Progenitor cells secreting GDNF for the treatment of ALS

I learned about another interesting clinical trial at the regenerative therapy group meeting last week.
http://www.cirm.ca.gov/our-progress/awards/progenitor-cells-secreting-gdnf-treatment-als

In this clinical trial, scientists transplant neural progenitor cells expressing GNDF to patients with ALS, an incurable neurodegenerative disorder. What is GDNF? GDNF is a neurotrophic factor like MANF and promotes the growth of neural cells. They expect that neural progenitor cells expressing GDNF protects neuronal cell death in patients with ALS. Can we use the same strategy for MANF? We can potentially create neural progenitor cells from Wolfram syndrome patients expressing MANF and transplant them to our patients.

Thank you for taking your time to read this one. I hope you have a wonderful day.

Take care,

Fumi Urano