Featured Article Academic Journal Main Category: Transplants / Organ Donations Also Included In: Stem Cell Research;Dermatology Article Date: 21 Apr 2012 - 0:00 PDT

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Takashi Tsuji, a Professor in the Research Institute for Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science, and Director of Organ Technologies Inc, led the team, who report their findings in an open access paper published in Nature Communications on 17 April.

The study is significant on two counts: first it used adult stem cells and not embryonic stem cells, and second, the bioengineered follicles were fully functional and integrated into surrounding tissue, something that has not been managed before.

Not only does the study raise hopes of a cure for baldness, the researchers say it also represents a significant advance toward the next generation of "organ replacement regenerative therapies" that will enable the replacement of organs damaged by disease, injury or aging.

The researchers bioengineered hair follicle germ cells, the cells that mature into cells that grow hair, from two other types of cell: adult epithelial stem cells and dermal papilla cells.

They implanted the bioengineered cells into the skin of hairless mice and showed that they went on to have normal hair cycles, where after dead hairs fell out, new ones took their place.

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Bioengineered Follicles Grow Hair On Bald Mice

Displaying rare unanimity on an issue, the full U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday rejected a request by the federal government thatit reconsidera rulingthat most bone marrow donors can be compensated for providing life-saving marrow stem cells from their blood.

A three-judge panel of the appeals court ruled on Dec. 1 that the process of harvesting marrow cells by filtering a donor's blood wasn't covered by the 1984 National Organ Transplant Act's prohibitionof payment for organs or organ parts.The statute was enacted by Congress before the blood-filtering process was developed and donors were subjected to painful and medically risky surgical extraction of marrow by insertion of a siphoning needle into the hip bone. Compensation for that form of donation remains illegal.

Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., on behalf of the federal government, petitioned the court in Januaryfor a new hearing by an 11-judge panel. Department of Justice lawyers argued that the December ruling ignored the clear intent of Congress to prevent money from influencing donation decisions.

The 9th Circuit panel said in its latest ruling thatall 25 active judges on the court were informed of the government's request and none called for a vote on it, signaling their agreement with the December decision. That unusualaccord among the judges who span a broad ideological spectrum might also indicate that the U.S. Supreme Court will be unlikely to take the case for review.

The lawsuit challenging the ban on bone marrow compensation was brought by a group of cancer patients and their families, as well as a marrow transplant specialist and a California nonprofit organization, MoreMarrowDonors.org, aiming to expand the registry of available donors by offering up to $3,000 in housing assistance or scholarships for promising genetic matches.

Violation of the organ transplant act's prohibition on sales of organs or parts thereofcarries heavy fines and up to five years in prison.The 1984 act defined bone marrow as an organ part, while the 9th Circuit's ruling said it was a blood part and not subject to theban on compensation.

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Appeals court stands united on compensation for bone marrow donors

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire -03/28/12)- Biotechnology stocks have been on an impressive run this year as favorable legislation out of Washington is allowing biotech companies of all sizes to more easily navigate regulations. Five Star Equities examines the outlook for companies in the Biotechnology industry and provides equity research on Advanced Cell Technology Inc. (OTC.BB: ACTC.OB - News) and PharmAthene Inc. (AMEX: PIP - News). Access to the full company reports can be found at:

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The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) recently applauded the House Energy and Commerce Committee's passage of the Medicare Decisions Accountability Act, H.R. 452, which would repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) established in the health care reform law. BIO also issued a press release applauding the Senate on the passage of H.R. 3606, the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act. The JOBS Act creates an "on-ramp" to the public market for emerging growth companies, allowing them five years to focus on conducting critical research that can lead to cures for debilitating diseases before having to divert funds to costly regulations, BIO reports.

Five Star Equities releases regular market updates on the biotechnology industry so investors can stay ahead of the crowd and make the best investment decisions to maximize their returns. Take a few minutes to register with us free at http://www.fivestarequities.com and get exclusive access to our numerous stock reports and industry newsletters.

Advanced Cell Technology, Inc., a biotechnology company, focuses on the development and commercialization of human embryonic and adult stem cell technology in the field of regenerative medicine. Earlier this month the company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission a proxy statement containing a shareholder proposal for a reverse split of its common stock. "This reverse stock split, which should better align the company's capital structure with its stage of development, and an accompanying Nasdaq listing application, will represent a significant step toward creating long-term shareholder value and building ACT into a world-class player in the regenerative medicine space," said Gary Rabin, chairman and CEO of ACT.

PharmAthene, Inc., a biodefense company, engages in the development and commercialization of medical countermeasures against biological and chemical weapons in the United States. For the year ended December 31, 2011, PharmAthene recognized revenue of $24.3 million, compared to $21.0 million in 2010.

Five Star Equities provides Market Research focused on equities that offer growth opportunities, value, and strong potential return. We strive to provide the most up-to-date market activities. We constantly create research reports and newsletters for our members. Five Star Equities has not been compensated by any of the above-mentioned companies. We act as an independent research portal and are aware that all investment entails inherent risks. Please view the full disclaimer at: http://www.fivestarequities.com/disclaimer

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Advanced Cell Technology and PharmAthene Poised to Benefit From Positive Legislation

ScienceDaily (Mar. 26, 2012) A research network led by a Mayo Clinic physician found that stem cells derived from heart failure patients' own bone marrow and injected into their hearts improved the function of the left ventricle, the heart's pumping chamber. Researchers also found that certain types of the stem cells were associated with the largest improvement and warrant further study.

The results were presented March 26 at the 2012 American College of Cardiology Meeting in Chicago. They will also be published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

This Phase II clinical trial, designed to test this strategy to improve cardiac function, is an extension of earlier efforts in Brazil in which a smaller number of patients received fewer stem cells. For this new network study, 92 patients received a placebo or 100 million stem cells derived from the bone marrow in their hips in a one-time injection. This was the first study in humans to deliver that many bone marrow stem cells.

"We found that the bone marrow cells did not have a significant impact on the original end points that we chose, which involved reversibility of a lack of blood supply to the heart, the volume of the left ventricle of the heart at the end of a contraction, and maximal oxygen consumption derived through a treadmill test," says Robert Simari, M.D., a cardiologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. He is chairman of the Cardiovascular Cell Therapy Research Network (CCTRN), the network of five academic centers and associated satellite sites that conducted the study. The CCTRN is supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, which also funded the study.

"But interestingly, we did find that the very simple measure of ejection fraction was improved in the group that received the cells compared to the placebo group by 2.7 percent," Dr. Simari says. Ejection fraction is the percentage of blood pumped out of the left ventricle during each contraction.

Study principal investigators Emerson Perin, M.D., Ph.D., and James Willerson, M.D., of the Texas Heart Institute, explain that even though 2.7 percent does not seem like a large number, it is statistically significant and means an improvement in heart function for chronic heart failure patients who have no other options.

"This was a pretty sick population," Dr. Perin says. "They had already had heart attacks, undergone bypass surgery, and had stents placed. However, they weren't at the level of needing a heart transplant yet. In some patients, particularly those who were younger or whose bone marrows were enriched in certain stem cell populations, had even greater improvements in their ejection fractions."

The average age of study participants was 63. The researchers found that patients younger than 62 improved more. Their ejection fraction improved by 4.7 percent. The researchers looked at the makeup of these patients' stem cells from a supply stored at a biorepository established by the CCTRN. They found these patients had more CD34+ and CD133+ type of stem cells in their mixture.

"This tells us that the approach we used to deliver the stems cells was safe," Dr. Simari says. "It also suggests new directions for the next series of clinical trials, including the type of patients, endpoints to study and types of cells to deliver."

Other co-authors of the study are Guilherme Silva, M.D., Deirdre Smith, Lynette Westbrook; and James Chen, all of the Texas Heart Institute, St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, Houston; Carl Pepine, M.D., R. David Anderson, M.D., Christopher Cogle, M.D., and Eileen Handberg, Ph.D., all of the University of Florida School of Medicine, Gainesville; Timothy Henry, M.D., Jay Traverse, M.D., and Rachel Olson, all of the Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital; Doris Taylor, Ph.D., and Claudia Zierold, Ph.D., both of the University of Minnesota School of Medicine, Minneapolis; Stephen Ellis, M.D., James Thomas, M.D., and Carrie Geither, all of The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Ohio; David Zhao, M.D., Marvin Kornenberg, M.D., Antonis Hatzopoulos, Ph.D., Sherry Bowman, and Judy Francescon, all of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Tennessee; Dejian Lai, Ph.D., Sarah Baraniuk, Ph.D., Linda Piller, M.D., Lara Simpson, Ph.D., Judy Bettencourt, Shelly Sayre, Rachel Vojvodic, and Lemuel Moye, M.D., Ph.D., all of The University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston; A. Daniel Martin, Ph.D., of the University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions, Gainesville; Marc Penn, M.D., Ph.D., of Northeast Ohio Medical University, Akron; Saif Anwaruddin, M.D., of Penn Heart and Vascular Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; Adrian Gee, Ph.D., and David Aguilar, M.D., of Baylor College of Medicine, Houston; Catalin Loghin, M.D., of The University of Texas Medical School, Houston; and Sonia Skarlatos, Ph.D., David Gordon, M.D., Ph.D., Ray Ebert, Ph.D., and Minjung Kwak, Ph.D., all of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Bethesda, MD.

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Bone marrow stem cells can improve heart function, study suggests

ScienceDaily (Mar. 22, 2012) Researchers at the University of Bonn artificially derive brain stem cells directly from the connective tissue of mice.

Scientists at the Life & Brain Research Center at the University of Bonn, Germany, have succeeded in directly generating brain stem cells from the connective tissue cells of mice. These stem cells can reproduce and be converted into various types of brain cells. To date, only reprogramming in brain cells that were already fully developed or which had only a limited ability to divide was possible. The new reprogramming method presented by the Bonn scientists and submitted for publication in July 2011 now enables derivation of brain stem cells that are still immature and able to undergo practically unlimited division to be extracted from conventional body cells. The results have now been published in the current edition of the journal Cell Stem Cell.

The Japanese stem cell researcher Professor Shinya Yamanaka and his team produced stem cells from the connective tissue cells of mice for the first time in 2006; these cells can differentiate into all types of body cells. These induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) develop via reprogramming into a type of embryonic stage. This result made the scientific community sit up and take notice. If as many stem cells as desired can be produced from conventional body cells, this holds great potential for medical developments and drug research. "Now a team of scientists from the University of Bonn has proven a variant for this method in a mouse model," report Dr. Frank Edenhofer and his team at the Institute of Reconstructive Neurobiology (Director: Dr. Oliver Brstle) of the University of Bonn. Also involved were the epileptologists and the Institute of Human Genetics of the University of Bonn, led by Dr. Markus Nthen, who is also a member of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases.

Edenhofer and his co-workers Marc Thier, Philipp Wrsdrfer and Yenal B. Lakes used connective tissue cells from mice as a starting material. Just as Yamanaka did, they initiated the conversion with a combination of four genes. "We however deliberately targeted the production of neural stem cells or brain stem cells, not pluripotent iPS multipurpose cells," says Edenhofer. These cells are known as somatic or adult stem cells, which can develop into the cells typical of the nervous system, neurons, oligodendrocytes and astrocytes.

The gene "Oct4" is the central control factor

The gene "Oct4" is a crucial control factor. "First, it prepares the connective tissue cell for reprogramming, later, however, Oct4 appears to prevent destabilized cells from becoming brain stem cells" reports the Bonn stem cell researcher. While this factor is switched on during reprogramming of iPS cells over a longer period of time, the Bonn researchers activate the factor with special techniques for only a few days. "If this molecular switch is toggled over a limited period of time, the brain stem cells, which we refer to as induced neural stem cells (iNS cells), can be reached directly," said Edenhofer. "Oct4 activates the process, destabilizes the cells and clears them for the direct reprogramming. However, we still need to analyze the exact mechanism of the cellular conversion."

The scientists at the University of Bonn have thus found a new way to reprogram cells, which is considerably faster and also safer in comparison to the iPS cells and embryonic stem cells. "Since we cut down on the reprogramming of the cells via the embryonic stage, our method is about two to three times faster than the method used to produce iPS cells," stresses Edenhofer. Thus the work involved and the costs are also much lower. In addition, the novel Bonn method is associated with a dramatically lower risk of tumors. As compared to other approaches, the Bonn scientists' method stands out due to the production of neural cells that can be multiplied to a nearly unlimited degree.

Low risk of tumor and unlimited self renewal

A low risk of tumor formation is important because in the distant future, neural cells will replace defective cells of the nervous system. A vision of the various international scientific teams is to eventually create adult stem cells for example from skin or hair root cells, differentiate these further for therapeutic purposes, and then implant them in damaged areas. "But that is still a long way off," says Edenhofer. However, the scientists have a rather urgent need today for a simple way to obtain brain stem cells from the patient to use them to study various neurodegenerative diseases and test drugs in a Petri dish. "Our work could form the basis for providing practically unlimited quantities of the patient's own cells." The current study was initially conducted on mice. "We are now extremely eager to see whether these results can also be applied to humans," says the Bonn scientist.

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New shortcut for stem cell programming

24-03-2012 07:46 This is the harvest of adipose tissue for combination with bone marrow aspirate concentrate for stem cell therapy

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Adipose harvest for stem cell therapy by Dr Adelson - Video

3/25/2012 10:50 AM ET (RTTNews) - An important clinical trial, which evaluated the use of autologous bone-marrow-cell therapy in patients with chronic ischemic heart failure, has failed to meet the prespecified end points of improvement in most measures of heart function, according to the results presented at the American College of Cardiology 2012 Scientific Sessions.

The trial dubbed, FOCUS - a phase II study, is the largest study to date to investigate if a patient's own bone marrow cells improved myocardial perfusion, reduced left ventricular end-systolic volume or enhanced maximal oxygen consumption in patients with coronary artery disease or LV dysfunction, and limiting heart failure or angina. The FOCUS trial was undertaken by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-sponsored Cardiovascular Cell Therapy Research Network.

Ninety two patients with chronic ischemic heart disease , having a left ventricular ejection fraction of 45% or less, a perfusion defect by single-photon emission tomography, or SPECT, who were no longer candidates for revascularization, were enrolled in the trial. Sixty one patients in the study were administered bone marrow cells through transendocardial injections while thirty one patients were administered placebo.

An assessment of primary endpoints at 6 months has revealed that there is no statistically significant difference between the treatment group and placebo arm in left ventricular end-systolic volume assessed by echocardiography, maximal oxygen consumption, and reversibility on SPECT. The secondary outcomes, including percent myocardial defect, total defect size, fixed defect size, regional wall motion, and clinical improvement, also has not exhibited any difference between the two arms.

However, according to the study authors, exploratory analyses have revealed that left ventricular ejection fraction improved in the treatment group compared with the placebo group by 2.7%.

The authors, led by Emerson Perin, concluded that the findings provide evidence for further studies to determine the relationship between the composition and function of bone marrow product and clinical end points. Understanding these relationships will improve the design and interpretation of future studies of cardiac cell therapy, the authors noted.

The results were published online March 24 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

by RTT Staff Writer

For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com

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Bone Marrow Stem Cell Therapy Trial - Clues, But No Answers

Public release date: 24-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Kristin Wincek kwincek@mhif.org 612-863-0249 Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation

CHICAGO Cell therapy may present an option for patients with ischemic heart disease to use their own bone marrow cells to repair the damaged areas of their hearts, and may pave the way for future treatment options, according to the FOCUS trial, which will be presented as a late-breaking clinical trial March 24 at the 61st annual American College of Cardiology (ACC) scientific session.

This is the largest study to date to look at stem cell therapy, using a patient's own stem cells, to repair damaged areas of the heart in patients with chronic ischemic heart disease and left ventricular dysfunction. Researchers found that left ventricular ejection fraction (the percentage of blood leaving the heart's main pumping chamber) increased by a small but significant amount (2.7 percent) in patients who received stem cell therapy. The study also revealed that the improvement in ejection fraction correlated with the number of progenitor cells (CD34+ and CD133+) in the bone marrow; and this information will help in evaluating and designing future therapies and trials.

"FOCUS is an incredibly important trial, as it has informed the cell therapy community how to better treat this high-risk patient population, and allows us to enter into an exciting, next generation of stem cell therapy armed with more data," said study investigator Timothy D. Henry, MD, an interventional cardiologist at the Minneapolis Heart Institute (MHI) at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis and director of research with the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation.

This multicenter study was conducted by the Cardiovascular Cell Therapy Research Network (CCTRN), which is supported through a research grant from the National Institutes of Health's National, Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), with the goal to evaluate novel stem cell-based treatment strategies for individuals with cardiovascular disease.

FOCUS will be presented at ACC.12 by its lead investigator Emerson C. Perin, MD, PhD, director of clinical research for cardiovascular medicine at the Texas Heart Institute, one of the five sites in the CCTRN. The Minneapolis Heart Institute is another site of the five in the network, and a large number of CCTRN patients were enrolled in Minnesota.

For this study, which took place between April 2009 and April 2011, the five sites randomly selected 92 patients to receive stem cell treatment or placebo. The symptomatic patients, with an average age 63, all had chronic ischemic heart disease and an ejection fraction of less than 45 percent (baseline 34 percent) along with heart failure and/or angina and were no longer candidates for revascularization. "These patients had no other options, as medical management failed to improve their symptoms," explained the study's co-investigator Jay Traverse, MD, an interventionalist cardiologist at the Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital and physician researcher with the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation.

Bone marrow was aspirated from the patients and processed to obtain just the mononuclear fraction of the marrow. In patients randomly selected to receive stem cell therapy, physicians inserted a catheter into the heart's left ventricle to inject 100 million stem cells in more than 15 sites that showed damage on the electromechanical mapping image of the heart.

"Studies such as these are able to be completed much faster because of the team approach of the network" said Sonia I. Skarlatos, PhD, NHBLI's deputy director of the division of cardiovascular sciences and program director of CCTRN.

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Cell therapy using patient's own bone marrow may present option for heart disease

By Uduak Grace Thomas

Users of ChimerMarker, a short tandem repeat chimerism analysis software solution marketed by SoftGenetics, are reporting a significant reduction in the time required to analyze STRs in blood samples of patients who have undergone bone marrow transplants.

The tool automates the process of assessing the chimerism ratio the proportion of donor cells relative to the host patients own cells in post-transplant cases based on the presence of STRs that are unique to both the patient and the donor, Don Kristt, head of molecular pathology at the Rabin Medical Center in Israel, explained to BioInform this week.

According to SoftGenetics, the software can be used to monitor chimerism levels in allogeneic and autologous stem cell transplants or hematopoietic stem cell transplants; bone marrow transplants; and cord and peripheral blood stem cell transplant samples.

SoftGenetics partnered with Kristt to develop the software, which it released last March (BI 3/18/2011). The company later added a module for testing fetal samples for maternal cell contamination prior to performing genetic testing for cystic fibrosis or other diseases (BI 9/2/2011).

The software provides capabilities for genotyping and chimerism analysis and tools to automatically identify donor and recipient peaks in samples following bone marrow transplants. It also calculates percent chimerism and quality metrics for single donor or double donor cases.

Dawn Wagenknecht, who supervises the HLA-Vascular Biology Laboratory at Franciscan St. Francis Health, told BioInform this week that her team was able to reduce the time required to calculate the ratio of donor to recipient cells in blood samples by as much as 85 percent.

She explained that the team ran parallel analyses of 10 blood samples using both ChimerMarker and a manual approach that the lab had used prior to purchasing the software, which involved manually sorting data generated by capillary sequencing in Excel spreadsheets, and then calculating the ratios either on the sheet or using a hand calculator.

In addition to the time savings, ChimerMarker also simplifies the analysis process because all the steps of the workflow are in a single package, she said.

The software also maintains records of the donor sample and the patients blood before transplantation so that the results from subsequent tests after transplant can be compared to the initial samples, she said.

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Labs Report 85 Percent Reduction in STR Analysis Time with SoftGenetics' ChimerMaker Software

Debbi Margosian Chapmans family hopes you will and is offering $10,000 to the person who is a bone marrow match for her to treat her leukemia. Because Debbi is Armenian, her doctors believe her best chances of finding a match is with the Armenian community.

Please join Dr. Frieda Jordan, president of the Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry (ABMDR), on Saturday, March 24, at 7 p.m., at the Armenian Cultural and Educational Center, 47 Nichols Avenue, Watertown, Massachusetts, for a presentation and bone marrow drive and become a hero for Debbi or the many other Armenians with blood cancers. If youre between 18-50 years old, you just need to give a quick swab of your cheeks so you can be entered into the Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry. If you are a match, in the majority of cases, your stem cells will be harvested in a manner similar to giving bloodthere is no anesthesia or surgery.

If you cant make it to the drive but want to be tested, please visit http://debbichapman.wordpress.com for more information.

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Armenians can help save a life

ScienceDaily (Mar. 22, 2012) Breaking new ground, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine in Mnster, Germany, have succeeded in obtaining somatic stem cells from fully differentiated somatic cells. Stem cell researcher Hans Schler and his team took skin cells from mice and, using a unique combination of growth factors while ensuring appropriate culturing conditions, have managed to induce the cells' differentiation into neuronal somatic stem cells.

"Our research shows that reprogramming somatic cells does not require passing through a pluripotent stage," explains Schler. "Thanks to this new approach, tissue regeneration is becoming a more streamlined -- and safer -- process."

Up until now, pluripotent stem cells were considered the 'be-all and end-all' of stem cell science. Historically, researchers have obtained these 'jack-of-all-trades' cells from fully differentiated somatic cells. Given the proper environmental cues, pluripotent stem cells are capable of differentiating into every type of cell in the body, but their pluripotency also holds certain disadvantages, which preclude their widespread application in medicine. According to Schler, "pluripotent stem cells exhibit such a high degree of plasticity that under the wrong circumstances they may form tumours instead of regenerating a tissue or an organ." Schler's somatic stem cells offer a way out of this dilemma: they are 'only' multipotent, which means that they cannot give rise to all cell types but merely to a select subset of them -- in this case, a type of cell found in neural tissue -- a property, which affords them an edge in terms of their therapeutic potential.

To allow them to interconvert somatic cells into somatic stem cells, the Max Planck researchers cleverly combined a number of different growth factors, proteins that guide cellular growth. "One factor in particular, called Brn4, which had never been used before in this type of research, turned out to be a genuine 'captain' who very quickly and efficiently took command of his ship -- the skin cell -- guiding it in the right direction so that it could be converted into a neuronal somatic stem cell," explains Schler. This interconversion turns out to be even more effective if the cells, stimulated by growth factors and exposed to just the right environmental conditions, divide more frequently. "Gradually, the cells lose their molecular memory that they were once skin cells," explains Schler. It seems that even after only a few cycles of cell division the newly produced neuronal somatic stem cells are practically indistinguishable from stem cells normally found in the tissue.

Schler's findings suggest that these cells hold great long-term medical potential: "The fact that these cells are multipotent dramatically reduces the risk of neoplasm formation, which means that in the not-too-distant future they could be used to regenerate tissues damaged or destroyed by disease or old age; until we get to that point, substantial research efforts will have to be made." So far, insights are based on experiments using murine skin cells; the next steps now are to perform the same experiments using actual human cells. In addition, it is imperative that the stem cells' long-term behaviour is thoroughly characterized to determine whether they retain their stability over long periods of time.

"Our discoveries are a testament to the unparalleled degree of rigor of research conducted here at the Mnster Institute," says Schler. "We should realize that this is our chance to be instrumental in helping shape the future of medicine." At this point, the project is still in its initial, basic science stage although "through systematic, continued development in close collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry, the transition from the basic to the applied sciences could be hugely successful, for this as well as for other, related, future projects," emphasizes Schler. This, then, is the reason why a suitable infrastructure framework must be created now rather than later. "The blueprints for this framework are all prepped and ready to go -- all we need now are for the right political measures to be ratified to pave the way towards medical applicability."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Max-Planck-Gesellschaft.

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Somatic stem cells obtained from skin cells; pluripotency 'detour' skipped

"Our research shows that reprogramming somatic cells does not require passing through a pluripotent stage," explains Schler. "Thanks to this new approach, tissue regeneration is becoming a more streamlined - and safer - process."

Up until now, pluripotent stem cells were considered the 'be-all and end-all' of stem cell science. Historically, researchers have obtained these 'jack-of-all-trades' cells from fully differentiated somatic cells. Given the proper environmental cues, pluripotent stem cells are capable of differentiating into every type of cell in the body, but their pluripotency also holds certain disadvantages, which preclude their widespread application in medicine. According to Schler, "pluripotent stem cells exhibit such a high degree of plasticity that under the wrong circumstances they may form tumours instead of regenerating a tissue or an organ." Schler's somatic stem cells offer a way out of this dilemma: they are 'only' multipotent, which means that they cannot give rise to all cell types but merely to a select subset of them - in this case, a type of cell found in neural tissue - a property, which affords them an edge in terms of their therapeutic potential.

To allow them to interconvert somatic cells into somatic stem cells, the Max Planck researchers cleverly combined a number of different growth factors, proteins that guide cellular growth. "One factor in particular, called Brn4, which had never been used before in this type of research, turned out to be a genuine 'captain' who very quickly and efficiently took command of his ship - the skin cell - guiding it in the right direction so that it could be converted into a neuronal somatic stem cell," explains Schler. This interconversion turns out to be even more effective if the cells, stimulated by growth factors and exposed to just the right environmental conditions, divide more frequently. "Gradually, the cells lose their molecular memory that they were once skin cells," explains Schler. It seems that even after only a few cycles of cell division the newly produced neuronal somatic stem cells are practically indistinguishable from stem cells normally found in the tissue.

Schler's findings suggest that these cells hold great long-term medical potential: "The fact that these cells are multipotent dramatically reduces the risk of neoplasm formation, which means that in the not-too-distant future they could be used to regenerate tissues damaged or destroyed by disease or old age; until we get to that point, substantial research efforts will have to be made." So far, insights are based on experiments using murine skin cells; the next steps now are to perform the same experiments using actual human cells. In addition, it is imperative that the stem cells' long-term behaviour is thoroughly characterized to determine whether they retain their stability over long periods of time.

"Our discoveries are a testament to the unparalleled degree of rigor of research conducted here at the Mnster Institute," says Schler. "We should realize that this is our chance to be instrumental in helping shape the future of medicine." At this point, the project is still in its initial, basic science stage although "through systematic, continued development in close collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry, the transition from the basic to the applied sciences could be hugely successful, for this as well as for other, related, future projects," emphasizes Schler. This, then, is the reason why a suitable infrastructure framework must be created now rather than later. "The blueprints for this framework are all prepped and ready to go - all we need now are for the right political measures to be ratified to pave the way towards medical applicability."

More information: Han D.W., Tapia N., Hermann A., Hemmer K., Hing S., Arazo-Bravo M.J., Zaehres H., Frank S., Moritz S., Greber B., Yang J.H., Lee H.T., Schwamborn J.C., Storch A., Schler H.R. (2012) Direct Reprogramming of Fibroblasts into Neural Stem Cells by Defined Factors, Cell Stem Cell, CELL-STEM-CELL-D-11-00679R3

Provided by Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (news : web)

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Somatic stem cells obtained from skin cells for first time ever

SACRAMENTO (KABC) -- Eight years ago voters agreed to fund California's stem cell agency, hoping it would yield new treatments for various conditions. Now the agency is running out of funds and any practical cures are still years away.

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) is about to enter a crucial stage in stem cell research: going to clinical trials. The most promising experiments could cure diabetes, HIV, sickle-cell anemia and blindness in the elderly.

"You don't really get to find out whether the potential of the treatment is really going to be effective until you start to treat the patients," said Alan Trounson, president of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

CIRM's board is discussing how much to allocate for that trial phase. Through voter-approved bonds under Proposition 71 (The California Stem Cell Research and Cures Act), it has already given out or spent half of the $3 billion, but despite the medical promise, there's little to show for it beyond basic research and several high-tech laboratories.

But the agency says the breakthroughs will come over the next few years, way ahead of the rest of the world.

"This would all be happening in California, all driven by this Proposition 71 money," said Trounson.

The bond money is expected to last only several more years. One option is to ask voters to approve more bonds, something taxpayer groups oppose.

"When people think about bond financing, they think about a bridge, a school, a canal," said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. "But stem cell research is just kind of out there."

Rancher Diana Souza says it would be a shame to stop public funding of stem cell research. Through trials at UC Davis Medical Center not financed by Prop. 71 money, she says stem cells helped restore full use of her severely fractured arm.

"I hope they can continue doing this because it is a miracle. It does work. And I have a good arm to prove it," said Souza.

Originally posted here:
Proposition 71 stem cell research funds drying up

Public release date: 20-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Omar Montejo omontejo@miami.edu 305-243-5654 JAMA and Archives Journals

CHICAGO Among patients with end-stage renal disease undergoing living-related kidney transplants, the use of bone-marrow derived mesenchymal (cells that can differentiate into a variety of cell types) stem cells instead of antibody induction therapy resulted in a lower incidence of acute rejection, decreased risk of opportunistic infection, and better estimated kidney function at 1 year, according to a study in the March 21 issue of JAMA.

Induction therapy, routinely implemented in organ transplant procedures, consists of use of biologic agents to block early immune activation. New induction immunosuppressive protocols with increased efficacy and minimal adverse effects are desirable. "Antibody-based induction therapy plus calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs) reduce acute rejection rates in kidney recipients; however, opportunistic infections and toxic CNI effects remain challenging. Reportedly, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have successfully treated graft-vs.-host disease," according to background information in the article.

Jianming Tan, M.D., Ph.D., of Xiamen University, Fuzhou, China and colleagues examined the effect of autologous (derived from the same individual) MSC infusion as an alternative to anti-IL-2 receptor antibody for induction therapy in adults undergoing living-related donor kidney transplants. The randomized study included 159 patients. Patients were inoculated with marrow-derived autologous MSC at kidney reperfusion and two weeks later. Fifty-three patients received standard-dose and 52 patients received low-dose CNIs (80 percent of standard); 51 patients in the control group received anti-IL-2 receptor antibody plus standard-dose CNIs.

Patient and graft survival at 13 to 30 months was similar in all groups. The researchers found that after 6 months, 4 of 53 patients (7.5 percent) in the autologous MSC plus standard-dose CNI group and 4 of 52 patients (7.7 percent) in the low-dose group compared with 11 of 51 controls (21.6 percent) had biopsy-confirmed acute rejection. Renal function recovered faster among both MSC groups showing increased estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR; a measure of kidney function) levels during the first month after surgery than the control group.

The authors also found that during the 1-year follow-up, combined analysis of MSC-treated groups revealed significantly decreased risk of opportunistic infections than the control group.

"In our prospective randomized trial on a large patient population, autologous MSCs could replace anti-IL-2 receptor-induction therapy in living-related donor kidney transplants. Recipients of autologous MSCs showed lower frequency of biopsy-confirmed acute rejection in the first 6 months than the control group," the researchers write.

"Extended monitoring of study participants will allow assessment of the long-term effects of autologous MSCs on renal allograft function, survival, and safety."

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Read this article:
Use of stem cells for adults receiving related donor kidney transplants appears to improve outcomes

By Ron Winslow

Doctors at Yale University have successfully implanted a biodegradablescaffold seeded with a four-year-old girls own bone-marrowcells to help treat a serious heart defect, as WSJs Heartbeat column describes.

The tube about three inches long is made of polyester material similar to that used in the manufacture of dissolvable sutures. Six months after Angela Irizarrys surgery, it had disappeared, replaced by a bioengineered conduit that acts like a normal blood vessel.

The vanishing act for the scaffold was expected, but what happens to the cells, including stem cells, that spawned the new vessel?

Much to the researchers surprise, says Chris Breuer, the Yale pediatric surgeon leading the experimental tissue-engineering project, the cells go away too.

Stem cells and certain other bone-marrow cells have building-block properties that make them the foundation for more specialized cells that grow into the bodys various tissues and structures. Researchers have long believed that stem cells transplanted into heart tissue, for instance, would be a primary component of whatever new tissue that grew as a result.

A lot of people think that when you put cells in, they turn into whatever cells you want them to turn into, Breuer tells the Health Blog. Weve clearly shown that doesnt happen in our graft.

Indeed, in experiments performed to learn how the tubes morphed into blood vessels, Breuer and his colleagues transplanted their scaffold seeded with human cells into mice bred with deficient immune systems to prevent rejection of the cells. Within a few days, the human cellswere gone, replaced within the scaffold by mouse cells, including cells characteristic of those that line the inner wall of blood vessels.

Initially, I refused to believe it, Breuer says. I redid the experiment three different ways and saw the same thing every time.

The upshot: Transplanted cells that have a quality of stem cells dont buildnew parts themselves, he says.They cause the body to induce regeneration.

Continue reading here:
In Treatment of Child’s Heart Defect, Doctors Find a Stem-Cell Surprise

A special dog used to help people is getting some much-needed help of her own at a Virginia clinic, myFOXdc.com reported.

Red, a 12-year-old black Labrador, is one of the last surviving search and rescue dogs deployed during the 9/11 attacks.

Her handler, Heather Roche, told WTTG-TV that Red was recently certified when Sept. 11, 2001, occurred, and the devastating terror attacks were her first big mission.

Red's job was to find DNA evidence at The Pentagon's north parking lot with 26 other dogs, and according to Roche, she did a "fantastic job."

"I got her as a puppy ... You have to convince [her] everything that she does, whether it's climbing ladders or any kind of search, that it's her idea," Roche told WTTG-TV. "No matter what I've asked her to do, she's done it and she's done it flawlessly."

But in her old age Red developed crippling arthritis, and underwent stem cell regenerative therapy Monday to help ease her pain so she can get back out on the job.

Dr. John Herrity of Burke Animal Clinic in Burke, Va., told WTTG-TV, "Red has a back issue that, after a fall from a ladder has not really been right, and has been living in pain, so we're going to give those stem cells IV [intravenously] and then also inject them along the back to try to help Red's comfort."

"She's had a great career and has made a difference to a lot of families by bringing their loved ones home," Roche said.

Click here to read more.

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9/11 search and rescue dog receives stem cell therapy

For about three days in January, Matt Ladd said he didnt know whether it was day or night, what was top or bottom.

I was probably as sick as Ive ever been, said Ladd, a Billings game warden, in a telephone interview from Seattle. As things got progressively worse and worse, I was really concerned about what was going on right then.

Ladd was headed to Seattle for stem cell bone marrow transplant surgery when an infection he was being treated for worsened. The infection started around a catheter inserted into his chest to deliver chemotherapy drugs. The chemo was battling Ladds acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome, which was diagnosed in September. His bone marrow wasnt producing enough red blood cells.

The chemo worked. He was in remission and on his way to Seattle for a bone marrow transplant when the infection sent him into a rapid downward spiral. Because of the location of the catheter, the infection attacked his heart valves. During the struggle with the infection, his kidneys failed, his body retained water and he swelled up.

The infection scuttled plans for the bone marrow transplant surgery. With his kidneys failing, he had to undergo dialysis. As a final insult to his immune system, he had to take more chemotherapy since the surgery had been delayed and doctors feared the MDS might return.

My body and kidneys didnt respond well to the chemo, he said.

More than a month after he was scheduled to undergo surgery, Ladd is living in an apartment north of Seattle as family members rotate caretaking duties. His wife, Maureen, a math teacher at Billings West High, is holding down the fort at home, trying to maintain a sense of normalcy for their sons, Dylan, Logan and Jack.

What was going to be a short process has become a very long process, Maureen said.

Now the Ladds are waiting to hear whether Matt and his sister, Jessica Cook, will take part in a Seattle Cancer Center Alliance study of a new method of bone marrow transplantation. Since Ladds kidneys have been injured, he would normally have to have a reduced-intensity transplant used for the elderly and those with health issues, Maureen explained.

The experimental method would treat Cook, Ladds only sibling and a bone marrow transplant match, with Lipitor prior to the surgery. The cholesterol-lowering drug has shown promise in preventing reactions to transplants. If they are accepted for the study, it would mean a further delay of surgery, since Cook would have to be on the drug for a couple of weeks prior to the operation.

Read more from the original source:
Billings game warden fights cancer complications

Edited by M. A. Hayat 384 pp, $209 New York, NY, Springer, 2012 ISBN-13: 978-9-4007-2015-2

Stem cells and cancer stem cells are 2 distinct, evolving, and promising areas of research. Hematopoietic stem cells are already used in the treatment of bone marrow failure and hematologic malignancies, and there is now great interest in isolating stem cells from other organs for use in replenishing damaged tissue in the heart, brain, bones, and other organs and structures. In contrast, cancer stem cells, a newly recognized component of some cancers, have some properties of pluripotent stem cells in that they replicate without normal cell cycle regulation and apoptosis. Moreover, they are naturally resistant to chemotherapy because of drug-exuding pumps, DNA repair proteins, and dormancy; thus, these cells are now suspected to be the root cause of relapse and metastasis after conventional therapies in some malignancies, especially leukemia. Targeting cancer stem cells in addition to cancer cells may therefore lead to better eradication of cancer than is presently possible.

Read more from the original source:
Stem Cells and Cancer Stem Cells: Therapeutic Applications in Disease and Injury, Volume 2 [Book and Media Reviews]

12-03-2012 20:48 by:www.medicaltourism.hk

Originally posted here:
Chia medical tourism--stroke--stem cell therapy 1.flv - Video

Published: March 12, 2012

(NEW YORK, NY, March 11, 2012) A study by Columbia researchers suggests that cells in the patients intestine could be coaxed into making insulin, circumventing the need for a stem cell transplant. Until now, stem cell transplants have been seen by many researchers as the ideal way to replace cells lost in type I diabetes and to free patients from insulin injections.

The researchconducted in micewas published 11 March 2012 in the journal Nature Genetics.

Type I diabetes is an autoimmune disease that destroys insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. The pancreas cannot replace these cells, so once they are lost, people with type I diabetes must inject themselves with insulin to control their blood glucose. Blood glucose that is too high or too low can be life threatening, and patients must monitor their glucose several times a day.

Gut insulin cells express glucokinase, a key enzyme for glucose processing. Immunostaining detected insulin in red and glucokinase in green. Yellow marked merged colors.

A longstanding goal of type I diabetes research is to replace lost cells with new cells that release insulin into the bloodstream as needed. Though researchers can make insulin-producing cells in the laboratory from embryonic stem cells, such cells are not yet appropriate for transplant because they do not release insulin appropriately in response to glucose levels. If these cells were introduced into a patient, insulin would be secreted when not needed, potentially causing fatal hypoglycemia.

The study, conducted by Chutima Talchai, PhD, and Domenico Accili, MD, professor of medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, shows that certain progenitor cells in the intestine of mice have the surprising ability to make insulin-producing cells. Dr. Talchai, who works in Dr. Accilis lab, is a New York Stem Cell Foundation-Druckenmiller Fellow.

The gastrointestinal progenitor cells are normally responsible for producing a wide range of cells, including cells that produce serotonin, gastric inhibitory peptide, and other hormones secreted into the GI tract and bloodstream.

Inactivation of Foxo1, a gene important for metabolism generated insulin producing cells in small intestines of newborn mice, as detected by immunofluorescence in red.Drs. Talchai and Accili found that when they turned off a gene known to play a role in cell fate decisionsFoxo1the progenitor cells also generated insulin-producing cells. More cells were generated when Foxo1 was turned off early in development, but insulin-producing cells were also generated when the gene was turned off after the mice had reached adulthood.

Our results show that it could be possible to regrow insulin-producing cells in the GI tracts of our pediatric and adult patients, Dr. Accili says.

Excerpt from:
Columbia Researchers Find Potential Role for Gut Cells in Treating Type I Diabetes