that an in-silico poly-pharmacophore designed chemo-structure may target Neuropoietic-like Stem Cell Neural Pathways with a potential to ex-vivo clonally and efficiently differentiate into mature and functional neural lineages, including motor neurons (MNs) and midbrain dopaminergic neurons (mDANs) as well as neural crest lineages, including peripheral neurons and mesenchymal cells. and fluorescent labelled MSC containing sub-networks (D,E) was performed using ImageJ network analysis plugin. MSCs isolated from aortic ring co-cultures and analysed for endothelial (CD31,CD34) and pericyte(CD146) markers. Results: FTM-PVCs induced greater EPC sprouting, integrated more efficiently into the developing aortic ring tubular network with elongated morphology, induced more network formation and upregulated the endothelial markers CD31 and CD34 more than term-PVCs and BMSCs. Conclusion: FTM-PVCs are a promising candidate to support and induce angiogenesis for tissue regeneration therapy. 187 IDENTIFICATION AND COMPUTER-AIDED DISCOVERY OF A POLY-CHEMICAL MOTIF-LIKE PHARMACO-PEPTIDOMIMETIC 4D-STRUCTURE TARGETED ON THE STEM CELL DEVELOPMENTAL STAGE-SPECIFIC MANNER CARDIAC DIFFERENTIATION AND PROLIFERATION MOLECULAR PATHWAY I Grigoriadis Cardiogenea, Biogenea Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Thessaloniki, Greece Life-threatening heart diseases, such as myocardial infarction and heart failure, are major causes of death in developed countries. The low levels of proliferation and regeneration ability of cardiomyocytes must be overcome to effectively treat these diseases. Due to the almost non-existent cardiomyocyte turnover in the human heart after birth, recovery of cardiac function after heart disease is insufficient. We hypothesized that a chemical biological approach would be a suitable answer to this problem. Thus, identifying novel chemicals have been an efficient approach to elucidate novel mechanisms regulating cardiomyocyte proliferation and finally employ cardiac regeneration as a therapeutic strategy. Nevertheless, no efficient chemical screening platform for cardiomyocyte proliferation has been explored to date. Here, for the first time we combined our cardiac stem cell network simulation technology and chemical-biology informatic automated cluster of our Bayesian Machine-based set of cardio-algorithms with HCS to identify and in silico designed of in silico conserved peptide targeted Poly-Chemical comprising superagonistic properties on cardiomyocyte proliferation molecular mechanisms. We also successfully identified several chemicals with distinct molecular targets and confirmed their binding pocket docking effects on cardiac differentiation molecular pathways. 188 EX VIVO DERIVATION AND EXPANSION OF HUMAN NEUROPOIETIC CELL PROGENITORS USING HIGHLY CONSERVED POLY-PEPTIDOMIMIC LINKEDPHARMACOPHORES TARGETED TO NEURAL PATHWAYS FOR NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASE MODELING. AN ADVANCED FRAGMENT-BASED MULTI-DIMENSIONAL CHEMICO-INFORMATIC APPROACH I Grigoriadis1,2 1 MyoncoTherapy Dprt., Biogenea Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Thessaloniki, Greece, 2Neurogenea, Biogenea Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Thessaloniki, Greece A representative ligand-fragment based 4D dimensional approach is the similarity zinc-ensemble approach which predicts new binding pocket domains using structure similarity technical fields of selected neuro-ligands whereas drug discovery requires billions of neuronic for high-throughput screening (HTS) campaigns. Neurodegenerative Devastating diseases are particularly challenging because neural tissue and human neurons are post-mitotic and cannot be expanded and clinically released for implementation in cell therapy regenerative clinical applications. Here, we demonstrate HTS for the identification of neuro-protective compounds requiring a specific cell type that is highly expandable and able to differentiate into all of the neuronic-tissue subtypes involved in neurogenetic disease pathogenesis. Here, we discover and report for the first time the derivation and the in silico
189 CORD BLOOD DERIVED CELL THERAPY PRODUCT, DUOC-01, ACCELERATES REMYELINATION IN A MURINE MODEL OF CUPRIZONE INDUCED DEMYELINATION A Saha1, S Buntz1, S Patel1, M Bentz1, D Snyder2, A Ozamiz1, B Rusche1, T Gentry1, M Glenn3, J Kurtzberg1, A Balber1 1 DTMI, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States, 2Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States, 3UNC School of Medicine, Chapel HIll, North Carolina, United States We have developed a cell product, DUOC-01, derived from banked human umbilical cord blood [UCB] for use in the treatment of CNS demyelination. To assess the ability of these cells to help remyelinate neurons we have adapted the cuprizone [CPZ] model of reversible brain demyelination using immune-incompetent NOD/ SCID-IL2Rgnull[NSG] mice. Mice were fed CPZ for 5 weeks and then were stereotactically injected in the corpus callosum [CC] region with 105 DUOC-01 cells or with excipient. Brains were harvested one week following injections and CC myelination was evaluated by Luxol-fast blue-staining [LFB] and immunohistochemistry [IH]. In 4 experiments, the CC midline regions of NSG mice were severely demyelinated with glial infiltration following CPZ feeding. LFB and IH with antiMBP antibody one week after cell treatment showed that mice injected with DUOC-01 had significantly increased myelination and decreased gliosis and cellular infiltration in the CC region compared to control mice injected with excipient. The number of proliferating mouse oligodendrocyte lineage cells co-labeled by Ki67 and olig2 antibodies was higher in DUOC-01 treated than excipient injected mice. Morphometric analysis of electron micrographs showed: (a) a significantly higher percentage of correctly myelinated axons per field, (b) higher g-ratio (the ratio of axon diameter and axon diameter wrapped with myelin) and (c) higher number of myelin sheath turns around an axon in the CC of DUOC-01 treated group, as compared to excipient injected controls. These data demonstrate that DUOC-01 is capable of accelerating the remyelination of neurons by reducing gliosis and promoting oligodendrocyte proliferation and suggest that could be beneficial in treating demyelinating conditions. A phase I clinical trial testing the safety of intrathecal administration of DUOC-01 cells as adjunct therapy to a standard myeloablative unrelated donor UCB transplant in children with leukodystrophies is underway. 190 SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS OF EFFICACY AND SAFETY OF STEM CELL THERAPY IN AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS H Jeong1, HW Yim1, Y-s Cho2, H-b kim1, I-H Oh4, S Jeong3 1 Department of Preventive Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea (the Republic of), 2Seo-myeon Branch Office of the Community Health Center, Uljin-gun, Moldova (the Republic of), 3Medical Library, St. Mary’s Hospital, Seoul, Korea (the Republic of), 4Catholic High-Performance Cell Therapy Center & Department of Medical life science, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea (the Republic of) Stem cell therapy may be promising options for the treatment of ALS. However, the effects of these treatments are not yet fully understood and there is a lack of firm evidence on the efficacy of stem cell therapy for those patients due to the absence of sufficiently powered randomized controlled trials. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis of available single-arm studies using stem cellbased therapy in patients with ALS. A systematic search and critical review of the literature published from its inception through February 2013 was performed. The articles included in the search were restricted to the English language, studies with at least 5patients, 3 or more month follow-up, and efficacy evaluation using ALSFRS. Article selection and data extraction were conducted by two authors independently with standard methods. Data analyses were performed using Comprehensive
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Poster Abstracts
Meta-analysis version 2.2. (Biostat Inc., Englewood, NJ). We conducted fixed or random effects model meta-analyses to assess efficacy outcomes. The quality of studies was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. We included 11 studies in the single arm meta-analysis. The pooled mean difference in ALS-FRS from the baseline to primary end points was decreased by 3.3 points (95%CI: -5.38 to -1.22) in which ALS-FRS declined 0.4 points per month. In terms of FVC, the pooled mean difference from the baseline was decreased by 14% (95%CI: -19 to -6%), average decline in FVC was 1.2% per month. According to natural history data, ALS-FRS score was declined 1.01 points and FVC reduced 2.7% and per month in patients with ALS. Compared to natural history stem cell therapy for patients with ALS can be judged as slowing the disease progression based on single arm clinical studies. However, clinical benefits of stem cell therapy for patients with ALS need further investigation and reevaluation to test the clinical efficacy. 191 NEURAL ENGRAFTMENT OF A CORD BLOOD-DERIVED CELL PRODUCT FOLLOWING INTRATHECAL TRANSPLANTATION R Storms1, J Lew1, C Liu2, T Gentry1, A Ozamiz1, B Rusche1, A Balber1, J Kurtzberg1 1 Robertson Clinical and Translational Cell Therapy Program, Duke Translational Medicine Institute, Durham, North Carolina, United States, 2Department of Surgery, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States We have developed an umbilical cord blood-derived cell product, DUOC-01, as a potential adjunct therapy to facilitate neural repair in patients with leukodystrophies. In clinical practice, DUOC-01 cells will be transplanted by intrathecal injection several weeks after the patient receives a systemic cord blood transplant. To validate this strategy, we developed a preclinical model whereby DUOC-01 cells were transplanted by intrathecal injection into neonatal ( 2 days old) NOD/SCID-IL2Rgnull (NSg) mice. In our prior work, we analyzed the tissue distribution of the cells using quantitative PCR to detect human Alu DNA sequences. That work demonstrated that, within the first 24 hours, the DUOC-01 cells were detectable in all mice that had been transplanted (n¼5); and, localized to both neural and non-neural tissues, including the brain, spinal cord, lungs and liver. Human cells remained detectable within approximately half of all mice for periods of up to 56 days post-transplantation (n¼22); however, from day 7 onward, the cells were only detectable within the brain and spine. To confirm that the DUOC-01 cells reach the target tissue for this therapy, the current study sought to directly visualize the cells within the brain tissue of transplanted mice. To facilitate their detection in vivo, the DUOC-01 cells were modified with carboxyfluorescein succimidyl ester (CFSE) prior to transplantation. Neonatal NSg mice were transplanted with 105 fluorescein-modified cells by intrathecal injection and were sacrificed at 7 days post-transplantation. Using confocal microscopy, the human cells were identified within brain sections based on their green fluorescence and were confirmed by their co-expression of the human nuclear antigen. Using this strategy, human cells were detected at low frequencies within the brains of 6 of 11 mice analyzed. These studies confirmed that, following intrathecal injection, DUOC-01 cells reach the tissue targeted for repair by this cellular therapy. 192 PREPARATION OF AUTOLOGOUS BONE MARROW-DERIVED MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS (MSCS) FOR MESENCHYMAL STEM CELL THERAPY FOR CANADIANS WITH MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS (MESCAMS) TRIAL S Khan1, CSt Germain1, S Hodgins1, C Hilliker2, M Freedman2,1,3, DW Courtman1,2,3 1 Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 2The Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 3University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada MESCAMS is a phase IIa “proof-of-principle” study to examine the feasibility, safety and potential benefit of autologous mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapy for inflammatory forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). This is a randomized, doubleblind, sham-controlled crossover trial using autologous MSCs to treat MS. Bone marrow (BM) aspirate from donors was transferred to a BioSpherix Xvivo Isolater unit (constantly maintaining and recording critical environmental conditions), diluted in DMEM containing human platelet lysate and plated in T-175 cell bind flasks. Cells were passaged into HYPERFlasks after 7 to 10 days and cultured for a further 7 to 10 days, harvested and resuspended in Plasma-Lyte A containing 5% human albumin and 10% DMSO prior to being cryopreserved.
BM-derived MSCs from 3 different donors were cultured in our GMP facility with the current MESCAMS protocols. The cells were plastic adherent with a spindle shaped morphology. MSCs displayed 88.32.3% viability after being thawed and no significant change in viability after 3h (883%) of incubation at room temperature post-thaw. Single nucleotide polymorphism array based genotyping showed genomic stability in BM-derived MSCs. These MSCs were capable of trans-differentiating into both adipocytes and osteocytes; tested positive (>95%) for CD-90, CD-73 and CD-105 and negative (< 2%) for CD-14, CD-19, CD-34, CD-45 and HLA-DR; demonstrated enhanced levels of Indoleamine-pyrrole 2, 3dioxygenase in response to IFN-g treatment and an ability to suppress lymphocyte proliferation. Finally, MSCs passed sterility testing (BacT/Alert SA/SN) and displayed endotoxin levels of < 0.2 EU/mL (Endosafe-PTS system). These results indicate that we have successfully propagated MSCs as a potential therapeutic product in HYPERFlasks with controlled critical cell parameters in a BioSpherix Xvivo Isolator unit and based on this data have been awarded a no objection letter from Health Canada to initiate the clinical trial. 193 HUMAN UMBILICAL CORD PERIVASCULAR CELLS (HUC-PVCs) PROTECT AXONS FROM DEGENERATION IN AN IN VITRO PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM INJURY MODEL T Barretto1, K Park1, L Maghen1, S Kenigsberg1, A Gauthier-Fisher1, C Librach1,3,2 1 Create Fertility Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2Department of Gynaecology, Women’s College Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 3Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada HUC-PVCs are novel mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) therapy candidates for regenerative medicine applications such as neural injuries and neurodegenerative diseases. HUC-PVCs derived from first trimester (FTM) and term cords have previously been shown to exhibit pericyte-like properties. Because of the intimate relationship that exists between pericytes and axons, we hypothesized that HUCPVCs can prevent axonal degeneration. Axonal degeneration induced by withdrawal of nerve growth factor (NGF) in rat sympathetic cervical ganglia (SCG) neuronal compartment cultures was used as an in vitro PNS injury model. Injured axon compartments were treated with ultraculture media or with established lines of fluorophore-labeled HUC-PVCs, bone marrow-derived MSCs (BMSCs) (Lonza) or neonatal fibroblasts (ATCC) and immunostained for bIII tubulin to quantify the proportion of degenerating axons by microscopy. When compared to control conditions (injury alone), treatment with term HUC-PVCs reduced the number of degenerating SCG axons by 40 6% (n4), first trimester HUCPVCs by 8 12%, BMSCs by 14 1% and fibroblasts by 10 9% (n¼3). Term HUC-PVCs had the most profound effect on rescue of SCG axonal degeneration (p0.01).Term HUC-PVCs and axons displayed dynamic interactions and made localized contacts after injury. Western blot analysis revealed an upregulation of pERK and pAKT in lysates of axon compartments treated with Term HUCPVCs. Blocking experiments indicate that NT3 alone is not required for this effect. Our data suggest that term HUC-PVC-mediated protection against axonal degeneration is dependent on direct HUC-PVC-axon interactions; however, effects of HUC-PVC conditioned media are also being examined. This suggests that local delivery of HUC-PVCs to injured nervous system would be a more effective approach for repairing certain types of neuronal injuries using these cells. The precise mechanism of rescue is currently being investigated. 194 EXPLORING THE SECRETOME OF BONE MARROW MESENCHYMAL AND NEURAL CREST-DERIVED STEM CELLS FOR TREATING SPINAL CORD INJURIES V Neirinckx, G Agirman, C Coste, B Rogister, R Franzen, S Wislet GIGA Neurosciences, University of Liège, Liège, Liège, Belgium Spinal cord injury (SCI) represents a critical issue in clinical research and patient care. Stem cell-based therapies have been proposed worldwide, especially studying stem cells from the adult bone marrow stroma. Previous studies focusing on those cells did not specifically consider their intrinsic embryonic heterogeneity, thus intermingling different stem cells subpopulations to treat experimental SCI or even injured patients. In this study, we compared adult bone marrow neural crest-derived (NCSC) and mesenchymal stem cells (MSC), and highlight which of their specific properties could be relevant in therapeutic perspectives. We isolated NCSC and MSC from