Leading researchers bring expertise in hematopoietic and muscle stem cells to the ISSCR’s open access peer-reviewed journal

The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) announces  the appointment of Dominique Bonnet, Ph.D., and Frederic Relaix, Ph.D., as Associate Editors of Stem Cell Reports, the official journal of the ISSCR.

Drs. Bonnet and Relaix bring internationally recognized expertise spanning hematopoietic and muscle stem cell biology, development, regeneration, disease modeling, and translational research. Their appointments further strengthen the journal’s editorial expertise across fundamental and disease-focused stem cell research.

Stem cell researchers have identified inflammatory pathways that may play a key role in driving kidney damage in diabetic kidney disease (DKD), pointing to potential new approaches for protecting the kidneys. Using stem cell-derived kidney organoids, Benjamin Freedman and colleagues from the University of Washington, USA, found that exposure to high sugar levels triggered inflammation and disrupted the organoids’ typical kidney tissue-like structure, causing individual kidney cells to detach. These changes were reminiscent of those observed in kidney biopsies and urine samples from patients with DKD. The research was published today in the peer-reviewed journal, Stem Cell Reports.

On 1 September, the ISSCR submitted comments to the Food and Drug Administration’s draft guidance for Leveraging Prior Knowledge in the Development of Human Gene Therapy Products Incorporating Genome Editing. ISSCR supports FDA’s desire to share the Agency’s current thinking on the type of prior knowledge (i.e., public and platform knowledge) that may be scientifically appropriate to leverage to advance product development.

I am excited to have taken on the role of ISSCR President for this year, building on Hideyuki Okano’s leadership and vision.

Many of you may think of ISSCR mainly as the place we gather for the annual and regional meetings. But it is an organization doing far more. In addition to Keith Alm and his staff, ISSCR has over 150 volunteers who contribute to setting the ethical and scientific standards that guide our field, educating physicians and patients, advocating for our science with policymakers, and nurturing the next generation of researchers.

Among the many ongoing initiatives of ISSCR, I see three areas that are particularly urgent for this coming year.

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) affects more than 1 in 10 people over 40 years of age, impairing patients’ mobility and quality of life. With limited treatment options, stem cell injections have been promoted as a treatment option, but evidence of efficacy from clinical trials or claims from clinics selling untested options often lacking. Even where well-designed clinical trials were performed, there was no clear consensus about the benefit of stem cell injections for KOA, likely due to the many variables at play.  

 A major source of variability comes from the cells used for injections. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), which can be isolated from e.g. fat or bone marrow, are frequently used to treat KOA in clinical studies. Using a patient's own cells reduces the risk of an immune response and any inadvertent transmission of pathogens but the quality and the therapeutic potential of MSCs varies between patients, contributing to heterogeneous treatment outcomes. Predicting MSC potency could be a powerful tool to achieve more consistent therapeutic in such therapeutic settings. 

To tackle the issue of MSC treatment heterogeneity, Sowmya Viswanathan from the Schroeder Arthritis Institute, University Health Institute, Canada, along with colleagues performed a long-term follow-up to a Health Canada-authorized phase I/IIa clinical trial (NCT02351011) with KOA patients receiving MSC injections, whereby the MSCs were derived from the patients’ own bone marrow. The work was published today in Stem Cell Reports.

Cancer immunotherapy using T cells has proven to be effective against certain blood and skin cancers but is less effective in tumors like colorectal cancer, which is one of the most frequent cancers worldwide. One primary consideration with T cell immunotherapy is that it needs to be tailored to each patient individually through time- and cost-intensive, procedures. The procedures involve isolation of a patient’s own T cells, their expansion and genetic engineering to target the cells towards the patient’s cancer cells. This complex process that limits the widespread availability of such treatments. Consequently, an “off-the-shelf” T cell immunotherapy – one that can be universally used safely in any person – that is safe and effective in a wide range of cancer patients, including patients with solid cancers, is highly desirable.