Published: Friday, October 17, 2008 - Tiffany Crawford, Canwest News Service

Stem cell scientists at the University of Toronto and Kyoto
University in Japan have teamed up to jump-start new research that
could help prolong the lives of people living with cystic fibrosis, a
fatal lung disease that suffocates thousands of young people in
Canada.

Canadian scientists were in Japan Thursday to sign a collaboration
agreement with Shinya Yamanaka, a Japanese scientist who in 2007
discovered the process of converting normal adult cells into stem
cells like those found in embryos.

The method offers scientists a way to study diseases without the
ethical dilemma of cloning human embryos by taking cells from a
patient's own skin biopsy and converting them into what they call
IPS, or induced pluripotent stem cells.

Scientists believe these IPS cells will lead to new therapies to
repair or regenerate the diseased lungs.

The process, say doctors, allows scientists to study the mechanisms
behind cystic fibrosis in the lab rather than in patients. This could
lead, in the short term, to better drugs. In the longer term, the
goal would be to replace faulty cells, thereby enabling the lungs to
function properly.

It's possible that, in the near future, doctors could use the
patient's own cells, convert them into IPS cells, which could then be
turned into new lung tissue.

Cystic fibrosis is a fatal genetic disease that affects the digestive
system and lungs, causing severe breathing problems. Life expectancy
for people with cystic fibrosis is usually between 20 and 30 years.

Dr. William Stanford, associate director of the University of
Toronto's Institute for Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, said
there are currently drugs to treat the symptoms of the disease, but
they do not address the underlying cause.

"People haven't been working on it. So people need to start work on
it. The partnership with Japan is one where we partnered with the lab
that created these (IPS) cells to share technologies and we have also
established a new facility in Toronto to make patient-specific IPS
cells," Stanford said in a telephone interview from Japan on Thursday.

"We are making cystic fibrosis IPS cells (in Toronto) right now, as
we speak."

Stanford says the collaboration with Japan will greatly speed up
development of cell-based therapies to treat conditions such as
cystic fibrosis and autism. He also said the joint research will aim
to make cell-replacement therapy -- where stem cells are transplanted
into the patient -- a reality in the future, if scientists can find a
safe way to transplant the newly replicated human cells back into the
body.

"The first stem cells were discovered in Toronto," Stanford
noted. "There is a rich history so there is a lot of synergy in just
getting together in a room."

The Japanese and Canadian scientists will meet every three months to
discuss their findings.

The Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation estimates about 3,500
children, adolescents and adults with cystic fibrosis attend
specialized clinics in Canada.