HD Blog

LCT treatment protects the brain from damage by Huntington's disease

22 October 2004, Australia:

Living Cell Technologies (ASX: LCT), has today released results of pre-clinical studies demonstrating that its specialised therapy protects nerve cells in the brain from damage caused by conditions similar to Huntington's disease. Animals receiving LCT's treatment, NeurotrophinCell, showed 86 per cent less damage to the brain and showed dramatically improved use of their limbs.

This is the first time that technology of this kind has been proven in a controlled pre-clinical setting to prevent the degeneration of the brain due to Huntington's disease-like conditions. The details and data are to be presented at the Society for Neuroscience annual conference in San Diego this weekend and published in NeuroReport in November.

Huntington's disease is a devastating and fatal neurodegenerative condition that can be diagnosed very early in life, before symptoms appear, but for which there is no cure or intervention strategy available.

"These findings have major implications for enabling treatment of human neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington's and stroke," said Dr. Dwaine Emerich, VP of Research at LCT BioPharma Inc1 and co-author of the paper detailing the findings.

"What we have done is successfully implant new choroid plexus cells (the cells that produce cerebral spinal fluid and a number of factors important for the health and survival of the brain) thereby protecting specific areas of the brain from damage" continued Dr. Emerich.

In LCT's proprietary product, NeurotrophinCell, the choroid plexus cells are encapsulated in a clear capsule derived from algae. This encapsulation hides the cells from the patient's immune system yet allows the cells to receive nutrients and chemical signals necessary for functionality and survival."

"NeurotrophinCell has effectively shown the ability of LCT's technology, to protect brain tissue that would otherwise die, potentially forestalling or preventing the debilitating consequences of this disease," said Alfred Vasconcellos, LCT BioPharma's CEO.