Sana Biotechnology Highlights Publication in Nature Biotechnology of Novel In Vivo Preclinical Data Showing the Potential for Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Human Glial Progenitor Cell Transplantation as a Treatment for Huntington’s Disease and Other Glial
SEATTLE, May 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sana Biotechnology, Inc. (NASDAQ: SANA), a company focused on changing the possible for patients through engineered cells, today highlighted that Nature Biotechnology has published a paper titled “Young glial progenitor cells competitively replace aged and diseased human glia in the adult chimeric mouse brain.” This paper showed that when healthy wild-type (WT), pluripotent stem cell-derived glial progenitor cells (hGPCs) – the cells that give rise to the glial support cells of the brain – were transplanted into adult mice that had been neonatally transplanted with mutant Huntingtin (mHTT)-expressing hGPCs, the healthy cells outcompeted and eliminated the diseased glia, ultimately repopulating the brain with the healthy transplanted cells. These data establish an additional proof-of-concept for the development of SC379, Sana’s pluripotent stem cell-derived GPC product candidate, as a potential therapy to deliver healthy allogeneic GPCs to patients with certain central nervous system disorders.
- These data establish an additional proof-of-concept for the development of SC379, Sana’s pluripotent stem cell-derived GPC product candidate, as a potential therapy to deliver healthy allogeneic GPCs to patients with certain central nervous system disorders.
- “It is remarkable to see that healthy human glial cells can engraft and function in vivo, and succeed in outcompeting resident glial cells, thereby eradicating the diseased cells from the brain of the mice,” said Steve Harr, Sana’s President and Chief Executive Officer.
- Over time, the group found that the healthy WT cells overtook the HD cells and repopulated the striatum with healthy cells (54 weeks, P
- The data demonstrated that the younger hGPCs rapidly infiltrated the striatum and eventually replaced the older hGPCs, leading to a substantial recolonization of the tissue (P