B20 SCIENCE | THE STRAITS TIMES | FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016 | | FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2016 | THE STRAITS TIMES | B21

Stem cells from the lining ofthe umbilical cord healdeep wounds better thanconventional skin grafts,preliminary research hasfound.

A Singapore General Hos-pital (SGH) study on pigsfound that the woundshealed more quickly whensuch stem cells were ap-plied, compared with whenhuman skin was used.

The immune response tothe stem cells was also low-er, said Dr Alvin Chua, depu-ty head of the Skin Bank Unitat SGH, who co-led thestudy.

Although the initial im-mune reaction, in the formof inflammation, was thesame for both methods atthe start, the inflammationstarted to decline afteraround a month for the stemcell model. The level of in-flammation was sustainedin the human skin model.

In a separate study on dia-betic mice, he found thatstem cells helped to im-prove wound healing.

Dr Chua stressed that theresults were preliminaryand more analysis of the da-ta is necessary to under-stand how the stem cellshelp in wound healing andto what extent.

He noted, however, thatthe abundant epithelialstem cells found in cord lin-ing could help ease the prob-lem of a lack of skin donors.

“If I can get epithelial cellsthrough an off-the-shelfproduct... I can use them asa replacement for donated(human) skin,” he said.

Samantha Boh

Haemophilia A is a rare geneticcondition in which the blood doesnot clot properly.

Local scientists are studying theuse of cord-lining stem cells totransport a specific gene into thebody that will then go on to pro-

duce a clotting protein known asfactor VIII, which patients lack.

In animal studies led by Profes-sor Kon Oi Lian of the NationalCancer Centre Singapore, stemcells carrying factor VIII were in-troduced into mice with the condi-tion. Scientists found that the ani-mals began to produce the protein.

The mice to which the gene wasintroduced also bled less when

their tails were clipped.“We were able to show, at least in

a small animal model, that thesecord-lining epithelial cells not onlysecreted factor VIII, but were ableto mitigate, though not cure, thehaemophilic mice,” said Prof Kon.

Adeno-associated viruses(AAVs), which are not known tocause disease in humans, are nowthe commonly used vector for

transporting the gene, but therehave been some challenges.

One problem is that people infect-ed before by the virus already pro-duce neutralising antibodiesagainst it, which means they wouldnot be able to receive the gene.

“The AAV also does not insert it-self into the genome, so it is possi-ble the effect will wear off after awhile,” added Prof Kon, who is al-

so with the Yong Loo Lin School ofMedicine. Other viral vectors stu-died that insert themselves intothe patient’s genome have had ad-verse side-effects.

Prof Kon noted that cord-liningstem cells could provide an alterna-tive method. Her team startedstudies on dogs last year.

Samantha Boh

Samantha Boh

Diabetic wounds are notoriously dif-ficult to treat, but a Singapore bio-medical firm believes it has succeed-ed in doing so, and has received thenod from the United States Foodand Drug Administration (FDA) totest its treatment on patients.

If its trials are successful, thisopens the multibillion-dollar worldmarket to CellResearchCorporation’s unique stem celltreatment, which does away withthe need for skin grafts.

“This is a huge thing,” said Cell-Research group chief medical offi-cer Ivor Lim, pointing out that be-ing able to produce the clinical-grade stem cells was a break-through that took years. Humancells are allowed for transplanta-tion only if they are of such quality.

The firm will start its first FDA-ap-proved trial, in Colorado in the US,on 30 to 100 patients early nextyear, using stem cells extractedfrom umbilical cord lining – normal-ly discarded when a woman givesbirth – that can grow into thepatient’s new skin. The trial is ex-pected to last two to three years.

The firm received the FDA stampof approval after showing it couldproduce Good Manufacturing Prac-tice (cGMP) mesenchymal stemcells – which can transform into avariety of cell types – at a Universi-

ty of Colorado laboratory. Theyhave named the drug CorLiCyte.

According to a report by global re-search and consulting firm Markets-andMarkets, the global wound-caremarket is expected to grow fromUS$17 billion (S$24.4 billion) thisyear to hit US$20.4 billion by 2021.

Many countries take their cuefrom the FDA in deciding whetherdrugs and treatments are safe andeffective, and the CellResearchteam hopes the treatment will bemade available to patients in Singa-pore within a few years.

Diabetes is a serious concernhere, and diabetic wounds can re-main open for months, running therisk of infection, gangrene andeven amputation.

Dr Toh Sue-Anne, senior consult-ant at the National UniversityHospital’s division of endocrinolo-gy, said stem cells from cord liningoffer a promising approach towound therapy in patients with dia-betes, because they release growthfactors and cytokines, and cell sig-nalling molecules that stimulatenew vessel formation and regulateinflammation.

“If clinical studies can build onthe successes of the basic and trans-lational research, this could revolu-tionise how we manage wound carein the clinic,” she said. This mile-stone is the latest in the company’srags-to-riches story that started in2004, with what Dr Lim described

as an accidental discovery.Then, group chief scientific offi-

cer Phan Toan Thang had been ex-amining the placenta for alterna-tive skin cells when he chanced up-on the previously untapped stemcell source in the umbilical cord lin-ing. He discovered that the umbili-cal cord lining contains a treasuretrove of two types of stem cells: epi-thelial stem cells – which can trans-form into tissue lining; and mesen-chymal stem cells – which can turninto a variety of cells.

With this plentiful and easilyavailable source of stem cells, re-searchers can bypass the contro-versial harvesting of stem cellsfrom human embryos. Such hu-man embryonic stem cells cantransform into any cell the bodyneeds, but extracting them de-

stroys the days-old embryo.The cord lining can provide a

whopping six billion stem cells toexpand into skin, bone, the corneaand other parts, with close to 100per cent purity. In comparison, thepurity of stem cells extracted frombone marrow is about 65 per cent.

“It’s like gold mining. You getgold, but 40 per cent is rock andsand and other impurities youdon’t want,” said Dr Phan. “But wehave found a gold mine that’s 99per cent gold.”

CellResearch, founded by Dr Lim,Dr Phan and former investmentbanker Gavin Tan, the company’sgroup chief executive, is now worth$700 million and has 39 patentsworldwide, including those for ex-tracting stem cells from umbilicalcord lining, banking and cultivating

them, and for treatments.The company said it has healed

3,000 difficult-to-heal wounds inpatients in Vietnam, and repairedthe cornea, restoring vision in morethan 80 eyes.

Its success comes at a time whenlabs are struggling to take stem cellresearch to market, as there aremany regulatory hurdles beforetreatments can be proven safe andeffective.

CellResearch is also working with11 other groups in Singapore and in-ternationally to harness stem cellsfor treatments for a variety of condi-tions, from Parkinson’s to hearingloss and heart repair.

“We were just trying to getenough cells in an inexpensive wayfor skin repair – that was our first in-tention,” said Dr Phan.

“Then we discovered that a lotmore can be done beyond skinneeds.”

Associate Professor Lim KahLeong of the National Neuro-science Institute and National Uni-versity of Singapore’s Yong Loo LinSchool of Medicine – who is study-ing the use of cord lining stem cellsto repair damaged brain cells inParkinson’s patients – said havingcGMP-grade stem cells will aid re-search.

“It paves the way for future clini-cal trials as we don’t need to gothrough as many regulatory road-blocks,” he said. “You can also applyit to human patients without con-cern that there could be contamina-tion issues.”

samboh@sph.com.sg

Lin Yangchen

The tracking method used in theBourne movie series is finding itsway into the real world, with indus-tries adopting it to improve efficien-cy and productivity.

And Singapore is striving to getits developers to start up here.

In the reel world of Bourne, theCentral Intelligence Agency tries totrack down the elusive agentthrough a global network of camer-as and operatives connected to acontrol centre that analyses allsorts of incoming real-time data forhis pursuers.

The strategy is called the Internetof Things (IoT).

And companies, big and small,are pursuing IoT, with some usingSingapore as a base to develop capa-bilities for the IoT strategy.

One such company is Singaporestart-up De-Wired. It designs cus-tomised IoT packages forcompanies’ needs.

For instance, it is developing anInternet-based system to remotelymonitor thousands of water pres-sure pumps in high-rise buildingsacross multiple cities in China, in re-al time.

This will not only facilitate pre-ventive maintenance, but also helpimprove pump design.

The major challenge of buildingsuch a system is in linking up differ-ent types of machines, different da-ta formats and different ways totransmit data, said De-Wired’sco-founder, 42-year-old Mike Loh.

The integration needs a goodtech team and is costly because ofthe manpower and expertise need-ed to handle the wide variety ofcomponents, said Mr Loh.

The system to monitor water pres-sure pumps was undertaken as a pi-lot project, among others, in China.

But Singapore is home for its intel-lectual property (IP): “The core IPdevelopment... has always been inSingapore, in view of the high-er-quality work and computer codesecurity,’’ said Mr Loh.

“Admittedly, the cost of hiring inSingapore is relatively high, so wekeep a small core team of no morethan six tech guys for the most valu-able work.”

Though this new IT area is in its in-fancy here, multinational giant Gen-eral Electric (GE) sees a promisingfuture for the Republic.

Singapore’s good governance,highly-educated tech-savvy popula-tion and thriving manufacturingand software development sectorsgive it an edge, said GE Digital chieffinancial officer Khozema Ship-

chandler. He was speaking to TheStraits Times at GE’s Minds + Ma-chines conference in San Franciscolast week.

The company has developed,over the last two years, an industri-al IoT platform called Predix.

It is a universal cloud-based indus-trial operating system that cutsacross sectors, from aviation tomanufacturing and power genera-tion to healthcare. And it is hookedup to all sorts of things, from tem-perature sensors in power genera-tors to machines in factory lines.

The system then mines the largeamount of incoming data to figureout ways to improve efficiency aswell as predict and prevent equip-ment failures.

This is done with the collabora-tion of 270 companies worldwide,involving more than 19,000 soft-ware developers.

Mr Alvin Ng, general manager ofGE Digital in Asean, said: “Our ex-pertise in machines and industryuniquely positions us at the inter-section of machines and software.”

Mr Ng added that this will sup-port Singapore’s Smart Nation initi-ative through the use of data net-works to improve business produc-tivity.

GE vice-chairman Beth Com-stock said at the conference that 50billion devices – many times theworld’s human population of sevenbillion – will be connected to one an-other by 2020, and they will bringthe same kind of disruption that dig-ital technology brought to music,shopping and the media.

“Pay close attention to what’semerging before it becomes anemergency,” she added.

linyc@sph.com.sg

Scientists here have succeeded in using stem cellsderived from the umbilical cord lining to generatenew dopamine-producing nerve cells in mice.

People with Parkinson’s disease progressivelylose control of their movements due to a disrup-tion in the brain’s production of dopamine neu-rons, which send signals to other nerve cells.

There is currently no effective treatment.The team from the National University of Singa-

pore and the National Neuroscience Institutethinks that regenerating these neurons could pos-sibly reverse the effects of Parkinson’s.

Associate Professor Lim Kah Leong, one of thelead researchers of the study, said that if the tech-nique is successful in humans, it could be the firsttreatment to target the root cause of the disease,which afflicts three out of every 1,000 people agedover 50 here – costing each patient an estimated$11,000 in medical bills per year.

The team made use of a technique developed byNobel laureate Shinya Yamanaka to turn maturecells into “induced pluripotent stem cells” capableof turning into any cell the body needs.

It is also looking at using the same technique tocombat other neurological conditions, such asstrokes.

Samantha Boh

CellResearch – founded by (standing from left) group chief medical officer Ivor Lim, group chief executive Gavin Tan and group chief scientific officer Phan ToanThang (sitting) – is now worth $700 million and has 39 patents worldwide. ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM

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Creating new nerve cellsto treat Parkinson’s

Gene transporter totreat haemophilia

CellResearch Corp gets approval for humantrials using stem cells from cord lining

WATCH OUT

Pay close attention towhat’s emergingbefore it becomes anemergency.

’’GEVICE-CHAIRMAN BETH COMSTOCK, onthe disruption that digital technology willbringwith the Internet of Things.

S’pore poised to benefit from Internet of Things

Alternative toskin donations

CONVERGENCE KEY TO BEATING CANCER B18

Neurons grownfrom “inducedpluripotentstem cells”derived fromthe lining of ahumanumbilical cord,by a team oflocal scientistswho think thatsuchregenerationof neuronscould be usedto reverse theeffects ofParkinson’s.PHOTO:COURTESY OFLIM KAH LEONG

FDA trialfor S’porebiomedicalcompany

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