Reading Dr.Winkler's paper (Allo, thanks for the link!)
It's a very encouraging report on using PLX-PAD after
arthroplasty (hip replacement) surgery, for both patients
and Pluristem investors.
Italicized parts are my comments, bracketed text is my paraphrase.
[PLX-PAD cells] improve muscle function following hip arthroplasty
Principal Investigator: Dr. Tobias Winkler, Center for Musculoskeletal Surgery ...
Universitaetsmedizin Berlin, and Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies,
[There is no regenerative agent available today to aid in
patient's recovery of muscle tissue post-operatively ]…
(the goal of the study was to use a standard surgical procedure as
the muscle injury model, ie. hip replacement. Furthermore, the authors
state that there is no currently effective regenerative agent available,
thus there is a real need!)
Results: [No adverse events (2 years)]
[and muscle strength improvement was seen as early as 6 weeks]
Conclusion: [Allogeneic PLX-PAD therapy improved strength and
volume of injured skeletal muscle ]
[... tissue regeneration is the result of the immunomodulatory
effects of PLX-PAD and their secretion of trophic factors]
(the benefit is the result of PLX-PAD cells tamping down on
the inflammatory overreaction as a result of the injury, AND
"trophic" factors, that conduce to rebuilding muscle tissue)
[No safety issues in two years of using PLX-PAD]
[The primary finding of the study was an improvement in muscle strength
AND an increase in muscle volume in PLX-PAD group vs placebo group]
[There is a "striking" correlation between
functional assessments and micro- and macro-morphological
studies with the immunological analyses.]
(I find this the most interesting part of the paper, they have
histological, structural evidence of muscle regeneration, in
addition to patient's subjective/objective functional improvement,
in other words, you can see it under the microscope.)
[The authors expressed a great deal of confidence in the reproducability
of the results, given the consistency they observed over the two years]
This is certainly very positive. The authors did not specify the exact degree
of improvement over the placebo group (at least I didn't see any) but
there is a palpable excitement in the tone of this report, so I have to assume it's
sufficient to make PLX-PAD a very useful and even necessary addition
to the SOC for arthroplasty procedures.
Also, the prominence of the immunomodulatory effect of PLX-PAD is
a very interesting, since that has a very broad range of applicability.
Inflammation seems to the culprit in so many pathologies and PLX-PAD
(and potentially variations thereof) brings it under control. Very cool!
AI
