Alain CHAPEL
Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), France
Biography
For 25 years, he has been developing gene and cell therapy using non-human primates, immune-tolerant mice and rats to protect against the side effects of radiation. He collaborates with clinicians to develop strategies for treatment of patients after radiotherapy overexposures. He has participated in the first establishment of proof of concept of the therapeutic efficacy of Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for the treatment of hematopoietic deficit, radiodermatitis and over dosages of radiotherapy. He has contributed to the first reported correction of deficient hematopoiesis in patients (graft failure and aplastic anemia) thanks to intravenous injection of MSCs restoring the bone marrow microenvironment, mandatory to sustain hematopoiesis after total body irradiation. He is scientific investigator of Clinical phase II trial evaluating the efficacy of systemic MSC injections for the treatment of severe and chronic radiotherapy-induced abdomino-pelvic complications refractory to standard therapy (NCT02814864, Hirsch Index 27)