Madrid, 20th of February 2008.—Surgery, in general, and the process of healing, in particular, are the fields in which cell therapy is enjoying the biggest success. At the opposite extreme is the use of this therapy for treating the brain. That is the conclusion of the group of experts at the launch of “Cell Therapy”, which is published by the Lilly Foundation and Cellerix. Professor Edward Donnall Thomas, a Nobel Prize Laureate in Physiology and Medicine, wrote the prologue for the book, which counted on the participation of 31 groups of investigators from all over the world.

“Human beings cure their diseases through tissue repair, which is to say, through healing, and not through regeneration. Healing is the central feature of surgery, which is what makes the use of stem cells so useful,” explains Professor Damián Garcia Olmo, professor of surgery at the Autonomous University of Madrid and Head of the Colorectal Surgery Unit of La Paz Hospital. For his part, Jose Manuel Garcia Verdugo, a professor of cellular biology at the Department of Biology at the University of Valencia, highlights the importance of this fact for “pathologies-- such as those related to the digestive tract or the respiratory system--where healing is difficult and an open wound carries a risk of complication and infection.”

Other fields where cellular therapy is being applied with positive results include the repair of skin tissue, of articulated cartilage, of damaged bone tissue, of corneas and in cardiology. In the latter case, “one of the most relevant scientific discussions is to define what the best source of cells is and how to transfer them to a diseased organ,” explains Professor Garcia-Olmo.

In spite of these promising results, the experts recommend caution. “The outlook is bright,” says Dr. Jose Antonio Gutiérrez, the director of the Lilly Foundation,” but we should approach this carefully, as befits an investigation in progress.” In the opinion of Professor Garcia-Olmo “there is still a lot of research needed in order to determine how best to improve efficiency, define the adequate doses and the most efficient sources for cells, and all of this without over looking biosafety, which means we should be sure that the cells being used won’t cause damage.” Says Professor Garcia Verdugo; right now, scientists “can only make the commitment to continue investigating.”

For his part, Dr. Jorge Alemany, the vice president of strategy at Cellerix, affirmed that cell therapy is now a clinical reality. “Throughout the world, more than 300 clinical tests are being carried out using stem cells. Cell Therapy contributes an enormous arsenal of therapeutic tools that can be used to treat pathologies for which no adequate treatment exists today.”

Spain in the race to carry out cell investigation

Spain has taken a leading role in therapeutic cell therapy related to basic research, while there are “only” five or six groups involved in regulated clinical research, he says.

Throughout the world, interest has grown in cell therapy research at an exponential rate. Eight years ago, the first research reports on cell therapy were published; today some 800 clinical groups are working in this field. By 2015, the market for cell therapy is expected to be valued at 2.1 billion dollars, an increase of 28% from 2005.

The first monograph on Cell Therapy

With the publication of this book, the Lilly Foundation and Cellerix have wanted to provide professional health workers with “an up-to-date and objective report on the current status of the cell therapy field, which is at the forefront of the latest advances in biomedicine,” says Drs. Gutierrez and Alemany.

Divided into three parts, the book looks at the basic aspects of cell biology in order to understand what stem cells are and what a better understanding of them has signified over the last decade. It analyzes the sources of the cells used in clinical work and gathers and analyzes the main research carried out on the concrete diseases suffered by humans.

The book:

Title: Cell Therapy

Collaborators: Lilly and Cellerix Foundation

Publishing house: McGraw Hill

Editors: Damian Garcia Olmo, Jose Manuel Garcia Verdugo, Jorge Alemany and Jose A. Gutierrez Fuentes.

Number of pages: 488