To tell this story we must go back to 1998, to the dawn of obtaining stem cells from the human blastocyst . Those of embryonic origin, capable of regenerating any type of tissue, were the first to be isolated. Two years later, some researchers found these cells in the bone marrow and called them adult stem cells. In 2006, the Japanese Shinya Yamanaka –nobel of Medicine in 2012– described that embryonic stem cells could be made from any cell .
As the head of the Department of Surgery of the Jiménez Díaz Foundation University Hospital, Damián García Olmo, recalls, Yamanaka discovered that these cells can have therapeutic effects on their own . These are mesenchymal cells, whose objective is to keep inflammation under control and facilitate tissue regeneration. “Currently they are being very effective from a clinical point of view, because the basis of many human diseases is inflammation,” says García Olmo. Thus, its good control supposes the cure of ailments that until now had no treatment or whose management produced many side effects. In this scenario, the possibility of healing with cells arises, this is cell therapy, and its translation in clinical application is what is called live medicine . “These cells are used to heal, mainly for signaling purposes,” says García Olmo. Until now the human being cured with inert substances ”.
In his opinion, cell therapy contemplates several forms: therapy that uses the wild genotype, that is, raw cells, without genetic changes or alterations -mesenchymal cells-, and on the other hand, genetic engineering, that is, the genetic modification of cells of our immune system to fight diseases, in this case by means of CAR-T cells.
How do patients get to these therapies? So far, the only drug in the world based on living cells and approved by the European authorities is the result of a Spanish investigation for the treatment of Crohn’s fistula led by García Olmo. A few months ago, the Ministry of Health welcomed darvadstrocel, a therapy based on allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells in the development of which the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) participated through the development of a patent co-owned by TiGenix.
The performance. Stem cells are obtained from liposuction of fatty tissue from healthy donors, subsequently expanded in the laboratory, injected into the patient in the perianal area, and the cells are responsible for closing the fistula without the need, in many cases, of applying immunosuppressive drugs, which had been the usual technique until now.
This treatment represents a new option for patients who do not respond to current therapies and who may have undergone numerous invasive surgical interventions. The development process, as the surgeon recalls, lasted fourteen years, until it was approved for clinical use.
The surgeon highlights the importance of networking: “There is no doubt that in translational research clinical-private collaboration is essential.” In his view, this is a model of success. In this, Fidel Rodríguez Batalla, director of the Autonomous University of Madrid Foundation, agrees, who explains that, beyond the technical part, this research is a clear example of success. “In the end, patients are being treated who are improving their quality of life and giving them a solution to their problem,” he says.
By Carmen M. López.
