Ewha professors win W2.5 bil. subsidy for stem cell therapy
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Prof. Jung Sung-chul
Prof. Kim Han-su
Prof. Jo In-ho
By Nam Hyun-woo
An Ewha Womans University College of Medicine team has won a 2.5 billion won ($2.16 million) government subsidy for their stem cell therapy research, the university said Thursday.
The team, led by Profs. Jung Sung-chul, Kim Han-su and Jo In-ho, was selected as a recipient of the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s stem cell and regenerative medicines subsidy program, with its hypoparathyroidism treatment development project. The ministry will provide them 500 million won annually for five years.
In its program, the team is working on a treatment in which adult stem cells are extracted from the tonsils and regenerated into parathyroid cells.
Hypoparathyroidism is an intractable disease derived from an underproduction of hormones which can lead to low levels of calcium in the blood.
“The condition can be inherited, but there are a number of cases when the parathyroid was removed during thyroid cancer surgery,” Kim said. “Since the size of parathyroid is very small, there are cases it is removed along with thyroid, despite the fact that the small gland produces important hormones.”
Symptoms such as muscle cramping or twitching are often observed and in severe cases it can lead to a heart attack.
So far, the disease’s treatment has been limited to lifetime administration of a massive amount of calcium or vitamin D as substitutes for the hormone. “However, those replacements can lead to stomach trouble or kidney stones and chronic kidney problems, and taking a handful of pills really burdens the patient,” Kim said.
According to Kim, using tonsil stem cells has a significant advantage compared to bone marrow-derived stem cells, which requires a donor and costs a lot, or embryonic stem cells, which involves ethical issues. “Since tonsils are thrown away after surgery, it can save enormous costs. Also, the tonsils match with endocrine organs better than other stem cells.”
Should the team’s stem cell therapy become commercialized, fundamental treatment of the disease can be available by regenerating parathyroid cells.
“We have already differentiated parathyroid tissue from human tonsil stem cells, applied them to animal models and verified their effectiveness,” said Kim. “Based on this, we are now jointly developing stem cell therapy with Green Cross LabCell. The subsidy will take us one step closer to commercializing the stem cell therapy.”
According to Kim, the team aims to reach clinical trials during the five years and commercialize the therapy with Green Cross LabCell.