PLX cell therapy may be an effective treatment for ischemic stroke disorder

Feb 4 2010

Pluristem Therapeutics Inc. (NasdaqCM: PSTI) (DAX: PJT) today announced that the results of a pre-clinical study in an animal model of ischemic stroke demonstrated that its PLacental eXpanded (PLX) cell therapy may be an effective treatment for this disorder. Results will be published in the journal Brain Research (Brain Research, Feb. 22, Vol. 1315) under the title “Transplantation of placenta-derived mesenchymal stromal cells upon experimental stroke in rats.” The study was conducted in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Immunology and Cell Therapy (IZI) in Leipzig, Germany.

“Transplantation of placenta-derived mesenchymal stromal cells upon experimental stroke in rats.”

The study indicates that in animals treated with PLX cells, there were significant differences to the control groups in the following parameters:

• Improvement in sensory and motor deficits
• Reduction in the development of the stroke lesion
• Increase in the production of glial nerve tissue

These effects occurred even though the PLX cells were administered eight and 24 hours after the inducement of the stroke. This suggests that the use of PLX cells in ischemic stroke may allow patients a longer window of time for successful treatment after the onset of the insult. Optimal current therapy dictates that patients must be treated within four and a half hours after the onset of ischemic stroke. PLX cells may increase this window from four and a half hours up to eight hours.

The authors of the study hypothesized that systematically transplanted PLX cells migrated toward the ischemic part of the brain and secreted soluble factors with considerable effects on cell death processes (apoptosis), neuron growth (neurogenesis), blood vessel growth (angiogenesis) and neuronal remodeling.

“The study’s positive results suggest that PLX cells may increase the time interval for successful treatment in humans suffering from ischemic stroke, but our knowledge concerning modes of action and optimal treatment paradigms must be enlarged in further experiments before considering clinical application,” said Dr. Johannes Boltze, head of the stroke research group at The Fraunhofer Institute for IZI in Leipzig, Germany and senior author of the publication.

Zami Aberman, chairman and CEO of Pluristem, added, “This study is further evidence that PLX cells may be effective in treating various diseases including ischemic stroke.”