The Stem Cells for Huntington’s Disease ( SC4HD ) is a new international consortium created to drive advanced therapy drugs (ATMP), through stem cell transplantation, to treat Huntington’s disease. The entity, made up of twenty-eight renowned researchers from ten countries, has been officially featured in the Journal of Huntington’s Disease .

The main objectives of the SC4HD consortium are to work together with the community affected by Huntington’s disease to develop criteria and guidelines, and to address the main challenges to quickly and safely implement stem cell-based therapies in patients with this. devastating pathology.

According to Josep M. Canals, director of Creatio and member of the SC4HD Steering Committee, “stem cell-based therapies are a great opportunity to treat Huntington’s disease, a neurodegenerative disorder that primarily affects striated nucleus neurons. brain ».

To date, many experimental cell therapies have focused on the striated nucleus in order to replace neurons that have been lost during the disease process. In this way, it is intended to repair the neural circuit or increase the survival of the remaining neurons and neuronal and glial cells of the striatal nucleus. Technological advances aimed at differentiating stem cells into desired neuronal types open up new strategies for restoring damaged neural circuits in Huntington’s disease.

The SC4HD consortium brings together experts in stem cell biology, cell transplantation, clinical grade cell production, neurosurgery and clinical evaluation for a safe clinical application of stem cell therapies, offering the standardization of complete protocols and guidelines that encompass the full range of therapeutic considerations.
 

Participation of the University of Barcelona

Josep M. Canals is a professor in the Department of Biomedicine at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the UB and director of the Center for the Production and Validation of Advanced Therapies ( Creatio ), the TECNIO center for the production of medicines advanced therapy in Catalonia. He also directs the UB Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Research Group.

Unai Perpiñá, who is technical manager at Creatio and professor in the same Department of Biomedicine, also participates in the SC4HD consortium.

Both are members of the UB Institute of Neurosciences ( UBNeuro ), the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS), the Biomedical Research Center in Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED) and the Spanish Network. of Cell Therapy (TerCel).