Researchers at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute have found that injections of cardiac stem cells might help reverse heart damage caused by Duchenne muscular dystrophy, potentially resulting in a longer life expectancy for patients with the chronic muscle-wasting disease.

The study results were presented today at a Breaking Basic Science presentation during the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in Chicago. After laboratory mice with Duchenne muscular dystrophy were infused with cardiac stem cells, the mice showed steady, marked improvement in heart function and increased exercise capacity.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which affects 1 in 3,600 boys, is a neuromuscular disease caused by a shortage of a protein called dystrophin, leading to progressive muscle weakness. Most Duchenne patients lose their ability to walk by age 12. Average life expectancy is about 25. The cause of death often is heart failure because the dystrophin deficiency leads to cardiomyopathy, a weakness of the heart muscle that makes the heart less able to pump blood and maintain a regular rhythm.

"Most research into treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients has focused on the skeletal muscle aspects of the disease, but more often than not, the cause of death has been the heart failure that affects Duchenne patients," said Eduardo Marbn, MD, PhD, director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute and study leader. "Currently, there is no treatment to address the loss of functional heart muscle in these patients."

During the past five years, the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute has become a world leader in studying the use of stem cells to regenerate heart muscle in patients who have had heart attacks. In 2009, Marbn and his team completed the world's first procedure in which a patient's own heart tissue was used to grow specialized heart stem cells. The specialized cells were then injected back into the patient's heart in an effort to repair and regrow healthy muscle in a heart that had been injured by a heart attack. Results, published in The Lancet in 2012, showed that one year after receiving the experimental stem cell treatment, heart attack patients demonstrated a significant reduction in the size of the scar left on the heart muscle.

Earlier this year, Heart Institute researchers began a new study, called ALLSTAR, in which heart attack patients are being infused with allogeneic stem cells, which are derived from donor-quality hearts.

Recently, the Heart Institute opened the nation's first Regenerative Medicine Clinic, designed to match heart and vascular disease patients with appropriate stem cell clinical trials being conducted at Cedars-Sinai and other institutions.

"We are committed to thoroughly investigating whether stem cells could repair heart damage caused by Duchenne muscular dystrophy," Marbn said.

In the study, 78 lab mice were injected with cardiac stem cells. Over the next three months, the lab mice demonstrated improved pumping ability and exercise capacity in addition to a reduction in heart inflammation. The researchers also discovered that the stem cells work indirectly, by secreting tiny fat droplets called exosomes. The exosomes, when purified and administered alone, reproduce the key benefits of the cardiac stem cells.

Marbn said the procedure could be ready for testing in human clinical studies as soon as next year. The process to grow cardiac-derived stem cells was developed by Marbn when he was on the faculty of Johns Hopkins University. Johns Hopkins has filed for a patent on that intellectual property and has licensed it to Capricor, a company in which Cedars-Sinai and Marbn have a financial interest. Capricor is providing funds for the ALLSTAR clinical trial at Cedars-Sinai.

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Cardiac stem cell therapy may heal heart damage caused by Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Sue Walters only chance of survival from leukaemiawas a stem cell transplant No one in her family matched her tissue type Doctors searched the worldwide donor register They found Nicola Gerber, a student from Mechern, near the French border

By Chloe Lambert for the Daily Mail

Published: 20:21 EST, 17 November 2014 | Updated: 04:28 EST, 18 November 2014

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When Sue Walters was diagnosed with leukaemia, she hoped that the best of medical science would be used to cure it.

What she could never have anticipated was that her life would be saved by an 18-year-old boy from a remote German village.

Sues only chance of survival was a stem cell transplant previously known as a bone marrow transplant.

What Nicola has done is amazing it really is a gift of life. If I hadnt had the transplant, it was unlikely Id have lived beyond three months,' said Sue Walters of her donor Nicola Gerber

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Donor: The German teenager who saved my life

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At last, you can feel younger, reduce cellular aging and feel full of vitality, energy, and dynamism in around 3-6 weeks with MFIII Switzerland hi-tech oral supplement formulation. MF III ( MF3) Sheep and Vegetal Placenta helps to awaken dormant cells inside the body, thereby enhancing the expression and function of existing cells, revitalizing and regenerating old and malfunctioning cells. This amazing anti-aging supplement offers what vitamins, minerals, hormones, chemicals and other typical treatments can't to worn out cells. It facilitates the processes and actual requirements for cellular functioning, mandatory for aged, hurt or sick organs and tissues to fix and regenerate, therefore providing amazing age-defying, health beauty benefits at the very same time.

Cell Treatment (or Live Cell Therapy) was first invented in an injectible form by Swiss surgeon Dr Paul Niehans in 1931. As you'll soon learn: Cell Therapy is essentially the forerunner of the better-known Human Stem Cell Therapy, which was invented in the 1960s based mostly on the principle of Cell Therapy.

Due to their intense health and beauty benefits but exceedingly high cost, Cell Therapy injections have for a while been a celebrity secret in protecting a young appearance and supporting critical health problems. Pope Pius XII was so happy with the treatment that he inducted Dr Paul Niehans, the deviser of Cell Therapy, into the Papal Academy of Science, making him the successor to the late Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin.

Many celebrities, presidents and members of the Swiss Soccer World Cup team have benefited from Cell Therapy. President Eisenhower, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and French General De Gaulle received it to maintain their powers of concentration and their physical endurance. Adenauer credited live cell therapy with giving him the energy to guide the Republic of Germany though he was more than ninety years old.

Charlie Chaplin claimed it enabled him to marry again and father kids after age seventy. Exclusive hospitals for the wealthy & famous in Switzerland have administered the Anti-Aging Cell Therapy to both western and oriental celebs, improving and lengthening their vigor and conserving their young appearance and capabilities.

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Authorized MFIII (MF3) - Cell Placenta Therapy For Anti-Aging

11 hours ago Neurons (green) are detected by TuJI whereas motoneurons are revealed in red by the visicular transporter of acetylcholine. Credit: Inserm/Martinat, Ccile

The motor neurons that innervate muscle fibres are essential for motor activity. Their degeneration in many diseases causes paralysis and often death among patients. Researchers at the Institute for Stem Cell Therapy and Exploration of Monogenic Diseases (I-Stem - Inserm/AFM/UEVE), in collaboration with CNRS and Paris Descartes University, have recently developed a new approach to better control the differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells, and thus produce different populations of motor neurons from these cells in only 14 days. This discovery, published in Nature Biotechnology, will make it possible to expand the production process for these neurons, leading to more rapid progress in understanding diseases of the motor system, such as infantile spinal amyotrophy or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Human pluripotent stem cells have the ability to give rise to every cell in the body. To understand and control their potential for differentiation in vitro is to offer unprecedented opportunities for regenerative medicine and for advancing the study of physiopathological mechanisms and the quest for therapeutic strategies. However, the development and realisation of these clinical applications is often limited by the inability to obtain specialised cells such as motor neurons from human pluripotent stem cells in an efficient and targeted manner. This inefficiency is partly due to a poor understanding of the molecular mechanisms controlling the differentiation of these cells.

Inserm researchers at the Institute for Stem Cell Therapy and Exploration of Monogenic Diseases (I-Stem - Inserm/French Muscular Dystrophy Association [AFM]/University of vry Val d'Essonne [UEVE]), in collaboration with CNRS and Paris-Descartes University, have developed an innovative approach to study the differentiation of human stem cells and thus produce many types of cells in an optimal manner.

"The targeted differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells is often a long and rather inefficient process. This is the case when obtaining motor neurons, although these are affected in many diseases. Today, we obtain these neurons with our approach in only 14 days, nearly twice as fast as before, and with a homogeneity rarely achieved," explains Ccile Martinat, an Inserm Research Fellow at I-Stem.

To achieve this result, the researchers studied the interactions between some molecules that control embryonic development. These studies have made it possible to both better understand the mechanisms governing the generation of these neurons during development, and develop an optimal "recipe" for producing them efficiently and rapidly.

"We are now able to produce and hence study different populations of neurons affected to various degrees in diseases that cause the degeneration of motor neurons. We plan to study why some neurons are affected and why others are preserved," adds Stphane Nedelec, an Inserm researcher in Ccile Martinat's team.

In the medium term, the approach should contribute to the development of treatments for paralytic diseases such as infantile spinal muscular amyotrophy or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. "Rapid access to large quantities of neurons will be useful for testing a significant number of pharmacological drugs in order to identify those capable of preventing the death of motor neurons," concludes Ccile Martinat.

Explore further: Team finds a better way to grow motor neurons from stem cells

More information: Combinatorial analysis of developmental cues efficiently converts human pluripotent stem cells into multiple neuronal subtypes, Nature Biotechnology, 17 Nov 2014. DOI: 10.1038/nbt.3049

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Production of human motor neurons from stem cells gaining speed

Stem Cell Research Therapy Explained - From MS to Spinal Injury
Stem cell treatment and research towards curing illness--from multiple sclerosis to spinal injury--is detailed by Dr. Neil Riordan. The American medical indu...

By: TheLipTV

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Stem Cell Research & Therapy Explained - From MS to Spinal Injury - Video

Stem Cell Therapy for Pets in Central Florida
http://www.NewmanVets.com Call your local Newman Veterinary Center for more information about stem cell therapy for pets. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X23bmsy0Q8 feature=youtu.be.

By: Newman Veterinary Centers

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Stem Cell Therapy for Pets in Central Florida - Video

A team led by New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute scientists conducted a study comparing induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells and embryonic stem cells created using somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). The scientists found that the cells derived from these two methods resulted in cells with highly similar gene expression and DNA methylation patterns. Both methods also resulted in stem cells with similar amounts of DNA mutations, showing that the process of turning an adult cell into a stem cell introduces mutations independent of the specific method used. This suggests that both methods of producing stem cells need to be further investigated before determining their suitability for the development of new therapies for chronic diseases.

The NYSCF Research Institute is one of the only laboratories in the world that currently pursues all forms of stem cell research including SCNT and iPS cell techniques for creating stem cells. The lack of laboratories attempting SCNT research was one of the reasons that the NYSCF Research Institute was established in 2006.

"We do not yet know which technique will allow scientists to create the best cells for new cellular therapies," said Susan L. Solomon, NYSCF CEO and co-founder. "It is critical to pursue both SCNT and iPS cell techniques in order to accelerate research and bring new treatments to patients."

While both techniques result in pluripotent stem cells, or cells that can become any type of cell in the body, the two processes are different. SCNT consists of replacing the nucleus of a human egg cell or oocyte with the nucleus of an adult cell, resulting in human embryonic stem cells with the genetic material of the adult cell. In contrast, scientists create iPS cells by expressing a few key genes in adult cells, like a skin or blood cell, causing the cells to revert to an embryonic-like state. These differences in methods could, in principle, result in cells with different properties. Advances made earlier this year by NYSCF Research Institute scientists that showed that human embryonic stem cells could be derived using SCNT revived that debate.

"Our work shows that we now have two methods for the generation of a patient's personal stem cells, both with great potential for the development of treatments of chronic diseases. Our work will also be welcome news for the many scientists performing basic research on iPS cells. It shows that they are likely working with cells that are very similar to human embryonic stem cells, at least with regard to gene expression and DNA methylation. How the finding of mutations might affect clinical use of stem cells generated from adult cells is the subject of an ongoing debate," said Dr. Dieter Egli, NYSCF Senior Research Fellow, NYSCF -- Robertson Investigator, Assistant Professor in Pediatrics & Molecular Genetics at Columbia University, and senior author on the paper.

The study, published today in Cell Stem Cell, compared cell lines derived from the same sources using the two differing techniques, specifically contrasting the frequency of genetic coding mutations seen and measuring how closely the stem cells matched the embryonic state through the analysis of DNA methylation and of gene expression patterns. The scientists showed that both methods resulted in cell types that were similar with regard to gene expression and DNA methylation patterns. This suggested that both methods were effective in turning a differentiated cell into a stem cell.

The scientists also showed that cells derived using both SCNT and iPS techniques showed similar numbers of genetic coding mutations, implying that neither technique is superior in that regard. A similar number of changes in DNA methylation at imprinted genes (genes that are methylated differentially at the maternal versus the paternal allele) were also found. It is important to note that both types of techniques led to cells that had more of these aberrations than embryonic stem cells derived from an unfertilized human oocyte, or than embryonic stem cells derived from leftover IVF embryos. These findings suggest that a small number of defects are inherent to the generation of stem cells from adult differentiated cells and occur regardless of the method used.

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by New York Stem Cell Foundation. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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SCNT derived cells, IPS cells are similar, study finds

JANUARY 2014 State of the Industry Briefing at EBD's Biotech Showcase Jan 13. San Francisco, CA EBD's Biotech Showcase: Regenerative Medicine Industry Track Jan 13-15. San Francisco, CA ECI's Conference on Scale-Up and Manufacturing of Cell-Based Therapies Jan 6-9. San Diego, CA International Conference on Cell Therapy for Cardiovascular Disease Jan 22-24. New York, NY Phacilitate's Cell and Gene Therapy Forum Jan 27-29. Washington, DC FEBRUARY 2014 RRY's New York Stem Cell Summit Feb 18. New York, NY STEMSO's International Stem Cell Society Conference Feb 19-22. Freeport, Grand Bahama BMT Tandem Meetings Feb 26-Mar.Grapevine (Dallas), TX MARCH 2014 Danish Stem Cell Symposium Mar 7-8. Hillerd, Denmark ISBioTech Spring Mtg - Cellular Therapies Track Mar 10-12. Washington, DC AAT's Advanced Therapies Summit Mar 12-13. Turin, Italy ISSCR/SBE International Conference on Stem Cell Engineering Mar 16-19. Coronado, CA Congress on Stem Cell and Cell Therapies Mar 2023. Koceli, Turkey FDA and the Changing Paradigm for HCT/P Regulation Mar 24-26. Bethesda, MD BIRAXs' UK-Israel Regenerative Medicine Conference Mar 25-26. Haifa, Israel ARM's RegenMed Investor Day Mar 26. New York, NY. Regenerative Medicine Workshop at Hilton Head Mar 26-29 . Hilton Head, SC Cancer Immunotherapy: A Long-Awaited Reality Mar 27. NYC, NY. FDA Workshop: Synergizing Efforts in Standards Development for Cellular Therapies and Regenerative Medicine Public Mar 31. Silver Spring, MD.

APRIL 2014 Select Biosciences' Clinical Translation of Stem Cells Apr 21-22. Palm Springs, AZ ISCT Annual Meeting Apr 23-26. Paris, France GTCBio's Stem Cell Summit Apr 23-25. Boston, MA ARMs Annual Dinner & Legislative Fly-In Apr 28-9. Washington, DC.

MAY 2014 GeneExpression Systems' Stem Cells and Cell Signaling Mtg on Assays to Regenerative Medicine, Tissue Engineering and Therapeutics May 5-6. Waltham-Boston, MA Regenerative Medicine Foundation Symposium May 5-7. San Francisco, CA CHIsAdoptive T Cell Therapy:New Targets and Strategies for Immune Driven Diseases (part of the Tenth Annual PEGS: the essential protein engineering summit) May 7-8. Boston, MA ASGCT - American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy Mtg May 21-24. Washington, DC Terrapinn's World Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Congress May 20-22. London, UK JUNE 2014 PDA Europe: Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products Jun 3-4. Madrid, Spain The Orthobiologic Institute's PRP and Regenerative Medicine Symposium Jun 6-7. Los Angeles, CA Israstem Jun 10-11. Ramat, Gan. Israel TERMIS EU Mtg Jun 10-14. Genova, Italy ISSCR - International Society for Stem Cell Research Mtg Jun 18-21. Vancouver, BC, Canada Cell Tracking Symposium June 20. London, ON

BIO International Convention(with BPI BioProcess Theater) Jun 23-26. San Diego, CA ARM Networking Reception @BIO June 24. San Diego, CA OMIC'sCell Science and Stem Cell Research Jun 24-26. Valencia, Spain JULY 2014 The Business of Regenerative Medicine: New Therapies, New Models July 14-16. Toronto, ON Regenerative Medicine Essentials: The Fundamentals to the Future. July 21-25.Winston-Salem, NC

AUGUST 2014 CHI'sCell Therapy Bioproduction (part of the Bioprocessing Summit) Aug 18-22. Boston, MA Rejuvenation Biotechnology: Emerging Regenerative Medicine Solutions for the Diseases of Aging conference Aug 21-23. Santa Clara, CA.

SEPTEMBER 2014 Terrapinn's Stem Cells USA and Regenerative Medicine Congress Sep 15-16. Boston, MA IBC's Cell Therapy Bioprocessing Sep 15-16. Arlington, VA TERMIS Asia Pacific Mtg Sep 24-17. Daegu, S. Korea

OCTOBER 2014 Cancer Immunotherapy 2014 Oct. 6. New York City, NY ARM's Stem Cell Meeting on the Mesa Oct 7-9. La Jolla, CA Fraunhofer Life Science Symposium"Medicinal Stem Cell Products Oct 9-10. Leipzig, Germany Translational Regenerative Medicine Congress Oct 21-22. Leipzig, Germany CCRM-SCN Till and McCulloch Meetings Oct 27-29. Ottawa, ON, Canada OMICS' International Conference and Exhibition on Cell and Gene Therapy Oct 27-29. Las Vegas, NV

NOVEMBER 2014 ISSCR/SSCS Global Controls in Stem Cells Nov 5-7, 2014. Singapore Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Annual Meeting Nov 6-9. National Harbor, MD International Conference on Stem Cells and Cancer (ICSCC-2014): Proliferation, Differentiation and Apoptosis Nov 8-10. New Delhi, India IFATS Annual Mtg Nov 13-16. Amsterdam, NL BIT's World Congress of Regenerative Medicine & Stem Cells (RMSC2014) Nov 13-16.Haikou, China Commercial Translation of Regenerative Medicine Nov/Dec ??. London, UK DECEMBER 2014 Cell Therapy Manufacturing Dec 3-4. Brussels, Belgium World Stem Cell Summit Dec 3-5. San Antonio, TX TERMIS Americas Mtg Dec 13-16. Washington, DC If I've missed an event you'd like to see added, please email me at lbuckler [at] celltherapygroup [dot] com.

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Cell Therapy Blog: Cell Therapy Conferences 2014

Nonsurgical pain management for joint arthritis, such as in the knee, shoulder or hip, has so far consisted predominantly of pain suppressing medicines. This usually entails steroid injections, topical analgesic creams and medications by mouth such as anti-inflammatory medications. What has really been necessary, though, is a treatment that truly alters the underlying problem.

Stem Cells are like a blank slate and can differentiate into all types of cells for regeneration.

Regenerative medicine provides the opportunity for a real cure with stem cells, platelet rich plasma and growth factors to heal damage. One of the foremost procedures at TeleHealth Medical Group that continues to increase in popularity is bone marrow derived stem cell injections. A persons own bone marrow contains a substantial amount of the stem cells and additional biologic materials necessary for regeneration, with the added benefit of being low risk and outpatient.

What are bone marrow derived stem cell injections?

The main reason that stem cells are used as therapy for arthritis and other conditions that experience joint pain is that they maintain regenerative properties with the potential to repair and reverse damaged joints.

Bone marrow is a spongy tissue contained inside ones bones, and makes cells that are crucial to existence including platelets, white blood cells and red blood cells. All of these cells start in the marrow as stem cells, which are basically a blank slate type of cell. With a blank slate, the cell can then turn into many different types of cells needed in the body including cartilage, tendon or muscle. There are three types of adult stem cells in the human body. The first type of stem cell turns into blood components, with a second destined to become lining of the endometrium.

The third, and most important for musculoskeletal regenerative medicine, are mesenchymal stem cells found in bone marrow. They have been used in animal models to regenerate cartilage and in human models to regenerate bone. (Centeno et al, 2008)

The largest and easiest sources of stem cells for concentrated amounts of bone marrow are in the iliac crest of the hip and the bones of the spine. For the easiest process at TeleHealth, the iliac crest is used for the procedures in an outpatient setting.

Harvesting bone marrow from the iliac crest hip bone.

How are these injections performed?

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Bone Marrow Stem Cell Injections, Mesenchymal Stem Cell ...

Cellular Dynamics International(CDI) is getting a $1.2 million contract from the National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, as part of an effort to fight macular degeneration, a condition that leads to loss of vision.

By reprogramming skin and blood samples from patients with age-related macular degeneration, CDI will create induced pluripotent stem cells and will turn them into human retina cells. The cells will be put back into the patient's eyes to treat the disorder.

Ten patients have been chosen for a pilot study of the process by the National Eye Institute, CDI said.

The Madison company said the process, called autologous cellular therapy, will be the first in the U.S. using a patient's own reprogrammed cells.

Publicly traded CDI was founded by UW-Madison stem cell pioneer James Thomson in 2004 and manufactures large quantities of human stem cells for drug discovery, safety screening and for stem cell banks.

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Cellular Dynamics receives contract to make eye cells

Few diseases are as terrifying as Huntington's, an inherited genetic disorder that gradually saps away at sufferers' muscle control and cognitive capacity until they die (usually some 20 or so years after initial symptoms). But scientists at Washington University School of Medicine may have provided a new glimmer of hope by converting human skin cells (which are much more readily available than stem cells) directly into a specific type of brain cell that is affected by Huntington's.

This new method differs from another technique devised at the University of Rochester last year in that it bypasses any intermediary steps rather than first reverting the cells to pluripotent stem cells, it does the conversion in a single phase.

To reprogram the adult human skin cells, the researchers created an environment that closely mimics that of brain cells. Exposure to two types of microRNA, miR-9 and miR-124, changes the cells into a mix of different types of neurons. "We think that the microRNAs are really doing the heavy lifting," said co-first author Matheus Victor, although the team admits that the precise machinations remain a mystery.

Huntington's disease especially affects medium spiny neurons, which are involved in initiating and controlling movement and can be found in a part of the basal ganglia called the corpus striatum. This part of the brain also contains proteins called transcription factors, which control the rate at which genetic information is copied from DNA to messenger RNA.

By exposing human skin cells (top) to a combination of microRNAs and transcription factors, the researchers were able to create medium spiny neurons (bottom) (Image: Yoo Lab/Washington University at St Louis)

The researchers fine-tuned the chemical signals fed into the skin cells as they were exposed to the microRNAs, with the transcription factors guiding the cells to become medium spiny neurons. Different transcription factors would produce different types of neurons, they believe, but not without the microRNAs which appear to be the crucial component, as cells exposed to transcription factors alone failed to become neurons.

When transplanted into the brains of mice, the converted cells survived at least six months while showing functional and morphological properties similar to native neurons. They have not yet been tested in mice with a model of Huntington's disease to see if this has any effect on the symptoms.

The research will nonetheless contribute to scientific understanding of the cellular properties associated with Huntington's, regardless of whether this new method leads directly to a treatment or cure.

A paper describing the research is available in the journal Neuron.

Source: Washington University in St Louis

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Converting skin cells directly into brain cells advances fight against Huntington's disease

KYOTO A team of Japanese researchers has successfully created cardiac tissue sheets generated from human induced pluripotent stem cells, according to a study in the online British journal Scientific Reports.

The team said it is the first time iPS cells have produced an integrated cardiac tissue sheet that includes vascular cells as well as cardiac muscle cells and is close to real tissue in structure.

The stem cell team, led by Kyoto University professor Jun Yamashita, hopes the achievement will contribute to the development of new treatments for heart disease, because it has already found evidence that transplanting the sheets into mice with failing hearts improves in their cardiac condition.

The team used a protein called VEGF, which is related to the growth of blood vessels, as a replacement for the Dkk1 protein previously used to create cardiac muscle sheets from iPS cells.

As a result, iPS cells were simultaneously differentiated to become cardiac muscle cells, vascular mural cells, and the endothelial cells that line the interior surface of blood vessels. The cells were cultivated into a sheet about 1 cm in diameter.

Three-layer cardiac tissue sheets were then transplanted into nine mice with dead or damaged heart muscle caused by heart attacks. In four of the mice, blood vessels formed in the area where the sheets were transplanted, leading to improved cardiac function.

The weak point of iPS cells is that there is a risk of developing cancer, but the cells did not become cancerous within two months of transplantation, the team said.

About 72 percent of the cardiac tissue sheet was made of cardiac muscle cells, while 26 percent of it consisted of endothelial cells as well as vascular mural cells. But the sheet contained a small portion of cells that had not changed, leading the team to call attention to the possibility that a cancerous change might take place over the longer term.

Yamashita said in the study that he believed the new form of cardiac sheets attached well.

Oxygen and nourishment were able to reach cardiac muscle through blood because there were blood vessels, he said.

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Japanese team develops cardiac tissue sheet from human iPS cells

The clones are coming! The clones are coming! (Maybe.) Doctors have grown a retina in a petri dish using stem cells from a 70-year-old patients skin and successfully transplanted the retina to her eye at Japan's Riken Center for Developmental Biology.

This marks the first time a transplanted organ was grown from skin cells from the recipient and not an embryo, The Globe and Mail reports. Until now, scientists have been mired in a debate regarding the use of embryonic stem cells to create transplant tissue. Using a patients own adult stem cells avoids that controversy and also reduces the chance the patient could reject the transplant.

Stem cells hold the promise of curing many diseases, including macular degeneration and Parkinsons.

However, there are risks associated with using adult stem cells. Scientists must turn regular adult cells into dividing cells, and there is concern that cells could turn cancerous after transplant. You only need one stem cell left in the graft that could lead to cancer, Dr. Janet Rossant told the The Globe and Mail. Rossant is chief of research at Torontos Hospital for Sick Children and past president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research.

The Riken Center for Developmental Biology has also been in the news lately because its deputy director committed suicide following accusations of scientific misconduct and the retraction of two papers (unrelated to this stem-cell procedure) that were published in the journal Nature.

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Doctors Use Adult (Not Embryonic) Stem Cells To Grow And Implant Petri-Dish Retina

Stem Cell Therapy Help Buddy the Beagle
Buddy the beagle wasn #39;t able to walk when he first arrived at the University of Minnesota Veterinary Medical Center. With the help of the Veterinary Medical ...

By: UMN Health

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Stem Cell Therapy Help Buddy the Beagle - Video

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. A man paralyzed from the chest down in a knife attack is walking again after undergoing surgery using cells responsible for the sense of smell, marking an advance in the search for treatments for spinal injuries.

Darek Fidyka, 38, received the cells after failing to recover from a stabbing in the back in 2010, according to University College London, whose doctors developed the procedure. The technique involves using olfactory ensheathing cells and placing them in the spinal cord.

The study gives hope to the thousands of people each year who suffer a severe spinal cord injury and must live the rest of their lives with permanently damaged body functions. Such injuries typically occur during sports or automobile crashes and there is no approved treatment to repair them.

We have now opened the door to a treatment of spinal cord injury that will get patients out of wheelchairs, said Geoff Raisman, chairman of neural regeneration at the UCL Institute of Neurology and leader of the U.K. research team. Our goal now is to develop this first procedure to a point where it can be rolled out as a worldwide general approach.

The cells used were discovered by Raisman in 1985 and were shown to work in treating spinal injuries in rats in 1997. They allow nerve cells that give people their sense of smell to grow back when they are damaged. The procedure on Fidyka was performed by surgeons at Wroclaw University Hospital in Poland.

For the treatment, Fidyka underwent brain surgery to remove an olfactory bulb, a structure responsible for the sense of smell. The bulb was placed in a cell culture for two weeks to produce olfactory cells, which were injected into the spinal cord along with four strips of nerve tissue taken from the ankle. The strips formed bridges for the spinal nerve fibers to grow across, with the aid of the cells.

Three months after the surgery, Fidykas left thigh muscle began to grow and after six months he was starting to walk within the rehabilitation center with the help of a physiotherapist and leg braces, according to UCL. His bladder sensation and sexual function have also improved.

The research, funded by the UK Stem Cell Foundation and the Nicholls Spinal Injury Foundation, was published in the Cell Transplantation journal. Further studies in patients are planned.

Its as if you were born again, the patient, who can now walk using a walker, said in a statement from University College London.

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Man walks again after nose cells put in spine

A man paralyzed from the chest down in a knife attack is walking again after undergoing surgery using cells responsible for the sense of smell, marking an advance in the search for treatments for spinal injuries.

Darek Fidyka, 38, received the cells after failing to recover from a stabbing in the back in 2010, according to University College London, whose doctors developed the procedure. The technique involves using olfactory ensheathing cells and placing them in the spinal cord.

The study gives hope to the thousands of people each year who suffer a severe spinal cord injury and must live the rest of their lives with permanently damaged body functions. Such injuries typically occur during sports or automobile crashes and there is no approved treatment to repair them.

We have now opened the door to a treatment of spinal cord injury that will get patients out of wheelchairs, said Geoff Raisman, chairman of neural regeneration at the UCL Institute of Neurology and leader of the U.K. research team. Our goal now is to develop this first procedure to a point where it can be rolled out as a worldwide general approach.

The cells used were discovered by Raisman in 1985 and were shown to work in treating spinal injuries in rats in 1997. They allow nerve cells that give people their sense of smell to grow back when they are damaged. The procedure on Fidyka was performed by surgeons at Wroclaw University Hospital in Poland.

For the treatment, Fidyka underwent brain surgery to remove an olfactory bulb, a structure responsible for the sense of smell. The bulb was placed in a cell culture for two weeks to produce olfactory cells, which were injected into the spinal cord along with four strips of nerve tissue taken from the ankle. The strips formed bridges for the spinal nerve fibers to grow across, with the aid of the cells.

Three months after the surgery, Fidykas left thigh muscle began to grow and after six months he was starting to walk within the rehabilitation center with the help of a physiotherapist and leg braces, according to UCL. His bladder sensation and sexual function have also improved.

This technology has been confined to labs, so its promising to see that it may have helped someone recover from a clean cut through the spinal cord, said Jeremy Fairbank, a professor of spine surgery at the University of Oxford who wasnt involved in the research.

The next question is what sort of clinical experiments must be done to prove that this works, Fairbank said. I suspect it will take years until there is a practical way of doing this.

The research, funded by the UK Stem Cell Foundation and the Nicholls Spinal Injury Foundation, was published in the Cell Transplantation journal. Further studies in patients are planned by UCL and Wroclaw University Hospital, according to Michael Hanna, director of the UCL Institute of Neurology.

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Paralyzed Man Walks Again After Nose Cells Are Placed in Spine

Bone Marrow-Derived Stem Cell Prolotherapy
Stem Cell Prolotherapy is a procedure in which adult mesenchymal stem cells are transplanted directly into the damaged tissue or injury and promotes healing....

By: Kab S. Hong M.D.

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Bone Marrow-Derived Stem Cell Prolotherapy - Video

While megakaryocytes are best known for producing platelets that heal wounds, these "mega" cells found in bone marrow also play a critical role in regulating stem cells according to new research from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research. In fact, hematopoietic stem cells differentiate to generate megakaryocytes in bone marrow. The Stowers study is the first to show that hematopoietic stem cells (the parent cells) can be directly controlled by their own progeny (megakaryocytes).

The findings from the lab of Stowers Investigator Linheng Li, Ph.D., described in the Oct. 19 issue of the journal Nature Medicine, could cause researchers to rethink what they know about the workings of megakaryocytes and potentially lead to new treatments for patients recovering from chemotherapy or organ transplantation.

"Our results suggest that megakaryocytes might be used clinically to facilitate adult stem cell regeneration and to expand cultured cells for adult stem cell transplants," says Meng Zhao, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at Stowers and lead author on the study. Stowers researchers discovered that megakaryocytes directly regulate the function of murine hematopoietic stem cells -- adult stem cells that form blood and immune cells and that constantly renew the body's blood supply. These cells can also develop into all types of blood cells, including white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets.

Because of their remarkable ability to renew themselves and differentiate into other cells, hematopoietic stems cells are the focus of intense research and have been used to treat many diseases and conditions. The transplantation of isolated human hematopoietic stem cells is used in the treatment of anemia, immune deficiencies and other diseases, including cancer.

Basic research has centered on identifying and characterizing hematopoietic stem cells, however, it is still not clear how hematopoietic stem cells actually work, and how they are regulated because of the complexity of the bone marrow microenvironment. Zhao and his colleagues discovered that as a terminally differentiated progeny, megakaryocytes regulate hematopoietic stem cells by performing two previously unknown functions.

"Megakaryocytes can directly regulate the amount of hematopoietic stem cells by telling the cells when they need to keep in the quiescent stage, and when they need to start proliferating to meet increased demand." Maintaining that delicate balance is important, he adds. "You don't want to have too many or too few hematopoietic stem cells."

These findings are supported by similar research from the laboratory of Paul S. Frenette, Ph.D., at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, also reported in the Oct. 19 issue of Nature Medicine.

Employing the advanced technology of the Institute's Cytometry, Imaging and Histology centers, the researchers examined the relationship between megakaryocytes and hematopoietic stem cells in mouse bone marrow. In the course of their research, they found that the protein transforming growth factor B1 (TGF-B1), contained in megakaryocytes, signaled quiescence of hematopoietic stem cells. They also found that when under stress from chemotherapy, megakaryocytes signaled fibroblast growth factor 1 (FGF1), to stimulate the proliferation of hematopoietic stem cells.

"Our findings suggest that megakaryocytes are required for the recovery of hematopoietic stem cells post chemotherapy," explains Li. The discovery could provide insight for using megakaryocyte-derived factors, such as TGF-B1 and FGF1, clinically to facilitate regeneration of hematopoietic stem cells, he adds.

Engineering a megakaryocyte niche (a special environment in which stem cells live and renew) that supports the growth of hematopoietic stem cells in culture, is the next step for the researchers. Zhao and his colleagues are also investigating whether a megakaryocyte niche can be used to help expand human hematopoietic stem cells in vitro and stem cell transplantation for patients.

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'Mega' cells control growth of blood-producing cells

Many stem cells live a life of monotony, biding their time until theyre needed to repair tissue damage or propel the growth of a developing embryo. But when the time is right, they must spring into action without hesitation. Like Clark Kent in a phone booth, they fling aside their former identity to become the needed skin, muscle, bone or other cell types.

Now researchers at Stanford, Harvard and the University of California-Los Angeles have learned that embryonic stem cells in mice and humans chemically tag RNA messages encoding key stem-cell genes. The tags tell the cell not to let the messages linger, but to degrade them quickly. Getting rid of those messages allows the cells to respond more nimbly to their new marching orders. As dermatology professor Howard Chang, MD, PhD, explained to me in an email:

Until now, weve not fully understood how RNA messages within the cell dissipate. In many cases, it was thought to be somewhat random. This research shows that embryonic stem cells actively tag RNA messages that they may later need to forget. In the absence of this mechanism, the stem cells are never able to forget they are stem cells. They are stuck and cannot become brain, heart or gut, for example.

Chang, who is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and a member of the Stanford Cancer Institute, is a co-senior author of a paper describing the research, which was published today in Cell Stem Cell. He shares senior authorship with Yi Xing, PhD, an associate professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics at UCLA, and Cosmas Giallourakis, MD, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard. Lead authorship is shared by postdoctoral scholars Pedro Batista, PhD, of Stanford, and Jinkai Wang, PhD, of UCLA; and by senior research fellow Benoit Molinie, PhD, of Harvard.

Messenger RNAs are used to convey information from the genes in a cells nucleus to protein-making factories in the cytoplasm. They carry the instructions necessary to assemble the hundreds of thousands of individual proteins that do the work of the cell. When, where and how long each protein is made is a carefully orchestrated process that controls the fate of the cell. For example, embryonic stem cells, which can become any cell in the body, maintain their stemness through the ongoing production of proteins known to confer pluripotency, a term used to describe how these cells can become any cell in the body.

The researchers, who knew that cells sometimes mark their RNA messages with chemical tags called methyl groups, were particularly interested in one type of methyl tag called m6A. Although the process of tagging the RNA is somewhat similar to how DNA is modified to control gene expression, it has not been clear exactly how these RNA tags function in development. On DNA, the chemical tags serve to help a cell remember which genes to express at particular times signaling a skin cell to preferentially make collagen and keratin, for example, rather than digestive enzymes or hormones. The study of these tags on DNA is called epigenetics.

When the researchers compared m6A patterns among thousands of RNA molecules in mouse and human embryonic stem cells, they found striking similarities between the organisms. Often key pluripotency genes were methylated at particular points along their length; these messages were degraded more quickly than unmethylated RNA molecules. Blocking the methylation mechanism in the embryonic stem cells, the researchers found, not only protected the pluripotency messages from degradation, but it also made it more difficult for the cells to respond appropriately to external cues and significantly slowed their ability to differentiate into other cell types.

The researchers concluded that its necessary for the cells to be able to quickly degrade those key RNA messages. If no differentiation is necessary, the cells simply replenish the messages by repeatedly copying them from the DNA. However, if a change in fate is needed, the cell can quickly shut down RNA production and any remaining messages will be rapidly destroyed. As Chang explained, This research is conceptually groundbreaking because it reveals an anti-epigenetic mechanism that works to keep genetic messages transient. In contrast to epigenetic mechanisms that provide cellular memory of gene expression states, m6A helps the cells to forget the past and embrace the future.

Previously: Epigenetics: the hoops genes jump through, Caught in the act! Fast, cheap, high-resolution, easy way to tell which genes a cell is using, and Red light, green light: Simultaneous stop and go signals on stem cells genes may enable fast activation, provide aging clock

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The politics of destruction: Short-lived RNA helps stem ...

Posted: Tuesday, October 14, 2014, 7:00 PM

TUESDAY, Oct. 14, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- A new study is the first to show the long-term safety of embryonic stem cell transplants to treat human disease.

The research involved 18 people who received the transplants to treat forms of macular degeneration, a leading cause of vision loss.

The transplants, which restored some sight in more than half of the patients, appeared safe up to three years after the procedure.

The study, funded by a U.S.-based company called Advanced Cell Technology, was published Oct. 14 in The Lancet.

"Embryonic stem cells have the potential to become any cell type in the body, but transplantation has been complicated by problems," lead author Dr. Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer at Advanced Cell Technology, said in a journal news release. Those problems include the rejection of the transplanted cells by the patient's immune system, as well as the danger that the cells might spur certain types of cancers called teratomas.

A teratoma is a type of cancer that occurs when stem cells develop into multiple types of cells and form incompatible tissues that can include teeth and hair.

As Lanza explained, because of these issues, scientists interested in embryonic stem cell therapy have tended to focused on sites in the body that typically do not produce a strong immune response. The eye is one such spot.

In the new study, human embryonic stem cells were first prompted to develop into eye cells called retinal pigment epithelial cells. They were then transplanted into nine people with Stargardt's macular dystrophy, and another nine with dry atrophic age-related macular degeneration.

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Embryonic Stem Cell Therapy Shows Long-Term Effectiveness, Safety