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.

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Study finds new treatment for adult sickle cell disease

The treatment could edge out joint replacement procedures to a large extent.

Hyderabad, June 30:

A team of doctors from a city hospital have harvested stem cells of a person using bone marrow from the pelvis area to replace some dead tissues in the hip. By doing this, they saved the patient from undergoing a hip replacement.

The Apollo Health City team, headed by orthopaedic specialist Paripati Sharat Kumar, diagnosed a 39-year-old women suffering from Avascular Necrosis. Her condition would require undergoing a replacement of hips.

After assessing her condition, the team has decided to go for the autologous stem cell procedure (where donor and the receiver is the same person) to save both the hip joints.

The minimally invasive procedure involved taking bone marrow aspirate from the patients pelvis. Stem cells were harvested from the aspirate through a process that takes about 15 minutes. Stems cells were planted in the area of damage under fluoroscopy control following core decompression, Kumar said in a statement on Monday.

He feels that the autologous stem cell treatment could edge out joint replacement procedures to a large extent in the days to come. The scope of this procedure in orthopaedics and sports medicine is enormous. This could be extended to indications including osteoarthritis of knee, shoulder, hip, elbows, ankle and spine, he said.

(This article was published on June 30, 2014)

The rest is here:
Autologous stem cell treatment could be the road ahead

UVA joins National Marrow Donor Program giving greater access to cancer treatments by Ishaan Sachdeva | Jun 25 2014 | 06/25/14 10:11pm | Updated 14 hours ago

The Emily Couric Cancer Center of the University of Virginia Health System has expanded its access to bone marrow and hematopoietic stem cell transplant donors. Now designated as a National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), the Health System will have access to the Be The Match Registry, the worlds largest and most diverse bone marrow registry. Implications of this change are significant for patients afflicted with blood cancers like leukemia who obtain treatment through the Health System.

Bone marrow, the soft, spongy tissue within bones like the sternum or the ilium of the pelvis, forms hematopoietic or blood-forming stem cells. These cells, unlike embryonic stem cells, differentiate only into types of blood cells- red blood cells, white blood cells or clotting platelets. Leukemia causes bone marrow to produce abnormal, leukemic white blood cells that divide uncontrollably, forming tumors that deprive cells of oxygen and reduce infection defense. One treatment method is autologous bone marrow transplant, in which patients receive stem cells from their healthy, non cancerous bone marrow.

The idea [of autologous transplants] is that you extract healthier bone marrow from the patient to have a source of stored, non-cancerous bone marrow. You can then treat the patient with higher doses of treatment than you can normally give because the most common limitation to treatment is that treatment will kill off healthy bone marrow you might have, said Thomas P. Loughran Jr., MD, the Universitys Cancer Center director.

Essentially, a patients healthy bone marrow is safeguarded outside their body while aggressive treatment is administered to kill cancerous marrow. Another form of treatment is allogeneic treatment, in which bone marrow is transplanted from a sibling or an unrelated donor.

In an allogeneic transplant, you are also transplanting in a new immune system. The new immune system comes in and recognizes the body as a foreign tissue and starts attacking that tissue. This causes a beneficial graft vs. leukemia effect where this new immune system attacks any residual leukemia, but may also cause a harmful graft versus host disease where normal tissue is also attacked, Loughran said.

The donor and recipient tissue interaction underscores the genetic component of bone marrow transplants from external donors. Despite the curative potential of a bone marrow transplant, a strong genetic match between donor and recipient is crucial to the utility of a transplant.

The ability of any donor to be successful is based on genetics. Its called HLA [human leukocyte antigen] typing. The HLA system has four genes called A, B, C and D, and it turns out that A, B and D are influential. We have half of our genes each from both parents, so we have six of these: 2 A, 2 B and 2 D. The best case is a six out of six match from a brother or sister, but the chances are only 1 in 4, said Loughran. The consequence of low genetic probabilities is a large pool of unrelated donors, like the Be The Match Registry. Through such services, patients have a greater chance of finding an unrelated donor who may provide a successful genetic match.

The coordinating center would identify the place where the donor is living and tell them they are potentially able to donate. In the past, the donor would have bone marrow directly extracted. Now it is almost always from the PBSCT [peripheral blood stem cell transplantation] procedure. The donor takes a growth factor that stimulates growth of the needed hematopoietic stem cells within their peripheral blood circulation. A catheter collects this blood and the stem cells are separated from the blood by a machine, and the blood is returned back to the donor. The collected stem cells are sent to the lab where they are purified and frozen, Loughran said.

Meanwhile, the patient in preparation for the transplant is given the highest dose of chemotherapy that can be tolerated. The donated stem cells are administered to the patient in a way similar to IV fluid.

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UVA Expands Cancer Treatment

In the second part of our series on the need for bone marrow donors, NY1's Erin Billups takes a look at what goes into donating bone marrow and some of the lingering misconceptions.

Following the death of their colleague, Marlon Layne, members of the marketing firm Ogilvy & Mather started a campaign to get the word out about the prevalence of blood cancers and the need for more diversity within the donor pool.

Over the past three years they've raised nearly $42,000 for the cause and signed up around 160 new donors to the Be the Match Registry.

"I cant change the past but I can ensure that in the future nobody else like Marlon has to be waiting for a marrow registrant from somebody whos of their same race," says Ogilvy & Mather Marketing Analytics Associate Director Omari Jinaki.

Omari Jinaki says he has noticed a level of hesitancy to participate within the black community, though.

"That is rooted, clearly, in hundreds of years of history of being misguided and misrepresented and underrepresented by the systems that are supposed to protect us," Jinaki says.

There's also a lack of awareness of the need within the Latino and Asian communities, and lingering misconceptions the donation process.

Many believe it's painful, with significant recovery time.

"The process has changed in the way one donates bone marrow. Seventy-five percent of the time, it's just like a blood donation," says Icla Da Silva Foundation President Airam Da Silva.

Depending on the recipient's need, most can now donate via a peripheral blood stem cell, or PBSC.

The rest is here:
Misconceptions Keep Bone Marrow Registry from Attracting Diverse Donor Pool

Apollo Health City team did autologous stem cell procedure to save both the hip joints

Hyderabad, June 30:

A team of doctors from a city hospital have harvested stem cells of a person using bone morrow from the pelvis area to replace some dead tissues in the hip. In this process, they saved the patient from undergoing a hip replacement.

The Apollo Health City team, headed by orthopaedic specialist Paripati Sharat Kumar, diagnosed a 39-year-old woman to be suffering from Avascular Necrosis, making her writhe with pain in her two hip joints. Her condition would require undergoing a replacement of hips.

After assessing her condition, the team has decided to go for autologous stem cell procedure (where donor and the receiver is the same person) to save both the hip joints.

The minimally invasive procedure involved taking bone marrow aspirate from the patients pelvis. Stem cells were harvested from the aspirate, through a process that takes about 15 minutes. Stems cells were planted in the area of damage under fluoroscopy control following core decompression, Sharat Kumar said here in a statementon Monday.

He felt that autologous stem cell treatments could edge out joint replacement procedures to a large extent in days to come. The scope of this procedure in orthopaedics and sports medicine is enormous. This could be extended to indications include osteoarthritis of knee, shoulder, hip, elbows, ankle and spine, he said.

(This article was published on June 30, 2014)

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Her own stem cells saved her from hip replacement

Geordie Shore star Charlotte Crosby has become the latest person to sign up to the Anthony Nolan bone marrow register

Geordie Shore star Charlotte Crosby has spat out her support for a baby in need of a life-saving operation.

Charlotte has signed up with the Anthony Nolan Trust after reading about the plight of nine-month-old Joey Ziadi, who is suffering from a rare blood disorder that affects one in nine million people.

The tot from Northampton needs a lifesaving transplant but has not yet found a matching donor so Charlotte has enlisted her 1.89m twitter followers to join the cause.

After hearing about Joeys plight, Charlotte tweeted a selfie with her Anthony Nolan spit kit - the simple piece of equipment which allows people to leave a DNA sample and go on the bone marrow donor register.

She said: I saw the gorgeous Joey Ziadi in the news and I couldnt believe it when I heard how ill he was and that only one in nine million people have his condition I felt like crying. I knew I had to do something, but I didnt know how to help.

When I found out how simple it was to sign up to the Anthony Nolan register, I didnt have to think about it. I just thought Its so easy, why doesnt everyone do this?

Anthony Nolan saves lives by matching people willing to donate their bone marrow or blood stem cells to patients in need of a transplant.

The charity also needs more young men to sign up, as they are most likely to be chosen to donate but make up just 14% of the register. Charlotte said: I was quite shocked that young lads are so underrepresented on the register though. Come on lads, just sign up online and spit into a tube! Im doing it, and I just hope one day I have the chance to save a life.

Joey was diagnosed with an extremely rare blood disorder Diamond Blackfan Anaemia in February. His family have been campaigning to recruit more potential donors to the Anthony Nolan donor register after being told that his best hope of a cure is a bone marrow transplant from a stranger.

Link:
Charlotte Crosby helps young boy in need of bone marrow transplant

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

By LAURAN NEERGAARD AP Medical Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - 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 percent 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.

Next, her team is beginning a bigger step - to try creating a bank of those cells from a variety of healthy donors that any patient could use, without having to custom-brew each dose.

Original post:
Designer T cells fight viruses after transplants - Quincy Herald-Whig | Illinois & Missouri News, Sports

In your bones, there is fat.

Why? Researchers don't know, but they have theories.

How does it get there? They have theories about that, too.

Is it the same sort of fat found in muscle? Not sure.

Is this bone fat a bad thing? Yes. Researchers think it is. But sometimes, they say, it might not be so bad.

"This is a new field," said Maya Styner, MD, an assistant professor of medicine in the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. "We don't know exactly how it's produced or why it's there to begin with. There are a lot of unanswered questions."

But Styner, an endocrinologist, has used a new kind of imaging technique to answer at least two: what do diabetes drugs and exercise -- or the lack of it -- do to bone fat, and why does this matter?

Stains and scans

Our bones are not stagnant, rock-like things. They change. Marrow -- the tissue inside bones -- is full of various kinds of cells. And marrow is also full of fat. The amounts of these cells and fats can decrease or increase over time. And the production of these marrow cells and fat depend on a specific type of progenitor cell called a mesenchymal stem cell.

"These stem cells give rise to both bone and fat," Styner said. "For a long time in the bone world, it's been thought that these stem cells produce bone but then, as we age, they start to produce fat, instead."

Read the original:
Fat of the bone: Exercise, diabetes affect amount of fat inside bones

SOUTH BEND, Ind.--- In the 1970's, researchers discovered that a newborn's umbilical cord blood contained special stem cells that could help fight certain diseases.

More than 30 years later doctors are still experimenting and learning more about the use of cord blood.

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," said Amanda.

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

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

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.

Read more from the original source:
Umbilical cord blood helps to save lives

Originally published June 18, 2014 at 4:37 PM | Page modified June 19, 2014 at 8:32 PM

BELLINGHAM A decade ago, the San Juan Island owners of Comet brought their beloved golden retriever to Drs. Edmund Sullivan and Theresa Westfall at Bellingham Veterinary to see if Comets diagnosis of lymphoma could be treated as something other than a death sentence.

The odds werent good.

At the time, lymphoma was considered incurable, with chemotherapy treatment only a temporary solution because the cancer nearly always re-emerged and resulted in death within a year.

Sullivan and Westfall, who are married, were determined to help. After talking to Dr. Rainer Storb, an expert on human lymphoma at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, they decided to attempt a bone-marrow transplant on Comet. They spent six months visiting the center to learn how.

After removing and preserving bone-marrow stem cells in a painless procedure, the cells are stored for re-injection after radiation therapy. Through DNA analysis, the patients cells are checked for the presence of tumor cells. Sometimes, blood transfusions are needed to provide platelets and red blood cells during recovery.

Its a common procedure in humans but hadnt been tried with dogs.

It worked. Comet survived.

Since Comets recovery, more than 100 dogs have been cured with the treatment through Bellingham Veterinary, and three more veterinary hospitals around the country have been trained in the procedure. The 50 percent cure rate is considered extraordinary.

I didnt invent the procedure, Sullivan says. The knowledge was already out there and we just applied it to dogs.

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Lesson learned at Hutch helping dogs with lymphoma

MP calls for more donors in Pendle to register

11:43am Tuesday 17th June 2014 in News

THE Anthony Nolan charity is searching for more heroes in Pendle to join their bone marrow register in the fight against blood cancer.

Championed by Pendle MP Andrew Stephenson, this search is under way as the Anthony Nolan bone marrow register has been mapped across the UK by area for the first time.

In Pendle, there are more than 1,500 residents willing to donate their stem cells, or bone marrow, to save the life of a stranger.

Anthony Nolan, now in its 40th anniversary year, was the worlds first bone marrow register.

Mr Stephenson said: I am delighted that Pendle has one of the highest number of heroes on the register out of anywhere in Britain, but we could get even more.

Im hunting for more people to sign up today, so we can fight blood cancer together. It is something truly heroic to give a stranger a second chance at life. That is why Im proud of the huge number of Pendle residents already signed up and proud to champion this cause.

For details, visit www. anthonynolan.org/superhero.

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MP calls for more donors in Pendle to register

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) --

It's something Jon Galvan experienced five years ago after he almost died from a hemorrhagic stroke while atSubmit work.

"I was typing away and I felt a pop in my head," Galvan told Ivanhoe.

He was able to recover, but Abba Zubair, MD, PhD, Medical Director of Transfusion Medicine and Stem Cell Therapy at Mayo Clinic, Florida says not everyone is as fortunate.

"If it happens, you either recover completely or die," Dr. Zubair told Ivanhoe. "That's what killed my mother."

SubmitDr. Zubair wants to send bone marrow derived stem cells to the international space station.

"Based on our experience with bone marrow transplant you need about 200 to 500 million cells," Dr. Zubair said.

But conventionally grown stem cells take a month. Experiments on earth have shown that stem cells will grow faster in less gravity.

"Five to ten times faster, but it could be more," Dr. Zubair said.

Specifically he hopes to expand the number of stem cells that will help regeneration of neurons and blood vessels in hemorrhagic stroke patients.

Read the original here:
Growing Stem Cells in Space: Medicine's Next Big Thing?

When patients have to undergo a bone marrow transplant, the procedure weakens their immune system. Viruses that are usually kept in check in a healthy immune system may then cause potentially fatal infections. Scientists at Technische Universitt Mnchen (TUM), together with colleagues from Frankfurt, Wrzburg and Gttingen, have now developed a method which could offer patients conservative protection against such infections after a transplant. The method has already been used to treat several patients successfully.

The cells of the human immune system are created from special stem cells in the bone marrow. In diseases affecting the bone marrow, such as leukemia, the degenerate cells must be destroyed using radiation or chemotherapy. Subsequently, the hematopoietic system has to be replaced with stem cells from the blood of a healthy donor. Because of the resulting temporary weakening of the immune system, patients are more exposed to viruses that would normally be warded off.

The cytomegalovirus (CMV), which can cause serious damage to lungs or liver in persons with a weakened defense, poses a major clinical problem. In healthy human beings, a CMV infection will usually not produce any symptoms, since the virus is kept at bay by specific immune cells. In their work, the scientists were able to demonstrate that the transfer of just a few specific immune cells is sufficient to protect the recipient with the weakened immune system against infections. To do this, they used T cells that can recognize and kill specific pathogens.

Tested in an animal model

Dr. Christian Stemberger, first author of the study, and his colleagues, first isolated T cells from the blood of healthy donor mice. These immune cells were directed against molecular elements of a bacterial species which normally causes severe infections in animals. The T cells were then transferred to recipient mice that, due to a genetic modification, could no longer produce immune cells of their own -- similarly to patients suffering from leukemia.

Following the T cell transfer, the researchers infected the treated recipient mice with the bacteria. The results showed that the animals now have effective immune protection against the pathogens, preventing them from becoming ill. "The most astonishing result was that the offspring cells of just one transferred donor cell were enough to completely protect the animals," Christian Stemberger explains.

Successfully used in patients

Finally, the scientists used virus-specific T cells to treat two critically ill patients. Due to a congenital immunodeficiency and leukemia, respectively, stem cell transplants had to be performed on the two patients. Weakened by the procedure, both patients developed CMV infections.

Using a new method, the scientists therefore isolated T cells specifically programmed to target the CMV virus from the blood of the donor and transferred small numbers of these cells to the patients. After only a few weeks, the virus-specific cells proliferated. At the same time, the number of viruses in the blood dropped. "It is a great advantage that even just a few cells can provide protection. This means that the cells can be used for preventive treatment in low doses that are gentler on the organism," Dr. Michael Neuenhahn, last author of the study, explains.

The potential of the identified T cells will now be examined in a clinical study. In addition to an innovative method for cell purification, scientists also have at their disposal a new TUM facility for the sterile manufacture of cell products. In TUMCells, cells can be produced in highly-pure conditions, in so-called clean rooms. In the future, the scientists want to use recent results and TUMCells to develop innovative cell therapies.

See original here:
Promising T cell therapy to protect from infections after transplant

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Newswise DALLAS June 20, 2014 The Childrens Medical Center Research Institute at UTSouthwestern (CRI) has identified a biomarker that enables researchers to accurately characterize the properties and function of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in the body. MSCs are the focus of nearly 200 active clinical trials registered with the National Institutes of Health, targeting conditions such as bone fractures, cartilage injury, degenerative disc disease, and osteoarthritis.

The finding, published in the journal Cell Stem Cell on June 19, significantly advances the field of MSC biology, and if the same biomarker identified in CRIs studies with mice works in humans, the outlook for clinical trials that use MSCs will be improved by the ability to better identify and characterize the relevant cells.

There has been an increasing amount of clinical interest in MSCs, but advances have been slow because researchers to date have been unable to identify MSCs and study their normal physiological function in the body, said Dr. Sean Morrison, Director of the Childrens Research Institute, Professor of Pediatrics at UTSouthwestern Medical Center, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. We found that a protein known as leptin receptor can serve as a biomarker to accurately identify MSCs in adult bone marrow in vivo, and that those MSCs are the primary source of new bone formation and bone repair after injury.

In the course of their investigation, the CRI researchers found that leptin receptor-positive MSCs are also the main source of factors that promote the maintenance of blood-forming stem cells in the bone marrow.

Unfortunately, many clinical trials that are testing potential therapies using MSCs have been hampered by the use of poorly characterized and impure collections of cultured cells, said Dr. Morrison, senior author of the study and holder of the Mary McDermott Cook Chair in Pediatric Genetics at UTSouthwestern. If this finding is duplicated in our studies with human MSCs, then it will improve the characterization of MSCs that are used clinically and could increase the probability of success for well-designed clinical trials using MSCs.

Dr. Bo Zhou, a postdoctoral research fellow in Dr. Morrisons laboratory, was first author of the paper. Other CRI researchers involved in the study were Drs. Rui Yue and Malea Murphy, both postdoctoral research fellows. The research was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, and donors to the Childrens Medical Center Foundation.

About CRI

Childrens Medical Center Research Institute at UTSouthwestern (CRI) is a joint venture established in2011 to build upon the comprehensive clinical expertise of Childrens Medical Center of Dallas and the internationally recognized scientific excellence of UTSouthwestern Medical Center. CRIs mission is to perform transformative biomedical research to better understand the biological basis of disease, seeking breakthroughs that can change scientific fields and yield new strategies for treating disease. Located in Dallas, Texas, CRI is creating interdisciplinary groups of exceptional scientists and physicians to pursue research at the interface of regenerative medicine, cancer biology and metabolism, fields that hold uncommon potential for advancing science and medicine. More information about CRI is available on its website: cri.utsw.edu

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Children's Research Institute Finds Key to Identifying, Enriching Mesenchymal Stem Cells

June 17, 2014

Image Caption: ImStem Biotechnologys Xiaofang Wang, seated, and Ren-He Xu. Credit: Tina Encarnacion/UConn

University of Connecticut

Scientists in the University of Connecticuts Technology Incubation Program have identified a novel approach to treating multiple sclerosis (MS) using human embryonic stem cells, offering a promising new therapy for more than 2.3 million people suffering from the debilitating disease.

The researchers demonstrated that the embryonic stem cell therapy significantly reduced MS disease severity in animal models, and offered better treatment results than stem cells derived from human adult bone marrow.

The study was led by ImStem Biotechnology Inc. of Farmington, Conn., in conjunction with UConn Health Professor Joel Pachter, Assistant Professor Stephen Crocker, and Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) Inc. of Massachusetts. ImStem was founded in 2012 by UConn doctors Xiaofang Wang and Ren-He Xu, along with Yale University doctor Xinghua Pan and investor Michael Men.

The cutting-edge work by ImStem, our first spinoff company, demonstrates the success of Connecticuts Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine funding program in moving stem cells from bench to bedside, says Professor Marc Lalande, director of the UConns Stem Cell Institute.

The research was supported by a $1.13 million group grant from the state of Connecticuts Stem Cell Research Program that was awarded to ImStem and Professor Pachters lab.

Connecticuts investment in stem cells, especially human embryonic stem cells, continues to position our state as a leader in biomedical research, says Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. This new study moves us one step closer to a stem cell-based clinical product that could improve peoples lives.

The researchers compared eight lines of adult bone marrow stem cells to four lines of human embryonic stem cells. All of the bone marrow-related stem cells expressed high levels of a protein molecule called a cytokine that stimulates autoimmunity and can worsen the disease. All of the human embryonic stem cell-related lines expressed little of the inflammatory cytokine.

Link:
Embryonic Stem Cells Offer Promising Treatment For Multiple Sclerosis

Scientists in the University of Connecticut's Technology Incubation Program have identified a novel approach to treating multiple sclerosis (MS) using human embryonic stem cells, offering a promising new therapy for more than 2.3 million people suffering from the debilitating disease.

The researchers demonstrated that the embryonic stem cell therapy significantly reduced MS disease severity in animal models, and offered better treatment results than stem cells derived from human adult bone marrow.

The study was led by ImStem Biotechnology Inc. of Farmington, Conn., in conjunction with UConn Health Professor Joel Pachter, Assistant Professor Stephen Crocker, and Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) Inc. of Massachusetts. ImStem was founded in 2012 by UConn doctors Xiaofang Wang and Ren-He Xu, along with Yale University doctor Xinghua Pan and investor Michael Men.

"The cutting-edge work by ImStem, our first spinoff company, demonstrates the success of Connecticut's Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine funding program in moving stem cells from bench to bedside," says Professor Marc Lalande, director of the UConn's Stem Cell Institute.

The research was supported by a $1.13 million group grant from the state of Connecticut's Stem Cell Research Program that was awarded to ImStem and Professor Pachter's lab.

"Connecticut's investment in stem cells, especially human embryonic stem cells, continues to position our state as a leader in biomedical research," says Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. "This new study moves us one step closer to a stem cell-based clinical product that could improve people's lives."

The researchers compared eight lines of adult bone marrow stem cells to four lines of human embryonic stem cells. All of the bone marrow-related stem cells expressed high levels of a protein molecule called a cytokine that stimulates autoimmunity and can worsen the disease. All of the human embryonic stem cell-related lines expressed little of the inflammatory cytokine.

Another advantage of human embryonic stem cells is that they can be propagated indefinitely in lab cultures and provide an unlimited source of high quality mesenchymal stem cells -- the kind of stem cell needed for treatment of MS, the researchers say. This ability to reliably grow high quality mesenchymal stem cells from embryonic stem cells represents an advantage over adult bone marrow stem cells, which must be obtained from a limited supply of healthy donors and are of more variable quality.

"Groundbreaking research like this furthering opportunities for technology ventures demonstrates how the University acts as an economic engine for the state and regional economy," says Jeff Seemann, UConn's vice president for research.

The findings also offer potential therapy for other autoimmune diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and type-1 diabetes, according to Xu, a corresponding author on the study and one of the few scientists in the world to have generated new human embryonic stem cell lines.

Excerpt from:
Embryonic stem cells offer new treatment for multiple sclerosis

By Ian Dipple Wednesday 18 June 2014 Updated: 18/06 11:28

REDDITCH residents have been urged to join the bone marrow register to help the fight against blood cancer.

Anthony Nolan and Redditch MP Karen Lumley have joined forces for the appeal. For the first time the charity has mapped the bone marrow register across the UK by local area.

In Redditch there are more than 562 people willing to donate their stem cells or bone marrow to save the life of a stranger.

However it is well below the average of 796 per Parliamentary constituency and is ranked 467th out of 650.

Two thirds of UK patients in need of a transplant will not find a matching donor from their family. Anthony Nolan helps them find an unrelated donor but can currently only match half of all requests.

Mrs Lumley said: "I want to see many more of my constituents join this fight. Im hunting for more crusaders to sign up today, so we can fight blood cancer together. It is something truly heroic to give a stranger a second chance at life. This is why Im proud to champion this cause to my constituents."

Ann OLeary, head of register development at Anthony Nolan, added: "Donating is an incredibly selfless thing to do and will give someone with blood cancer their best chance at survival."

Anyone aged 16 to 30 and in good health can join the bone marrow register. It involves filling out a simple online form and spitting into a tube.

Visit http://www.anthonynolan.org/superhero for more information.

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MP calls for bone marrow champions

It's possible to alter genetic material of stem cells to provide HIV resistance A DNA sequence can be removed from the cells and replaced with another The replacements can be taken from people with natural HIV resistance These altered stem cells can then be used to create HIV-resistant white blood cells

By Emma Innes

Published: 07:57 EST, 11 June 2014 | Updated: 12:03 EST, 11 June 2014

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HIV could be cured by genetically editing stem cells, researchers believe.

U.S. scientists say they have already demonstrated that it is possible to alter the genetic material of some stem cells.

This in turn provides HIV resistance, they report.

A new 'genome editing' technique could be the key to curing HIV. Image shows HIV in human tissue

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Could 'editing' genes be the key to curing HIV? Giving patients altered blood cells could make them resistant to the ...

16.06.2014 - (idw) Universitt Basel

T cells use a novel mechanism to fight leukemia. They may recognize unique lipids produced by cancer cells and kill tumor cells expressing these lipid molecules. A study conducted by researchers at the University of Basel shows that a tumor-associated lipid stimulates specific T cells, which efficiently kill leukemia cells both in vitro and in animal models. The results have been published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. Leukemias are cancer diseases affecting blood cells . Acute leukemias prevent development of normal bold cells and thereby are severe life-threatening diseases. Current therapy for acute leukemias is based on chemotherapy that eradicates tumor cells followed by bone-marrow stem cell transplantation that reconstitutes the patient with healthy blood cells. In some cases, leukemia cells survive this treatment and start to re-grow. A major aim of many studies is finding novel and efficient ways to detect and eradicate leukemia cells before a second outbreak of the disease.

More punch against tumor cells

T lymphocytes are major contributors to fight against leukemias. T cells may recognize and become activated by tumor-specific protein antigens in some instances produced in large amounts only by tumor cells. These protein antigens are also called tumor-associated antigens (TAA) and stimulate specific T cells, which in turn kill leukemia cells. However, protein TAA accumulation can be drastically reduced by variant leukemia cells and some TAA may change their structure, thus preventing recognition by T cells and facilitating tumor immune evasion.

Prof. Gennaro De Libero and his team from the Department of Biomedicine at the University of Basel has identified a new approach that might help to make the immune system more efficient in recognizing leukemia cells. His research team is studying T cells that specifically recognize lipid antigens since several years. Together with colleagues in Italy, China and Singapore, the Swiss team has identified a new lipid that accumulates in leukemia cells and that stimulates specific T cell responses. The new lipid methyl-lysophosphatidic acid (mLPA) is very abundant in several forms of human leukemias and is the first example of a lipid TAA.

The published study also shows that it is possible to isolate human T cells that specifically recognize and kill mLPA-expressing leukemia cells in in vitro tests. When these T cells were transplanted into mice, they also displayed great in vivo therapeutic efficacy against leukemia cells.

An important feature of mLPA is that differently from protein TAA, it does not change its structure, and remains abundant in leukemia cells. The Swiss team is now investigating, whether mLPA can be used to target leukemia cells in addition to protein TAA. This type of immunotherapy may be extremely beneficial in preventing relapses of the disease after chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation. It opens new avenues to novel non-invasive cancer immunotherapies.

Original source Marco Lepore, Claudia de Lalla, S. Ramanjaneyulu Gundimeda, Heiko Gsellinger, Michela Consonni, Claudio Garavaglia, Sebastiano Sansano, Francesco Piccolo, Andrea Scelfo, Daniel Hussinger, Daniela Montagna, Franco Locatelli, Chiara Bonini, Attilio Bondanza, Alessandra Forcina, Zhiyuan Li, Guanghui Ni, Fabio Ciceri, Paul Jen, Chengfeng Xia, Lucia Mori, Paolo Dellabona, Giulia Casorati, and Gennaro De Libero

Further information Prof. Gennaro De Libero, University of Basel, Department of Biomedicine, phone: +41 61 265 23 65, email: gennaro.delibero@unibas.ch Dr. Lucia Mori, University of Basel, Department of Biomedicine, phone: +41 61 265 23 27, email: lucia.mori@unibas.ch Weitere Informationen:http://www.jem.org/cgi/doi/10.1084/jem.20140410 - Abstract

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Lipids Help to Fight Leukemia