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Eight Subcellular Pathologies driving Chronic Metabolic Diseases – Methods for Mapping Bioelectronic Adjustable Measurements as potential new Therapeutics: Impact on Pharmaceuticals in Use

Eight Subcellular Pathologies driving Chronic Metabolic Diseases – Methods for Mapping Bioelectronic Adjustable Measurements as potential new Therapeutics: Impact on Pharmaceuticals in Use

Curators:

 

THE VOICE of Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

In this curation we wish to present two breaking through goals:

Goal 1:

Exposition of a new direction of research leading to a more comprehensive understanding of Metabolic Dysfunctional Diseases that are implicated in effecting the emergence of the two leading causes of human mortality in the World in 2023: (a) Cardiovascular Diseases, and (b) Cancer

Goal 2:

Development of Methods for Mapping Bioelectronic Adjustable Measurements as potential new Therapeutics for these eight subcellular causes of chronic metabolic diseases. It is anticipated that it will have a potential impact on the future of Pharmaceuticals to be used, a change from the present time current treatment protocols for Metabolic Dysfunctional Diseases.

According to Dr. Robert Lustig, M.D, an American pediatric endocrinologist. He is Professor emeritus of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco, where he specialized in neuroendocrinology and childhood obesity, there are eight subcellular pathologies that drive chronic metabolic diseases.

These eight subcellular pathologies can’t be measured at present time.

In this curation we will attempt to explore methods of measurement for each of these eight pathologies by harnessing the promise of the emerging field known as Bioelectronics.

Unmeasurable eight subcellular pathologies that drive chronic metabolic diseases

  1. Glycation
  2. Oxidative Stress
  3. Mitochondrial dysfunction [beta-oxidation Ac CoA malonyl fatty acid]
  4. Insulin resistance/sensitive [more important than BMI], known as a driver to cancer development
  5. Membrane instability
  6. Inflammation in the gut [mucin layer and tight junctions]
  7. Epigenetics/Methylation
  8. Autophagy [AMPKbeta1 improvement in health span]

Diseases that are not Diseases: no drugs for them, only diet modification will help

Image source

Robert Lustig, M.D. on the Subcellular Processes That Belie Chronic Disease

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee_uoxuQo0I

 

Exercise will not undo Unhealthy Diet

Image source

Robert Lustig, M.D. on the Subcellular Processes That Belie Chronic Disease

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee_uoxuQo0I

 

These eight Subcellular Pathologies driving Chronic Metabolic Diseases are becoming our focus for exploration of the promise of Bioelectronics for two pursuits:

  1. Will Bioelectronics be deemed helpful in measurement of each of the eight pathological processes that underlie and that drive the chronic metabolic syndrome(s) and disease(s)?
  2. IF we will be able to suggest new measurements to currently unmeasurable health harming processes THEN we will attempt to conceptualize new therapeutic targets and new modalities for therapeutics delivery – WE ARE HOPEFUL

In the Bioelecronics domain we are inspired by the work of the following three research sources:

  1. Biological and Biomedical Electrical Engineering (B2E2) at Cornell University, School of Engineering https://www.engineering.cornell.edu/bio-electrical-engineering-0
  2. Bioelectronics Group at MIT https://bioelectronics.mit.edu/
  3. The work of Michael Levin @Tufts, The Levin Lab
Michael Levin is an American developmental and synthetic biologist at Tufts University, where he is the Vannevar Bush Distinguished Professor. Levin is a director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University and Tufts Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology. Wikipedia
Born: 1969 (age 54 years), Moscow, Russia
Education: Harvard University (1992–1996), Tufts University (1988–1992)
Affiliation: University of Cape Town
Research interests: Allergy, Immunology, Cross Cultural Communication
Awards: Cozzarelli prize (2020)
Doctoral advisor: Clifford Tabin
Most recent 20 Publications by Michael Levin, PhD
SOURCE
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE
The nonlinearity of regulation in biological networks
1 Dec 2023npj Systems Biology and Applications9(1)
Co-authorsManicka S, Johnson K, Levin M
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE
Toward an ethics of autopoietic technology: Stress, care, and intelligence
1 Sep 2023BioSystems231
Co-authorsWitkowski O, Doctor T, Solomonova E
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE
Closing the Loop on Morphogenesis: A Mathematical Model of Morphogenesis by Closed-Loop Reaction-Diffusion
14 Aug 2023Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology11:1087650
Co-authorsGrodstein J, McMillen P, Levin M
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE
30 Jul 2023Biochim Biophys Acta Gen Subj1867(10):130440
Co-authorsCervera J, Levin M, Mafe S
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE
Regulative development as a model for origin of life and artificial life studies
1 Jul 2023BioSystems229
Co-authorsFields C, Levin M
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE
The Yin and Yang of Breast Cancer: Ion Channels as Determinants of Left–Right Functional Differences
1 Jul 2023International Journal of Molecular Sciences24(13)
Co-authorsMasuelli S, Real S, McMillen P
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE
Bioelectricidad en agregados multicelulares de células no excitables- modelos biofísicos
Jun 2023Revista Española de Física32(2)
Co-authorsCervera J, Levin M, Mafé S
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE
Bioelectricity: A Multifaceted Discipline, and a Multifaceted Issue!
1 Jun 2023Bioelectricity5(2):75
Co-authorsDjamgoz MBA, Levin M
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE
Control Flow in Active Inference Systems – Part I: Classical and Quantum Formulations of Active Inference
1 Jun 2023IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications9(2):235-245
Co-authorsFields C, Fabrocini F, Friston K
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE
Control Flow in Active Inference Systems – Part II: Tensor Networks as General Models of Control Flow
1 Jun 2023IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications9(2):246-256
Co-authorsFields C, Fabrocini F, Friston K
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE
Darwin’s agential materials: evolutionary implications of multiscale competency in developmental biology
1 Jun 2023Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences80(6)
Co-authorsLevin M
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE
Morphoceuticals: Perspectives for discovery of drugs targeting anatomical control mechanisms in regenerative medicine, cancer and aging
1 Jun 2023Drug Discovery Today28(6)
Co-authorsPio-Lopez L, Levin M
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE
Cellular signaling pathways as plastic, proto-cognitive systems: Implications for biomedicine
12 May 2023Patterns4(5)
Co-authorsMathews J, Chang A, Devlin L
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE
Making and breaking symmetries in mind and life
14 Apr 2023Interface Focus13(3)
Co-authorsSafron A, Sakthivadivel DAR, Sheikhbahaee Z
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE
The scaling of goals from cellular to anatomical homeostasis: an evolutionary simulation, experiment and analysis
14 Apr 2023Interface Focus13(3)
Co-authorsPio-Lopez L, Bischof J, LaPalme JV
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE
The collective intelligence of evolution and development
Apr 2023Collective Intelligence2(2):263391372311683SAGE Publications
Co-authorsWatson R, Levin M
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE
Bioelectricity of non-excitable cells and multicellular pattern memories: Biophysical modeling
13 Mar 2023Physics Reports1004:1-31
Co-authorsCervera J, Levin M, Mafe S
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE
There’s Plenty of Room Right Here: Biological Systems as Evolved, Overloaded, Multi-Scale Machines
1 Mar 2023Biomimetics8(1)
Co-authorsBongard J, Levin M
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE
Transplantation of fragments from different planaria: A bioelectrical model for head regeneration
7 Feb 2023Journal of Theoretical Biology558
Co-authorsCervera J, Manzanares JA, Levin M
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE
Bioelectric networks: the cognitive glue enabling evolutionary scaling from physiology to mind
1 Jan 2023Animal Cognition
Co-authorsLevin M
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE
Biological Robots: Perspectives on an Emerging Interdisciplinary Field
1 Jan 2023Soft Robotics
Co-authorsBlackiston D, Kriegman S, Bongard J
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE
Cellular Competency during Development Alters Evolutionary Dynamics in an Artificial Embryogeny Model
1 Jan 2023Entropy25(1)
Co-authorsShreesha L, Levin M
5

5 total citations on Dimensions.

Article has an altmetric score of 16
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE
1 Jan 2023BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY138(1):141
Co-authorsClawson WP, Levin M
SCHOLARLY ARTICLE
Future medicine: from molecular pathways to the collective intelligence of the body
1 Jan 2023Trends in Molecular Medicine
Co-authorsLagasse E, Levin M

THE VOICE of Dr. Justin D. Pearlman, MD, PhD, FACC

PENDING

THE VOICE of  Stephen J. Williams, PhD

Ten TakeAway Points of Dr. Lustig’s talk on role of diet on the incidence of Type II Diabetes

 

  1. 25% of US children have fatty liver
  2. Type II diabetes can be manifested from fatty live with 151 million  people worldwide affected moving up to 568 million in 7 years
  3. A common myth is diabetes due to overweight condition driving the metabolic disease
  4. There is a trend of ‘lean’ diabetes or diabetes in lean people, therefore body mass index not a reliable biomarker for risk for diabetes
  5. Thirty percent of ‘obese’ people just have high subcutaneous fat.  the visceral fat is more problematic
  6. there are people who are ‘fat’ but insulin sensitive while have growth hormone receptor defects.  Points to other issues related to metabolic state other than insulin and potentially the insulin like growth factors
  7. At any BMI some patients are insulin sensitive while some resistant
  8. Visceral fat accumulation may be more due to chronic stress condition
  9. Fructose can decrease liver mitochondrial function
  10. A methionine and choline deficient diet can lead to rapid NASH development

 

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Bipolar Disorder now understood by Markers Identified of the Gene Expression for this Diagnosis

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

Published: 

Amygdala and anterior cingulate transcriptomes from individuals with bipolar disorder reveal downregulated neuroimmune and synaptic pathways

Abstract

Recent genetic studies have identified variants associated with bipolar disorder (BD), but it remains unclear how brain gene expression is altered in BD and how genetic risk for BD may contribute to these alterations. Here, we obtained transcriptomes from subgenual anterior cingulate cortex and amygdala samples from post-mortem brains of individuals with BD and neurotypical controls, including 511 total samples from 295 unique donors. We examined differential gene expression between cases and controls and the transcriptional effects of BD-associated genetic variants. We found two coexpressed modules that were associated with transcriptional changes in BD: one enriched for immune and inflammatory genes and the other with genes related to the postsynaptic membrane. Over 50% of BD genome-wide significant loci contained significant expression quantitative trait loci (QTL) (eQTL), and these data converged on several individual genes, including SCN2A and GRIN2A. Thus, these data implicate specific genes and pathways that may contribute to the pathology of BP.

SOURCE

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-022-01024-6

Gene Expression Markers for Bipolar Disorder Pinpointed

The work was led by researchers at Johns Hopkins’ Lieber Institute for Brain Development. The findings, published this week in Nature Neuroscience, represent the first time that researchers have been able to apply large-scale genetic research to brain samples from hundreds of patients with bipolar disorder (BD). They used 511 total samples from 295 unique donors.

“This is the first deep dive into the molecular biology of the brain in people who died with bipolar disorder—studying actual genes, not urine, blood or skin samples,” said Thomas Hyde of the Lieber Institute and a lead author of the paper. “If we can figure out the mechanisms behind BD, if we can figure out what’s wrong in the brain, then we can begin to develop new targeted treatments of what has long been a mysterious condition.”

Bipolar disorder is characterized by extreme mood swings, with episodes of mania alternating with episodes of depression. It usually emerges in people in their 20s and 30s and remains with them for life. This condition affects approximately 2.8% of the adult American population, or about 7 million people. Patients face higher rates of suicide, poorer quality of life, and lower productivity than the general population. Some estimates put the annual cost of the condition in the U.S. alone at $219.1 billion.

While drugs can be useful in treating BD, many patients find they have bothersome side effects, and for some patients, current medications don’t work at all.

In this study, researchers measured levels of messenger RNA in the brain samples. They observed almost eight times more differentially expressed gene features in the sACC versus the amygdala, suggesting that the sACC may play an especially prominent role—both in mood regulation in general and BD specifically.

In patients who died with BD, the researchers found abnormalities in two families of genes: one containing genes related to the synapse and the second related to immune and inflammatory function.

“There finally is a study using modern technology and our current understanding of genetics to uncover how the brain is doing,” Hyde said. “We know that BD tends to run in families, and there is strong evidence that there are inherited genetic abnormalities that put an individual at risk for bipolar disorder. Unlike diseases such as sickle-cell anemia, bipolar disorder does not result from a single genetic abnormality. Rather, most patients have inherited a group of variants spread across a number of genes.”

“Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive disorder, is a highly damaging and paradoxical condition,” said Daniel R. Weinberger, chief executive and director of the Lieber Institute and a co-author of the study. “It can make people very productive so they can lead countries and companies, but it can also hurl them into the meat grinder of dysfunction and depression. Patients with BD may live on two hours of sleep a night, saving the world with their abundance of energy, and then become so self-destructive that they spend their family’s fortune in a week and lose all friends as they spiral downward. Bipolar disorder also has some shared genetic links to other psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, and is implicated in overuse of drugs and alcohol.”

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Novartis uses a ‘dimmer switch’ medication to fine-tune gene therapy candidates

Reporter: Amandeep Kaur, BSc., MSc.

Using viral vectors, lipid nanoparticles, and other technologies, significant progress has been achieved in refining the delivery of gene treatments. However, modifications to the cargo itself are still needed to increase safety and efficacy by better controlling gene expression.

To that end, researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have created a “dimmer switch” system that employs Novartis’ investigational Huntington’s disease medicine branaplam (LMI070) as a regulator to fine-tune the quantity of proteins generated from a gene therapy.

According to a new study published in Nature, the Xon system altered quantities of erythropoietin—which is used to treat anaemia associated with chronic renal disease—delivered to mice using viral vectors. The method has previously been licenced by Novartis, the maker of the Zolgensma gene therapy for spinal muscular atrophy.

The Xon system depends on a process known as “alternative splicing,” in which RNA is spliced to include or exclude specific exons of a gene, allowing the gene to code for multiple proteins. The team used branaplam, a small-molecule RNA-splicing modulator, for this platform. The medication was created to improve SMN2 gene splicing in order to cure spinal muscular atrophy. Novartis shifted its research to try the medication against Huntington’s disease after a trial failure.

A gene therapy’s payload remains dormant until oral branaplam is given, according to Xon. The medicine activates the expression of the therapy’s functional gene by causing it to splice in the desired way. Scientists from CHOP and the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research put the dimmer switch to the exam in an Epo gene therapy carried through adeno-associated viral vectors. The usage of branaplam increased mice Epo levels in the blood and hematocrit levels (the proportion of red blood cells to whole blood) by 60% to 70%, according to the researchers. The researchers fed the rodents branaplam again as their hematocrit decreased to baseline levels. The therapy reinduced Epo to levels similar to those seen in the initial studies, according to the researchers.

The researchers also demonstrated that the Xon system could be used to regulate progranulin expression, which is utilised to treat PGRN-deficient frontotemporal dementia and neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis. The scientists emphasised that gene therapy requires a small treatment window to be both safe and effective.

In a statement, Beverly Davidson, Ph.D., the study’s senior author, said, “The dose of a medicine can define how high you want expression to be, and then the system can automatically ‘dim down’ at a pace corresponding to the half-life of the protein.”

“We may imagine scenarios in which a medication is used only once, such as to control the expression of foreign proteins required for gene editing, or only on a limited basis. Because the splicing modulators we examined are administered orally, compliance to control protein expression from viral vectors including Xon-based cassettes should be high.”

In gene-modifying medicines, scientists have tried a variety of approaches to alter gene expression. For example, methyl groups were utilised as a switch to turn on or off expression of genes in the gene-editing system CRISPR by a team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California, San Francisco.

Auxolytic, a biotech company founded by Stanford University academics, has described how knocking down a gene called UMPS could render T-cell therapies ineffective by depriving T cells of the nutrition uridine. Xon could also be tailored to work with cancer CAR-T cell therapy, according to the CHOP-Novartis researchers. The dimmer switch could help prevent cell depletion by halting CAR expression, according to the researchers. According to the researchers, such a tuneable switch could help CRISPR-based treatments by providing “a short burst” of production of CRISPR effector proteins to prevent undesirable off-target editing.

Source: https://www.fiercebiotech.com/research/novartis-fine-tunes-gene-therapy-a-huntington-s-disease-candidate-as-a-dimmer-switch?mkt_tok=Mjk0LU1RRi0wNTYAAAF-q1ives09mmSQhXDd_jhF0M11KBMt0K23Iru3ZMcZFf-vcFQwMMCxTOiWM-jHaEvtyGOM_ds_Cw6NuB9B0fr79a3Opgh32TjXaB-snz54d2xU_fw

Other Related Articles published in this Open Access Online Scientific Journal include the following:

Gene Therapy could be a Boon to Alzheimer’s disease (AD): A first-in-human clinical trial proposed

Reporter: Dr. Premalata Pati, Ph.D., Postdoc

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2021/03/22/gene-therapy-could-be-a-boon-to-alzheimers-disease-ad-a-first-in-human-clinical-trial-proposed/

Top Industrialization Challenges of Gene Therapy Manufacturing

Guest Authors: Dr. Mark Szczypka and Clive Glover

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2021/03/29/top-industrialization-challenges-of-gene-therapy-manufacturing/

Dysregulation of ncRNAs in association with Neurodegenerative Disorders

Curator: Amandeep Kaur

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2021/01/11/dysregulation-of-ncrnas-in-association-with-neurodegenerative-disorders/

Cancer treatment using CRISPR-based Genome Editing System 

Reporter: Irina Robu, PhD

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2021/01/09/59906/

CRISPR-Cas9 and the Power of Butterfly Gene Editing

Reporter: Madison Davis

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2020/08/23/crispr-cas9-and-the-power-of-butterfly-gene-editing/

Gene Editing for Exon 51: Why CRISPR Snipping might be better than Exon Skipping for DMD

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2016/01/23/gene-editing-for-exon-51-why-crispr-snipping-might-be-better-than-exon-skipping-for-dmd/

Gene Editing: The Role of Oligonucleotide Chips

Curators: Larry H Bernstein, MD, FCAP and Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2016/01/07/gene-editing-the-role-of-oligonucleotide-chips/

Cause of Alzheimer’s Discovered: protein SIRT6 role in DNA repair process – low levels enable DNA damage accumulation

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2017/06/15/cause-of-alzheimers-discovered-protein-sirt6-role-in-dna-repair-process-low-levels-enable-dna-damage-accumulation/

Delineating a Role for CRISPR-Cas9 in Pharmaceutical Targeting

Author & Curator: Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2015/08/30/delineating-a-role-for-crispr-cas9-in-pharmaceutical-targeting/

Brain Science

Larry H Bernstein, MD, FCAP, Curator

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2015/11/03/brain-science/

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COVID and the brain: researchers zero in on how damage occurs

Reporter: Danielle Smolyar

Research Assistant 3 – Text Analysis for 2.0 LPBI Group’s TNS #1 – 2020/2021 Academic Internship in Medical Text Analysis (MTA)

Recent evidence has indicated that coronavirus can cause brain fog and also lead to different neurological symptoms. 

Since the beginning of the pandemic, researchers have been trying to understand how the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 affects the brain

Image Credit: Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS/Getty

image source:https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01693-6?utm_source=Nature+Briefing

New evidence has shown how coronavirus has caused much damage to the brain. There is a new evidence that shows that COVID-19 assault on the brain I has the power to be multipronged. What this means is that it can attack on certain Brain cells such as reduce the amount of blood flow that the brain needs to the brain tissue.

Along with brain damage COVID-19 has also caused strokes and memory loss. A neurologist at yell University Serena Spudich says, “Can we intervene early to address these abnormalities so that people don’t have long-term problems?”

We’re on 80% of the people who have been hospitalized due to COVID-19 have showed brain symptoms which seem to be correlated to coronavirus.

At the start of the pandemic a group of researchers speculated that coronavirus they can damage the brain by infecting the neurons in the cells which are important in the process of transmitting information. After further studies they found out that coronavirus has a harder time getting past the brains defense system and the brain barrier and that it does not affect the neurons in anyway.

An expert in this study indicated that a way in which SARS-CoV-2 may be able to get to the brain is by going through the olfactory mucosa which is the lining of the nasal cavity. It is found that this virus can be found in the nasal cavity which is why we swab the nose one getting tested for COVID-19.

Spudich quotes, “there’s not a tonne of virus in the brain”.

Recent studies indicate that SARS-CoV-2 have ability to infect astrocytes which is a type of cell found in the brain. Astrocytes do quite a lot that supports normal brain function,” including providing nutrients to neurons to keep them working, says Arnold Kriegstein, a neurologist at the University of California, San Francisco.

Astrocytes are star-shaped cells in the central nervous system that perform many functions, including providing nutrients to neurons.

Image Credit: David Robertson, ICR/SPL

image source: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01693-6?utm_source=Nature+Briefing

Kriegstein and his fellow colleagues have found that SARS-CoV-2 I mostly infects the astrocytes over any of the other brain cells present. In this research they expose brain organoids which is a miniature brain that are grown from stem cells into the virus.

As quoted in the article” a group including Daniel Martins-de-Souza, head of proteomics at the University of Campinas in Brazil, reported6 in a February preprint that it had analysed brain samples from 26 people who died with COVID-19. In the five whose brain cells showed evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, 66% of the affected cells were astrocytes.”

The infected astrocytes could indicate the reasoning behind some of the neurological symptoms that come with COVID-19. Specifically, depression, brain fog and fatigue. Kreigstein quotes, “Those kinds of symptoms may not be reflective of neuronal damage but could be reflective of dysfunctions of some sort. That could be consistent with astrocyte vulnerability.”

A study that was published on June 21 they compared eight different brands of deceased people who did have COVID-19 along with 14 brains as the control. The results of this research were that they found that there was no trace of coronavirus Brain infected but they found that the gene expression was affected in some of the astrocytes.

As a result of doing all this research and the findings the researchers want to know more about this topic and how many brain cells need to be infected for there to be neurological symptoms says Ricardo Costa.

Further evidence has also been done on how SARS-CoV-2 can affect the brain by reducing its blood flow which impairs the neurons’ function which ends up killing them.

Pericytes can be found on the small blood vessels which are called capillaries and are found all throughout the body and in the brain. In a February pre-print there was a report about how SARS-CoV-2 can infect the pericyte in the brain organoids. 

David Atwell, a neuroscientist at the University College London, along with his other colleagues had published a pre-print which has evidence to show that SARS-CoV-2 odes In fact pericytes behavior. I researchers saw that in the different part of the hamsters brain SARS-CoV-2 blocks the function of receptors on the pericytes which ultimately causes the capillaries found inside the tissues to constrict.

As stated in the article, It’s a “really cool” study, says Spudich. “It could be something that is determining some of the permanent injury we see — some of these small- vessel strokes.”

Attwell brought to the attention that the drugs that are used to treat high blood pressure may in fact be used in some cases of COVID-19. Currently there are two clinical trials that are being done to further investigate this idea.

There is further evidence showing that the neurological symptoms and damage could in fact be happening because of the bodies on immune system reacting or misfiring after having COVID-19.

Over the past 15 years it has become evident that people’s immune system’s make auto antibodies which attack their own tissues says Harald Prüss in the article who has a Neuroimmunologist at the German Center for neurogenerative Diseases in Berlin. This may cause neuromyelitis optica which is when you can experience loss of vision or weakness in limbs. Harald Prüss summarized that the autoantibodies can pass through the blood brain barrier and ultimately impact neurological disorders such as psychosis.

Prüss and his colleagues published a study last year that focused on them isolating antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 from people. They found that one was able to protect hamsters from lung damage and other infections. The purpose of this was to come up with and create new treatments. During this research they found that some of the antibodies from people. They found that one was able to protect hamsters from lung damage and other infections. The purpose of this was to come up with and create new treatments. During this research they found that some of the antibodies can bind to the brain tissue which can ultimately damage it. Prüss states, “We’re currently trying to prove that clinically and experimentally,” says Prüss.

Was published online in December including Prüss sorry the blood and cerebrospinal fluid of 11 people who were extremely sick with COVID-19. These 11 people had neurological symptoms as well. All these people were able to produce auto antibodies which combined to neurons. There is evidence that when the patients were given intravenous immunoglobin which is a type of antibody it was successful.

Astrocytes, pericytes and autoantibodies we’re not the only  pathways. However it is likely that people with COVID-19 experience article symptoms for many reasons. As stated, In the article, Prüss says a key question is what proportion of cases is caused by each of the pathways. “That will determine treatment,” he says.

SOURCE: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01693-6?utm_source=Nature+Briefing

Original article: 

Marshall, M. (2021, July 7). COVID and the brain: researchers zero in on how damage occurs. Nature News. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01693-6

Other related articles published on this Open Access Online Scientific Journal include the following:

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Identification of Novel genes in human that fight COVID-19 infection

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2021 Virtual World Medical Innovation Forum, Mass General Brigham, Gene and Cell Therapy, VIRTUAL May 19–21, 2021

The 2021 Virtual World Medical Innovation Forum will focus on the growing impact of gene and cell therapy. Senior healthcare leaders from all over look to shape and debate the area of gene and cell therapy. Our shared belief: no matter the magnitude of change, responsible healthcare is centered on a shared commitment to collaborative innovation–industry, academia, and practitioners working together to improve patients’ lives.

About the World Medical Innovation Forum

Mass General Brigham is pleased to present the World Medical Innovation Forum (WMIF) virtual event Wednesday, May 19 – Friday, May 21. This interactive web event features expert discussions of gene and cell therapy (GCT) and its potential to change the future of medicine through its disease-treating and potentially curative properties. The agenda features 150+ executive speakers from the healthcare industry, venture, startups, life sciences manufacturing, consumer health and the front lines of care, including many Harvard Medical School-affiliated researchers and clinicians. The annual in-person Forum will resume live in Boston in 2022. The World Medical Innovation Forum is presented by Mass General Brigham Innovation, the global business development unit supporting the research requirements of 7,200 Harvard Medical School faculty and research hospitals including Massachusetts General, Brigham and Women’s, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Spaulding Rehab and McLean Hospital. Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/@MGBInnovation

Accelerating the Future of Medicine with Gene and Cell Therapy What Comes Next

https://worldmedicalinnovation.org/agenda/

Virtual | May 19–21, 2021

#WMIF2021

@MGBInnovation

Leaders in Pharmaceutical Business Intelligence (LPBI) Group

will cover the event in Real Time

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

Founder LPBI 1.0 & LPBI 2.0

member_60221522 copy

will be in virtual attendance producing the e-Proceedings

and the Tweet Collection of this Global event expecting +15,000 attendees

@pharma_BI

@AVIVA1950

LPBI’s Eighteen Books in Medicine

https://lnkd.in/ekWGNqA

Among them, books on Gene and Cell Therapy include the following:

Topics for May 19 – 21 include:

Impact on Patient Care – Therapeutic and Potentially Curative GCT Developments

GCT Delivery, Manufacturing – What’s Next

GCT Platform Development

Oncolytic Viruses – Cancer applications, start-ups

Regenerative Medicine/Stem Cells

Future of CAR-T

M&A Shaping GCT’s Future

Market Priorities

Venture Investing in GCT

China’s GCT Juggernaut

Disease and Patient Focus: Benign blood disorders, diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases

Click here for the current WMIF agenda  

Plus:

Fireside Chats: 1:1 interviews with industry CEOs/C-Suite leaders including Novartis Gene Therapies, ThermoFisher, Bayer AG, FDA

First Look: 18 briefings on emerging GCT research from Mass General Brigham scientists

Virtual Poster Session: 40 research posters and presenters on potential GCT discoveries from Mass General Brigham

Announcement of the Disruptive Dozen, 12 GCT technologies likely to break through in the next few years

AGENDA

Wednesday, May 19, 2021

8:00 AM – 8:10 AM

Opening Remarks

Welcome and the vision for Gene and Cell Therapy and why it is a top Mass General Brigham priority. Introducer: Scott Sperling

  • Co-President, Thomas H. Lee Partners
  • Chairman of the Board of Directors, PHS

Presenter: Anne Klibanski, MD

  • CEO, Mass General Brigham

3,000 people joined 5/19 morning

30 sessions: Lab to Clinic,  academia, industry, investment community

May 22,23,24, 2022 – in Boston, in-person 2022 WMIF on CGT 8:10 AM – 8:30 AM

The Grand Challenge of Widespread GCT Patient Benefits

Co-Chairs identify the key themes of the Forum –  set the stage for top GCT opportunities, challenges, and where the field might take medicine in the future. Moderator: Susan Hockfield, PhD

  • President Emerita and Professor of Neuroscience, MIT

GCT – poised to deliver therapies

Inflection point as Panel will present

Doctors and Patients – Promise for some patients 

Barriers for Cell & Gene

Access for patients to therapies like CGT Speakers: Nino Chiocca, MD, PhD

  • Neurosurgeon-in-Chief and Chairman, Neurosurgery, BWH
  • Harvey W. Cushing Professor of Neurosurgery, HMS

Oncolytic virus triple threat: Toxic, immunological, combine with anti cancer therapies

Polygenic therapy – multiple genes involved, plug-play, Susan Slaugenhaupt, PhD

  • Scientific Director and Elizabeth G. Riley and Daniel E. Smith Jr., Endowed Chair, Mass General Research Institute
  • Professor, Neurology, HMS

Ravi Thadhani, MD

  • CAO, Mass General Brigham
  • Professor, Medicine and Faculty Dean, HMS

Role of academia special to spear head the Polygenic therapy – multiple genes involved, plug-play, 

Access critical, relations with IndustryLuk Vandenberghe, PhD

  • Grousbeck Family Chair, Gene Therapy, MEE
  • Associate Professor, Ophthalmology, HMS

Pharmacology Gene-Drug, Interface academic centers and industry

many CGT drugs emerged in Academic center 8:35 AM – 8:50 AM FIRESIDE

Gene and Cell Therapy 2.0 – What’s Next as We Realize their Potential for Patients

Dave Lennon, PhD

  • President, Novartis Gene Therapies

Hope that CGT emerging, how the therapies work, neuro, muscular, ocular, genetic diseases of liver and of heart revolution for the industry 900 IND application 25 approvals Economic driver Skilled works, VC disease. Modality one time intervention, long duration of impart, reimbursement, ecosystem to be built around CGT

FDA works by indications and risks involved, Standards and expectations for streamlining manufacturing, understanding of process and products 

payments over time payers and Innovators relations Moderator: Julian Harris, MD

  • Partner, Deerfield

Promise of CGT realized, what part?

FDA role and interaction in CGT

Manufacturing aspects which is critical Speaker: Dave Lennon, PhD

  • President, Novartis Gene Therapies

Hope that CGT emerging, how the therapies work, neuro, muscular, ocular, genetic diseases of liver and of heart revolution for the industry 900 IND application 25 approvals Economic driver Skilled works, VC disease. Modality one time intervention, long duration of impart, reimbursement, ecosystem to be built around CGT

FDA works by indications and risks involved, Standards and expectations for streamlining manufacturing, understanding of process and products 

payments over time payers and Innovators relations

  • Q&A 8:55 AM – 9:10 AM  

8:55 AM – 9:20 AM

The Patient and GCT

GCT development for rare diseases is driven by patient and patient-advocate communities. Understanding their needs and perspectives enables biomarker research, the development of value-driving clinical trial endpoints and successful clinical trials. Industry works with patient communities that help identify unmet needs and collaborate with researchers to conduct disease natural history studies that inform the development of biomarkers and trial endpoints. This panel includes patients who have received cutting-edge GCT therapy as well as caregivers and patient advocates. Moderator: Patricia Musolino, MD, PhD

  • Co-Director Pediatric Stroke and Cerebrovascular Program, MGH
  • Assistant Professor of Neurology, HMS

What is the Power of One – the impact that a patient can have on their own destiny by participating in Clinical Trials Contacting other participants in same trial can be beneficial Speakers: Jack Hogan

  • Patient, MEE

Jeanette Hogan

  • Parent of Patient, MEE

Jim Holland

  • CEO, Backcountry.com

Parkinson patient Constraints by regulatory on participation in clinical trial advance stage is approved participation Patients to determine the level of risk they wish to take Information dissemination is critical Barbara Lavery

  • Chief Program Officer, ACGT Foundation

Advocacy agency beginning of work Global Genes educational content and out reach to access the information 

Patient has the knowledge of the symptoms and recording all input needed for diagnosis by multiple clinicians Early application for CGTDan Tesler

  • Clinical Trial Patient, BWH/DFCC

Experimental Drug clinical trial patient participation in clinical trial is very important to advance the state of scienceSarah Beth Thomas, RN

  • Professional Development Manager, BWH

Outcome is unknown, hope for good, support with resources all advocacy groups, 

  • Q&A 9:25 AM – 9:40 AM  

9:25 AM – 9:45 AM FIRESIDE

GCT Regulatory Framework | Why Different?

  Moderator: Vicki Sato, PhD

  • Chairman of the Board, Vir Biotechnology

Diversity of approaches

Process at FDA generalize from 1st entry to rules more generalizable  Speaker: Peter Marks, MD, PhD

  • Director, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, FDA

Last Spring it became clear that something will work a vaccine by June 2020 belief that enough candidates the challenge manufacture enough and scaling up FDA did not predicted the efficacy of mRNA vaccine vs other approaches expected to work

Recover Work load for the pandemic will wean & clear, Gene Therapies IND application remained flat in the face of the pandemic Rare diseases urgency remains Consensus with industry advisory to get input gene therapy Guidance  T-Cell therapy vs Regulation best thinking CGT evolve speedily flexible gained by Guidance

Immune modulators, Immunotherapy Genome editing can make use of viral vectors future technologies nanoparticles and liposome encapsulation 

  • Q&A 9:50 AM – 10:05 AM  

9:50 AM – 10:15 AM

Building a GCT Platform for Mainstream Success

This panel of GCT executives, innovators and investors explore how to best shape a successful GCT strategy. Among the questions to be addressed:

  • How are GCT approaches set around defining and building a platform?
  • Is AAV the leading modality and what are the remaining challenges?
  • What are the alternatives?
  • Is it just a matter of matching modalities to the right indications?

Moderator: Jean-François Formela, MD

  • Partner, Atlas Venture

Established core components of the Platform Speakers: Katherine High, MD

  • President, Therapeutics, AskBio

Three drugs approved in Europe in the Gene therapy space

Regulatory Infrastructure exists for CGT drug approval – as new class of therapeutics

Participants investigators, regulators, patients i. e., MDM 

Hemophilia in male most challenging

Human are natural hosts for AV safety signals Dave Lennon, PhD

  • President, Novartis Gene Therapies

big pharma has portfolios of therapeutics not one drug across Tx areas: cell, gene iodine therapy 

collective learning infrastructure features manufacturing at scale early in development Acquisitions strategy for growth # applications for scaling Rick Modi

  • CEO, Affinia Therapeutics

Copy, paste EDIT from product A to B novel vectors leverage knowledge varient of vector, coder optimization choice of indication is critical exploration on larger populations Speed to R&D and Speed to better gene construct get to clinic with better design vs ASAP 

Data sharing clinical experience with vectors strategies patients selection, vector selection, mitigation, patient type specific Louise Rodino-Klapac, PhD

  • EVP, Chief Scientific Officer, Sarepta Therapeutics

AAV based platform 15 years in development same disease indication vs more than one indication stereotype, analytics as hurdle 1st was 10 years 2nd was 3 years

Safety to clinic vs speed to clinic, difference of vectors to trust

  • Q&A 10:20 AM – 10:35 AM  

10:20 AM – 10:45 AM

AAV Success Studies | Retinal Dystrophy | Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Recent AAV gene therapy product approvals have catalyzed the field. This new class of therapies has shown the potential to bring transformative benefit to patients. With dozens of AAV treatments in clinical studies, all eyes are on the field to gauge its disruptive impact.

The panel assesses the largest challenges of the first two products, the lessons learned for the broader CGT field, and the extent to which they serve as a precedent to broaden the AAV modality.

  • Is AAV gene therapy restricted to genetically defined disorders, or will it be able to address common diseases in the near term?
  • Lessons learned from these first-in-class approvals.
  • Challenges to broaden this modality to similar indications.
  • Reflections on safety signals in the clinical studies?

Moderator: Joan Miller, MD

  • Chief, Ophthalmology, MEE
  • Cogan Professor & Chair of Ophthalmology, HMS

Retina specialist, Luxturna success FMA condition cell therapy as solution

Lessons learned

Safety Speakers: Ken Mills

  • CEO, RegenXBio

Tissue types additional administrations, tech and science, address additional diseases, more science for photoreceptors a different tissue type underlying pathology novelties in last 10 years 

Cell therapy vs transplant therapy no immunosuppressionEric Pierce, MD, PhD

  • Director, Ocular Genomics Institute, MEE
  • Professor of Ophthalmology, HMS

Laxterna success to be replicated platform, paradigms measurement visual improved

More science is needed to continue develop vectors reduce toxicity,

AAV can deliver different cargos reduce adverse events improve vectorsRon Philip

  • Chief Operating Officer, Spark Therapeutics

The first retinal gene therapy, voretigene neparvovec-rzyl (Luxturna, Spark Therapeutics), was approved by the FDA in 2017.Meredith Schultz, MD

  • Executive Medical Director, Lead TME, Novartis Gene Therapies

Impact of cell therapy beyond muscular dystrophy, translational medicine, each indication, each disease, each group of patients build platform unlock the promise

Monitoring for Safety signals real world evidence remote markers, home visits, clinical trial made safer, better communication of information

  • Q&A 10:50 AM – 11:05 AM  

10:45 AM – 10:55 AM

Break

  10:55 AM – 11:05 AM FIRST LOOK

Control of AAV pharmacology by Rational Capsid Design

Luk Vandenberghe, PhD

  • Grousbeck Family Chair, Gene Therapy, MEE
  • Associate Professor, Ophthalmology, HMS

AAV a complex driver in Pharmacology durable, vector of choice, administer in vitro, gene editing tissue specificity, pharmacokinetics side effects and adverse events manufacturability site variation diversify portfolios,

Pathway for rational AAV rational design, curated smart variant libraries, AAV  sequence screen multiparametric , data enable liver (de-) targeting unlock therapeutics areas: cochlea 

  • Q&A 11:05 AM – 11:25 AM  

11:05 AM – 11:15 AM FIRST LOOK

Enhanced gene delivery and immunoevasion of AAV vectors without capsid modification

Casey Maguire, PhD

  • Associate Professor of Neurology, MGH & HMS

Virus Biology: Enveloped (e) or not 

enveloped for gene therapy eAAV platform technology: tissue targets and Indications commercialization of eAAV 

  • Q&A 11:15 AM – 11:35 AM  

11:20 AM – 11:45 AM HOT TOPICS

AAV Delivery

This panel will address the advances in the area of AAV gene therapy delivery looking out the next five years. Questions that loom large are: How can biodistribution of AAV be improved? What solutions are in the wings to address immunogenicity of AAV? Will patients be able to receive systemic redosing of AAV-based gene therapies in the future? What technical advances are there for payload size? Will the cost of manufacturing ever become affordable for ultra-rare conditions? Will non-viral delivery completely supplant viral delivery within the next five years?What are the safety concerns and how will they be addressed? Moderators: Xandra Breakefield, PhD

  • Geneticist, MGH, MGH
  • Professor, Neurology, HMS

Florian Eichler, MD

  • Director, Center for Rare Neurological Diseases, MGH
  • Associate Professor, Neurology, HMS

Speakers: Jennifer Farmer

  • CEO, Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance

Ataxia requires therapy targeting multiple organ with one therapy, brain, spinal cord, heart several IND, clinical trials in 2022Mathew Pletcher, PhD

  • SVP, Head of Gene Therapy Research and Technical Operations, Astellas

Work with diseases poorly understood, collaborations needs example of existing: DMD is a great example explain dystrophin share placedo data 

Continue to explore large animal guinea pig not the mice, not primates (ethical issues) for understanding immunogenicity and immune response Manny Simons, PhD

  • CEO, Akouos

AAV Therapy for the fluid of the inner ear, CGT for the ear vector accessible to surgeons translational work on the inner ear for gene therapy right animal model 

Biology across species nerve ending in the cochlea

engineer out of the caspid, lowest dose possible, get desired effect by vector use, 2022 new milestones

  • Q&A 11:50 AM – 12:05 PM  

11:50 AM – 12:15 PM

M&A | Shaping GCT Innovation

The GCT M&A market is booming – many large pharmas have made at least one significant acquisition. How should we view the current GCT M&A market? What is its impact of the current M&A market on technology development? Are these M&A trends new are just another cycle? Has pharma strategy shifted and, if so, what does it mean for GCT companies? What does it mean for patients? What are the long-term prospects – can valuations hold up? Moderator: Adam Koppel, MD, PhD

  • Managing Director, Bain Capital Life Sciences

What acquirers are looking for??

What is the next generation vs what is real where is the industry going? Speakers:

Debby Baron,

  • Worldwide Business Development, Pfizer 

CGT is an important area Pfizer is active looking for innovators, advancing forward programs of innovation with the experience Pfizer has internally 

Scalability and manufacturing  regulatory conversations, clinical programs safety in parallel to planning getting drug to patients

Kenneth Custer, PhD

  • Vice President, Business Development and Lilly New Ventures, Eli Lilly and Company

Marianne De Backer, PhD

Head of Strategy, Business Development & Licensing, and Member of the Executive Committee, Bayer

Absolute Leadership in Gene editing, gene therapy, via acquisition and strategic alliance 

Operating model of the acquired company discussed , company continue independence

Sean Nolan

  • Board Chairman, Encoded Therapeutics & Affinia

Executive Chairman, Jaguar Gene Therapy & Istari Oncology

As acquiree multiple M&A: How the acquirer looks at integration and cultures of the two companies 

Traditional integration vs jump start by external acquisition 

AAV – epilepsy, next generation of vectors 

  • Q&A 12:20 PM – 12:35 PM  

12:15 PM – 12:25 PM FIRST LOOK

Gene Therapies for Neurological Disorders: Insights from Motor Neuron Disorders

Merit Cudkowicz, MD

  • Chief of Neurology, MGH

ALS – Man 1in 300, Women 1 in 400, next decade increase 7% 

10% ALS is heredity 160 pharma in ALS space, diagnosis is late 1/3 of people are not diagnosed, active community for clinical trials Challenges: disease heterogeneity cases of 10 years late in diagnosis. Clinical Trials for ALS in Gene Therapy targeting ASO1 protein therapies FUS gene struck youngsters 

Q&A

  • 12:25 PM – 12:45 PM  

12:25 PM – 12:35 PM FIRST LOOK

Gene Therapy for Neurologic Diseases

Patricia Musolino, MD, PhD

  • Co-Director Pediatric Stroke and Cerebrovascular Program, MGH
  • Assistant Professor of Neurology, HMS

Cerebral Vascular disease – ACTA2 179H gene smooth muscle cell proliferation disorder

no surgery or drug exist –

Cell therapy for ACTA2 Vasculopathy  in the brain and control the BP and stroke – smooth muscle intima proliferation. Viral vector deliver aiming to change platform to non-viral delivery rare disease , gene editing, other mutations of ACTA2 gene target other pathway for atherosclerosis 

  • Q&A 12:35 PM – 12:55 PM  

12:35 PM – 1:15 PM

Lunch

  1:15 PM – 1:40 PM

Oncolytic Viruses in Cancer | Curing Melanoma and Beyond

Oncolytic viruses represent a powerful new technology, but so far an FDA-approved oncolytic (Imlygic) has only occurred in one area – melanoma and that what is in 2015. This panel involves some of the protagonists of this early success story.  They will explore why and how Imlygic became approved and its path to commercialization.  Yet, no other cancer indications exist for Imlygic, unlike the expansion of FDA-approved indication for immune checkpoint inhibitors to multiple cancers.  Why? Is there a limitation to what and which cancers can target?  Is the mode of administration a problem?

No other oncolytic virus therapy has been approved since 2015. Where will the next success story come from and why?  Will these therapies only be beneficial for skin cancers or other easily accessible cancers based on intratumoral delivery?

The panel will examine whether the preclinical models that have been developed for other cancer treatment modalities will be useful for oncolytic viruses.  It will also assess the extent pre-clinical development challenges have slowed the development of OVs. Moderator: Nino Chiocca, MD, PhD

  • Neurosurgeon-in-Chief and Chairman, Neurosurgery, BWH
  • Harvey W. Cushing Professor of Neurosurgery, HMS

Challenges of manufacturing at Amgen what are they? Speakers: Robert Coffin, PhD

  • Chief Research & Development Officer, Replimune

2002 in UK promise in oncolytic therapy GNCSF

Phase III melanoma 2015 M&A with Amgen

oncolytic therapy remains non effecting on immune response 

data is key for commercialization 

do not belief in systemic therapy achieve maximum immune response possible from a tumor by localized injection Roger Perlmutter, MD, PhD

  • Chairman, Merck & Co.

response rates systemic therapy like PD1, Keytruda, OPTIVA well tolerated combination of Oncolytic with systemic 

GMP critical for manufacturing David Reese, MD

  • Executive Vice President, Research and Development, Amgen

Inter lesion injection of agent vs systemic therapeutics 

cold tumors immune resistant render them immune susceptible 

Oncolytic virus is a Mono therapy

addressing the unknown Ann Silk, MD

  • Physician, Dana Farber-Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center
  • Assistant Professor of Medicine, HMS

Which person gets oncolytics virus if patient has immune suppression due to other indications

Safety of oncolytic virus greater than Systemic treatment

series biopsies for injected and non injected tissue and compare Suspect of hot tumor and cold tumors likely to have sme response to agent unknown all potential 

  • Q&A 1:45 PM – 2:00 PM  

1:45 PM – 2:10 PM

Market Interest in Oncolytic Viruses | Calibrating

There are currently two oncolytic virus products on the market, one in the USA and one in China.  As of late 2020, there were 86 clinical trials 60 of which were in phase I with just 2 in Phase III the rest in Phase I/II or Phase II.   Although global sales of OVs are still in the ramp-up phase, some projections forecast OVs will be a $700 million market by 2026. This panel will address some of the major questions in this area:

What regulatory challenges will keep OVs from realizing their potential? Despite the promise of OVs for treating cancer only one has been approved in the US. Why has this been the case? Reasons such have viral tropism, viral species selection and delivery challenges have all been cited. However, these are also true of other modalities. Why then have oncolytic virus approaches not advanced faster and what are the primary challenges to be overcome?

  • Will these need to be combined with other agents to realize their full efficacy and how will that impact the market?
  • Why are these companies pursuing OVs while several others are taking a pass?

Moderators: Martine Lamfers, PhD

  • Visiting Scientist, BWH

Challenged in development of strategies 

Demonstrate efficacyRobert Martuza, MD

  • Consultant in Neurosurgery, MGH
  • William and Elizabeth Sweet Distinguished Professor of Neurosurgery, HMS

Modulation mechanism Speakers: Anlong Li, MD, PhD

  • Clinical Director, Oncology Clinical Development, Merck Research Laboratories

IV delivery preferred – delivery alternative are less aggereable Jeffrey Infante, MD

  • Early development Oncolytic viruses, Oncology, Janssen Research & Development

oncologic virus if it will generate systemic effects the adoption will accelerate

What areas are the best efficacious 

Direct effect with intra-tumor single injection with right payload 

Platform approach  Prime with 1 and Boost with 2 – not yet experimented with 

Do not have the data at trial design for stratification of patients 

Turn off strategy not existing yetLoic Vincent, PhD

  • Head of Oncology Drug Discovery Unit, Takeda

R&D in collaboration with Academic

Vaccine platform to explore different payload

IV administration may not bring sufficient concentration to the tumor is administer  in the blood stream

Classification of Patients by prospective response type id UNKNOWN yet, population of patients require stratification

  • Q&A 2:15 PM – 2:30 PM  

2:10 PM – 2:20 PM FIRST LOOK

Oncolytic viruses: turning pathogens into anticancer agents

Nino Chiocca, MD, PhD

  • Neurosurgeon-in-Chief and Chairman, Neurosurgery, BWH
  • Harvey W. Cushing Professor of Neurosurgery, HMS

Oncolytic therapy DID NOT WORK Pancreatic Cancer and Glioblastoma 

Intra- tumoral heterogeniety hinders success 

Solution: Oncolytic VIRUSES – Immunological “coldness”

GADD-34 20,000 GBM 40,000 pancreatic cancer

  • Q&A 2:25 PM – 2:40 PM  

2:20 PM – 2:45 PM

Entrepreneurial Growth | Oncolytic Virus

In 2020 there were a total of 60 phase I trials for Oncolytic Viruses. There are now dozens of companies pursuing some aspect of OV technology. This panel will address:

  •  How are small companies equipped to address the challenges of developing OV therapies better than large pharma or biotech?
  • Will the success of COVID vaccines based on Adenovirus help the regulatory environment for small companies developing OV products in Europe and the USA?
  • Is there a place for non-viral delivery and other immunotherapy companies to engage in the OV space?  Would they bring any real advantages?

Moderator: Reid Huber, PhD

  • Partner, Third Rock Ventures

Critical milestones to observe Speakers: Caroline Breitbach, PhD

  • VP, R&D Programs and Strategy, Turnstone Biologics

Trying Intra-tumor delivery and IV infusion delivery oncolytic vaccine pushing dose 

translation biomarkers program 

transformation tumor microenvironment Brett Ewald, PhD

  • SVP, Development & Corporate Strategy, DNAtrix

Studies gets larger, kicking off Phase III multiple tumors Paul Hallenbeck, PhD

  • President and Chief Scientific Officer, Seneca Therapeutics

Translation: Stephen Russell, MD, PhD

  • CEO, Vyriad

Systemic delivery Oncolytic Virus IV delivery woman in remission

Collaboration with Regeneron

Data collection: Imageable reporter secretable reporter, gene expression

Field is intense systemic oncolytic delivery is exciting in mice and in human, response rates are encouraging combination immune stimulant, check inhibitors 

  • Q&A 2:50 PM – 3:05 PM  

2:45 PM – 3:00 PM

Break

  3:00 PM – 3:25 PM

CAR-T | Lessons Learned | What’s Next

Few areas of potential cancer therapy have had the attention and excitement of CAR-T. This panel of leading executives, developers, and clinician-scientists will explore the current state of CAR-T and its future prospects. Among the questions to be addressed are:

  • Is CAR-T still an industry priority – i.e. are new investments being made by large companies? Are new companies being financed? What are the trends?
  • What have we learned from first-generation products, what can we expect from CAR-T going forward in novel targets, combinations, armored CAR’s and allogeneic treatment adoption?
  • Early trials showed remarkable overall survival and progression-free survival. What has been observed regarding how enduring these responses are?
  • Most of the approvals to date have targeted CD19, and most recently BCMA. What are the most common forms of relapses that have been observed?
  • Is there a consensus about what comes after these CD19 and BCMA trials as to additional targets in liquid tumors? How have dual-targeted approaches fared?
  • Moderator:
  • Marcela Maus, MD, PhD
    • Director, Cellular Immunotherapy Program, Cancer Center, MGH
    • Associate Professor, Medicine, HMSIs CAR-T Industry priority
  • Speakers:
  • Head of R&D, Atara BioTherapeutics
  • Phyno-type of the cells for hematologic cancers 
  • solid tumor 
  • inventory of Therapeutics for treating patients in the future 
  • Progressive MS program
  • EBBT platform B-Cells and T-Cells
    • Stefan Hendriks
      • Gobal Head, Cell & Gene, Novartis
      • yes, CGT is a strategy in the present and future
      • Journey started years ago 
      • Confirmation the effectiveness of CAR-T therapies, 1 year response prolonged to 5 years 26 months
      • Patient not responding – a lot to learn
      • Patient after 8 months of chemo can be helped by CAR-T
    • Christi Shaw
      • CEO, Kite
      • CAR-T is priority 120 companies in the space
      • Manufacturing consistency 
      • Patients respond with better quality of life
      • Blood cancer – more work to be done

Q&A

  • 3:30 PM – 3:45 PM  

3:30 PM – 3:55 PM HOT TOPICS

CAR-T | Solid Tumors Success | When?

The potential application of CAR-T in solid tumors will be a game-changer if it occurs. The panel explores the prospects of solid tumor success and what the barriers have been. Questions include:

  •  How would industry and investor strategy for CAR-T and solid tumors be characterized? Has it changed in the last couple of years?
  •  Does the lack of tumor antigen specificity in solid tumors mean that lessons from liquid tumor CAR-T constructs will not translate well and we have to start over?
  •  Whether due to antigen heterogeneity, a hostile tumor micro-environment, or other factors are some specific solid tumors more attractive opportunities than others for CAR-T therapy development?
  •  Given the many challenges that CAR-T faces in solid tumors, does the use of combination therapies from the start, for example, to mitigate TME effects, offer a more compelling opportunity.

Moderator: Oladapo Yeku, MD, PhD

  • Clinical Assistant in Medicine, MGH

window of opportunities studies  Speakers: Jennifer Brogdon

  • Executive Director, Head of Cell Therapy Research, Exploratory Immuno-Oncology, NIBR

2017 CAR-T first approval

M&A and research collaborations

TCR tumor specific antigens avoid tissue toxicity Knut Niss, PhD

  • CTO, Mustang Bio

tumor hot start in 12 month clinical trial solid tumors , theraties not ready yet. Combination therapy will be an experimental treatment long journey checkpoint inhibitors to be used in combination maintenance Lipid tumor Barbra Sasu, PhD

  • CSO, Allogene

T cell response at prostate cancer 

tumor specific 

cytokine tumor specific signals move from solid to metastatic cell type for easier infiltration

Where we might go: safety autologous and allogeneic Jay Short, PhD

  • Chairman, CEO, Cofounder, BioAlta, Inc.

Tumor type is not enough for development of therapeutics other organs are involved in the periphery

difficult to penetrate solid tumors biologics activated in the tumor only, positive changes surrounding all charges, water molecules inside the tissue acidic environment target the cells inside the tumor and not outside 

Combination staggered key is try combination

  • Q&A 4:00 PM – 4:15 PM  

4:00 PM – 4:25 PM

GCT Manufacturing | Vector Production | Autologous and Allogeneic | Stem Cells | Supply Chain | Scalability & Management

The modes of GCT manufacturing have the potential of fundamentally reordering long-established roles and pathways. While complexity goes up the distance from discovery to deployment shrinks. With the likelihood of a total market for cell therapies to be over $48 billion by 2027,  groups of products are emerging.  Stem cell therapies are projected to be $28 billion by 2027 and non-stem cell therapies such as CAR-T are projected be $20 billion by 2027. The manufacturing challenges for these two large buckets are very different. Within the CAR-T realm there are diverging trends of autologous and allogeneic therapies and the demands on manufacturing infrastructure are very different. Questions for the panelists are:

  • Help us all understand the different manufacturing challenges for cell therapies. What are the trade-offs among storage cost, batch size, line changes in terms of production cost and what is the current state of scaling naïve and stem cell therapy treatment vs engineered cell therapies?
  • For cell and gene therapy what is the cost of Quality Assurance/Quality Control vs. production and how do you think this will trend over time based on your perspective on learning curves today?
  • Will point of care production become a reality? How will that change product development strategy for pharma and venture investors? What would be the regulatory implications for such products?
  • How close are allogeneic CAR-T cell therapies? If successful what are the market implications of allogenic CAR-T? What are the cost implications and rewards for developing allogeneic cell therapy treatments?

Moderator: Michael Paglia

  • VP, ElevateBio

Speakers:

  • Dannielle Appelhans
    • SVP TechOps and Chief Technical Officer, Novartis Gene Therapies
  • Thomas Page, PhD
    • VP, Engineering and Asset Development, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies
  • Rahul Singhvi, ScD
    • CEO and Co-Founder, National Resilience, Inc.
  • Thomas VanCott, PhD
    • Global Head of Product Development, Gene & Cell Therapy, Catalent
    • 2/3 autologous 1/3 allogeneic  CAR-T high doses and high populations scale up is not done today quality maintain required the timing logistics issues centralized vs decentralized  allogeneic are health donors innovations in cell types in use improvements in manufacturing

Ropa Pike, Director,  Enterprise Science & Partnerships, Thermo Fisher Scientific 

Centralized biopharma industry is moving  to decentralized models site specific license 

  • Q&A 4:30 PM – 4:45 PM  

4:30 PM – 4:40 PM FIRST LOOK

CAR-T

Marcela Maus, MD, PhD

  • Director, Cellular Immunotherapy Program, Cancer Center, MGH
  • Assistant Professor, Medicine, HMS 

Fit-to-purpose CAR-T cells: 3 lead programs

Tr-fill 

CAR-T induce response myeloma and multiple myeloma GBM

27 patents on CAR-T

+400 patients treaded 40 Clinical Trials 

  • Q&A 4:40 PM – 5:00 PM  

4:40 PM – 4:50 PM FIRST LOOK

Repurposed Tumor Cells as Killers and Immunomodulators for Cancer Therapy

Khalid Shah, PhD

  • Vice Chair, Neurosurgery Research, BWH
  • Director, Center for Stem Cell Therapeutics and Imaging, HMS

Solid tumors are the hardest to treat because: immunosuppressive, hypoxic, Acidic Use of autologous tumor cells self homing ThTC self targeting therapeutic cells Therapeutic tumor cells efficacy pre-clinical models GBM 95% metastesis ThTC translation to patient settings

  • Q&A 4:50 PM – 5:10 PM  

4:50 PM – 5:00 PM FIRST LOOK

Other Cell Therapies for Cancer

David Scadden, MD

  • Director, Center for Regenerative Medicine; Co-Director, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Director, Hematologic Malignancies & Experimental Hematology, MGH
  • Jordan Professor of Medicine, HMS

T-cell are made in bone marrow create cryogel  can be an off-the-shelf product repertoire on T Receptor CCL19+ mesenchymal cells mimic Tymus cells –

inter-tymic injection. Non human primate validation

Q&A

 

5:00 PM – 5:20 PM   5:00 PM – 5:20 PM FIRESIDE

Fireside with Mikael Dolsten, MD, PhD

  Introducer: Jonathan Kraft Moderator: Daniel Haber, MD, PhD

  • Chair, Cancer Center, MGH
  • Isselbacher Professor of Oncology, HMS

Vaccine Status Mikael Dolsten, MD, PhD

  • Chief Scientific Officer and President, Worldwide Research, Development and Medical, Pfizer

Deliver vaccine around the Globe, Israel, US, Europe.

3BIL vaccine in 2022 for all Global vaccination 

Bio Ntech in Germany

Experience with Biologics immuneoncology & allogeneic antibody cells – new field for drug discovery 

mRNA curative effort and cancer vaccine 

Access to drugs developed by Pfizer to underdeveloped countries 

  • Q&A 5:25 PM – 5:40 AM  

5:20 PM – 5:30 PM

Closing Remarks

Thursday, May 20, 2021

8:00 AM – 8:25 AM

GCT | The China Juggernaut

China embraced gene and cell therapies early. The first China gene therapy clinical trial was in 1991. China approved the world’s first gene therapy product in 2003—Gendicine—an oncolytic adenovirus for the treatment of advanced head and neck cancer.  Driven by broad national strategy, China has become a hotbed of GCT development, ranking second in the world with more than 1,000 clinical trials either conducted or underway and thousands of related patents.  It has a booming GCT biotech sector, led by more than 45 local companies with growing IND pipelines.

In late 1990, a T cell-based immunotherapy, cytokine-induced killer (CIK) therapy became a popular modality in the clinic in China for tumor treatment.  In early 2010, Chinese researchers started to carry out domestic CAR T trials inspired by several important reports suggested the great antitumor function of CAR T cells. Now, China became the country with the most registered CAR T trials, CAR T therapy is flourishing in China.

The Chinese GCT ecosystem has increasingly rich local innovation and growing complement of development and investment partnerships – and also many subtleties.

This panel, consisting of leaders from the China GCT corporate, investor, research and entrepreneurial communities, will consider strategic questions on the growth of the gene and cell therapy industry in China, areas of greatest strength, evolving regulatory framework, early successes and products expected to reach the US and world market. Moderator: Min Wu, PhD

  • Managing Director, Fosun Health Fund

What are the area of CGT in China, regulatory similar to the US Speakers: Alvin Luk, PhD

  • CEO, Neuropath Therapeutics

Monogenic rare disease with clear genomic target

Increase of 30% in patient enrollment 

Regulatory reform approval is 60 days no delayPin Wang, PhD

  • CSO, Jiangsu Simcere Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

Similar starting point in CGT as the rest of the World unlike a later starting point in other biologicalRichard Wang, PhD

  • CEO, Fosun Kite Biotechnology Co., Ltd

Possibilities to be creative and capitalize the new technologies for innovating drug

Support of the ecosystem by funding new companie allowing the industry to be developed in China

Autologous in patients differences cost challengeTian Xu, PhD

  • Vice President, Westlake University

ICH committee and Chinese FDA -r regulation similar to the US

Difference is the population recruitment, in China patients are active participants in skin disease 

Active in development of transposome 

Development of non-viral methods, CRISPR still in D and transposome

In China price of drugs regulatory are sensitive Shunfei Yan, PhD

  • Investment Manager, InnoStar Capital

Indication driven: Hymophilia, 

Allogogenic efficiency therapies

Licensing opportunities 

  • Q&A 8:30 AM – 8:45 AM  

8:30 AM – 8:55 AM

Impact of mRNA Vaccines | Global Success Lessons

The COVID vaccine race has propelled mRNA to the forefront of biomedicine. Long considered as a compelling modality for therapeutic gene transfer, the technology may have found its most impactful application as a vaccine platform. Given the transformative industrialization, the massive human experience, and the fast development that has taken place in this industry, where is the horizon? Does the success of the vaccine application, benefit or limit its use as a therapeutic for CGT?

  • How will the COVID success impact the rest of the industry both in therapeutic and prophylactic vaccines and broader mRNA lessons?
  • How will the COVID success impact the rest of the industry both on therapeutic and prophylactic vaccines and broader mRNA lessons?
  • Beyond from speed of development, what aspects make mRNA so well suited as a vaccine platform?
  • Will cost-of-goods be reduced as the industry matures?
  • How does mRNA technology seek to compete with AAV and other gene therapy approaches?

Moderator: Lindsey Baden, MD

  • Director, Clinical Research, Division of Infectious Diseases, BWH
  • Associate Professor, HMS

In vivo delivery process regulatory cooperation new opportunities for same platform for new indication Speakers:

Many years of mRNA pivoting for new diseases, DARPA, nucleic Acids global deployment of a manufacturing unit on site where the need arise Elan Musk funds new directions at Moderna

How many mRNA can be put in one vaccine: Dose and tolerance to achieve efficacy 

45 days for Personalized cancer vaccine one per patient

1.6 Billion doses produced rare disease monogenic correct mRNA like CF multiple mutation infection disease and oncology applications

Platform allowing to swap cargo reusing same nanoparticles address disease beyond Big Pharma options for biotech

WHat strain of Flu vaccine will come back in the future when people do not use masks 

  • Kate Bingham, UK Vaccine Taskforce

July 2020, AAV vs mRNA delivery across UK local centers administered both types supply and delivery uplift 

  • Q&A 9:00 AM – 9:15 AM  

9:00 AM – 9:25 AM HOT TOPICS

Benign Blood Disorders

Hemophilia has been and remains a hallmark indication for the CGT. Given its well-defined biology, larger market, and limited need for gene transfer to provide therapeutic benefit, it has been at the forefront of clinical development for years, however, product approval remains elusive. What are the main hurdles to this success? Contrary to many indications that CGT pursues no therapeutic options are available to patients, hemophiliacs have an increasing number of highly efficacious treatment options. How does the competitive landscape impact this field differently than other CGT fields? With many different players pursuing a gene therapy option for hemophilia, what are the main differentiators? Gene therapy for hemophilia seems compelling for low and middle-income countries, given the cost of currently available treatments; does your company see opportunities in this market? Moderator: Nancy Berliner, MD

  • Chief, Division of Hematology, BWH
  • H. Franklin Bunn Professor of Medicine, HMS

Speakers: Theresa Heggie

  • CEO, Freeline Therapeutics

Safety concerns, high burden of treatment CGT has record of safety and risk/benefit adoption of Tx functional cure CGT is potent Tx relative small quantity of protein needs be delivered 

Potency and quality less quantity drug and greater potency

risk of delivery unwanted DNA, capsules are critical 

analytics is critical regulator involvement in potency definition

Close of collaboration is excitingGallia Levy, MD, PhD

  • Chief Medical Officer, Spark Therapeutics

Hemophilia CGT is the highest potential for Global access logistics in underdeveloped countries working with NGOs practicality of the Tx

Roche reached 120 Counties great to be part of the Roche GroupAmir Nashat, PhD

  • Managing Partner, Polaris Ventures

Suneet Varma

  • Global President of Rare Disease, Pfizer

Gene therapy at Pfizer small molecule, large molecule and CGT – spectrum of choice allowing Hemophilia patients to marry 

1/3 internal 1/3 partnership 1/3 acquisitions 

Learning from COVID-19 is applied for other vaccine development

review of protocols and CGT for Hemophelia

You can’t buy Time

With MIT Pfizer is developing a model for Hemopilia CGT treatment

  • Q&A 9:30 AM – 9:45 AM  

9:25 AM – 9:35 AM FIRST LOOK

Treating Rett Syndrome through X-reactivation

Jeannie Lee, MD, PhD

  • Molecular Biologist, MGH
  • Professor of Genetics, HMS

200 disease X chromosome unlock for neurological genetic diseases: Rett Syndromeand other autism spectrum disorders female model vs male mice model

deliver protein to the brain 

restore own missing or dysfunctional protein

Epigenetic not CGT – no exogent intervention Xist ASO drug

Female model

  • Q&A 9:35 AM – 9:55 AM  

9:35 AM – 9:45 AM FIRST LOOK

Rare but mighty: scaling up success in single gene disorders

Florian Eichler, MD

  • Director, Center for Rare Neurological Diseases, MGH
  • Associate Professor, Neurology, HMS

Single gene disorder NGS enable diagnosis, DIagnosis to Treatment How to know whar cell to target, make it available and scale up Address gap: missing components Biomarkers to cell types lipid chemistry cell animal biology 

crosswalk from bone marrow matter 

New gene discovered that causes neurodevelopment of stagnant genes Examining new Biology cell type specific biomarkers 

  • Q&A 9:45 AM – 10:05 AM  

9:50 AM – 10:15 AM HOT TOPICS

Diabetes | Grand Challenge

The American Diabetes Association estimates 30 million Americans have diabetes and 1.5 million are diagnosed annually. GCT offers the prospect of long-sought treatment for this enormous cohort and their chronic requirements. The complexity of the disease and its management constitute a grand challenge and highlight both the potential of GCT and its current limitations.

  •  Islet transplantation for type 1 diabetes has been attempted for decades. Problems like loss of transplanted islet cells due to autoimmunity and graft site factors have been difficult to address. Is there anything different on the horizon for gene and cell therapies to help this be successful?
  • How is the durability of response for gene or cell therapies for diabetes being addressed? For example, what would the profile of an acceptable (vs. optimal) cell therapy look like?

Moderator: Marie McDonnell, MD

  • Chief, Diabetes Section and Director, Diabetes Program, BWH
  • Lecturer on Medicine, HMS

Type 1 Diabetes cost of insulin for continuous delivery of drug

alternative treatments: 

The Future: neuropotent stem cells 

What keeps you up at night  Speakers: Tom Bollenbach, PhD

  • Chief Technology Officer, Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute

Data managment sterility sensors, cell survival after implantation, stem cells manufacturing, process development in manufacturing of complex cells

Data and instrumentation the Process is the Product

Manufacturing tight schedules Manasi Jaiman, MD

  • Vice President, Clinical Development, ViaCyte
  • Pediatric Endocrinologist

continous glucose monitoring Bastiano Sanna, PhD

  • EVP, Chief of Cell & Gene Therapies and VCGT Site Head, Vertex Pharmaceuticals

100 years from discovering Insulin, Insulin is not a cure in 2021 – asking patients to partner more 

Produce large quantities of the Islet cells encapsulation technology been developed 

Scaling up is a challengeRogerio Vivaldi, MD

  • CEO, Sigilon Therapeutics

Advanced made, Patient of Type 1 Outer and Inner compartments of spheres (not capsule) no immune suppression continuous secretion of enzyme Insulin independence without immune suppression 

Volume to have of-the-shelf inventory oxegenation in location lymphatic and vascularization conrol the whole process modular platform learning from others

  • Q&A 10:20 AM – 10:35 AM  

10:20 AM – 10:40 AM FIRESIDE

Building A Unified GCT Strategy

  Introducer: John Fish

  • CEO, Suffolk
  • Chairman of Board Trustees, Brigham Health

Moderator: Meg Tirrell

  • Senior Health and Science Reporter, CNBC

Last year, what was it at Novartis Speaker: Jay Bradner, MD

  • President, NIBR

Keep eyes open, waiting the Pandemic to end and enable working back on all the indications 

Portfolio of MET, Mimi Emerging Therapies 

Learning from the Pandemic – operationalize the practice science, R&D leaders, new collaboratives at NIH, FDA, Novartis

Pursue programs that will yield growth, tropic diseases with Gates Foundation, Rising Tide pods for access CGT within Novartis Partnership with UPenn in Cell Therapy 

Cost to access to IP from Academia to a Biotech CRISPR accessing few translations to Clinic

Protein degradation organization constraint valuation by parties in a partnership 

Novartis: nuclear protein lipid nuclear particles, tamplate for Biotech to collaborate

Game changing: 10% of the Portfolio, New frontiers human genetics in Ophthalmology, CAR-T, CRISPR, Gene Therapy Neurological and payloads of different matter

  • Q&A 10:45 AM – 11:00 AM  

10:40 AM – 10:50 AM

Break

  10:50 AM – 11:00 AM FIRST LOOK

Getting to the Heart of the Matter: Curing Genetic Cardiomyopathy

Christine Seidman, MD

  • Director, Cardiovascular Genetics Center, BWH
  • Smith Professor of Medicine & Genetics, HMS

The Voice of Dr. Seidman – Her abstract is cited below

The ultimate opportunity presented by discovering the genetic basis of human disease is accurate prediction and disease prevention. To enable this achievement, genetic insights must enable the identification of at-risk

individuals prior to end-stage disease manifestations and strategies that delay or prevent clinical expression. Genetic cardiomyopathies provide a paradigm for fulfilling these opportunities. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is characterized by left ventricular hypertrophy, diastolic dysfunction with normal or enhanced systolic performance and a unique histopathology: myocyte hypertrophy, disarray and fibrosis. Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) exhibits enlarged ventricular volumes with depressed systolic performance and nonspecific histopathology. Both HCM and DCM are prevalent clinical conditions that increase risk for arrhythmias, sudden death, and heart failure. Today treatments for HCM and DCM focus on symptoms, but none prevent disease progression. Human molecular genetic studies demonstrated that these pathologies often result from dominant mutations in genes that encode protein components of the sarcomere, the contractile unit in striated muscles. These data combined with the emergence of molecular strategies to specifically modulate gene expression provide unparalleled opportunities to silence or correct mutant genes and to boost healthy gene expression in patients with genetic HCM and DCM. Many challenges remain, but the active and vital efforts of physicians, researchers, and patients are poised to ensure success.

Hypertrophic and Dilated Cardiomyopaies ‘

10% receive heart transplant 12 years survival 

Mutation puterb function

TTN: contribute 20% of dilated cardiomyopaty

Silence gene 

pleuripotential cells deliver therapies 

  • Q&A 11:00 AM – 11:20 AM  

11:00 AM – 11:10 AM FIRST LOOK

Unlocking the secret lives of proteins in health and disease

Anna Greka, MD, PhD

  • Medicine, BWH
  • Associate Professor, Medicine, HMS

Cyprus Island, kidney disease by mutation causing MUC1 accumulation and death BRD4780 molecule that will clear the misfolding proteins from the kidney organoids: pleuripotent stem cells small molecule developed for applications in the other cell types in brain, eye, gene mutation build mechnism for therapy clinical models transition from Academia to biotech 

Q&A

  • 11:10 AM – 11:30 AM  

11:10 AM – 11:35 AM

Rare and Ultra Rare Diseases | GCT Breaks Through

One of the most innovative segments in all of healthcare is the development of GCT driven therapies for rare and ultra-rare diseases. Driven by a series of insights and tools and funded in part by disease focused foundations, philanthropists and abundant venture funding disease after disease is yielding to new GCT technology. These often become platforms to address more prevalent diseases. The goal of making these breakthroughs routine and affordable is challenged by a range of issues including clinical trial design and pricing.

  • What is driving the interest in rare diseases?
  • What are the biggest barriers to making breakthroughs ‘routine and affordable?’
  • What is the role of retrospective and prospective natural history studies in rare disease?  When does the expected value of retrospective disease history studies justify the cost?
  • Related to the first question, what is the FDA expecting as far as controls in clinical trials for rare diseases?  How does this impact the collection of natural history data?

Moderator: Susan Slaugenhaupt, PhD

  • Scientific Director and Elizabeth G. Riley and Daniel E. Smith Jr., Endowed Chair, Mass General Research Institute
  • Professor, Neurology, HMS

Speakers: Leah Bloom, PhD

  • SVP, External Innovation and Strategic Alliances, Novartis Gene Therapies

Ultra rare (less than 100) vs rare difficulty to recruit patients and to follow up after treatment Bobby Gaspar, MD, PhD

  • CEO, Orchard Therapeutics

Study of rare condition have transfer to other larger diseases – delivery of therapeutics genes, like immune disorders 

Patient testimonials just to hear what a treatment can make Emil Kakkis, MD, PhD

  • CEO, Ultragenyx

Do 100 patient study then have information on natural history to develop a clinical trial Stuart Peltz, PhD

  • CEO, PTC Therapeutics

Rare disease, challenge for FDA approval and after market commercialization follow ups

Justification of cost for Rare disease – demonstration of Change is IP in value patients advocacy is helpful

  • Q&A 11:40 AM – 11:55 AM  

11:40 AM – 12:00 PM FIRESIDE

Partnering Across the GCT Spectrum

  Moderator: Erin Harris

  • Chief Editor, Cell & Gene

Perspective & professional tenure

Partnership in manufacturing what are the recommendations?

Hospital systems: Partnership Challenges  Speaker: Marc Casper

  • CEO, ThermoFisher

25 years in Diagnostics last 20 years at ThermoFisher 

products used in the Lab for CAR-T research and manufacture 

CGT Innovations: FDA will have a high level of approval each year

How move from research to clinical trials to manufacturing Quicker process

Best practices in Partnerships: the root cause if acceleration to market service providers to deliver highest standards

Building capacity by acquisition to avoid the waiting time

Accelerate new products been manufactured 

Collaborations with Academic Medical center i.e., UCSF in CGT joint funding to accelerate CGT to clinics’

Customers are extremely knowledgable, scale the capital investment made investment

150MIL a year to improve the Workflow 

  • Q&A 12:05 PM – 12:20 PM  

12:05 PM – 12:30 PM

  • 12:05 PM – 12:20 PM  

12:05 PM – 12:30 PM

CEO Panel | Anticipating Disruption | Planning for Widespread GCT

The power of GCT to cure disease has the prospect of profoundly improving the lives of patients who respond. Planning for a disruption of this magnitude is complex and challenging as it will change care across the spectrum. Leading chief executives shares perspectives on how the industry will change and how this change should be anticipated. Moderator: Meg Tirrell

  • Senior Health and Science Reporter, CNBC

CGT becoming staple therapy what are the disruptors emerging Speakers: Lisa Dechamps

  • SVP & Chief Business Officer, Novartis Gene Therapies

Reimagine medicine with collaboration at MGH, MDM condition in children 

The Science is there, sustainable processes and systems impact is transformational

Value based pricing, risk sharing Payers and Pharma for one time therapy with life span effect

Collaboration with FDAKieran Murphy

  • CEO, GE Healthcare

Diagnosis of disease to be used in CGT

2021 investment in CAR-T platform 

Investment in several CGT frontier

Investment in AI, ML in system design new technologies 

GE: Scale and Global distributions, sponsor companies in software 

Waste in Industry – Healthcare % of GDP, work with MGH to smooth the workflow faster entry into hospital and out of Hospital

Telemedicine during is Pandemic: Radiologist needs to read remotely 

Supply chain disruptions slow down all ecosystem 

Production of ventilators by collaboration with GM – ingenuity 

Scan patients outside of hospital a scanner in a Box Christian Rommel, PhD

  • Head, Pharmaceuticals Research & Development, Bayer AG

CGT – 2016 and in 2020 new leadership and capability 

Disease Biology and therapeutics

Regenerative Medicine: CGT vs repair building pipeline in ophthalmology and cardiovascular 

During Pandemic: Deliver Medicines like Moderna, Pfizer – collaborations between competitors with Government Bayer entered into Vaccines in 5 days, all processes had to change access innovations developed over decades for medical solutions 

  • Q&A 12:35 PM – 12:50 PM  

12:35 PM – 12:55 PM FIRESIDE

Building a GCT Portfolio

GCT represents a large and growing market for novel therapeutics that has several segments. These include Cardiovascular Disease, Cancer, Neurological Diseases, Infectious Disease, Ophthalmology, Benign Blood Disorders, and many others; Manufacturing and Supply Chain including CDMO’s and CMO’s; Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine; Tools and Platforms (viral vectors, nano delivery, gene editing, etc.). Bayer’s pharma business participates in virtually all of these segments. How does a Company like Bayer approach the development of a portfolio in a space as large and as diverse as this one? How does Bayer approach the support of the production infrastructure with unique demands and significant differences from its historical requirements? Moderator:

Shinichiro Fuse, PhD

  • Managing Partner, MPM Capital

Speaker: Wolfram Carius, PhD

  • EVP, Pharmaceuticals, Head of Cell & Gene Therapy, Bayer AG

CGT will bring treatment to cure, delivery of therapies 

Be a Leader repair, regenerate, cure

Technology and Science for CGT – building a portfolio vs single asset decision criteria development of IP market access patients access acceleration of new products

Bayer strategy: build platform for use by four domains  

Gener augmentation

Autologeneic therapy, analytics

Gene editing

Oncology Cell therapy tumor treatment: What kind of cells – the jury is out

Of 23 product launch at Bayer no prediction is possible some high some lows 

  • Q&A 1:00 PM – 1:15 PM  

12:55 PM – 1:35 PM

Lunch

  1:40 PM – 2:05 PM

GCT Delivery | Perfecting the Technology

Gene delivery uses physical, chemical, or viral means to introduce genetic material into cells. As more genetically modified therapies move closer to the market, challenges involving safety, efficacy, and manufacturing have emerged. Optimizing lipidic and polymer nanoparticles and exosomal delivery is a short-term priority. This panel will examine how the short-term and long-term challenges are being tackled particularly for non-viral delivery modalities. Moderator: Natalie Artzi, PhD

  • Assistant Professor, BWH

Speakers: Geoff McDonough, MD

  • CEO, Generation Bio

Sonya Montgomery

  • CMO, Evox Therapeutics

Laura Sepp-Lorenzino, PhD

  • Chief Scientific Officer, Executive Vice President, Intellia Therapeutics

Doug Williams, PhD

  • CEO, Codiak BioSciences
  • Q&A 2:10 PM – 2:25 PM  

2:05 PM – 2:10 PM

Invention Discovery Grant Announcement

  2:10 PM – 2:20 PM FIRST LOOK

Enhancing vesicles for therapeutic delivery of bioproducts

Xandra Breakefield, PhD

  • Geneticist, MGH, MGH
  • Professor, Neurology, HMS
  • Q&A 2:20 PM – 2:35 PM  

2:20 PM – 2:30 PM FIRST LOOK

Versatile polymer-based nanocarriers for targeted therapy and immunomodulation

Natalie Artzi, PhD

  • Assistant Professor, BWH
  • Q&A 2:30 PM – 2:45 PM  

2:55 PM – 3:20 PM HOT TOPICS

Gene Editing | Achieving Therapeutic Mainstream

Gene editing was recognized by the Nobel Committee as “one of gene technology’s sharpest tools, having a revolutionary impact on life sciences.” Introduced in 2011, gene editing is used to modify DNA. It has applications across almost all categories of disease and is also being used in agriculture and public health.

Today’s panel is made up of pioneers who represent foundational aspects of gene editing.  They will discuss the movement of the technology into the therapeutic mainstream.

  • Successes in gene editing – lessons learned from late-stage assets (sickle cell, ophthalmology)
  • When to use what editing tool – pros and cons of traditional gene-editing v. base editing.  Is prime editing the future? Specific use cases for epigenetic editing.
  • When we reach widespread clinical use – role of off-target editing – is the risk real?  How will we mitigate? How practical is patient-specific off-target evaluation?

Moderator: J. Keith Joung, MD, PhD

  • Robert B. Colvin, M.D. Endowed Chair in Pathology & Pathologist, MGH
  • Professor of Pathology, HMS

Speakers: John Evans

  • CEO, Beam Therapeutics

Lisa Michaels

  • EVP & CMO, Editas Medicine
  • Q&A 3:25 PM – 3:50 PM  

3:25 PM – 3:50 PM HOT TOPICS

Common Blood Disorders | Gene Therapy

There are several dozen companies working to develop gene or cell therapies for Sickle Cell Disease, Beta Thalassemia, and  Fanconi Anemia. In some cases, there are enzyme replacement therapies that are deemed effective and safe. In other cases, the disease is only managed at best. This panel will address a number of questions that are particular to this class of genetic diseases:

  • What are the pros and cons of various strategies for treatment? There are AAV-based editing, non-viral delivery even oligonucleotide recruitment of endogenous editing/repair mechanisms. Which approaches are most appropriate for which disease?
  • How can companies increase the speed of recruitment for clinical trials when other treatments are available? What is the best approach to educate patients on a novel therapeutic?
  • How do we best address ethnic and socio-economic diversity to be more representative of the target patient population?
  • How long do we have to follow up with the patients from the scientific, patient’s community, and payer points of view? What are the current FDA and EMA guidelines for long-term follow-up?
  • Where are we with regards to surrogate endpoints and their application to clinically meaningful endpoints?
  • What are the emerging ethical dilemmas in pediatric gene therapy research? Are there challenges with informed consent and pediatric assent for trial participation?
  • Are there differences in reimbursement policies for these different blood disorders? Clearly durability of response is a big factor. Are there other considerations?

Moderator: David Scadden, MD

  • Director, Center for Regenerative Medicine; Co-Director, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Director, Hematologic Malignancies & Experimental Hematology, MGH
  • Jordan Professor of Medicine, HMS

Speakers: Samarth Kukarni, PhDNick Leschly

  • Chief Bluebird, Bluebird Bio

Mike McCune, MD, PhD

  • Head, HIV Frontiers, Global Health Innovative Technology Solutions, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
  • Q&A 3:55 PM – 4:15 PM  

3:50 PM – 4:00 PM FIRST LOOK

Gene Editing

J. Keith Joung, MD, PhD

  • Robert B. Colvin, M.D. Endowed Chair in Pathology & Pathologist, MGH
  • Professor of Pathology, HMS
  • Q&A 4:00 PM – 4:20 PM  

4:20 PM – 4:45 PM HOT TOPICS

Gene Expression | Modulating with Oligonucleotide-Based Therapies

Oligonucleotide drugs have recently come into their own with approvals from companies such as Biogen, Alnylam, Novartis and others. This panel will address several questions:

How important is the delivery challenge for oligonucleotides? Are technological advancements emerging that will improve the delivery of oligonucleotides to the CNS or skeletal muscle after systemic administration?

  • Will oligonucleotides improve as a class that will make them even more effective?   Are further advancements in backbone chemistry anticipated, for example.
  • Will oligonucleotide based therapies blaze trails for follow-on gene therapy products?
  • Are small molecules a threat to oligonucleotide-based therapies?
  • Beyond exon skipping and knock-down mechanisms, what other roles will oligonucleotide-based therapies take mechanistically — can genes be activating oligonucleotides?  Is there a place for multiple mechanism oligonucleotide medicines?
  • Are there any advantages of RNAi-based oligonucleotides over ASOs, and if so for what use?

Moderator: Jeannie Lee, MD, PhD

  • Molecular Biologist, MGH
  • Professor of Genetics, HMS

Speakers: Bob Brown, PhD

  • CSO, EVP of R&D, Dicerna

Brett Monia, PhD

  • CEO, Ionis

Alfred Sandrock, MD, PhD

  • EVP, R&D and CMO, Biogen
  • Q&A 4:50 PM – 5:05 PM  

4:45 PM – 4:55 PM FIRST LOOK

RNA therapy for brain cancer

Pierpaolo Peruzzi, MD, PhD

  • Nuerosurgery, BWH
  • Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery, HMS
  • Q&A 4:55 PM – 5:15 PM  

Friday, May 21, 2021

8:30 AM – 8:55 AM

Venture Investing | Shaping GCT Translation

What is occurring in the GCT venture capital segment? Which elements are seeing the most activity? Which areas have cooled? How is the investment market segmented between gene therapy, cell therapy and gene editing? What makes a hot GCT company? How long will the market stay frothy? Some review of demographics — # of investments, sizes, etc. Why is the market hot and how long do we expect it to stay that way? Rank the top 5 geographic markets for GCT company creation and investing? Are there academic centers that have been especially adept at accelerating GCT outcomes? Do the business models for the rapid development of coronavirus vaccine have any lessons for how GCT technology can be brought to market more quickly? Moderator: Meredith Fisher, PhD

  • Partner, Mass General Brigham Innovation Fund

Speakers: David Berry, MD, PhD

  • CEO, Valo Health
  • General Partner, Flagship Pioneering

Robert Nelsen

  • Managing Director, Co-founder, ARCH Venture Partners

Kush Parmar, MD, PhD

  • Managing Partner, 5AM Ventures
  • Q&A 9:00 AM – 9:15 AM  

9:00 AM – 9:25 AM

Regenerative Medicine | Stem Cells

The promise of stem cells has been a highlight in the realm of regenerative medicine. Unfortunately, that promise remains largely in the future. Recent breakthroughs have accelerated these potential interventions in particular for treating neurological disease. Among the topics the panel will consider are:

  • Stem cell sourcing
  • Therapeutic indication growth
  • Genetic and other modification in cell production
  • Cell production to final product optimization and challenges
  • How to optimize the final product

Moderator: Ole Isacson, MD, PhD

  • Director, Neuroregeneration Research Institute, McLean
  • Professor, Neurology and Neuroscience, HMS

Speakers: Kapil Bharti, PhD

  • Senior Investigator, Ocular and Stem Cell Translational Research Section, NIH

Joe Burns, PhD

  • VP, Head of Biology, Decibel Therapeutics

Erin Kimbrel, PhD

  • Executive Director, Regenerative Medicine, Astellas

Nabiha Saklayen, PhD

  • CEO and Co-Founder, Cellino
  • Q&A 9:30 AM – 9:45 AM  

9:25 AM – 9:35 AM FIRST LOOK

Stem Cells

Bob Carter, MD, PhD

  • Chairman, Department of Neurosurgery, MGH
  • William and Elizabeth Sweet, Professor of Neurosurgery, HMS
  • Q&A 9:35 AM – 9:55 AM  

9:35 AM – 10:00 AM

Capital Formation ’21-30 | Investing Modes Driving GCT Technology and Timing

The dynamics of venture/PE investing and IPOs are fast evolving. What are the drivers – will the number of investors grow will the size of early rounds continue to grow? How is this reflected in GCT target areas, company design, and biotech overall? Do patients benefit from these trends? Is crossover investing a distinct class or a little of both? Why did it emerge and what are the characteristics of the players?  Will SPACs play a role in the growth of the gene and cell therapy industry. What is the role of corporate investment arms eg NVS, Bayer, GV, etc. – has a category killer emerged?  Are we nearing the limit of what the GCT market can absorb or will investment capital continue to grow unabated? Moderator: Roger Kitterman

  • VP, Venture, Mass General Brigham

Speakers: Ellen Hukkelhoven, PhD

  • Managing Director, Perceptive Advisors

Peter Kolchinsky, PhD

  • Founder and Managing Partner, RA Capital Management

Deep Nishar

  • Senior Managing Partner, SoftBank Investment Advisors

Oleg Nodelman

  • Founder & Managing Partner, EcoR1 Capital
  • Q&A 10:05 AM – 10:20 AM  

10:00 AM – 10:10 AM FIRST LOOK

New scientific and clinical developments for autologous stem cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease patients

Penelope Hallett, PhD

  • NRL, McLean
  • Assistant Professor Psychiatry, HMS
  • Q&A 10:10 AM – 10:30 AM  

10:10 AM – 10:35 AM HOT TOPICS

Neurodegenerative Clinical Outcomes | Achieving GCT Success

Can stem cell-based platforms become successful treatments for neurodegenerative diseases?

  •  What are the commonalities driving GCT success in neurodegenerative disease and non-neurologic disease, what are the key differences?
  • Overcoming treatment administration challenges
  • GCT impact on degenerative stage of disease
  • How difficult will it be to titrate the size of the cell therapy effect in different neurological disorders and for different patients?
  • Demonstrating clinical value to patients and payers
  • Revised clinical trial models to address issues and concerns specific to GCT

Moderator: Bob Carter, MD, PhD

  • Chairman, Department of Neurosurgery, MGH
  • William and Elizabeth Sweet, Professor of Neurosurgery, HMS

Speakers: Erwan Bezard, PhD

  • INSERM Research Director, Institute of Neurodegenerative Diseases

Nikola Kojic, PhD

  • CEO and Co-Founder, Oryon Cell Therapies

Geoff MacKay

  • President & CEO, AVROBIO

Viviane Tabar, MD

  • Founding Investigator, BlueRock Therapeutics
  • Chair of Neurosurgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering
  • Q&A 10:40 AM – 10:55 AM  

10:35 AM – 11:35 AM

Disruptive Dozen: 12 Technologies that Will Reinvent GCT

Nearly one hundred senior Mass General Brigham Harvard faculty contributed to the creation of this group of twelve GCT technologies that they believe will breakthrough in the next two years. The Disruptive Dozen identifies and ranks the GCT technologies that will be available on at least an experimental basis to have the chance of significantly improving health care. 11:35 AM – 11:45 AM

Concluding Remarks

Friday, May 21, 2021

Computer connection to the iCloud of WordPress.com FROZE completely at 10:30AM EST and no file update was possible. COVERAGE OF MAY 21, 2021 IS RECORDED BELOW FOLLOWING THE AGENDA BY COPY AN DPASTE OF ALL THE TWEETS I PRODUCED ON MAY 21, 2021 8:30 AM – 8:55 AM

Venture Investing | Shaping GCT Translation

What is occurring in the GCT venture capital segment? Which elements are seeing the most activity? Which areas have cooled? How is the investment market segmented between gene therapy, cell therapy and gene editing? What makes a hot GCT company? How long will the market stay frothy? Some review of demographics — # of investments, sizes, etc. Why is the market hot and how long do we expect it to stay that way? Rank the top 5 geographic markets for GCT company creation and investing? Are there academic centers that have been especially adept at accelerating GCT outcomes? Do the business models for the rapid development of coronavirus vaccine have any lessons for how GCT technology can be brought to market more quickly? Moderator: Meredith Fisher, PhD

  • Partner, Mass General Brigham Innovation Fund

Speakers: David Berry, MD, PhD

  • CEO, Valo Health
  • General Partner, Flagship Pioneering

Robert Nelsen

  • Managing Director, Co-founder, ARCH Venture Partners

Kush Parmar, MD, PhD

  • Managing Partner, 5AM Ventures
  • Q&A 9:00 AM – 9:15 AM  

9:00 AM – 9:25 AM

Regenerative Medicine | Stem Cells

The promise of stem cells has been a highlight in the realm of regenerative medicine. Unfortunately, that promise remains largely in the future. Recent breakthroughs have accelerated these potential interventions in particular for treating neurological disease. Among the topics the panel will consider are:

  • Stem cell sourcing
  • Therapeutic indication growth
  • Genetic and other modification in cell production
  • Cell production to final product optimization and challenges
  • How to optimize the final product

Moderator: Ole Isacson, MD, PhD

  • Director, Neuroregeneration Research Institute, McLean
  • Professor, Neurology and Neuroscience, HMS

Speakers: Kapil Bharti, PhD

  • Senior Investigator, Ocular and Stem Cell Translational Research Section, NIH

Joe Burns, PhD

  • VP, Head of Biology, Decibel Therapeutics

Erin Kimbrel, PhD

  • Executive Director, Regenerative Medicine, Astellas

Nabiha Saklayen, PhD

  • CEO and Co-Founder, Cellino
  • Q&A 9:30 AM – 9:45 AM  

9:25 AM – 9:35 AM FIRST LOOK

Stem Cells

Bob Carter, MD, PhD

  • Chairman, Department of Neurosurgery, MGH
  • William and Elizabeth Sweet, Professor of Neurosurgery, HMS
  • Q&A 9:35 AM – 9:55 AM  

9:35 AM – 10:00 AM

Capital Formation ’21-30 | Investing Modes Driving GCT Technology and Timing

The dynamics of venture/PE investing and IPOs are fast evolving. What are the drivers – will the number of investors grow will the size of early rounds continue to grow? How is this reflected in GCT target areas, company design, and biotech overall? Do patients benefit from these trends? Is crossover investing a distinct class or a little of both? Why did it emerge and what are the characteristics of the players?  Will SPACs play a role in the growth of the gene and cell therapy industry. What is the role of corporate investment arms eg NVS, Bayer, GV, etc. – has a category killer emerged?  Are we nearing the limit of what the GCT market can absorb or will investment capital continue to grow unabated? Moderator: Roger Kitterman

  • VP, Venture, Mass General Brigham

Speakers: Ellen Hukkelhoven, PhD

  • Managing Director, Perceptive Advisors

Peter Kolchinsky, PhD

  • Founder and Managing Partner, RA Capital Management

Deep Nishar

  • Senior Managing Partner, SoftBank Investment Advisors

Oleg Nodelman

  • Founder & Managing Partner, EcoR1 Capital
  • Q&A 10:05 AM – 10:20 AM  

10:00 AM – 10:10 AM FIRST LOOK

New scientific and clinical developments for autologous stem cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease patients

Penelope Hallett, PhD

  • NRL, McLean
  • Assistant Professor Psychiatry, HMS
  • Q&A 10:10 AM – 10:30 AM  

10:10 AM – 10:35 AM HOT TOPICS

Neurodegenerative Clinical Outcomes | Achieving GCT Success

Can stem cell-based platforms become successful treatments for neurodegenerative diseases?

  •  What are the commonalities driving GCT success in neurodegenerative disease and non-neurologic disease, what are the key differences?
  • Overcoming treatment administration challenges
  • GCT impact on degenerative stage of disease
  • How difficult will it be to titrate the size of the cell therapy effect in different neurological disorders and for different patients?
  • Demonstrating clinical value to patients and payers
  • Revised clinical trial models to address issues and concerns specific to GCT

Moderator: Bob Carter, MD, PhD

  • Chairman, Department of Neurosurgery, MGH
  • William and Elizabeth Sweet, Professor of Neurosurgery, HMS

Speakers: Erwan Bezard, PhD

  • INSERM Research Director, Institute of Neurodegenerative Diseases

Nikola Kojic, PhD

  • CEO and Co-Founder, Oryon Cell Therapies

Geoff MacKay

  • President & CEO, AVROBIO

Viviane Tabar, MD

  • Founding Investigator, BlueRock Therapeutics
  • Chair of Neurosurgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering
  • Q&A 10:40 AM – 10:55 AM  

10:35 AM – 11:35 AM

Disruptive Dozen: 12 Technologies that Will Reinvent GCT

Nearly one hundred senior Mass General Brigham Harvard faculty contributed to the creation of this group of twelve GCT technologies that they believe will breakthrough in the next two years. The Disruptive Dozen identifies and ranks the GCT technologies that will be available on at least an experimental basis to have the chance of significantly improving health care. 11:35 AM – 11:45 AM

Concluding Remarks

The co-chairs convene to reflect on the insights shared over the three days. They will discuss what to expect at the in-person GCT focused May 2-4, 2022 World Medical Innovation Forum.

 

The co-chairs convene to reflect on the insights shared over the three days. They will discuss what to expect at the in-person GCT focused May 2-4, 2022 World Medical Innovation Forum.Christine Seidman, MD

Hypertrophic and Dilated Cardiomyopaies ‘

10% receive heart transplant 12 years survival 

Mutation puterb function

TTN: contribute 20% of dilated cardiomyopaty

Silence gene 

pleuripotential cells deliver therapies 

  • Q&A 11:00 AM – 11:20 AM  

11:00 AM – 11:10 AM FIRST LOOK

Unlocking the secret lives of proteins in health and disease

Anna Greka, MD, PhD

  • Medicine, BWH
  • Associate Professor, Medicine, HMS

Cyprus Island, kidney disease by mutation causing MUC1 accumulation and death BRD4780 molecule that will clear the misfolding proteins from the kidney organoids: pleuripotent stem cells small molecule developed for applications in the other cell types in brain, eye, gene mutation build mechnism for therapy clinical models transition from Academia to biotech 

Q&A

  • 11:10 AM – 11:30 AM  

11:10 AM – 11:35 AM

Rare and Ultra Rare Diseases | GCT Breaks Through

One of the most innovative segments in all of healthcare is the development of GCT driven therapies for rare and ultra-rare diseases. Driven by a series of insights and tools and funded in part by disease focused foundations, philanthropists and abundant venture funding disease after disease is yielding to new GCT technology. These often become platforms to address more prevalent diseases. The goal of making these breakthroughs routine and affordable is challenged by a range of issues including clinical trial design and pricing.

  • What is driving the interest in rare diseases?
  • What are the biggest barriers to making breakthroughs ‘routine and affordable?’
  • What is the role of retrospective and prospective natural history studies in rare disease?  When does the expected value of retrospective disease history studies justify the cost?
  • Related to the first question, what is the FDA expecting as far as controls in clinical trials for rare diseases?  How does this impact the collection of natural history data?

Moderator: Susan Slaugenhaupt, PhD

  • Scientific Director and Elizabeth G. Riley and Daniel E. Smith Jr., Endowed Chair, Mass General Research Institute
  • Professor, Neurology, HMS

Speakers: Leah Bloom, PhD

  • SVP, External Innovation and Strategic Alliances, Novartis Gene Therapies

Ultra rare (less than 100) vs rare difficulty to recruit patients and to follow up after treatment Bobby Gaspar, MD, PhD

  • CEO, Orchard Therapeutics

Study of rare condition have transfer to other larger diseases – delivery of therapeutics genes, like immune disorders 

Patient testimonials just to hear what a treatment can make Emil Kakkis, MD, PhD

  • CEO, Ultragenyx

Do 100 patient study then have information on natural history to develop a clinical trial Stuart Peltz, PhD

  • CEO, PTC Therapeutics

Rare disease, challenge for FDA approval and after market commercialization follow ups

Justification of cost for Rare disease – demonstration of Change is IP in value patients advocacy is helpful

  • Q&A 11:40 AM – 11:55 AM  

11:40 AM – 12:00 PM FIRESIDE

Partnering Across the GCT Spectrum

  Moderator: Erin Harris

  • Chief Editor, Cell & Gene

Perspective & professional tenure

Partnership in manufacturing what are the recommendations?

Hospital systems: Partnership Challenges  Speaker: Marc Casper

  • CEO, ThermoFisher

25 years in Diagnostics last 20 years at ThermoFisher 

products used in the Lab for CAR-T research and manufacture 

CGT Innovations: FDA will have a high level of approval each year

How move from research to clinical trials to manufacturing Quicker process

Best practices in Partnerships: the root cause if acceleration to market service providers to deliver highest standards

Building capacity by acquisition to avoid the waiting time

Accelerate new products been manufactured 

Collaborations with Academic Medical center i.e., UCSF in CGT joint funding to accelerate CGT to clinics’

Customers are extremely knowledgable, scale the capital investment made investment

150MIL a year to improve the Workflow 

  • Q&A 12:05 PM – 12:20 PM  

12:05 PM – 12:30 PM

CEO Panel | Anticipating Disruption | Planning for Widespread GCT

The power of GCT to cure disease has the prospect of profoundly improving the lives of patients who respond. Planning for a disruption of this magnitude is complex and challenging as it will change care across the spectrum. Leading chief executives shares perspectives on how the industry will change and how this change should be anticipated. Moderator: Meg Tirrell

  • Senior Health and Science Reporter, CNBC

CGT becoming staple therapy what are the disruptors emerging Speakers: Lisa Dechamps

  • SVP & Chief Business Officer, Novartis Gene Therapies

Reimagine medicine with collaboration at MGH, MDM condition in children 

The Science is there, sustainable processes and systems impact is transformational

Value based pricing, risk sharing Payers and Pharma for one time therapy with life span effect

Collaboration with FDAKieran Murphy

  • CEO, GE Healthcare

Diagnosis of disease to be used in CGT

2021 investment in CAR-T platform 

Investment in several CGT frontier

Investment in AI, ML in system design new technologies 

GE: Scale and Global distributions, sponsor companies in software 

Waste in Industry – Healthcare % of GDP, work with MGH to smooth the workflow faster entry into hospital and out of Hospital

Telemedicine during is Pandemic: Radiologist needs to read remotely 

Supply chain disruptions slow down all ecosystem 

Production of ventilators by collaboration with GM – ingenuity 

Scan patients outside of hospital a scanner in a Box Christian Rommel, PhD

  • Head, Pharmaceuticals Research & Development, Bayer AG

CGT – 2016 and in 2020 new leadership and capability 

Disease Biology and therapeutics

Regenerative Medicine: CGT vs repair building pipeline in ophthalmology and cardiovascular 

During Pandemic: Deliver Medicines like Moderna, Pfizer – collaborations between competitors with Government Bayer entered into Vaccines in 5 days, all processes had to change access innovations developed over decades for medical solutions 

  • Q&A 12:35 PM – 12:50 PM  

12:35 PM – 12:55 PM FIRESIDE

Building a GCT Portfolio

GCT represents a large and growing market for novel therapeutics that has several segments. These include Cardiovascular Disease, Cancer, Neurological Diseases, Infectious Disease, Ophthalmology, Benign Blood Disorders, and many others; Manufacturing and Supply Chain including CDMO’s and CMO’s; Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine; Tools and Platforms (viral vectors, nano delivery, gene editing, etc.). Bayer’s pharma business participates in virtually all of these segments. How does a Company like Bayer approach the development of a portfolio in a space as large and as diverse as this one? How does Bayer approach the support of the production infrastructure with unique demands and significant differences from its historical requirements? Moderator:

Shinichiro Fuse, PhD

  • Managing Partner, MPM Capital

Speaker: Wolfram Carius, PhD

  • EVP, Pharmaceuticals, Head of Cell & Gene Therapy, Bayer AG

CGT will bring treatment to cure, delivery of therapies 

Be a Leader repair, regenerate, cure

Technology and Science for CGT – building a portfolio vs single asset decision criteria development of IP market access patients access acceleration of new products

Bayer strategy: build platform for use by four domains  

Gener augmentation

Autologeneic therapy, analytics

Gene editing

Oncology Cell therapy tumor treatment: What kind of cells – the jury is out

Of 23 product launch at Bayer no prediction is possible some high some lows 

  • Q&A 1:00 PM – 1:15 PM  

12:55 PM – 1:35 PM

Lunch

  1:40 PM – 2:05 PM

GCT Delivery | Perfecting the Technology

Gene delivery uses physical, chemical, or viral means to introduce genetic material into cells. As more genetically modified therapies move closer to the market, challenges involving safety, efficacy, and manufacturing have emerged. Optimizing lipidic and polymer nanoparticles and exosomal delivery is a short-term priority. This panel will examine how the short-term and long-term challenges are being tackled particularly for non-viral delivery modalities. Moderator: Natalie Artzi, PhD

  • Assistant Professor, BWH

Speakers: Geoff McDonough, MD

  • CEO, Generation Bio

Sonya Montgomery

  • CMO, Evox Therapeutics

Laura Sepp-Lorenzino, PhD

  • Chief Scientific Officer, Executive Vice President, Intellia Therapeutics

Doug Williams, PhD

  • CEO, Codiak BioSciences
  • Q&A 2:10 PM – 2:25 PM  

2:05 PM – 2:10 PM

Invention Discovery Grant Announcement

  2:10 PM – 2:20 PM FIRST LOOK

Enhancing vesicles for therapeutic delivery of bioproducts

Xandra Breakefield, PhD

  • Geneticist, MGH, MGH
  • Professor, Neurology, HMS
  • Q&A 2:20 PM – 2:35 PM  

2:20 PM – 2:30 PM FIRST LOOK

Versatile polymer-based nanocarriers for targeted therapy and immunomodulation

Natalie Artzi, PhD

  • Assistant Professor, BWH
  • Q&A 2:30 PM – 2:45 PM  

2:55 PM – 3:20 PM HOT TOPICS

Gene Editing | Achieving Therapeutic Mainstream

Gene editing was recognized by the Nobel Committee as “one of gene technology’s sharpest tools, having a revolutionary impact on life sciences.” Introduced in 2011, gene editing is used to modify DNA. It has applications across almost all categories of disease and is also being used in agriculture and public health.

Today’s panel is made up of pioneers who represent foundational aspects of gene editing.  They will discuss the movement of the technology into the therapeutic mainstream.

  • Successes in gene editing – lessons learned from late-stage assets (sickle cell, ophthalmology)
  • When to use what editing tool – pros and cons of traditional gene-editing v. base editing.  Is prime editing the future? Specific use cases for epigenetic editing.
  • When we reach widespread clinical use – role of off-target editing – is the risk real?  How will we mitigate? How practical is patient-specific off-target evaluation?

Moderator: J. Keith Joung, MD, PhD

  • Robert B. Colvin, M.D. Endowed Chair in Pathology & Pathologist, MGH
  • Professor of Pathology, HMS

Speakers: John Evans

  • CEO, Beam Therapeutics

Lisa Michaels

  • EVP & CMO, Editas Medicine
  • Q&A 3:25 PM – 3:50 PM  

3:25 PM – 3:50 PM HOT TOPICS

Common Blood Disorders | Gene Therapy

There are several dozen companies working to develop gene or cell therapies for Sickle Cell Disease, Beta Thalassemia, and  Fanconi Anemia. In some cases, there are enzyme replacement therapies that are deemed effective and safe. In other cases, the disease is only managed at best. This panel will address a number of questions that are particular to this class of genetic diseases:

  • What are the pros and cons of various strategies for treatment? There are AAV-based editing, non-viral delivery even oligonucleotide recruitment of endogenous editing/repair mechanisms. Which approaches are most appropriate for which disease?
  • How can companies increase the speed of recruitment for clinical trials when other treatments are available? What is the best approach to educate patients on a novel therapeutic?
  • How do we best address ethnic and socio-economic diversity to be more representative of the target patient population?
  • How long do we have to follow up with the patients from the scientific, patient’s community, and payer points of view? What are the current FDA and EMA guidelines for long-term follow-up?
  • Where are we with regards to surrogate endpoints and their application to clinically meaningful endpoints?
  • What are the emerging ethical dilemmas in pediatric gene therapy research? Are there challenges with informed consent and pediatric assent for trial participation?
  • Are there differences in reimbursement policies for these different blood disorders? Clearly durability of response is a big factor. Are there other considerations?

Moderator: David Scadden, MD

  • Director, Center for Regenerative Medicine; Co-Director, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Director, Hematologic Malignancies & Experimental Hematology, MGH
  • Jordan Professor of Medicine, HMS

Speakers: Samarth Kukarni, PhDNick Leschly

  • Chief Bluebird, Bluebird Bio

Mike McCune, MD, PhD

  • Head, HIV Frontiers, Global Health Innovative Technology Solutions, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
  • Q&A 3:55 PM – 4:15 PM  

3:50 PM – 4:00 PM FIRST LOOK

Gene Editing

J. Keith Joung, MD, PhD

  • Robert B. Colvin, M.D. Endowed Chair in Pathology & Pathologist, MGH
  • Professor of Pathology, HMS
  • Q&A 4:00 PM – 4:20 PM  

4:20 PM – 4:45 PM HOT TOPICS

Gene Expression | Modulating with Oligonucleotide-Based Therapies

Oligonucleotide drugs have recently come into their own with approvals from companies such as Biogen, Alnylam, Novartis and others. This panel will address several questions:

How important is the delivery challenge for oligonucleotides? Are technological advancements emerging that will improve the delivery of oligonucleotides to the CNS or skeletal muscle after systemic administration?

  • Will oligonucleotides improve as a class that will make them even more effective?   Are further advancements in backbone chemistry anticipated, for example.
  • Will oligonucleotide based therapies blaze trails for follow-on gene therapy products?
  • Are small molecules a threat to oligonucleotide-based therapies?
  • Beyond exon skipping and knock-down mechanisms, what other roles will oligonucleotide-based therapies take mechanistically — can genes be activating oligonucleotides?  Is there a place for multiple mechanism oligonucleotide medicines?
  • Are there any advantages of RNAi-based oligonucleotides over ASOs, and if so for what use?

Moderator: Jeannie Lee, MD, PhD

  • Molecular Biologist, MGH
  • Professor of Genetics, HMS

Speakers: Bob Brown, PhD

  • CSO, EVP of R&D, Dicerna

Brett Monia, PhD

  • CEO, Ionis

Alfred Sandrock, MD, PhD

  • EVP, R&D and CMO, Biogen
  • Q&A 4:50 PM – 5:05 PM  

4:45 PM – 4:55 PM FIRST LOOK

RNA therapy for brain cancer

Pierpaolo Peruzzi, MD, PhD

  • Nuerosurgery, BWH
  • Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery, HMS
  • Q&A 4:55 PM – 5:15 PM  

Friday, May 21, 2021

Computer connection to the iCloud of WordPress.com FROZE completely at 10:30AM EST and no file update was possible. COVERAGE OF MAY 21, 2021 IS RECORDED BELOW FOLLOWING THE AGENDA BY COPY AN DPASTE OF ALL THE TWEETS I PRODUCED ON MAY 21, 2021

8:30 AM – 8:55 AM

Venture Investing | Shaping GCT Translation

What is occurring in the GCT venture capital segment? Which elements are seeing the most activity? Which areas have cooled? How is the investment market segmented between gene therapy, cell therapy and gene editing? What makes a hot GCT company? How long will the market stay frothy? Some review of demographics — # of investments, sizes, etc. Why is the market hot and how long do we expect it to stay that way? Rank the top 5 geographic markets for GCT company creation and investing? Are there academic centers that have been especially adept at accelerating GCT outcomes? Do the business models for the rapid development of coronavirus vaccine have any lessons for how GCT technology can be brought to market more quickly? Moderator:   Meredith Fisher, PhD

  • Partner, Mass General Brigham Innovation Fund

Strategies, success what changes are needed in the drug discovery process   Speakers:  

Bring disruptive frontier as a platform with reliable delivery CGT double knock out disease cure all change efficiency and scope human centric vs mice centered right scale of data converted into therapeutics acceleratetion 

Innovation in drugs 60% fails in trial because of Toxicology system of the future deal with big diseases

Moderna is an example in unlocking what is inside us Microbiome and beyond discover new drugs epigenetics  

  • Robert Nelsen
    • Managing Director, Co-founder, ARCH Venture Partners

Manufacturing change is not a new clinical trial FDA need to be presented with new rethinking for big innovations Drug pricing cheaper requires systematization How to systematically scaling up systematize the discovery and the production regulatory innovations

Responsibility mismatch should be and what is “are”

Long term diseases Stack holders and modalities risk benefir for populations 

  • Q&A 9:00 AM – 9:15 AM  

9:00 AM – 9:25 AM

Regenerative Medicine | Stem Cells

The promise of stem cells has been a highlight in the realm of regenerative medicine. Unfortunately, that promise remains largely in the future. Recent breakthroughs have accelerated these potential interventions in particular for treating neurological disease. Among the topics the panel will consider are:

  • Stem cell sourcing
  • Therapeutic indication growth
  • Genetic and other modification in cell production
  • Cell production to final product optimization and challenges
  • How to optimize the final product
  • Moderator:
    • Ole Isacson, MD, PhD
      • Director, Neuroregeneration Research Institute, McLean
      • Professor, Neurology and Neuroscience, MGH, HMS

Opportunities in the next generation of the tactical level Welcome the oprimism and energy level of all Translational medicine funding stem cells enormous opportunities 

  • Speakers:
  • Kapil Bharti, PhD
    • Senior Investigator, Ocular and Stem Cell Translational Research Section, NIH
    • first drug required to establish the process for that innovations design of animal studies not done before
    • Off-th-shelf one time treatment becoming cure 
    •  Intact tissue in a dish is fragile to maintain metabolism
    Joe Burns, PhD
    • VP, Head of Biology, Decibel Therapeutics
    • Ear inside the scall compartments and receptors responsible for hearing highly differentiated tall ask to identify cell for anticipated differentiation
    • multiple cell types and tissue to follow
    Erin Kimbrel, PhD
    • Executive Director, Regenerative Medicine, Astellas
    • In the ocular space immunogenecity
    • regulatory communication
    • use gene editing for immunogenecity Cas1 and Cas2 autologous cells
    • gene editing and programming big opportunities 
    Nabiha Saklayen, PhD
    • CEO and Co-Founder, Cellino
    • scale production of autologous cells foundry using semiconductor process in building cassettes
    • solution for autologous cells
  • Q&A 9:30 AM – 9:45 AM  

9:25 AM – 9:35 AM FIRST LOOK

Stem Cells

Bob Carter, MD, PhD

  • Chairman, Department of Neurosurgery, MGH
  • William and Elizabeth Sweet, Professor of Neurosurgery, HMS
  • Cell therapy for Parkinson to replace dopamine producing cells lost ability to produce dopamin
  • skin cell to become autologous cells reprograms to become cells producing dopamine
  • transplantation fibroblast cells metabolic driven process lower mutation burden 
  • Quercetin inhibition elimination undifferentiated cells graft survival oxygenation increased 
  • Q&A 9:35 AM – 9:55 AM  

9:35 AM – 10:00 AM

Capital Formation ’21-30 | Investing Modes Driving GCT Technology and Timing

The dynamics of venture/PE investing and IPOs are fast evolving. What are the drivers – will the number of investors grow will the size of early rounds continue to grow? How is this reflected in GCT target areas, company design, and biotech overall? Do patients benefit from these trends? Is crossover investing a distinct class or a little of both? Why did it emerge and what are the characteristics of the players?  Will SPACs play a role in the growth of the gene and cell therapy industry. What is the role of corporate investment arms eg NVS, Bayer, GV, etc. – has a category killer emerged?  Are we nearing the limit of what the GCT market can absorb or will investment capital continue to grow unabated? Moderator: Roger Kitterman

  • VP, Venture, Mass General Brigham
  • Saturation reached or more investment is coming in CGT 

Speakers: Ellen Hukkelhoven, PhD

  • Managing Director, Perceptive Advisors
  • Cardiac area transduct cells
  • matching tools
  • 10% success of phase 1 in drug development next phase matters more 

Peter Kolchinsky, PhD

  • Founder and Managing Partner, RA Capital Management
  • Future proof for new comers disruptors 
  • Ex Vivo gene therapy to improve funding products what tool kit belongs to 
  • company insulation from next instability vs comapny stabilizing themselves along few years
  • Company interested in SPAC 
  • cross over investment vs SPAC
  • Multi Omics in cancer early screening metastatic diseas will be wiped out 

Deep Nishar

  • Senior Managing Partner, SoftBank Investment Advisors
  • Young field vs CGT started in the 80s 
  • high payloads is a challenge
  • cost effective fast delivery to large populations
  • Mission oriented by the team and management  
  • Multi Omics disease modality 

Oleg Nodelman

  • Founder & Managing Partner, EcoR1 Capital
  • Invest in company next round of investment will be IPO
  • Help company raise money cross over investment vs SPAC
  • Innovating ideas from academia in need for funding 
  • Q&A 10:05 AM – 10:20 AM  

10:00 AM – 10:10 AM FIRST LOOK

New scientific and clinical developments for autologous stem cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease patients

Penelope Hallett, PhD

  • NRL, McLean
  • Assistant Professor Psychiatry, HMS
  • Pharmacologic agent in existing cause another disorders locomo-movement related 
  • efficacy Autologous cell therapy transplantation approach program T cells into dopamine generating neurons greater than Allogeneic cell transplantation 
  • Q&A 10:10 AM – 10:30 AM  

10:10 AM – 10:35 AM HOT TOPICS

Neurodegenerative Clinical Outcomes | Achieving GCT Success

Can stem cell-based platforms become successful treatments for neurodegenerative diseases?

  •  What are the commonalities driving GCT success in neurodegenerative disease and non-neurologic disease, what are the key differences?
  • Overcoming treatment administration challenges
  • GCT impact on degenerative stage of disease
  • How difficult will it be to titrate the size of the cell therapy effect in different neurological disorders and for different patients?
  • Demonstrating clinical value to patients and payers
  • Revised clinical trial models to address issues and concerns specific to GCT

Moderator: Bob Carter, MD, PhD

  • Chairman, Department of Neurosurgery, MGH
  • William and Elizabeth Sweet, Professor of Neurosurgery, HMS
  • Neurogeneration REVERSAL or slowing down 

Speakers: Erwan Bezard, PhD

  • INSERM Research Director, Institute of Neurodegenerative Diseases
  • Cautious on reversal 
  • Early intervantion versus late

Nikola Kojic, PhD

  • CEO and Co-Founder, Oryon Cell Therapies
  • Autologus cell therapy placed focal replacing missing synapses reestablishment of neural circuitary

Geoff MacKay

  • President & CEO, AVROBIO
  • Prevent condition to be manifested in the first place 
  • clinical effect durable single infusion preventions of symptoms to manifest 
  • Cerebral edema – stabilization
  • Gene therapy know which is the abnormal gene grafting the corrected one 
  • More than biomarker as end point functional benefit not yet established  

Viviane Tabar, MD

  • Founding Investigator, BlueRock Therapeutics
  • Chair of Neurosurgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering
  • Current market does not have delivery mechanism that a drug-delivery is the solution Trials would fail on DELIVERY
  • Immune suppressed patients during one year to avoid graft rejection Autologous approach of Parkinson patient genetically mutated reprogramed as dopamine generating neuron – unknowns are present
  • Circuitry restoration
  • Microenvironment disease ameliorate symptoms – education of patients on the treatment 
  • Q&A 10:40 AM – 10:55 AM  

10:35 AM – 11:35 AM

Disruptive Dozen: 12 Technologies that Will Reinvent GCT

Nearly one hundred senior Mass General Brigham Harvard faculty contributed to the creation of this group of twelve GCT technologies that they believe will breakthrough in the next two years. The Disruptive Dozen identifies and ranks the GCT technologies that will be available on at least an experimental basis to have the chance of significantly improving health care. 11:35 AM – 11:45 AM

Concluding Remarks

The co-chairs convene to reflect on the insights shared over the three days. They will discuss what to expect at the in-person GCT focused May 2-4, 2022 World Medical Innovation Forum.

ALL THE TWEETS PRODUCED ON MAY 21, 2021 INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:

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@AVIVA1950

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Two brothers with MEPAN Syndrome: A Rare Genetic Disorder

Reporter: Amandeep Kaur

In the early 40s, a married couple named Danny and Nikki, had normal pregnancy and delivered their first child in October 2011.  The couple was elated after the birth of Carson because they were uncertain about even conceiving a baby. Soon after birth, the parents started facing difficulty in feeding the newborn and had some wakeful nights, which they used to called “witching hours”. For initial six months, they were clueless that something was not correct with their infant. Shortly, they found issues in moving ability, sitting, and crawling with Carson. Their next half year went in visiting several behavioral specialists and pediatricians with no conclusion other than a suggestion that there is nothing to panic as children grow at different rates.

Later in early 2013, Caron was detected with cerebral palsy in a local regional center. The diagnosis was based on his disability to talk and delay in motor development. At the same time, Carson had his first MRI which showed no negative results. The parents convinced themselves that their child condition would be solved by therapies and thus started physical and occupational therapies. After two years, the couple gave birth to another boy child named Chase in 2013. Initially, there was nothing wrong with Chase as well. But after nine months, Chase was found to possess the same symptoms of delaying in motor development as his elder brother. It was expected that Chase may also be suffering from cerebral palsy. For around one year both boys went through enormous diagnostic tests starting from karyotyping, metabolic screen tests to diagnostic tests for Fragile X syndrome, lysosomal storage disorders, Friedreich ataxia and spinocerebellar ataxia. Gene panel tests for mitochondrial DNA and Oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) deficiencies were also performed. No conclusion was drawn because each diagnostic test showed the negative results.

Over the years, the condition of boys was deteriorating as their movements became stiffer and ataxic, they were not able to crawl anymore. By the end of 2015, the boys had an MRI which showed some symmetric anomalies in their basal ganglia indicating a metabolic condition. The symptoms of Carson and Chase was not even explained by whole exome sequencing due to the absence of any positive result. The grievous journey of visits to neurologist, diagnostic tests and inconclusive results led the parents to rethink about anything happened erroneous due to them such as due to their lifestyle, insufficient intake of vitamins during pregnancy or exposure to toxic agents which left their sons in that situation.

During the diagnostic odyssey, Danny spent many restless and sleepless nights in searching PubMed for any recent cases with symptoms similar to his sons and eventually came across the NIH’s Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN), which gave a light of hope to the demoralized family. As soon as Danny discovered about the NIH’s Diseases Network, he gathered all the medical documents of both his sons and submitted the application. The submitted application in late 2015 got accepted a year later in December 2016 and they got their first appointment in early 2017 at the UDN site at Stanford. At Stanford, the boys had gone through whole-genome sequencing and some series of examinations which came back with inconclusive results. Finally, in February 2018, the family received some conclusive results which explained that the two boys suffer from MEPAN syndrome with pathogenic mutations in MECR gene.

  • MEPAN means Mitochondrial Enoyl CoA reductase Protein-Associated Neurodegeneration
  • MEPAN syndrome is a rare genetic neurological disorder
  • MEPAN syndrome is associated with symptoms of ataxia, optic atrophy and dystonia
  • The wild-type MECR gene encodes a mitochondrial protein which is involved in metabolic processes
  • The prevalence rate of MEPAN syndrome is 1 in 1 million
  • Currently, there are 17 patients of MEPAN syndrome worldwide

The symptoms of Carson and Chase of an early onset of motor development with no appropriate biomarkers and T-2 hyperintensity in the basal ganglia were matching with the seven known MEPAN patient at that time. The agonizing journey of five years concluded with diagnosis of rare genetic disorder.

Despite the advances in genetic testing and their low-cost, there are many families which still suffer and left undiagnostic for long years. To shorten the diagnostic journey of undiagnosed patients, the whole-exome and whole-genome sequencing can be used as a primary tool. There is need of more research to find appropriate treatments of genetic disorders and therapies to reduce the suffering of the patients and families. It is necessary to fill the gap between the researchers and clinicians to stimulate the development in diagnosis, treatment and drug development for rare genetic disorders.

The family started a foundation named “MEPAN Foundation” (https://www.mepan. org) to reach out to the world to educate people about the mutation in MECR gene. By creating awareness among the communities, clinicians, and researchers worldwide, the patients having rare genetic disorder can come closer and share their information to improve their condition and quality of life.

Reference: Danny Miller, The diagnostic odyssey: our family’s story, The American Journal of Human Genetics, Volume 108, Issue 2, 2021, Pages 217-218, ISSN 0002-9297, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajhg.2021.01.003 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002929721000033)

Sources:

https://www.variantyx.com/2020/02/26/in-silico-panel-expansion/

https://www.orpha.net/consor/cgi-bin/OC_Exp.php?lng=EN&Expert=508093

https://www.mepan. org

Other related articles were published in this Open Access Online Scientific Journal, including the following:

Effect of mitochondrial stress on epigenetic modifiers

Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP, Curator, LPBI

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2016/05/07/effect-of-mitochondrial-stress-on-epigenetic-modifiers/

The Three Parent Technique to Avoid Mitochondrial Disease in Embryo

Reporter and Curator: Dr. Sudipta Saha, Ph.D.

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2016/10/07/the-three-parent-technique-to-avoid-mitochondrial-disease-in-embryo/

New Insights into mtDNA, mitochondrial proteins, aging, and metabolic control

Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP, Curator, LPBI

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2016/04/20/new-insights-into-mtdna-mitochondrial-proteins-aging-and-metabolic-control/

Mitochondrial Isocitrate Dehydrogenase and Variants

Writer and Curator: Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2015/04/02/mitochondrial-isocitrate-dehydrogenase-and-variants/

Update on mitochondrial function, respiration, and associated disorders

Larry H. Benstein, MD, FCAP, Gurator and writer

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2014/07/08/update-on-mitochondrial-function-respiration-and-associated-disorders/

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First single-course ‘curative’ CRISPR Shot by Intellia rivals Alnylam, Ionis and Pfizer

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

 

UPDATED on 2/23/2023

As Novartis pulls back from legacy sickle cell program, Intellia CEO calls the market ‘wide open’

Intellia announced in its fourth-quarter earnings report that Novartis had ended development of sickle cell treatment OTQ923/HIX763. (Getty Images)

Novartis will no longer develop an ex vivo sickle cell disease program that was part of an older deal with Intellia, and the gene editing biotech’s CEO John Leonard, M.D., thinks he knows why.

“We’ve always believed that the future lies with the in vivo approaches, and that’s been a focus of the work that we do,” Leonard said. “I’m sure they looked at the ex vivo space and may have had some of the same realizations that we had some years ago.”

Leonard, of course, said he wasn’t completely sure why Novartis opted to cut the program, but noted that the Big Pharma is undergoing a broad pipeline reorganization.

Novartis confirmed just that in an emailed statement to Fierce Biotech, saying that the program was discontinued for strategic reasons. The overall partnership with Intellia remains intact, however, the spokesperson said.

Intellia announced in its fourth-quarter earnings report Thursday that the Swiss pharma ended development of OTQ923/HIX763 this month.

The therapy uses autologous, ex vivo, CRISPR-edited hematopoietic stem cells to target fetal hemoglobin for treating sickle cell disease. Novartis initiated dosing on a phase 1/2 trial for the Intellia-partnered program in 2021.

Intellia has both types of candidate in its pipeline, but the in vivo list is longer and more advanced, with NTLA-2001 in transthyretin (ATTR) amyloidosis leading the pack.

Novartis and Intellia have had a cell therapy partnership since January 2015, which was three months after Intellia launched from Atlas Venture and Caribou Biosciences. The agreement was revised in 2018 to expand to ex vivo development of cell therapies using certain ocular stem cells. At that time, Intellia received a $10 million payment, but other financial details of the agreement have not been disclosed. Novartis gained the rights to opt in on one or more programs, while Intellia earned the right to use the pharma’s lipid nanoparticle technology for all genome editing applications in both in vivo and ex vivo settings.

 SOURCE

https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/novartis-pulls-back-legacy-sickle-cell-program-intellia-ceo-calls-market-wide-open

Novartis plots Precision attack on sickle cell, paying $75M and putting up $1.4B in biobucks to form in vivo gene editing pact

Intellia, working with its partner Regeneron, has shown over the past year that CRISPR/Cas9 in vivo gene editing can cause high, seemingly durable levels of gene knockdown in humans. While questions about the Intellia data, and the concept more broadly, remain unanswered, there is now early evidence that the approach may be effective and, as importantly, safe. Precision is one of a clutch of companies barreling toward the clinic in the wake of Intellia, and the potential of its Arcus platform to provide greater precision and versatility than CRISPR/Cas9 and zinc finger nuclease has now attracted a suitor.

To add to its in vivo capabilities, Novartis is set to pay $50 million in cash to partner with Precision. The deal also features a $25 million equity investment priced at $2.01 per share, a 20% premium over the recent average for the stock, as well as up to $1.4 billion in milestones, research funding and royalties ranging from the mid-single-digit to low-double-digit percentages.

@@@@

Intellia to kick-start first single-course ‘curative’ CRISPR shot, as it hopes to beat rivals Alnylam, Ionis and Pfizer

It’s been a good year for Intellia: One of its founders, Jennifer Doudna, Ph.D., nabbed the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her CRISPR research.

Now, the biotech she helped build is putting that to work, saying it now plans the world’s first clinical trial for a single-course therapy that “potentially halts and reverses” a condition known as hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis with polyneuropathy (hATTR-PN).

This genetic disorder occurs when a person is born with a specific DNA mutation in the TTR gene, which causes the liver to produce a protein called transthyretin (TTR) in a misfolded form and build up in the body.

hATTR can manifest as polyneuropathy (hATTR-PN), which can lead to nerve damage, or cardiomyopathy (hATTR-CM), which involves heart muscle disease that can lead to heart failure.

This disorder has seen a lot of interest in recent years, with an RNAi approach from Alnylam seeing an approval for Onpattro a few years back, specifically for hATTR in adults with damage to peripheral nerves.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals and its rival RNAi drug Tegsedi also saw an approval in 2018 for a similar indication.

They both battle with Pfizer’s older med tafamidis, which has been approved in Europe for years in polyneuropathy, and the fight could spread to the U.S. soon.

The drug, now marketed as Vyndaqel and Vyndamax, snatched up an FDA nod last May to treat both hereditary and wild-type ATTR patients with a heart condition called cardiomyopathy.

While coming into an increasingly crowed R&D area, Intellia is looking for a next-gen approach, and has been given the go-ahead by regulators ion the U.K, to start a phase 1 this year.

The idea is for Intellia’s candidate NTLA-2001, which is also partnered with Regeneron, to go beyond its rivals and be the first curative treatment for ATTR.

By applying the company’s in vivo liver knockout technology, NTLA-2001 allows for the possibility of lifelong transthyretin (TTR) protein reduction after a single course of treatment. If this works, this could in essence cure patients of the their disease.

The 38-patient is set to start by year’s end.

“Starting our global NTLA-2001 Phase 1 trial for ATTR patients is a major milestone in Intellia’s mission to develop medicines to cure severe and life-threatening diseases,” said Intellia’s president and chief John Leonard, M.D.

“Our trial is the first step toward demonstrating that our therapeutic approach could have a permanent effect, potentially halting and reversing all forms of ATTR. Once we have established safety and the optimal dose, our goal is to expand this study and rapidly move to pivotal studies, in which we aim to enroll both polyneuropathy and cardiomyopathy patients.”

SOURCE

https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/intellia-to-kickstart-first-single-course-curative-crispr-shot-as-it-hopes-to-beat-rivals

Other related articles published in this Open Access Online Scientific Journal include the following:

 

Familial transthyretin amyloid polyneuropathy

Curator: Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2016/06/10/familial-transthyretin-amyloid-polyneuropathy/

 

Stabilizers that prevent transthyretin-mediated cardiomyocyte amyloidotic toxicity

Reporter and curator: Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/12/02/stabilizers-that-prevent-transthyretin-mediated-cardiomyocyte-amyloidotic-toxicity/

 

Transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM): U.S. FDA APPROVES VYNDAQEL® AND VYNDAMAX™ for this Rare and Fatal Disease

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2019/10/29/transthyretin-amyloid-cardiomyopathy-attr-cm-u-s-fda-approves-vyndaqel-and-vyndamax-for-this-rare-and-fatal-disease/

 

Alnylam Announces First-Ever FDA Approval of an RNAi Therapeutic, ONPATTRO™ (patisiran) for the Treatment of the Polyneuropathy of Hereditary Transthyretin-Mediated Amyloidosis in Adults

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2018/08/13/alnylam-announces-first-ever-fda-approval-of-an-rnai-therapeutic-onpattro-patisiran-for-the-treatment-of-the-polyneuropathy-of-hereditary-transthyretin-mediated-amyloidosis-in-adults/

 

 

Read Full Post »

Dysregulation of ncRNAs in association with Neurodegenerative Disorders

Curator: Amandeep Kaur

Research over the years has added evidences to the hypothesis of “RNA world” which explains the evolution of DNA and protein from a simple RNA molecule. Our understanding of RNA biology has dramatically changed over the last 50 years and rendered the scientists with the conclusion that apart from coding for protein synthesis, RNA also plays an important role in regulation of gene expression.

Figure: Overall Taxonomy of ncRNAs
Figure: Overall Taxonomy of ncRNAs
https://www.nature.com/articles/s42256-019-0051-2

The universe of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) is transcending the margins of preconception and altered the traditional thought that the coding RNAs or messenger RNAs (mRNAs) are more prevalent in our cells. Research on the potential use of ncRNAs in therapeutic relevance increased greatly after the discovery of RNA interference (RNAi) and provided important insights into our further understanding of etiology of complex disorders.

Figure: Atomic Structure of Non-coding RNA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-coding_RNA

Latest research on neurodegenerative disorders has shown the perturbed expression of ncRNAs which provides the functional association between neurodegeneration and ncRNAs dysfunction. Due to the diversity of functions and abundance of ncRNAs, they are classified into Housekeeping RNAs and Regulatory ncRNAs.

The best known classes of ncRNAs are the microRNAs (miRNAs) which are extensively studied and are of research focus. miRNAs are present in both intronic and exonic regions of matured RNA (mRNA) and are crucial for development of CNS. The reduction of Dicer-1, a miRNA biogenesis-related protein affects neural development and the elimination of Dicer in specifically dopaminergic neurons causes progressive degeneration of these neuronal cells in striatum of mice.

A new class of regulatory ncRNAs, tRNAs-derived fragments (tRFs) is superabundantly present in brain cells. tRFs are considered as risk factors in conditions of neural degeneration because of accumulation with aging. tRFs have heterogenous functions with regulation of gene expression at multiple layers including regulation of mRNA processing and translation, inducing the activity of silencing of target genes, controlling cell growth and differentiation processes.

The existence of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) was comfirmed by the ENCODE project. Numerous studies reported that approximately 40% of lncRNAs are involved in gene expression, imprinting and pluripotency regulation in the CNS. lncRNA H19 is of paramount significance in neural viability and contribute in epilepsy condition by activating glial cells. Other lncRNAs are highly bountiful in neurons including Evf2 and MALAT1 which play important function in regulating neural differentiation and synapse formation and development of dendritic cells respectively.

Recently, a review article in Nature mentioned about the complex mechanisms of ncRNAs contributing to neurodegenerative conditions. The ncRNA-mediated mechanisms of regulation are as follows:

  • Epigenetic regulation: Various lncRNAs such as BDNF-AS, TUG1, MEG3, NEAT1 and TUNA are differentially expressed in brain tissue and act as epigenetic regulators.
  • RNAi: RNA interference includes post-transcriptional repression by small-interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and binding of miRNAs to target genes. In a wide spectrum of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson disease, Huntington’s disease, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Fragile X syndrome, Frontotemporal dementia, and Spinocerebellar ataxia, have shown perturbed expression of miRNA.
  • Alternative splicing: Variation in splicing of transcripts of ncRNAs has shown adverse affects in neuropathology of degenerative diseases.
  • mRNA stability: The stability of mRNA may be affected by RNA-RNA duplex formation which leads to the degradation of sense mRNA or blocking the access to proteins involved in RNA turnover and modify the progression of neurodegenerative disorders.
  • Translational regulation: Numerous ncRNAs including BC200 directly control the translational process of transcripts of mRNAs and effect human brain of Alzheimer’s disease.
  • Molecular decoys: Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) dilute the expression of other RNAs by molecular trapping, also known as competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) which hinder the normal functioning of RNAs. The ceRNAs proportion must be equivalent to the number of target miRNAs that can be sequestered by each ncRNAs in order to induce consequential de-repression of the target molecules.
Table: ncRNAs and related processes involved in neurodegenerative disorders
https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn.2017.90

The unknown functions of numerous annotated ncRNAs may explain the underlying complexity in neurodegenerative disorders. The profiling of ncRNAs of patients suffering from neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative conditions are required to outline the changes in ncRNAs and their role in specific regions of brain and cells. Analysis of Large-scale gene expression and functional studies of ncRNAs may contribute to our understanding of these diseases and their remarkable connections. Therefore, targeting ncRNAs may provide effective therapeutic perspective for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

References https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/rna-functions-352/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6035743/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7695195/ https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13670-012-0023-4 https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn.2017.90

 

Other related articles were published in this Open Access Online Scientific Journal, including the following:

RNA in synthetic biology

Curator: Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2016/03/26/rna-in-synthetic-biology/

mRNA Data Survival Analysis

Curators: Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP and Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2016/06/18/mrna-data-survival-analysis/

Recent progress in neurodegenerative diseases and gliomas

Curator: Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2016/05/28/recent-progress-in-neurodegenerative-diseases-and-gliomas/

Genomic Promise for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Dementias, Autism Spectrum, Schizophrenia, and Serious Depression

Reporter and writer: Larry H Bernstein, MD, FCAP

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/02/19/genomic-promise-for-neurodegenerative-diseases-dementias-autism-spectrum-schizophrenia-and-serious-depression/

Read Full Post »

Mechanistic link between SARS-CoV-2 infection and increased risk of stroke using 3D printed models and human endothelial cells

Reporter: Adina Hazan, PhD

 

Kaneko, et al.  from UCLA aimed to explore why SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with an increased rate of cerebrovascular events, including

  • ischemic stroke and
  • intracerebral hemorrhage

While some suggested mechanisms include an overall systemic inflammatory response including increasing circulating cytokines and leading to a prothrombotic state, this may be only a partial answer. A SARS-CoV-2 specific mechanism could be likely, considering that both angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2), the receptor necessary for SARS-CoV-2 to gain entry into the cell, and SARS-CoV-2 RNA have been reportedly detected in the human brain postmortem.

One of the difficulties in studying vasculature mechanisms is that the inherent 3D shape and blood flow subject this tissue to different stressors, such as flow, that could be critically relevant during inflammation. To accurately study the effect of SARS-CoV-2 on the vasculature of the brain, the team generated 3D models of the human middle cerebral artery during intracranial artery stenosis using data from CT (computed tomography) angiography. This data was then exported with important factors included such as

  • shear stress during perfusion,
  • streamlines, and
  • flow velocity to be used to fabricate 3D models.

These tubes were then coated with endothelial cells isolated and sorted from normal human brain tissue resected during surgery. In doing so, this model could closely mimic the cellular response of the vasculature of the human brain.

Surprisingly, without this 3D tube, human derived brain endothelial cells displayed very little expression of ACE2 or, TMPRSS2 (transmembrane protease 2), a necessary cofactor for SARS-COV-2 viral entry.

Interestingly,

  • horizontal shear stress increased the expression of ACE2 and
  • increased the binding of spike protein to ACE2, especially within the stenotic portion of the 3D model.

By exposing the endothelial cells to liposomes expressing the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, they also were able to explore key upregulated genes in the exposed cells, in which they found that

  • “binding of SARS-CoV-2 S protein triggered 83 unique genes in human brain endothelial cells”.

This included many inflammatory signals, some of which have been previously described as associated with SARS-COV-2, and others whose effects are unknown. This may provide an important foundation for exploring potential therapeutic targets in patients susceptible to cerebrovascular events.

Overall, this study shows important links between the

  • mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 and the
  • increase in ischemic events in these patients. It also has important implications for
  • treatment for SARS-CoV-2, as high blood pressure and atherosclerosis may be increasing ACE2 expression in patients, providing the entry port for viral particles into brain endothelia.

SOURCE:

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/STROKEAHA.120.032764

Other related articles published in this Open Access Online Scientific Journal include the following:

The Impact of COVID-19 on the Human Heart

Reporters: Justin D. Pearlman, MD, PhD, FACC and Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2020/09/29/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-the-human-heart/

 

SAR-Cov-2 is probably a vasculotropic RNA virus affecting the blood vessels: Endothelial cell infection and endotheliitis in COVID-19

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN – Bold face and colors are my addition

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2020/06/01/sar-cov-2-is-probably-a-vasculotropic-rna-virus-affecting-the-blood-vessels-endothelial-cell-infection-and-endotheliitis-in-covid-19/

 

Diagnosis of Coronavirus Infection by Medical Imaging and Cardiovascular Impacts of Viral Infection, Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN  Lead Curator – e–mail: avivalev-ari@alum.berkeley.edu

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Reporter and Curator: Dr. Sudipta Saha, Ph.D.

 

Parkinson’s Disease (PD), characterized by both motor and non-motor system pathology, is a common neurodegenerative disorder affecting about 1% of the population over age 60. Its prevalence presents an increasing social burden as the population ages. Since its introduction in the 1960’s, dopamine (DA)-replacement therapy (e.g., L-DOPA) has remained the gold standard treatment. While improving PD patients’ quality of life, the effects of treatment fade with disease progression and prolonged usage of these medications often (>80%) results in side effects including dyskinesias and motor fluctuations. Since the selective degeneration of A9 mDA neurons (mDANs) in the substantia nigra (SN) is a key pathological feature of the disease and is directly associated with the cardinal motor symptoms, dopaminergic cell transplantation has been proposed as a therapeutic strategy.

 

Researchers showed that mammalian fibroblasts can be converted into embryonic stem cell (ESC)-like induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) by introducing four transcription factors i.e., Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc. This was then accomplished with human somatic cells, reprogramming them into human iPSCs (hiPSCs), offering the possibility of generating patient-specific stem cells. There are several major barriers to implementation of hiPSC-based cell therapy for PD. First, probably due to the limited understanding of the reprogramming process, wide variability exists between the differentiation potential of individual hiPSC lines. Second, the safety of hiPSC-based cell therapy has yet to be fully established. In particular, since any hiPSCs that remain undifferentiated or bear sub-clonal tumorigenic mutations have neoplastic potential, it is critical to eliminate completely such cells from a therapeutic product.

 

In the present study the researchers established human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-based autologous cell therapy. Researchers reported a platform of core techniques for the production of mDA progenitors as a safe and effective therapeutic product. First, by combining metabolism-regulating microRNAs with reprogramming factors, a method was developed to more efficiently generate clinical grade iPSCs, as evidenced by genomic integrity and unbiased pluripotent potential. Second, a “spotting”-based in vitro differentiation methodology was established to generate functional and healthy mDA cells in a scalable manner. Third, a chemical method was developed that safely eliminates undifferentiated cells from the final product. Dopaminergic cells thus produced can express high levels of characteristic mDA markers, produce and secrete dopamine, and exhibit electrophysiological features typical of mDA cells. Transplantation of these cells into rodent models of PD robustly restored motor dysfunction and reinnervated host brain, while showing no evidence of tumor formation or redistribution of the implanted cells.

 

Together these results supported the promise of these techniques to provide clinically applicable personalized autologous cell therapy for PD. It was recognized by researchers that this methodology is likely to be more costly in dollars and manpower than techniques using off-the-shelf methods and allogenic cell lines. Nevertheless, the cost for autologous cell therapy may be expected to decrease steadily with technological refinement and automation. Given the significant advantages inherent in a cell source free of ethical concerns and with the potential to obviate the need for immunosuppression, with its attendant costs and dangers, it was proposed that this platform is suitable for the successful implementation of human personalized autologous cell therapy for PD.

 

References:

 

https://www.jci.org/articles/view/130767/pdf?elqTrackId=2fd7d0edee744f9cb6d70a686d7b273b

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31714896

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23666606

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27343168

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21495962

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28083784

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20336395

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28585381

 

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