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HEALTH – F5 – 2008 – 223007
Project Coordinator:
Prof. Paola Romagnani
EC Officer:
Charles Kessler
Project management:
ALTA srl
EC contribution:
€ 2.999.500,00
Last update:
November 22, 2011
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Set up and comparison of multiple stem cell approaches for kidney repair
With the increasing rate of end-stage renal failure and limited alternatives for its treatment, potential regenerative approaches for kidney damages are urgently needed. Due to the complexity of the organ, the development of stem cell therapies for kidney is still in its infancy.
Cell therapy depends on an understanding of how stem cells establish, maintain, and regenerate tissues and organs.
This project is aiming at establishing whether stem cell therapy might offer an alternative approach to organ transplantation for patients suffering from kidney failure and at giving in an insight on stem cells, their development, on what happens in the disease at a cellular level.
THE FOCUS OF THIS PROJECT IS TO ASSESS THE REGENERATIVE POTENTIAL OF STEM CELLS DERIVED FROM DIFFERENT SOURCES, TO INVESTIGATE THE OBSTACLES TO THEIR CLINICAL UTILIZATION AND THEIR POTENTIAL SIDE EFFECTS IN PRECLINICAL MODELS OF ACUTE AND CHRONIC RENAL FAILURE.
A STANDARDIZED PROTOCOLS OF SC ISOLATION AND ADMINISTRATION FOR PHASE I/II TRIALS WILL BE READY AT THE END OF THE PROJECT.
Although largely auspicated, comparative study to set up standardized international protocols for phase I/II trials have not been performed yet, either in the field of kidney regeneration, or for cell therapy of other organs dysfunction.
World leader groups cooperate in STAR-T REK to compare the effects of different stem cell subsets in the same experimental models of acute and chronic renal failure to establish their efficacy and safety in kidney regeneration.
The expected outcomes of the project are:
- the identification of which cell type is better suitable for beneficial effect in preclinical models of acute and chronic renal failure;
- the assessment whether the beneficial (or not) effects are mediated directly by the transplanted cells or indirectly through involvement of other cell types;
- Insights on the mechanisms of stem cells-mediated regenerative effects, which are essential to set up cell therapies that should be effective and safe;
- Possibility of tissue bioengineering a de novo replacement organ using fetal renal stem cells, with an ultimate aim of being able to implant functional renal replacements in patients with end stage renal disease.
The results obtained will be collected, compared, evaluated and will converge in optimized protocols for phase I/II clinical trials in humans.