MemberI suppose the UCMSC's that they received could be because of that, but would there be a permanent functional effect from anti-inflammatory actions alone? Also, they now offer IPSC's which are supposed to differentiate into whatever cells are needed, but the question there is 1) when delivered systemically, do they properly target the cochlea; and 2) once in the cochlea, do they appropriately differentiate into the needed cells?
I asked SC21: Is your clinic able to induce IPSC's to differentiate into otic epithelial progenitors? How is it that you intend to fix hearing loss? I don't invest much faith in systemic administration of stem cells to reach the cochlea, where very little blood circulation occurs.
Based on an excerpt from this study, which again bolsters the credibility of FX-322's mechanism of action:
"Human urinary cells isolated from a healthy donor were reprogramed to form iPSCs that were induced to differentiate into OEPs and hair cell-like cells... In vivo, OEPs derived from iPSCs were transplanted into the cochlea of mice by injection through the round window... induced hair cell-like cells displayed typical morphological characteristics and electrophysiological properties specific to inner hair cells. In vitro, OEP-derived hair cell-like cells formed synaptic connections with SGNs in coculture. In vivo, some of the transplanted cellsmigrated to the site of the resident hair cells in the organ of Corti, differentiated into hair cell-like cells, and formed synaptic connections with native SGNs."
