Date: 2014-03-06
Type of information: Publication of results in a medical journal
phase:
Announcement: publication of results in Stem Cell Reports
Company: Fate Therapeutics (USA - CA)
Product: human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) platform
Action
mechanism: stem cell therapy
Disease:
Therapeutic area: Neuromuscular diseases - Rare diseases - Technology - Services
Country:
Trial details:
Latest
news: * On March 6, 2014, Fate Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of adult stem cell modulators to treat orphan diseases, announced the publication of an article in the journal Stem Cell Reports by Fate scientists demonstrating high-throughput derivation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) that exhibit characteristics necessary for therapeutic application. The publication describes the use of the Company's hiPSC platform, consisting of stage-specific cell culture systems, to enable rapid, parallel derivation of hiPSC clones and their subsequent expansion as transgene-free, single cells in culture. The Company's proprietary combinations of small molecule modulators, which include ROCK, GSK3 and MEK pathway inhibitors, used in the culture systems were found to be critical in promoting characteristics of the ground state of pluripotency including pluripotent culture stability, homogeneity and survival. "This publication further highlights the scientific and technological progress we have made in defining the most stable and efficient platform for hiPSC-based cell therapy applications," commented Peter Flynn Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Early Program Development at Fate Therapeutics. In January of this year, Fate scientists published a separate article in Stem Cells Translation Medicine reporting the efficient differentiation of hiPSCs to a homogeneous population of skeletal muscle cells using the Company's proprietary hiPSC platform. In support of the Company's muscle regeneration therapeutic program, Fate scientists sourced fibroblasts from healthy volunteers as well as from patients with Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophies, reprogrammed the fibroblasts to hiPSCs, and then differentiated the hiPSCs to muscle myoblasts with extremely high efficiency. The hiPSC-derived skeletal muscle cells closely resembled primary muscle cells, and were functionally responsive to treatment with the hypertrophic proteins insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and Wnt7a. Fate Therapeutics is currently developing proprietary Wnt7a protein analogs for the treatment of muscle-related diseases and disorders. In addition, the Company is currently researching therapeutic applications of hiPSC-derived myogenic progenitor cells and hematopoietic cells.
