Newly Published Positive Efficacy Data in an Accepted Model of Huntington’s Disease
LONDON- ReNeuron Group plc (AIM: RENE), a UK-based global leader in the development of cell-based therapeutics, today announced that new positive data relating to its CTX cell therapy candidate have been published in the leading peer-reviewed scientific journal Stem Cells, in a paper entitled “Implantation of the clinical-grade human neural stem cell line, CTX0E03, rescues the behavioural and pathological deficits in the quinolinic acid-lesioned rodent model of Huntington’s disease.” The new data show for the first time that ReNeuron’s CTX human neural stem cell line can rescue deficits associated with an accepted animal model of Huntington’s disease, a progressive genetic brain disorder.
The Company has previously presented data demonstrating that its CTX stem cell line, currently undergoing clinical evaluation for the treatment of stroke disability, can cause functional and behavioural recovery in animal models of ischemic injury. The new data being published today show that implantation of CTX cells into a model of Huntington’s disease can reduce inflammation, glial scar formation and induce host neurogenesis (the generation of new brain cells) leading to a recovery in behavioural deficits.
These results are particularly encouraging as they also demonstrate that CTX, a well-characterised neural stem cell line that has been evaluated in multiple pre-clinical and clinical studies, can differentiate into medium spiny neurons, engraft into host tissue and form functional connections with the surrounding tissue.
The Company believes that these new positive data will add further value to its CTX cell therapy candidate in the context of future out-licensing deals with development partners in due course.
“The data being published today represent a significant advance in the potential use of human allogeneic stem cell lines as therapeutic candidates for the treatment of Huntington’s disease. Importantly, the immortalisation technology found within ReNeuron’s CTX cell line allows for the scaled production of ‘off the shelf’ human neural stem cells, with the potential to treat a variety of different neurological disorders,” commented Dr. Randolph Corteling, Head of Research at ReNeuron.
This study was led by Professor Jihwan Song from the Department of Biomedical Science at the CHA University in South Korea and the paper is accessible here.
About ReNeuron
ReNeuron is a global leader in cell-based therapeutics, harnessing its unique stem cell technologies to develop ‘off the shelf’ stem cell treatments, without the need for immunosuppressive drugs. The Company’s lead clinical-stage candidates are in development for the blindness-causing disease, retinitis pigmentosa, and for disability as a result of stroke. ReNeuron is also advancing its proprietary exosome technology platform as a potential delivery system for drugs that would otherwise be unable to reach their site of action. ReNeuron’s shares are traded on the London AIM market under the symbol RENE.L.