A young paraplegic woman who underwent spinal stem cell therapy developed a growth in her back made up of nasal cells eight years later.

The team from the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics that removed and investigated the growth has reported the anomaly in a paper published in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine. Although the case is a rare occurrence (the first of its kind, that we know of) the authors admit this may simply be because patients that undergo therapy are not monitored long enough, and either way it provides ample evidence attesting to our lack of understanding around programming and controlling stem cell proliferation and differentiation post-transplant.

Human trials for this type of therapy are still at the very early stages, but animal trials have had some promising results. Several different types of cells have been experimented with for implantation including schwann cells (these surround nerves and sometimes grow on the spinal cord post-injury), foetal neural cells (with successes in rat studies) andnasal olfactory ensheathing cells (these are extracted from the lining of the nose and were the ones used in this particular case study).

The patient in question was just 18 years old when she suffered an injury during a car accident. She had been paraplegic for three years when she opted to undergo surgery, implanting olfactory mucosal cells into the injury site. These cells originate in the roof of the nasal cavity and have the ability to take on the characteristics of other cells in the body because they are partially made up of progenitor cells (adult stem cells). They also contain olfactory ensheathing cells, often used in spinal cord therapy trials. This is all despite, as the authors note, the fact that: "the ability of these cell types to differentiate into organised neural tissue in humans or support new neural growth in humans in the setting of spinal cord injury is unclear."

The location of the transplantation was not divulged in the Spine paper, but the New Scientist reports that it was carried out as part of an early stage trial in the Hospital de Egas Moniz in Lisbon, Portugal. In a paper, the Lisbon team revealed that out of 20 candidates, 11 regained some sensation and one person's paralysis actually worsened.

The woman's therapy did not flag up any issues at the time of implantation, but eight years down the line she complained of worsening back pain that had already been ongoing for a year. Scans at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics revealed a mass, thick like mucus and surrounded by fibrous walls, on the spinal cord, at the site of the cell implantation. The investigators explain that the mass was made up "mostly of cysts lined by respiratory epithelium, submucosal glands with goblet cells, and intervening nerve twigs". Nasal elements were growing.

The mass was pressing against the spinal cord, causing the patient discomfort and threatening her spine. When it was extracted, the team could confirm it came from the neural stem-like cells implanted eight years earlier, because the cysts contained a network of non-functioning nerves that were separate from the spine (suggesting they were new) and bone.

"The presence of these nerves within the mass indicates the capacity of olfactory mucosa to support nerve fibre regeneration or new nerve formation," write the team.

In total, the mass was made up of two major parts, measuring 1.4 x 0.8 x 0.7 cm and 1.6 x 1.3 x 0.7 cm. When they were removed, the patient's pain immediately subsided.

These kinds of trials have been ongoing for years, but the fears have been that stem cells -- which have the ability to turn into any cell in the body if programmed to -- could just as easily mutate into something that is not intended, and create tumours in the long term.

The rest is here:
Stem cell therapy caused nasal tumour on paraplegic's back

A study which had claimed to have come up with a new fast, easy, inexpensive and uncontroversial method of produce stem cells has now been retracted.

According to CNN, scientists had taken a skin cell and coaxed it into acting like an embryo, producing embryonic-like stem cells that could theoretically be turned into any cell in the body. What was described as a 'breakthrough' is how these cells were coaxed, by placing them in an acidic bath.

But the researchers, who had announced the results in January 2014, have now stated in their retraction that their papers had "several critical errors" in their study data.

An investigation into the studies was started by the Riken Center for Developmental Biology in Japan in February 2014, and the institution said its investigators had "categorized some of the errors as misconduct."

In fact, one of the co-authors of the study had also called for a retraction in March, because he questioned some of the data that were used in the experiments, which led to the creation of so-called STAP cells (or stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency cells).

In an editorial accompanying the retraction, it was written that the errors were found in the figures, parts of the methods descriptions were found to be plagiarized, and early attempts to replicate the work failed.

The investigation found that data supposedly representing different cells and different embryos in the study were actually describing the same cells and the same embryos.

The study was published in the journal Nature, which is now accompanied by the retraction of all co-authors.

(Posted on 03-07-2014)

Read more:
Results for 'breakthrough' stem cell study taken back

July 5, 2014

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports Your Universe Online

According to a new study appearing in the July 3 edition of the journal Cell Stem Cell, researchers from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have uncovered a new genetic variant that could result in certain people having a predisposition to schizophrenia.

While there are many genetic variants that could increase the risk of developing a psychiatric disorder, they are insufficient to cause these diseases, the researchers explained. Now, however, the Johns Hopkins researchers have described a new strategy that could reveal how these so-called subthreshold genetic risks could impact the development of a persons nervous system by interacting with other risk factors.

This is an important step toward understanding what physically happens in the developing brain that puts people at risk of schizophrenia, senior author Dr. Guo-li Ming explained in a statement Thursday. Dr. Ming is a professor of neurology and neuroscience in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicines Institute for Cell Engineering who worked on the study along with her husband, Dr. Hongjun Song.

In their study, Dr. Ming, Dr. Song and their colleagues explained that they used a multifaceted approach to find out why copy number variants in an area of the genome labeled 15q11.2 are prominent risk factors not just for schizophrenia, but for autism as well. Deletion of this part of a genome is associated with an increased risk of schizophrenia, but possessing extra copies results in an elevated risk of autism.

Their research focused on using a method which allows a patients skin cell to be reprogrammed into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which can in turn be coaxed into creating any other type of cell. Using this technology, the study authors obtained stem cells from people with schizophrenia who were missing part of 15q11.2 on one of their chromosomes, ultimately coaxing them into neural progenitor cells, which are found in the developing brain.

By observing the process, the researchers found deficiencies during nerve development that could be linked to the gene CYFIP1, which maintains the structure of a nerve cell. By blocking the expression of this gene in developing mouse embryos, they found defects in the formation of the brains cerebral cortex, which plays a key role in consciousness.

The next step was to determine how this gene could interact with other factors, and they discovered that mutations in a pair of genes within a particular cellular pathway linked to CYFIP1 resulted in a significant increase in schizophrenia risk. According to the study authors, their research supports the belief that multiple factors in a single pathway could interact with one another to impact a patients potential risk for psychiatric disorders.

The reason, the team found, is that CYFIP1 plays a role in building the skeleton that gives shape to each cell, and its loss affects spots called adherens junctions where the skeletons of two neighboring cells connect, the university explained. A lack of CYFIP1 protein also caused some of the mice neurons to wind up in the brains wrong layer.

Read more:
Johns Hopkins Researchers Locate Genetic Variant Associated With Schizophrenia

A new study shows that adipose-derived human stem cells, which can become vital tissues such as bone, may be highly resistant to the common chemotherapy drug methotrexate (MTX). The preliminary finding from lab testing may prove significant because MTX causes bone tissue damage in many patients.

MTX is used to treat cancers including acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common form of childhood cancer. A major side effect of the therapy, however, is a loss of bone mineral density. Other bone building stem cells, such as bone marrow derived stem cells, have not withstood MTX doses well.

"Kids undergo chemotherapy at such an important time when they should be growing, but instead they are introduced to this very harsh environment where bone cells are damaged with these drugs," said Olivia Beane, a Brown University graduate student in the Center for Biomedical Engineering and lead author of the study. "That leads to major long-term side effects including osteoporosis and bone defects. If we found a stem cell that was resistant to the chemotherapeutic agent and could promote bone growth by becoming bone itself, then maybe they wouldn't have these issues."

Stem cell survivors

Originally Beane was doing much more basic research. She was looking for chemicals that could help purify adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) from mixed cell cultures to encourage their proliferation. Among other things, she she tried chemotherapy drugs, figuring that maybe the ASCs would withstand a drug that other cells could not. The idea that this could help cancer patients did not come until later.

In the study published online in the journal Experimental Cell Research, Beane exposed pure human ASC cultures, "stromal vascular fraction" (SVF) tissue samples (which include several cell types including ASCs), and cultures of human fibroblast cells, to medically relevant concentrations of chemotherapy drugs for 24 hours. Then she measured how those cell populations fared over the next 10 days. She also measured the ability of MTX-exposed ASCs, both alone and in SVF, to proliferate and turn into other tissues.

Beane worked with co-authors fellow center member Eric Darling, the Manning Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology and Biotechnology, and research assistant Vera Fonseca.

They observed that three chemotherapy drugs -- cytarabine, etoposide, and vincristine -- decimated all three groups of cells, but in contrast to the fibroblast controls, the ASCs withstood a variety of doses of MTX exceptionally well (they resisted vincristine somewhat, too). MTX had little or no effect on ASC viability, cell division, senescence, or their ability to become bone, fat, or cartilage tissue when induced to do so.

The SVF tissue samples also withstood MTX doses well. That turns out to be significant, Darling said, because that's the kind of tissue that would actually be clinically useful if an ASC-based therapy were ever developed for cancer patients. Hypothetically, fresh SVF could be harvested from the fat of a donor, as it was for the study, and injected into bone tissue, delivering ASCs to the site.

To understand why the ASCs resist MTX, the researchers conducted further tests. MTX shuts down DNA biosynthesis by binding the protein dihydrofolate reductase so that it is unavailable to assist in that essential task. The testing showed that ASCs ramped up dihydrofolate reductase levels upon exposure to the drug, meaning they produced enough to overcome a clinically relevant dose of MTX.

Link:
Stem cell type resists chemotherapy drug

When two scientific papers, published in the journal Nature in January, described an inexpensive, uncontroversial and quick method of creating stem cells, it was hailed as a path-breaking discovery.

However, five months later, the research stands discredited after Nature retracted the papers Wednesday, and the study's inclusion in the prestigious journal has cast doubts on its peer-review process. In a retraction published by Nature, the researchers admitted that several critical errors had been found in the article, and that these multiple errors impair the credibility of the study as a whole.

In the research papers published in January, scientists from the Riken Centre for Developmental Biology in Japan had described a process to convert mature skin cells into pluripotent stem cells. Pluripotent stem cells are embryonic -- like stem cells that can be grown into any kind cell, tissue or organ. The method described in the papers was fairly straightforward and involved immersing the cells in an acid bath to create what the researchers called Stimulus Triggered Acquired Pluripotency Stem Cells, or STAP-SC.

Currently, there are only two ways to create stem cells. One involves extracting stem cells from the embryo, which results in its destruction and is therefore considered controversial. The other method requires the insertion of DNA into adult cells and is extremely expensive. Furthermore, the stem cells created through the second method are unstable and mostly unviable due to the presence of foreign genetic material.

Since the method described in the papers did not require the destruction of an embryo or the insertion of foreign DNA, it was heralded as a revolutionary new breakthrough in stem-cell technology. However, soon after the publication of the papers, a number of errors came to light.

One of the scientists involved in the research, Teruhiko Wakayama, also called for a retraction in March. This led to an internal investigation by the Riken Centre, which found in April that the studys lead author, Haruko Obokata, had misrepresented data in her research papers.

In an editorial accompanying the retraction published Wednesday, Nature stated that the all co-authors of both the papers had finally concluded that they cannot stand behind the papers, and have decided to retract them. The editorial also stated that the episode disclosed flaws in Natures procedures, and expressed the need to move quality assurance higher up on its agenda.

Read the original:
"Acid Bath Stem Cell" Breakthrough Debunked, Nature Retracts Papers

Contact Information

Available for logged-in reporters only

Newswise A team of researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) and Salk Institute for Biological Studies has shown for the first time that stem cells created using different methods produce differing cells. The findings, published in the July 2, 2014 online issue of Nature, provide new insights into the basic biology of stem cells and could ultimately lead to improved stem cell therapies.

Capable of developing into any cell type, pluripotent stem cells offer great promise as the basis for emerging cell transplantation therapies that address a wide array of diseases and conditions, from diabetes and Alzheimers disease to cancer and spinal cord injuries. In theory, stem cells could be created and programmed to replace ailing or absent cells for every organ in the human body.

The gold standard is human embryonic stem cells (ES cells) cultured from discarded embryos generated by in vitro fertilization, but their use has long been limited by ethical and logistical considerations. Scientists have instead turned to two other methods to create stem cells: Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), in which genetic material from an adult cell is transferred into an empty egg cell, and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells), in which adult cells are reverted back to a stem cell state by artificially turning on targeted genes.

Until now, no one had directly and closely compared the stem cells acquired using these two methods. The scientists found they produced measurably different results. The nuclear transfer ES cells are much more similar to real ES cells than the iPS cells, said co-senior author Louise Laurent, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Reproductive Medicine at UC San Diego. They are more completely reprogrammed and have fewer alterations in gene expression and DNA methylation levels that are attributable to the reprogramming process itself.

The development and use of iPS cells has grown exponentially in recent years, in no small part due to the fact that they can be generated from adult cells (often from the skin) by temporarily turning on a combination of four genes to induce the adult cells to return to a pluripotent state.

Laurent noted that iPS cell lines have been created from patients to model many different diseases and the ability to make personalized iPS cells from a patient that could be transplanted back into that patient has generated excitement because it would eliminate the need for immunosuppression.

The nuclear transfer method has been pioneered more recently by a team led by Shoukhrat Mitalipov, PhD, professor and director of the Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy at OSHU. The technique is similar to the process used in cloning, but the pluripotent cells are collected from early embryos before they develop into mature organisms.

For their comparisons, the researchers at UC San Diego, OSHU and Salk created four nuclear transfer ES cell lines and seven iPS cell lines using the same skin cells as the source of donor genetic material, then compared them to two standard human ES lines. All 13 cell lines were shown to be pluripotent using a battery of standard tests.

Go here to see the original:
New Reprogramming Method Makes Better Stem Cells

When an aging Hollywood action star or sex symbol reemerges after a long hiatus looking younger, with a great body and smoother, firmer facial skin, people now assume they have undergone stem cell therapy.

In my interview with doctors Eric and Anna Yalung of Regenestem Manila, they set me straight. While the actor/actress may have had stem cell therapy, the outward appearance is most likely a combination of Botox, plastic surgery, a strict diet and a personal trainer. So no doctor who only offers you stem cell can promise you outwardly beautifying results.

This is not to say though that there are no beauty benefits from it. For the beauty aspect, they do this for facial skin rejuvenation and hair growth. According to head dermatologist Anna Yalung, they inject the target area and, if necessary, combine it with services available at the clinic for best results and to speed up the process.

Shots are spaced a week to a month apart depending on treatment requirement for three sessions. The follow-up is scheduled the following year.

How is it done? Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) is a convenient and cell-based treatment. It is a simple procedure involving the extraction of blood, separation of platelets and administering the PRP to the desired area.

This is done in order to stimulate or promote healing, collagen synthesis for anti-aging, or to deliver proper oxygenation to muscles or tissues. A crucially important function of platelets is the release of various growth factors responsible for almost all repair processes that occur in the body.

Dr. Eric Yalung, who has conducted PRP treatments with Dr. Joseph Purita, world-renowned pioneer in stem cell orthopedic surgery, will spearhead PRP therapy for arthritis, sports injuries, anti-aging, hair growth, facial rejuvenation and pain management. Yalung clears that it is not a cure-all. It wont make you thinner or outwardly younger by itself. Its main purpose is improving the quality of ones life and the highest success rates are for those who are suffering from osteoarthritis; degenerative diseases like diabetes, multiple sclerosis, Parkinsons and Alzheimers; sports injuries and pain management.

Regenestems team of four physicians do not work with embryonic stem cells, only with adult stem cells. Adult stem cells are found in all tissues of the growing human being and, according to latest reports, also have the potential to transform themselves into practically all other cell types, or revert to being stem cells with greater reproductive capacity.

The clinic also provides the option for patient treatments in Regenestem clinics worldwide (US, Mexico, Argentina, and Dubai), and includes assistance in hotel and travel plans.

Regenestem Manila is at 2/F, Belson House, 271 Edsa, Mandaluyong City; tel. 2452200. Visit http://www.regenestemasia.com

Read more:
Can stem cells really restore your youthful looks?

Bone marrow transplants can reverse severe sickle cell disease in adults, a small study by government scientists found, echoing results from a similar technique used in children.

The researchers and others say the findings show that age need not be a barrier and that the technique could change practice for some adult patients when standard treatment fails.

The transplant worked in 26 of 30 adults, and 15 of them were able to stop taking drugs that prevent rejection one year later.

"We're very pleased," said Dr. John Tisdale, the study's senior author and a senior investigator at the National Institutes of Health. "This is what we hoped for."

Sickle cell disease is a genetic condition that damages oxygen-carrying hemoglobin in red blood cells that then form sickle shapes that can block blood flow through veins. It can cause anemia, pain and organ damage. The disease affects about 100,000 Americans and millions worldwide.

The treatment is a modified version of bone marrow transplants that have worked in kids. Donors are a brother or sister whose stem cell-rich bone marrow is a good match for the patient.

Tisdale said doctors have avoided trying standard transplants in adults with severe sickle cell disease because the treatment is so toxic. Children can often tolerate it because the disease typically hasn't taken as big a toll on their bodies, he said.

The disease is debilitating and often life-shortening. Patients die on average in their 40s, Tisdale said. That's one reason why the researchers decided to try the transplants in adults, hoping the technique could extend their lives.

The treatment involves using chemotherapy and radiation to destroy bone marrow before replacing it with healthy donor marrow cells. In children, bone marrow is completely wiped out. In the adult study, the researchers only partially destroyed the bone marrow, requiring less donor marrow. That marrow's healthy blood cells outlast sickle cells and eventually replace them.

Results from the adult study, involving patients aged 29 on average, were published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

View original post here:
Study finds new treatment for adult sickle cell disease

20 hours ago Forty-two hours after they began to differentiate, embryonic cells are clearly segregating into endoderm (red), mesoderm (blue) and ectoderm (black). Researchers say the key to achieving this patterning in culture is confining the colonies geometrically. Credit: Brivanlou Lab, The Rockefeller University

About seven days after conception, something remarkable occurs in the clump of cells that will eventually become a new human being. They start to specialize. They take on characteristics that begin to hint at their ultimate fate as part of the skin, brain, muscle or any of the roughly 200 cell types that exist in people, and they start to form distinct layers.

Although scientists have studied this process in animals, and have tried to coax human embryonic stem cells into taking shape by flooding them with chemical signals, until now the process has not been successfully replicated in the lab. But researchers led by Ali Brivanlou, Robert and Harriet Heilbrunn Professor and head of the Laboratory of Stem Cell Biology and Molecular Embryology at The Rockefeller University, have done it, and it turns out that the missing ingredient is geometrical, not chemical.

"Understanding what happens in this moment, when individual members of this mass of embryonic stem cells begin to specialize for the very first time and organize themselves into layers, will be a key to harnessing the promise of regenerative medicine," Brivanlou says. "It brings us closer to the possibility of replacement organs grown in petri dishes and wounds that can be swiftly healed."

In the uterus, human embryonic stem cells receive chemical cues from the surrounding tissue that signal them to begin forming layersa process called gastrulation. Cells in the center begin to form ectoderm, the brain and skin of the embryo, while those migrating to the outside become mesoderm and endoderm, destined to become muscle and blood and many of the major organs, respectively.

Brivanlou and his colleagues, including postdocs Aryeh Warmflash and Benoit Sorre as well as Eric Siggia, Viola Ward Brinning and Elbert Calhoun Brinning Professor and head of the Laboratory of Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics, confined human embryonic stem cells originally derived at Rockefeller to tiny circular patterns on glass plates that had been chemically treated to form "micropatterns" that prevent the colonies from expanding outside a specific radius. When the researchers introduced chemical signals spurring the cells to begin gastrulation, they found the colonies that were geometrically confined in this way proceeded to form endoderm, mesoderm and ectoderm and began to organize themselves just as they would have under natural conditions. Cells that were not confined did not.

By monitoring specific molecular pathways the human cells use to communicate with one another to form patterns during gastrulationsomething that was not previously possible because of the lack of a suitable laboratory modelthe researchers also learned how specific inhibitory signals generated in response to the initial chemical cues function to prevent the cells within a colony from all following the same developmental path.

The research was published June 29 in Nature Methods.

"At the fundamental level, what we have developed is a new model to explore how human embryonic stem cells first differentiate into separate populations with a very reproducible spatial order just as in an embryo," says Warmflash. "We can now follow individual cells in real time in order to find out what makes them specialize, and we can begin to ask questions about the underlying genetics of this process."

The research also has direct implications for biologists working to create "pure" populations of specific cells, or engineered tissues consisting of multiple cell types, for use in medical treatments. "These cells have a powerful intrinsic tendency to form patterns as they develop," Warmflash says. "Varying the geometry of the colonies may turn out to be an important tool that can be used to guide stem cells to form specific cell types or tissues."

See the rest here:
Using geometry, researchers coax human embryonic stem cells to organize themselves

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

19-Jun-2014

Contact: David McKeon DMcKeon@nyscf.org 212-365-7440 New York Stem Cell Foundation

NEW YORK, NY (June 18, 2014) Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPS) hold enormous potential to unravel the mechanisms of human illness and to develop new therapeutics. Until now, there has been no easily searchable database for investigators to find and share these important resources. This has been a major obstacle to the implementation of iPS technology.

Recognizing the research potential of shared iPS cell lines, the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute and the eagle-i Network will make NYSCF iPS cell lines and related information available to the public on a user-friendly, web-based, searchable database. The database (called the Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell database) will help scientists find valuable resources, enabling collaboration, preventing duplicative work, and ultimately accelerating research.

NYSCF and eagle-i will establish an open access repository of information on large numbers of iPS cell lines. eagle-i will display information as linked open data, enabling discovery by any third party search engine. NYSCF derives hundreds of iPS cell lines from skin samples of patients with a wide variety of diseases using the NYSCF Global Stem Cell ArrayTM technology, an automated platform for high-throughput iPS cell production and differentiation. Scientists will be able to search for NYSCF iPS cell lines under several categories including disease, how the cells were reprogrammed, and patient age at the time the sample was collected.

"This important tool should have significant impact on the science community," said Lee Nadler, principal investigator of Harvard Catalyst and eagle-i. "I'm thrilled that we will contribute to this partnership by creating a user-friendly, searchable database for the iPS cell lines that NYSCF has produced, enabling researchers to search for available lines on an open access platform. The opportunities this will create are tremendous."

"We were very excited to develop this resource for stem cell scientists," said Susan L. Solomon, NYSCF Chief Executive Officer. "It is important to have open access to available resources and this collaboration with eagle-i is a prime example of interdisciplinary teams working together to provide this for the scientific community."

The alpha version of the website will be presented during the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) Annual Conference in Vancouver, Canada in June 2014. Future versions of the database will include genomic and other clinical and cellular phenotype information, including a mechanism that will allow scientists to order lines directly from the website. Soon, NYSCF and eagle-i will invite other institutions from around the world to join this collaboration and contribute their iPS cell lines to the Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell database, creating an even more robust research tool.

At the ISSCR Conference this week, Richard V. Pearse, PhD, from eagle-i will be at poster F-2245 during poster session III and NYSCF will be at booth 918 with information pertaining to this new initiative.

View post:
NYSCF and eagle-i Network co-develop iPS cell database

Published on June 25, 2014

Scientists develop designer T cells to guard against infection after bone marrow transplants

WASHINGTON - Bone marrow transplants save thousands of lives but patients are vulnerable to severe viral infections in the months afterward, until their new immune system kicks in. Now scientists are developing protection for that risky period injections of cells specially designed to fend off up to five different viruses at once.

"These viruses are a huge problem, and there's a huge need for these products," said Dr. Ann Leen, who leads a team at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital that found an easier way to produce these long-desired designer T cells.

Healthy people have an army of T cells that roams the body, primed to recognize and fight viruses. People with suppressed immune systems such as those undergoing a bone marrow transplant to treat leukemia or other diseases lack that protection. It can take anywhere from four months to more than a year for marrow stem cells from a healthy donor to take root and start producing new immune cells for the recipient. When patients get sick before then, today's antiviral medications don't always work and cause lots of side effects.

The proposed solution: Take certain virus-fighting T cells from that same bone marrow donor, and freeze them to use if the recipient gets sick. Years of experiments show it can work. But turning the idea into an easy-to-use treatment has been difficult. A dose had to be customized to each donor-recipient pair and protected against only one or two viruses. And it took as long as three months to make.

Wednesday, Leen reported a novel technique to rapidly manufacture so-called virus-specific T cells that can target up to five of the viruses that cause the most trouble for transplant patients: Epstein-Barr virus, adenovirus, cytomegalovirus, BK virus, and human herpesvirus 6.

Essentially, Leen came up with a recipe to stimulate donated T cells in the laboratory so that they better recognize those particular viruses, and then grow large quantities of the cells. It took just 10 days to create and freeze the designer T cells.

To see if they worked, Leen's team treated 11 transplant recipients. Eight had active infections, most with multiple viruses. The cell therapy proved more than 90 per cent effective, nearly eliminating all the viruses from the blood of all the patients, Leen reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

The other three patients weren't sick but were deemed at high risk. They were given early doses of the T cells protectively and remained infection-free, Leen said.

Read the original here:
Scientists develop designer T cells to guard against infection after bone marrow transplants

June 25, 2014 - Stem Cell Therapy / David Steenblock

By: Dennis Courtney

Read more:
June 25, 2014 - Stem Cell Therapy / David Steenblock - Video

Contact Information

Available for logged-in reporters only

Newswise Among patients with a severe, life-threatening type of sclerosis, treatment with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), compared to intravenous infusion of the chemotherapeutic drug cyclophosphamide, was associated with an increased treatment-related risk of death in the first year, but better long-term survival, according to a study in the June 25 issue of JAMA.

Systemic sclerosis is an autoimmune connective tissue disease characterized by vasculopathy (a disorder of the blood vessels), low-grade inflammation, and fibrosis (development of excess fibrous connective tissue) in skin and internal organs. Previously, small studies have shown that systemic sclerosis is responsive to treatment with autologous HSCT, although it has been unclear whether HSCT improves survival, according to background information in the article. For this study, autologous HSCT involved a multistep process beginning with infusion of high doses of cyclophosphamide and an antibody against immune cells, followed by reinfusion of the patient's own stem cells that had been previously collected from blood and purified.

Jacob M. van Laar, M.D., Ph.D., of the University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands and Dominique Farge M.D., Ph.D, of the Assistance Publique - Hopitaux de Paris, Paris 7 Diderot University, France, and colleagues randomly assigned 156 patients with early diffuse cutaneous (widespread skin involvement) systemic sclerosis to receive HSCT (n = 79) or cyclophosphamide (n = 77; 12 monthly infusions). The phase 3 clinical trial was conducted in 10 countries at 29 centers; patients were recruited from March 2001 to October 2009 and followed up until October 2013.

During a median follow-up of 5.8 years, 53 adverse events occurred: 22 in the HSCT group (19 deaths and 3 irreversible organ failures) and 31 in the control group (23 deaths and 8 irreversible organ failures). Patients treated with HSCT experienced more adverse events (including death) in the first year but had better long-term event-free survival than those treated with cyclophosphamide.

Patients in the HCST group experienced higher mortality in the first year but had better long-term overall survival than those treated with cyclophosphamide. During year 1 there were 11 deaths (13.9 percent, including 8 treatment-related deaths) in the HSCT group vs 7 (9.1 percent, no treatment-related deaths) in the control group. After year 2 of follow-up, there were 12 deaths (15.2 percent) in the HSCT group vs 13 (16.9 percent) in the control group. After 4 years of follow-up, there were 13 deaths (16.5 percent) in the HSCT group vs 20 (26.0 percent) in the control group.

The authors add that HSCT was also more effective than intravenous cyclophosphamide on measures evaluating skin, functional ability, quality of life, and lung function, consistent with previous studies.

Among patients with early diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis, HSCT was associated with increased treatment-related mortality in the first year after treatment. However, HCST conferred a significant long-term event-free survival benefit, the authors conclude. (doi:10.1001/jama.2014.6368; Available pre-embargo to the media at http://media.jamanetwork.com)

Editors Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.

Read the original post:
Stem Cell Transplantation For Severe Sclerosis Linked With Improved Long-term Survival

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

No need to go that far.

It turns out, the best kind of anti-aging treatment is inside one's own body, and the rich are taking advantage of it, exploring the latest research in new technologies, genome mapping and stem cell treatments.

Among them is Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, a large investor of the Ellison Medical Foundation, which supports research exploring the biology that underlies aging and age-related diseases. And there's billionaire Peter Nygrd, who says he wants to live forever (or die trying), and has suggested he's found the keys to immortality in stem cell research.

Some doctors agree that stem cells are a key part of chasing youth.

"If you're a wealthy guy and haven't stored your stem cells, I think you're a total idiot," said Dr. Lionel Bissoon, a New York City physician who sees a number of stressed out, wealthy patients.

Related: It's expensive being rich

They usually come to him with similar problems: "Fatigue, belly fat, erectile dysfunction, tiring very quickly ... all very common with my patients from Wall Street," Bissoon said. The short-term solution to those ailments, he says, is testosterone replacement -- which is relatively affordable at a few hundred dollars a pop -- and IV nutrition.

For the long term he recommends stem cell storage, which works as a sort of rainy day insurance. The cells are extracted, preferably when the patient is on the younger side -- around 30 is said to be a good age -- and can then be used to boost an immune system or help to rebuild damaged organs later.

Dr. Dipnarine Maharaj stores cells at his South Florida Bone Marrow Stem Cell Transplant Institute in Boynton Beach, Fla.

See the original post here:
Can enough money buy you eternal youth?

Successful Fetal Stem Cell Therapy in Kyiv, Ukraine at EmCell via PlacidWay
Watch Daniel #39;s testimonial after undergoing successful Fetal Stem Cell Therapy at EmCell in Kyiv, Ukraine.

By: placidways

View post:
Successful Fetal Stem Cell Therapy in Kyiv, Ukraine at EmCell via PlacidWay - Video

Stem Cell Therapy in South Korea
When traditional treatments fail, Stem Cell Therapy in South Korea offers hope to worldwide patients.

By: placidways

Go here to read the rest:
Stem Cell Therapy in South Korea - Video

Obesity Weight (Stem Cell Therapy)
The subject matter of this video Obesity Weight.

By: Mohammad Sadique

View original post here:
Obesity & Weight (Stem Cell Therapy) - Video

A.P.REYES, MD ~U.S.SENATOR, LEGALIZING STEM CELL THERAPY IN U.S.A.
I created this video with the YouTube Slideshow Creator (http://www.youtube.com/upload)

By: Arturo Reyes

Here is the original post:
A.P.REYES, MD ~U.S.SENATOR, LEGALIZING STEM CELL THERAPY IN U.S.A. - Video

SUNNYVALE, CA and JOHNSTOWN, CO--(Marketwired - Jun 11, 2014) - Spinal Kinetics, the designer and manufacturer of the M6 Artificial Disc, and Kenneth A. Pettine, MD, a leading spine surgeon in northern Colorado, announced completion of the initial series of M6-C implantsas part of a US FDA Clinical Trial at Arte Surgical Center in Johnstown, Colorado.To date, four patients have received the innovative artificial disc at Arte and are among the first treated nationwide.

Dr. Pettine is the only surgeon in Colorado enrolling for the FDA trial and one of only a select number of centers in the US.The trial compares single-level cervical disc replacement to single-level cervical fusion.The M6-C artificial disc represents next generation technology in artificial cervical disc design. "We are very excited to participate in this important clinical trial," said Dr. Kenneth Pettine, M6-C Clinical Trial Investigator and co-Founder of Arte Surgical Center and The Spine Institute at Rocky Mountain Associates in Orthopedic Medicine (Johnstown, CO)."The M6-C has established a phenomenal track record overseas, and we are happy to finally bring this advancement to our patient base here in the US for this clinical study."

The M6-C artificial cervical disc is designed to help patients suffering from degenerative disc disease of the spine, a common cause of chronic neck and arm pain. The M6 technology provides an alternative to spinal fusion and is designed to restore natural physiologic motion to the spine. The M6 is the only artificial disc that replicates the anatomic structure and biomechanics of a natural disc by incorporating both an artificial nucleus and annulus.

"Spinal Kinetics is proud to collaborate with Dr. Kenneth Pettine at the Spine Institute and the team at Arte Surgical Center on this important milestone event," said Tom Afzal, President and CEO of Spinal Kinetics, Inc."Spine surgeons and patients across the US have asked for access to this leading edge disc technology, and we are excited to start the process toward FDA approval by working with key Surgeon/Investigators like Dr. Pettine and innovative Spine Centers like Arte."

Introduced internationally in 2006, M6 technology has quickly become the market leader in Europe and other international markets and is available in over 27 countries worldwide. With approximately 30,000 implants to date, the M6 has become the disc of choice among leading spine surgeons around the world.In the U.S., Spinal Kinetics has successfully completed an FDA approved pilot study of the M6-C and subsequently received approval from the FDA to initiate the current clinical trial.

For more information on potential enrollment in the M6-C Clinical Trial, please contact Kira Sniff at ksniff@rmaortho.com, or (970) 669-8881 ext 229.

About Degenerative Disc Disease Between adjacent vertebra throughout the spine is an intervertebral disc; a shock-absorbing pillow that helps maintain proper spacing, stability, and motion within the spine.Each disc has a fibrous outer band called the annulus fibrosus that encases a central, gel-like substance called the nucleus pulposus.The nucleus and annulus work together to absorb shock, help stabilize the spine, and provide a controlled range of motion between adjacent vertebra.Often brought on by aging, the spine begins to show signs of wear and tear and the discs can dry out and shrink.This degenerative process can put pressure on the spinal cord and nerves and may cause neck, arm and back pain and other painful conditions such as spinal stenosis or a herniated disc.

About Spinal Kinetics Founded in 2003, Spinal Kinetics is a privately held medical device company focused on developing innovative and practical solutions for treatment of diseases of the spine. The M6-C cervical and M6-L lumbar artificial discs have rapidly established themselves among the leading artificial discs available due to their unique biomechanical properties that replicate the motion of a natural disc.The company is located in Sunnyvale, California.

About Kenneth A. Pettine, MD Dr. Kenneth Pettine co-founded The Spine Institute at Rocky Mountain Associates in Orthopedic Medicine. He has an extensive background in spinal surgery, research, and rehabilitation. Dr. Pettine is a board certified fellowship trained spine surgeon.He is the recipient of numerous honors, a distinguished speaker at national and international symposiums, and the author of nearly 20 research publications. He has been the principal investigator for 16 FDA studies involving non-fusion implants, biologics, and stem cells. For information on Dr. Pettine and The Spine Institute visit http://www.spinerevolution.com

About Arte Surgical Center Arte is a pain management and orthopedic/ spine ambulatory surgical facility in Johnstown, CO, that is licensed and joint commission accredited. We provide our patients with quality outpatient and inpatient surgical care in a safe and friendly environment. For information on the Arte Surgical Center, please visit http://www.aretesurgicalcenter.com

See original here:
Spinal Kinetics and Dr. Kenneth Pettine Initiate US FDA Clinical Trial of M6(R)-C Artificial Cervical Disc at Arete ...

LOS ANGELES (KABC) --

Amanda Canale doesn't take time with her daughter and niece for granted. She's just happy to feel good.

"I've been in the hospital, and I've been sick my whole life," Amanda said.

Amanda was born with a rare blood disorder that required daily shots.

"Basically, I have no white blood cells," Amanda said. "I have no immune system at all."

At 23, she developed leukemia and was given two weeks to live. She desperately needed a bone marrow transplant, but family members weren't matches. Her doctor suggested an umbilical cord blood transplant.

"The cord was a perfect match and it was available, so it was the right solution for her," Edward Agura, MD, Medical Director of Bone Marrow Transplantation, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, said.

Cord blood contains stem cells that regenerate. Mothers of newborns can save their child's own blood or donate it. More than 30,000 transplants have been performed worldwide. However, because the blood comes from a tiny newborn, there's not much of it.

"The cord blood is rare, precious and few, and yet is more potent in its ability to grow," Dr. Agura said.

Now, doctors at Baylor are treating patients by combining cord blood from multiple donors. They've found this increases the number of stem cells and provides faster recovery. Amanda's transfusion was from a baby whose mother donated six years earlier. The procedure completely cured her cancer and blood disorder.

Follow this link:
Cord blood infusion saves woman's life