For the first time, cloning technologies have been used to generate stem cells that are genetically matched to adult patients.

Fear not: No legitimate scientist is in the business of cloning humans. But cloned embryos can be used as a source for stem cells that match a patient and can produce any cell type in that person.

Researchers in two studies published this month have created human embryos for this purpose. Usually an embryo forms when sperm fertilizes egg; in this case, scientists put the nucleus of an adult skin cell inside an egg, and that reconstructed egg went through the initial stages of embryonic development.

"This is a dream that we've had for 15 years or so in the stem cell field," said John Gearhart, director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Gearhart first proposed this approach for patient-specific stem cell generation in the 1990s but was not involved in the recent studies.

Stem cells have the potential to develop into any kind of tissue in the human body. From growing organs to treating diabetes, many future medical advances are hoped to arise from stem cells.

Scientists wrote in the journal Cell Stem Cell this month that they used skin cells from a man, 35, and another man, 75, to create stem cells from cloned embryos.

"We reaffirmed that it is possible to produce patient-specific stem cells using a nuclear transfer technology regardless of the patient's age," said co-lead author Young Gie Chung at the CHA Stem Cell Institute in Seoul, South Korea.

On Monday, an independent group led by scientists at the New York Stem Cell Foundation Research Institute published results in Nature using a similar approach. They used skin cells from a 32-year-old woman with Type 1 diabetes to generate stem cells matched to her.

Both new reports follow the groundbreaking research published last year by Shoukhrat Mitalipov and colleagues at Oregon Health & Science University in the journal Cell. In that study, researchers produced cloned embryos and stem cells using skin cells from a fetus and an 8-month-old baby.

"It's a remarkable process that gives us these master cells, these stems cells that are essentially the seeds for all of the tissues in our bodies," said George Daley, director of the Stem Cell Transplantation Program at Boston Children's Hospital, who was not involved in the recent studies. "That's why it's so important for medical research."

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Cloning used to make stem cells from adults

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The King Abdullah International Medical Research Center (KAIMRC) recently joined a conference on stem cell research and its application science and medicine, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The conference, which was organized by the Health Affairs at the National Guard, unveiled the latest discoveries and findings made by researchers at the stem cell and regenerative medicine unit at KAIMRC, the agency said. The conference was attended by several experts on stem cell research representing Saudi Arabia, the United States, Britain, France, Sweden, Italy, Australia and New Zealand. Ahmed Al-Askar, CEO of KAIMRC, said stem cell research is a broad topic that sheds light on how to best exploit human cells to treat diseases for certain organs, such as the liver, kidney or nerves. He said the current use of stem cells is centered on plantation for the treatment of certain types of leukemia, cancer and genetic diseases. Since its inception three years ago, the center has transplanted 200 cells following the creation of a program for transplanting stem cells in children and adults, he said. Saudi Arabia has the sole stem cell donation registry in Arab countries, compared with 60 cells donation registries globally, he said. The Saudi stem cell donation center is meant to attract potential donors from Arab countries, he said. We have had 5,000 donors so far. He said some 400 scientists and experts are working at the center, while another 40 physicians have been dispatched on scholarships to acquire training and specialization. Al-Askar expressed optimism over the future of stem cell use and its contribution to the treatment of a variety of diseases, such as diabetes, cancer, pulmonary and hepatic fibrosis and neurological and cardiovascular disorders.

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Conference to shed light on latest stem cell applications

Cell lines made by two separate teams could boost the prospects of patient-specific therapies

This colony of embryonic stem cells, created from a type 1 diabetes patient, is one of the first to be cloned from an adult human. Credit:Bjarki Johannesson, NYSCF

Two research groups have independently produced human embryonic stem-cell lines from embryos cloned from adult cells. Their success could reinvigorate efforts to use such cells to make patient-specific replacement tissues for degenerative diseases, for example to replace pancreatic cells in patients with type 1 diabetes. But further studies will be needed before such cells can be tested as therapies.

The first stem-cell lines from cloned human embryos were reported in May last year by a team led by reproductive biology specialist Shoukhrat Mitalipov of the Oregon Health & Science University in Beaverton (see 'Human stem cells created by cloning'). Those cells carried genomes taken from fetal cells or from cells of an eight-month-old baby, and it was unclear whether this would be possible using cells from older individuals. (Errors were found in Mitalipov's paper, but were not deemed to affect the validity of its results.)

Now two teams have independently announced success. On 17 April, researchers led by Young Gie Chung and Dong Ryul Lee at the CHA University in Seoul reported inCell Stem Cellthat they had cloned embryonic stem-cell (ES cell) lines made using nuclei from two healthy men, aged 35 and 75. And in a paper published onNature's website today, a team led by regenerative medicine specialist Dieter Egli at the New York Stem Cell Foundation Research Institute describes ES cells derived from a cloned embryo containing the DNA from a 32-year-old woman with type 1 diabetes. The researchers also succeeded in differentiating these ES cells into insulin-producing cells.

Nuclear transfer To produce the cloned embryos, all three groups used an optimized version of the laboratory technique called somatic-cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), where the nucleus from a patient's cell is placed into an unfertilized human egg which has been stripped of its own nucleus. This reprograms the cell into an embryonic state. SCNT was the technique used to create the first mammal cloned from an adult cell, Dolly the sheep, in 1996.

The studies show that the technique works for adult cells and in multiple labs, marking a major step. It's important for several reasons, says Robin Lovell-Badge, a stem-cell biologist at the MRC National Institute for Medical Research in London.

At present, studies to test potential cell therapies derived from ES cells are more likely to gain regulatory approval than those testing therapies derived from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which are made by adding genes to adult cells to reprogram them to an embryonic-like state. Compared with iPS cells, ES cells are less variable, says Lovell-Badge. Therapies for spinal-cord injury and eye disease using non-cloned ES cells have already been tested in human trials. But while many ES cell lines have been made using embryos left over from fertility treatments, stem cells made from cloned adult cells are genetically matched to patients and so are at less risk of being rejected when transplanted.

Ethically fraught Lovell-Badge says cloned embryos could also be useful in other ways, in particular to improve techniques for reprogramming adult cells and to study cell types unique to early-stage embryos, such as those that go on to form the placenta.

Few, however, expect a huge influx of researchers making stem cells from cloned human embryos. The technique is expensive, technically difficult and ethically fraught. It creates an embryo only for the purpose of harvesting its cells. Obtaining human eggs also requires regulatory clearance to perform an invasive procedure on healthy young women, who are paid for their time and discomfort.

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Stem Cells Made from Cloned Human Embryos

Stem cell therapies work as a complement to standard treatments, potentially cutting the number of deaths after a year, suggests evidence from the latest Cochrane review: Stem cell therapy for chronic ischaemic heart disease and congestive heart failure. Taking stem cells from a patients bone marrow and injecting them into their damaged heart may be an effective way to treat heart disease.

The new review, published in The Cochrane Library, uses data involving 1,255 people from 23 randomised controlled trials, where all participants received standard treatments. Compared to standard treatment alone or with placebo, stem cell therapy using bone marrow cells resulted in fewer deaths due to heart disease and heart failure, reduced the likelihood of patients being readmitted to hospital, and improved heart function. However, researchers say that with much larger clinical trials underway, the findings are awaited to enable more certainty about the effects.

Dr Enca Martin-Rendon, author of the review, Cochrane Heart Review Group, and based at NHS Blood and Transplant and the University of Oxford, UK, said: This is encouraging evidence that stem cell therapy has benefits for heart disease patients. However, it is generated from small studies and it is difficult to come to any concrete conclusions until larger clinical trials that look at longer- term effects are carried out.

Stem cell therapies are experimental treatments that are currently only available in facilities carrying out medical research. If eventually found to be effective, they might offer an alternative or complementary treatment to standard drug and surgical treatments for some patients with chronic heart disease. The procedure involves collecting stem cells from a patient's own blood or bone marrow and using them to repair damaged tissues in the patient's heart and arteries.

Although within the first year there were no clear benefits of stem cell therapy over standard treatment alone, when longer term data were analysed a year or more later about 3 per cent of people treated with their stem cells had died compared with 15 per cent of people in the control groups. Hospital readmissions were reduced to 2 in every 100 people compared to 9 in the control group, and adverse effects were rare.

Dr Martin-Rendon continued, It isn't clear which types of stem cells work best or why stem cell therapies seem to work for some people but not for others. We need to find out what's different in the people who aren't responding well to these treatments as it might then be possible to tailor therapies to these patients, so that they work better."

Dr David Tovey, Editor-in-Chief, Cochrane, said: This review should help to raise awareness of the potential of stem cell therapy to improve patient outcomes, but it also demonstrates the importance of recognising the uncertainty of initial findings and the need for further research. A Cochrane review aims to analyse all available data to give a clear picture of what the evidence shows. Ensuring health decision makers, health professionals and the general public has access to up-to-date, relevant evidence research will help to raise awareness of the effectiveness of treatments and medications and therefore improve health care.

Cochrane Library

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Stem Cell Therapies Look Promising For Heart Disease

Arabic BBC Interview about stem cell therapy
. ( ) Arabic BBC Interview with Hassan Abdulrazzak about stem cell...

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Treatment for Degenerative, Bulging and Herniated Discs Minimally Invasive Stem Cell Therapy
Treatment for Bulging and Herniated Discs in Thailand http://stemcellthailand.org/services-list/stem-cell-treatment-degenerative-disc-disease-back-surgery-al...

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More Media Coverage for MediVet Stem Cell Therapy at Newman Veterinary Centers - Central Florida
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Neck/knee/shoulder/wrist pain 7 months after stem cell therapy by Dr Harry Adelson
Neck/knee/shoulder/wrist pain 7 months after stem cell therapy by Dr Harry Adelson http://www.docereclinics.com.

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Released: 4/21/2014 8:55 AM EDT Embargo expired: 4/23/2014 5:00 PM EDT Source Newsroom: Ohio State University Contact Information

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Newswise COLUMBUS, Ohio New research suggests that attempts to isolate an elusive adult stem cell from blood to understand and potentially improve cardiovascular health a task considered possible but very difficult might not be necessary.

Instead, scientists have found that multiple types of cells with primitive characteristics circulating in the blood appear to provide the same benefits expected from a stem cell, including the endothelial progenitor cell that is the subject of hot pursuit.

There are people who still dream that the prototypical progenitors for several components of the cardiovascular tree will be found and isolated. I decided to focus the analysis on the whole nonpurified cell population the blood as it is, said Nicanor Moldovan, senior author of the study and a research associate professor of cardiovascular medicine at The Ohio State University.

Our method determines the contributions of all blood cells that serve the same function that an endothelial progenitor cell is supposed to. We can detect the presence of those cells and their signatures in a clinical sample without the need to isolate them.

The study is published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Stem cells, including the still poorly understood endothelial progenitor cells, are sought-after because they have the potential to transform into many kinds of cells, suggesting that they could be used to replace damaged or missing cells as a treatment for multiple diseases.

By looking at gene activity patterns in blood, Moldovan and colleagues concluded that many cell types circulating throughout the body may protect and repair blood vessels a key to keeping the heart healthy.

The scientists also found that several types of blood cells retain so-called primitive properties. In this context, primitive is positive because these cells are the first line of defense against an injury and provide a continuous supply of repair tissue either directly or by telling local cells what to do.

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Stem Cells in Circulating Blood Affect Cardiovascular Health

A quality sword requires toughness on the inside and hardness on the outside. That way it can keep a sharp edge yet bend instead of shatter. Getting these properties requires blanking the metal back to a virgin state, adding the right molecular alloying ingredients, and then controlling the rate of the natural processes that occur as its final structure crystallizes out. Using that general method, researchers have just succeeded in returning adult somatic (body) cells to a virgin stem cell state which can then be made into nearly any tissue.

The key word here is adult. Last year, researchers from Oregon perfected a process to therapeutically clone human embryos. Basically that means producing cells that are genetically identical to a donor for the purpose of treating disease. We described the critical details of the technique, known as somatic-cell nuclear transfer, in an earlier post. In a nutshell, the nucleus from the cell to be cloned is fused with an egg that has its own nucleus removed. Caffeine is used to stall various autonomous developmental programs during a fusion process that has been initiated with an electric pulse. The new hybrid cell that results has full stem cell character which can be biased into different forms by adding various instructor molecules to the mix.

The new results, as we mentioned, were achieved with somatic cellsfrom two men [DOI:10.1016/j.stem.2014.03.015].This is important because it is generally adults who stand to benefit the most from a fresh supply of cells to revitalize their ailing organs. In smithing a sword, the desired crystal structure is achieved by controlling the amount of time spent in different phases of cooling. Often there is more than one heating stage as the metal is first slowly tempered through one regime, than recycled back for a second tortured phase with a quicker quench. As for swords, the key element for getting the adult cells to work was to extend a critical delay phase in this case that around the time the cells were electrically fused. This tempering period is a time for the cell to reorganize prior to committing itself to cell division. After many painstaking experiments, it was found that the 30-minute delay used for the embryonic cell fusions needed to be extended to two hours for the adult cells.

An alternative method for creating stem cells was recently presented which used acid and mechanical persuasion to beat normal cells back into the pluripotent form. This method has been difficult to replicate, and as a result of the controversy surrounding the affair the study has been retracted. Thats not to say that this shortcut is off the table though. Researchers continue to look for better ways to produce stem cells with more creative power, from cells that are ever further set in their ways. The new studies reported here were able to use dermal fibroblasts, essentially skin cells, from both a 35-year-old and 75-year-old man. Previously skin cells have been turned into other kinds of cells, particularly neurons. Now they can become any kind of cell. (Read:Regenerated human heart tissue beats on its own, leads towards replacement hearts and other organs.)

In a sense all cells are like playdough. The longer they have been held in any one sculpted form, the more dried-out and difficult to revert to a multipotent state they become. The same inflexibility still persists as a social mindset of fear in many countries that do not permit federal funding of this kind of research (this new work was funded in South Korea with some participation from US scientists). As researchers begin to learn new tricks to re-infuse cells with moisturizing chemical and mechanical regimens, we all have much to gain. If we are going to be benefactors of this technology, it seems that we should also be producers of it.

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Stem cells created (cloned) from adult cells for the first time

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When heart fails to pump out sufficient blood to the rest of the body as demanded, most often caused by heart attack and high blood pressure, heart muscles will be damaged. This is a condition called heart failure. Most people with heart failure complain of breathing difficulty that may happen during exercise, eating or even sleeping. Other common symptoms and signs are lethargy, ankle swelling, abdominal bloating, frequent urination and memory impairment.

Patient with heart failure also have a poor prognosis and high risk of developing dangerous heart rhythms triggered by the damaged tissue inside the heart.

Current established treatment includes medications that have been proven to alleviate symptoms and reduce the risk of death. Furthermore if the heart damage were caused by blockage of artery, then angioplasty or heart bypass operation may help as they can restore blood supply to parts of the heart that is starved of oxygen. Unfortunately none of the conventional and current treatments above could regenerate new heart muscle to replace the permanently damaged ones caused by previous heart attacks. Hence there will always be some degree of heart failure and progressive deterioration in health.

For patient with heart failure, Cardiocell treatment will repair damaged cells and provide growth of new heart muscle, hence increase the overall strength of heart and alleviate heart failure. In addition, Cardiocell replaces the scarred portions of the damaged heart with viable muscle. As these scarred areas can trigger dangerous heart rhythms and cause cardiac arrest, by replacing the scar tissue, Cardiocell not only improves heart failure but also reduces the risk of sudden death from cardiac arrest.

In studies using cells identical to Cardiocell for heart failure, patients benefited from symptom relief, improved exercise capacity and stamina, and reduction of angina. There is evidence of increased heart strength and contractility, reduction of heart swelling and scar tissue.

Cardiocell allows the heart to repair and reverse its damage that current conventional treatment cannot provide. It is therefore complementary to conventional heart failure therapy. It brings new hope and treatment option for heart failure patients who remain ill in spite of, or are ineligible for, current treatments.

Generally if you had a heart attack in the last 2 years which has resulted in severe heart failure now and you have exhausted current methods of treatment, then you may be eligible for CardiocellTM treatment. We welcome your participation in CardiocellTM pilot programme as part of Cytopeutics clinical study. However, you should consult your regular doctor or cardiologist to determine your eligibility criteria.

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Stem Cell Treatment For Heart And Knee : Cytopeutics

Royal L #39;Opulent Rejuv
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Phoenix, Arizona (PRWEB) April 21, 2014

The Center for Joint Regeneration is now offering several stem cell procedures for patients with knee arthritis to help avoid the need for joint replacement. The procedures are offered by Board-certified and Fellowship-trained orthopedic doctors, with the stem cells being derived from either bone marrow or amniotic fluid. For more information and scheduling with the top stem cell providers in the greater Phoenix area, call (480) 466-0980.

For the hundreds of thousands of individuals who undergo a knee replacement every year, it should be considered an absolute last resort, after other conservative options have failed. Although the vast majority of knee replacements do well, the implants are not meant to last forever, the surgery does have potential risks and the biomechanics of the knee are significantly changed with the prosthetic implants.

Stem cells for knee arthritis have the potential to repair and regenerate damage from arthritis and relieve pain substantially. Center for Joint Regeneration offers these outpatient procedures with several methods.

The first involves usage of the patient's own bone marrow, with a short harvesting procedure, processing the bone marrow, and injection at the same setting into one or both knees.

Another method is with amniotic derived stem cell rich material, which not only possesses concentrated stem cells but also a significant amount of growth factors and hyaluronic acid. The material is a meteorologically privileged and has been used tens of thousands of times around the world with minimal adverse events.

Platelet rich plasma therapy for knee degeneration is also offered. PRP therapy has been shown in recent studies at Hospital for Special Surgery to work well for pain relief from knee arthritis. It also offers the ability to preserve knee cartilage based on serial MRI's performed in the study.

So far, clinical outcomes with the stem cell regenerative procedures have been excellent. The Board-Certified orthopedic doctors at Center for Joint Regeneration, Doctors Farber and Dewanjee, are exceptionally well trained and highly skilled at these outpatient procedures.

For those individuals looking to avoid or delay the need for knee replacement due to degenerative arthritis, call the Center for Joint Regeneration today at (480) 466-0980. The Center offers stem cell treatments Phoenix and Scottsdale trust!

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Center for Joint Regeneration Now Offering Several Stem Cell Procedures for Patients to Avoid Knee Replacement

stem cell therapy treatment for Global Developmental Delay with Severe Mental Retardation
improvement seen in just 3 months after stem cell therapy treatment for Global Developmental Delay with Severe Mental Retardation by dr alok sharma, mumbai, ...

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Ankle arthritis; 4 months after stem cell therapy by Dr Harry Adelson
Craig discusses his results from his stem cell therapy by Dr Harry Adelson for his arthritic ankle http://www.docereclinics.com.

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Sam Harrell #39;s Stem Cell Journey: Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis
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The first volunteers are expected to be treated by late 2016. If successful, the trial could pave the way to the wide-scale use of artificial blood derived from stem cells.

Blood cells freshly made in the laboratory are likely to have a longer life span than those taken from donors, which typically last no more than 120 days.

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They would also be free from infectious agents such as viruses or the rogue prion proteins that cause Creuzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD).

Professor Marc Turner, medical director at the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS), who is leading the 5 million project at the University of Edinburgh, said: "Producing a cellular therapy which is of the scale, quality and safety required for human clinical trials is a very significant challenge.

"But if we can achieve success with this first-in-man clinical study it will be an important step forward to enable populations all over the world to benefit from blood transfusions.

"These developments will also provide information of value to other researchers working on the development of cellular therapies."

The pilot study will involve no more than about three patients, who may be healthy volunteers or individuals suffering from a red blood cell disorder such as thalassaemia.

They will receive a small, five millilitre dose of laboratory-made blood to see how it behaves and survives in their bodies.

The blood cells will be created from ordinary donated skin cells called fibroblasts which are genetically reprogrammed into a stem cell-like state.

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In the blood: Scottish scientists pioneer lab-grown cells

Scientists have reported progress in a technique to stimulate the lower spinal cord in paraplegics to help them recover lost nerve function.

Cautiously tested on a single patient three years ago, the technique has been trialled on three other young men who had been paraplegic for at least two years after road accidents, they said on Tuesday.

After the patients were given an implant to stimulate nerve bundles in the lower spine, they were able to voluntarily flex their knees and shift their hips, ankles and toes, the team reported in a published study.

The four were not able to walk but could bear some weight independently - a key phase towards this goal - and experienced a 'dramatic' improvement in wellbeing, they added.

Claudia Angeli of the University of Louisville's Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center (KSCIRC) said two of the men had been diagnosed not only as paralysed in the legs, but also lacking lower-body sensation, with no chance of recovery.

'This is groundbreaking for the entire field and offers a new outlook that the spinal cord, even after a severe injury, has great potential for functional recovery,' Angeli said in a statement.

Paralysis comes from damage to the spinal cord down which the brain sends electrical signals along nerve fibres to instruct limb movement.

Decades of experimental effort have been devoted to reconnecting severed fibres through surgery or regrowing them through drugs or stem cells.

The new research takes a different route, exploring the idea that there are ways paralysed people can move without reconnecting the nerve link between the brain and lower extremities.

It delivers tiny electrical signals to networks in the lumbosacral spinal cord that are relatively autonomous - they can follow through the commands for weight-bearing and coordinated stepping without input from the brain.

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Progress in electrical nerve treatment

London's Royal Free hospital is among several in the world that are working on the futuristic idea of growing custom-made organs in the lab Few have received the lab-made organs so far - including ears and windpipes - but researchers hope they will soon transplant more They hope to transplant world's first nose made partly from stem cells

By Associated Press and Ellie Zolfagharifard

Published: 05:38 EST, 8 April 2014 | Updated: 12:09 EST, 8 April 2014

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At London's Royal Free hospital, scientists are growing noses, ears and blood vessels in the laboratory in a bold attempt to make body parts using stem cells.

It is among several labs around the world, including in the U.S., that are working on the futuristic idea of growing custom-made organs in the lab.

Only a handful of patients have received the British lab-made organs so far - including tear ducts, blood vessels and windpipes.

But researchers hope they will soon be able to transplant more types of body parts into patients, including what would be the world's first nose made partly from stem cells.

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British scientists make custom-made body parts using stem cells