Bone marrow stem cells are special cells within the bone marrow that can form into any type of blood cell when triggered. This allows the bone marrow to supply blood cells to the body as they are needed. The bone marrow acts as a sort of factory or manufacturing station for blood cells, using these undifferentiated stem cells as raw material for white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets.

Doctors and scientists have known that bone marrow stem cells can grow into any type of blood cell. Research has shown, however, that these cells also can develop into other types of cells such as cardiac cells, skin cells, and even muscle cells. This research indicates that bone marrow stem cells might be able to be used to treat a number of diseases that are not necessarily related to blood.

Bone marrow stem cells are used to treat several blood-based diseases. Perhaps the best known of these treatments is the bone marrow transplant, commonly used to treat leukemia and lymphoma. In these forms of cancer, intense radiation therapy or chemotherapy destroys the bone marrow cells, which in this case have begun to malfunction. The malfunctioning bone marrow is then replaced with cells from a bone marrow donor. In some cases, a patient may donate blood cells but the cells must be cancer-free for the treatment to be effective; this process is referred to as autologous bone marrow.

For a bone marrow donation to be effective, the blood type of the donor and other factors typically must be evaluated and matched to that of the patient. The more similar characteristics that exist between patient and donor, the more likely the transplant is to be successful. Because of this, close relatives of the patient are more likely to be able to provide a compatible donation. Donations also can come from non-related people, as well.

It is possible to be tested for these important factors ahead of time and be placed on a list of possible donors. In cases where bone marrow stem cells are needed for a transplant, individuals on the list will be evaluated to look for a match with the patient. Like blood banks, bone marrow donations lists are a vital tool to help those afflicted with certain types of devastating diseases. As scientific research continues, more uses for bone marrow stem cells are likely to surface, some of which could revolutionize modern medicine.

Read the rest here:
What Are Bone Marrow Stem Cells? (with pictures)

> My last post introduced the large-scale publicly funded clinical trial called BAMI (the effect of intracoronary reinfusion of Bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells on all course mortality in Acute Myocardial Infarction). That post focused on the role of the public purse in funding such trials and concluded that public monies have a major role to play in what companies would consider not fundable.

Since clinical trials are enormously expensive, however, it makes the choice of trial to run/fund incredibly difficult and important. The BAMI trial proposes to take whole bone marrow cells from patients who have had a heart attack and transplant them into the hearts of the patients with the hope that these cells will prevent people from re-hospitalization and/or death. Interestingly, the BAMI trial is billed as a stem cell therapy, when in reality it is a hodge-podge of un-fractionated cells that are injected into the heart. Cell therapy, yes. Stem cells, maybe not

When we hear about stem cell trials, we often think of permanent cures where the stem cell population(s) replaces damaged stem cells and operates as normal (e.g., as in the case of successful bone marrow transplantations where donor cells repopulate the recipient forever). I dont think it is likely that the cells in the BAMI trial will be setting up shop in the hearts of patients but one never knows and it would be very interesting to see if cells are still present at the two year endpoint. Present or not, if these cell suspensions achieve the 25% reduction in mortality and 15% reduction in re-hospitalization, then it may be worth it despite the lack of permanence.

Even for someone who has trained in the stem cells and regenerative medicine field for 10 years now, it is difficult to imagine how this (stem) cell therapy might work and what the underlying mechanism of action would be. If anything, I think the benefit would come from the other bone marrow cells injected (the non-stem cells) as a sort of directed delivery of key regenerative molecules or cells (e.g., cytokines, immune cells). These molecules may support tissue healing, they may prevent further damage, they may inhibit scarring, but realistically, we simply do not know what they will do and its a bit of a cowboy experiment when the data from previous trials are not exactly a ringing endorsement of promised success.

The only trial I could find, that had any indication of modest effects, was the TAC-HFTtrial (clinicaltrials.gov identifier NCT00768066) showing that the 1-year incidence of serious adverse events was 31.6% for mesenchymal stem cells, 31.6% for bone marrow cells, and 38.1% for placebo controls. This is a marginal decrease in adverse effects, and the trial only enrolled 65 patients.

On the other hand, the majority of completed studies lack strong positive data (as was also highlighted this Nature News article last week) including:

Despite these suggestions that this therapy will not benefit patients, the really good news is that the BAMI trial is well-designed, has clear and defined endpoints that are easy to assess (mortality and re-hospitalization) and is unlikely to be damaging to patients since they are receiving their own cells. Moreover, the trial at its conclusion will have developed several protocols that will be useful to the wider community considering future cell therapies. These include standardized methods for bone marrow cell collection and preparation for autologous transplantation into the heart.

Most importantly, the trial is very large (3000 patients) and statistically well-powered meaning that it should really put the question as to whether there is any benefit to the test. A few years from now, we should have a good sense of whether there is something interesting happening and maybe then scientists might invest some energy into figuring out how and why it might work.

David Kent holds a PhD in Genetics (UBC) and a BSc in Genetics and English (UWO) and is currently a CIHR postdoctoral fellow at the University of Cambridge, UK. He studies normal and malignant stem cell biology and currently sits on the executive for the Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Scholars. He also maintains his own blog for early career researchers at University Affairs, called the Black Hole (http://www.universityaffairs.ca/the-black-hole/).

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Will bone marrow stem cells help heart attack patients ...

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

7-May-2014

Contact: Nick Miller nicholas.miller@cchmc.org 513-803-6035 Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

CINCINNATI A new study in Nature challenges research data that form the scientific basis of clinical trials in which heart attack patients are injected with stem cells to try and regenerate damaged heart tissue.

Researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), report May 7 that cardiac stem cells used in ongoing clinical trials which express a protein marker called c-kit do not regenerate contractile heart muscle cells at high enough rates to justify their use for treatment.

Including collaboration from researchers at Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles and the University of Minnesota's Lillehei Heart Institute, the study uncovers new evidence in what has become a contentious debate in the field of cardiac regeneration, according to Jeffery Molkentin, PhD, study principal investigator and a cardiovascular molecular biologist and HHMI investigator at the Cincinnati Children's Heart Institute.

"Our data suggest any potential benefit from injecting c-kit-positive cells into the hearts of patients is not because they generate new contractile cells called cardiomyocytes," Molkentin said. "Caution is warranted in further clinical testing of this method until the mechanisms in play here are better defined or we are able to dramatically enhance the potential of these cells to generate cardiomyocytes."

Numerous heart attack patients have already been treated with c-kit-positive stem cells that are removed from healthy regions of a damaged heart then processed in a laboratory, Molkentin explained. After processing, the cells are then injected into these patients' hearts. The experimental treatment is based largely on preclinical studies in rats and mice suggesting that c-kit-positive stem cells completely regenerate myocardial cells and heart muscle. Thousands of patients have also previously undergone a similar procedure for their hearts but with bone marrow stem cells.

Molkentin and his colleagues report those previous preclinical studies in rodents do not reflect what really occurs within the heart after injury, where internal regenerative capacity is almost non-existent. Molkentin also said that combined data from multiple clinical trials testing this type of treatment show most patients experienced a roughly 3-5 percent improvement in heart ejection fraction a measurement of how forcefully the heart pumps blood. Data in the current Nature study suggest this small benefit may come from the ability of c-kit-positive stem cells in heart to cause the growth of capillaries, which improves circulation within the organ, but not by generating new cardiomyocytes.

"What we show in our study is that c-kit-positive stem cells from the heart like to make endothelial cells that form capillaries. But in their natural environment in the heart, these c-kit positive cells do not like to make cardiomyocytes," Molkentin said. "They will produce cardiomyocytes, but at rates so low roughly one in every 3,000 cells it becomes meaningless."

More here:
Study urges caution in stem cell clinical trials for heart attack patients

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -

Hemorrhagic stroke is responsible for more than 30 percent of all stroke deaths. It happens when a weakened blood vessel ruptures and bleeds into the brain.

Its something Jon Galvan experienced five years ago when he almost died from a hemorrhagic stroke while at work.

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

He was able to recover, but Dr. Abba Zubair, medical director of transfusion medicine and stem cell therapy at Mayo Clinic, Florida, said not everyone is as fortunate.

"If it happens, you either recover completely or die," Zubair said. "Thats what killed my mother."

Zubair said he 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," 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," Zubair said.

Original post:
Health Beat: Growing stem cells in space: Medicine's next big thing?

FAITH Stem Cell Research and Human Cloning by: FR. GAMMY TULABING I would like to share with you this article from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Questions and Answers

What is a stem cell?

A stem cell is a relatively unspecia-lized cell that, when it divides, can do two things: make another cell like itself, or make any of a number of cells with more specialized functions. For example, just one kind of stem cell in our blood can make new red blood cells, or white blood cells, or other kindsdepending on what the body needs. These cells are like the stem of a plant that spreads out in different directions as it grows.

Is the Catholic Church opposed to all stem cell research?

Not at all. Most stem cell research uses cells obtained from adult tissue, umbilical cord blood, and other sources that pose no moral problem. Useful stem cells have been found in bone marrow, blood, muscle, fat, nerves, and even in the pulp of baby teeth. Some of these cells are already being used to treat people with a wide variety of diseases.

Why is the Church opposed to stem cell research using the embryo?

Because harvesting these stem cells kills the living human embryo. The church opposes the direct destruction of innocent human life for any purpose, including research.

If some human embryos will remain in frozen storage and ultimately be discarded anyway, why is it wrong to try to get some good out of them?

In the end, we will all die anyway, but that gives no one a right to kill us. In any case, these embryos will not die because they are inherently unable to survive, but because others are choosing to hand them over for destructive research instead of letting them implant in their mothers womb. One wrong choice does not justify an additional wrong choice to kill them for research, much less a choice to make tax payers support such destruction. The idea of experimenting on human beings because they may die anyway also poses a grave threat to convicted prisoners, terminally ill patients, and others.

Original post:
Questions and Answers

Stem cells could be used to treat heart disease

6:30am Friday 2nd May 2014 in News

STEM cells taken from bone marrow could be used to treat heart disease by injecting them into damaged tissue, early results show.

Stem cells are cells in the body which have not yet specialised and can become any type.

Oxford University scientists hailed the encouraging evidence in results of 26 small clinical trails involving 1,255 people.

A year or more after treatment, just three per cent of people had died, compared with 15 per cent of people who had not had the procedure.

Hospital readmissions stood at only two in 100 for those testing out the new treatment.

Dr Enca Martin-Rendon, who carried out the study with the Cochrane Heart Review Group, said larger studies would be carried out to get more conclusive evidence.

Go here to see the original:
Stem cells could be used to treat heart disease

May 1, 2014

Image Caption: The continuous, necessary production of blood cells, including these red blood cells captured in a scanning micrograph by Thomas Deerinck, is the responsibility of hematopoietic stem cells found in bone marrow. Credit: Thomas Deerinck, UC San Diego

University of California San Diego

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that a protein called beta-catenin plays a critical, and previously unappreciated, role in promoting recovery of stricken hematopoietic stem cells after radiation exposure.

The findings, published in the May 1 issue of Genes and Development, provide a new understanding of how radiation impacts cellular and molecular processes, but perhaps more importantly, they suggest new possibilities for improving hematopoietic stem cell regeneration in the bone marrow following cancer radiation treatment.

Ionizing radiation exposure accidental or deliberate can be fatal due to widespread destruction of hematopoietic stem cells, the cells in the bone marrow that give rise to all blood cells. A number of cancer treatments involve irradiating malignancies, essentially destroying all exposed blood cells, followed by transplantation of replacement stem cells to rebuild blood stores. The effectiveness of these treatments depends upon how well the replacement hematopoietic stem cells do their job.

In their new paper, principal investigator Tannishtha Reya, PhD, professor in the department of pharmacology, and colleagues used mouse models to show that radiation exposure triggers activation of a fundamental cellular signaling pathway called Wnt in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells.

The Wnt pathway and its key mediator, beta catenin, are critical for embryonic development and establishment of the body plan, said Reya. In addition, the Wnt pathway is activated in stem cells from many tissues and is needed for their continued maintenance.

The researchers found that mice deficient in beta-catenin lacked the ability to activate canonical Wnt signaling and suffered from impaired hematopoietic stem cell regeneration and bone marrow recovery after radiation. Specifically, mouse hematopoietic stem cells without beta-catenin could not suppress the production of oxidative stress molecules that damage cell structures. As a result, they could not recover effectively after radiation or chemotherapy.

Our work shows that Wnt signaling is important in the mammalian hematopoietic system, and is critical for recovery from chemotherapy and radiation, Reya said. While these therapies can be life-saving, they take a heavy toll on the hematopoietic system from which the patient may not always recover.

Here is the original post:
Protein Discovery Could Boost Efficacy Of Bone Marrow Replacement Treatments

Researchers at Columbia Engineering announced today that they have successfully grown fully functional human cartilage in vitro from human stem cells derived from bone marrow tissue. Their study, which demonstrates new ways to better mimic the enormous complexity of tissue development, regeneration, and disease, is published in the April 28 Early Online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

"We've been able -- for the first time -- to generate fully functional human cartilage from mesenchymal stem cells by mimicking in vitro the developmental process of mesenchymal condensation," says Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, who led the study and is the Mikati Foundation Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia Engineering and professor of medical sciences. "This could have clinical impact, as this cartilage can be used to repair a cartilage defect, or in combination with bone in a composite graft grown in lab for more complex tissue reconstruction."

For more than 20 years, researchers have unofficially called cartilage the "official tissue of tissue engineering," Vunjak-Novakovic observes. Many groups studied cartilage as an apparently simple tissue: one single cell type, no blood vessels or nerves, a tissue built for bearing loads while protecting bone ends in the joints. While there has been great success in engineering pieces of cartilage using young animal cells, no one has, until now, been able to reproduce these results using adult human stem cells from bone marrow or fat, the most practical stem cell source. Vunjak-Novakovic's team succeeded in growing cartilage with physiologic architecture and strength by radically changing the tissue-engineering approach.

The general approach to cartilage tissue engineering has been to place cells into a hydrogel and culture them in the presence of nutrients and growth factors and sometimes also mechanical loading. But using this technique with adult human stem cells has invariably produced mechanically weak cartilage. So Vunjak-Novakovic and her team, who have had a longstanding interest in skeletal tissue engineering, wondered if a method resembling the normal development of the skeleton could lead to a higher quality of cartilage.

Sarindr Bhumiratana, postdoctoral fellow in Vunjak-Novakovic's Laboratory for Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering, came up with a new approach: inducing the mesenchymal stem cells to undergo a condensation stage as they do in the body before starting to make cartilage. He discovered that this simple but major departure from how things were usually? being done resulted in a quality of human cartilage not seen before.

Gerard Ateshian, Andrew Walz Professor of Mechanical Engineering, professor of biomedical engineering, and chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and his PhD student, Sevan Oungoulian, helped perform measurements showing that the lubricative property and compressive strength -- the two important functional properties -- of the tissue-engineered cartilage approached those of native cartilage. The researchers then used their method to regenerate large pieces of anatomically shaped and mechanically strong cartilage over the bone, and to repair defects in cartilage.

"Our whole approach to tissue engineering is biomimetic in nature, which means that our engineering designs are defined by biological principles," Vunjak-Novakovic notes. "This approach has been effective in improving the quality of many engineered tissues -- from bone to heart. Still, we were really surprised to see that our cartilage, grown by mimicking some aspects of biological development, was as strong as 'normal' human cartilage."

The team plans next to test whether the engineered cartilage tissue maintains its structure and long-term function when implanted into a defect.

"This is a very exciting time for tissue engineers," says Vunjak-Novakovic. "Stem cells are transforming the future of medicine, offering ways to overcome some of the human body's fundamental limitations. We bioengineers are now working with stem cell scientists and clinicians to develop technologies that will make this dream possible. This project is a wonderful example that we need to 'think as a cell' to find out how exactly to coax the cells into making a functional human tissue of a specific kind. It's emblematic of the progress being driven by the exceptional young talent we have among our postdocs and students at Columbia Engineering."

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research, and National Institute for arthritis and musculoskeletal diseases).

More:
Engineers grow functional human cartilage in lab

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Newswise Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that a protein called beta-catenin plays a critical, and previously unappreciated, role in promoting recovery of stricken hematopoietic stem cells after radiation exposure.

The findings, published in the May 1 issue of Genes and Development, provide a new understanding of how radiation impacts cellular and molecular processes, but perhaps more importantly, they suggest new possibilities for improving hematopoietic stem cell regeneration in the bone marrow following cancer radiation treatment.

Ionizing radiation exposure accidental or deliberate can be fatal due to widespread destruction of hematopoietic stem cells, the cells in the bone marrow that give rise to all blood cells. A number of cancer treatments involve irradiating malignancies, essentially destroying all exposed blood cells, followed by transplantation of replacement stem cells to rebuild blood stores. The effectiveness of these treatments depends upon how well the replacement hematopoietic stem cells do their job.

In their new paper, principal investigator Tannishtha Reya, PhD, professor in the department of pharmacology, and colleagues used mouse models to show that radiation exposure triggers activation of a fundamental cellular signaling pathway called Wnt in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells.

The Wnt pathway and its key mediator, beta catenin, are critical for embryonic development and establishment of the body plan, said Reya. In addition, the Wnt pathway is activated in stem cells from many tissues and is needed for their continued maintenance.

The researchers found that mice deficient in beta-catenin lacked the ability to activate canonical Wnt signaling and suffered from impaired hematopoietic stem cell regeneration and bone marrow recovery after radiation. Specifically, mouse hematopoietic stem cells without beta-catenin could not suppress the production of oxidative stress molecules that damage cell structures. As a result, they could not recover effectively after radiation or chemotherapy.

Our work shows that Wnt signaling is important in the mammalian hematopoietic system, and is critical for recovery from chemotherapy and radiation, Reya said. While these therapies can be life-saving, they take a heavy toll on the hematopoietic system from which the patient may not always recover.

The findings have significant clinical implications.

Excerpt from:
Damage Control: Recovering From Radiation and Chemotherapy

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Newswise New York, NYApril 30, 2014Researchers at Columbia Engineering announced today that they have successfully grown fully functional human cartilage in vitro from human stem cells derived from bone marrow tissue. Their study, which demonstrates new ways to better mimic the enormous complexity of tissue development, regeneration, and disease, is published in the April 28 Early Online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Weve been ablefor the first timeto generate fully functional human cartilage from mesenchymal stem cells by mimicking in vitro the developmental process of mesenchymal condensation, says Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, who led the study and is the Mikati Foundation Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia Engineering and professor of medical sciences. This could have clinical impact, as this cartilage can be used to repair a cartilage defect, or in combination with bone in a composite graft grown in lab for more complex tissue reconstruction.

For more than 20 years, researchers have unofficially called cartilage the official tissue of tissue engineering, Vunjak-Novakovic observes. Many groups studied cartilage as an apparently simple tissue: one single cell type, no blood vessels or nerves, a tissue built for bearing loads while protecting bone ends in the joints. While there has been great success in engineering pieces of cartilage using young animal cells, no one has, until now, been able to reproduce these results using adult human stem cells from bone marrow or fat, the most practical stem cell source. Vunjak-Novakovics team succeeded in growing cartilage with physiologic architecture and strength by radically changing the tissue-engineering approach.

The general approach to cartilage tissue engineering has been to place cells into a hydrogel and culture them in the presence of nutrients and growth factors and sometimes also mechanical loading. But using this technique with adult human stem cells has invariably produced mechanically weak cartilage. So Vunjak-Novakovic and her team, who have had a longstanding interest in skeletal tissue engineering, wondered if a method resembling the normal development of the skeleton could lead to a higher quality of cartilage.

Sarindr Bhumiratana, postdoctoral fellow in Vunjak-Novakovics Laboratory for Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering, came up with a new approach: inducing the mesenchymal stem cells to undergo a condensation stage as they do in the body before starting to make cartilage. He discovered that this simple but major departure from how things were usually? being done resulted in a quality of human cartilage not seen before.

Gerard Ateshian, Andrew Walz Professor of Mechanical Engineering, professor of biomedical engineering, and chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and his PhD student, Sevan Oungoulian, helped perform measurements showing that the lubricative property and compressive strengththe two important functional propertiesof the tissue-engineered cartilage approached those of native cartilage. The researchers then used their method to regenerate large pieces of anatomically shaped and mechanically strong cartilage over the bone, and to repair defects in cartilage.

Our whole approach to tissue engineering is biomimetic in nature, which means that our engineering designs are defined by biological principles, Vunjak-Novakovic notes. This approach has been effective in improving the quality of many engineered tissuesfrom bone to heart. Still, we were really surprised to see that our cartilage, grown by mimicking some aspects of biological development, was as strong as normal human cartilage.

The team plans next to test whether the engineered cartilage tissue maintains its structure and long-term function when implanted into a defect.

The rest is here:
Columbia Engineers Grow Functional Human Cartilage in Lab

Written by Lidia Dinkova on April 30, 2014

After 15 years of University of Miami research on a unique adult bone marrow-derived stem cell and on a process that leaves the cell in a relatively pure form, the university and its tissue bank have partnered with a Marietta, GA, biomedical company to make the stem cell called the MIAMI cell commercially available in July.

Vivex Biomedical Inc. invested in the research and development of the cell and licensed the technology from UM for orthopedic use, said company President and CEO Tracy S. Anderson. Vivex has contracted with the universitys tissue bank to develop the cell for commercial use. The company will pay an undisclosed royalty to UM from sales.

Dr. H. Thomas Temple, professor of orthopedics, vice chair of orthopedic surgery and director of the University of Miami Tissue Bank, said South Florida is a viable market for the MIAMI cell.

Just in bone [regeneration] alone theres an enormous market, and then if you take into consideration all the joint dysfunction that occurs with aging we have a significantly aged population, he said. If you think about the number of trauma cases we have down here where patients have open fractures, I think this has enormous potential.

Not a lot of companies, Dr. Temple said, are keen on investing in stem cells.

A lot of big companies dont want to take the risk on stem cells because they dont understand it, and theyre making a lot of money on other things, he said. The university doesnt have the financial resources to do the development work. They [UM] do a great job of investigating and researching these things, but the development side takes a lot of capital. In order to have a successful product, not only does it have to be really good, you have to have a successful market, so they [Vivex] bring in the distribution.

The marrow-isolated adult multi-lineage inducible cell, or MIAMI cell, is unique on two fronts. Its highly inducible and potent partially because it shares genes with embryonic stem cells, and the process used to isolate it allows for the infusion of a purer MIAMI cell concentration.

Generally in other processes, when stem cells are infused, they come with other cells that may be synergistic but more likely antagonistic, Dr. Temple said.

Its a small percentage of that actual layer that are actually stem cells. It may be effective, but this is different, he said. When we provide the cells, we can tell you that 95% of them are really MIAMI cells. Once theyre thawed, 97% to 98% of them are viable. Its really the process that makes them different.

Continue reading here:
UM research lands stem cell deal

Released: 4/28/2014 3:00 PM EDT Source Newsroom: City of Hope Contact Information

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Newswise DUARTE, Calif. Bone marrow transplants offer a second chance for people with life-threatening blood cancers and other hematologic malignancies. But many recipients, though overwhelmed with curiosity and the need to express their gratitude, can only dream of meeting the strangers who saved their lives. City of Hope is about to make that dream come true for two patients.

At City of Hopes annual Bone Marrow Transplantation Reunion on May 9, two grateful patients will meet the strangers, each hailing from different countries, who gave them back their futures.

Shes a world away, and weve never met, but were in a way genetic twins, said George Winston, the impressionistic, genre-defying musician with more than 20 instrumental albums under his belt. Winston received a lifesaving transplant from a young German woman two years ago, and cant wait to get to know her. Its amazing how they can locate a donor. I cant wait to meet her and just thank her from the bottom of my heart.

The meetings are the public focal point of City of Hopes annual Celebration of Life. Other meetings, and reunions, will take place throughout the event, attended by more than 6,500 bone marrow, stem cell and cord blood transplant recipients, their families and donors. All will celebrate second chances, scientific breakthroughs and transplant anniversaries.

Each survivor wears a button proudly proclaiming the years since his or her transplant. For some, its only a year. For others, a few decades. They celebrate their own recoveries, and the medical advances that have allowed this fellowship of survivors to grow from just a single patient 38 years ago at the first reunion, to thousands.

City of Hope helped pioneer bone marrow transplantation nearly four decades ago and is now a leader in bone marrow, stem cell and cord blood transplant, preparing to formally launch its Hematologic Cancers Institute. City of Hope has the only transplant program in the nation to achieve nine consecutive reporting years of over performance in one-year overall patient survival, according to the most recent data from the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research, which tracks all such transplants performed in the U.S.

The reunion is a motivation that leaves us in awe of the many patients weve been able to help, but also humbled and focused on the patients currently in our care and those who will count on us in the future, said Stephen J. Forman, M.D., Francis & Kathleen McNamara Distinguished Chair in Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation. We dont have any results so good that they cannot be improved. Were always focused on how we can do this better. Were never satisfied.

Two patients will be highlighted as part of the reunion, and will meet their donors for the first time ever.

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Bone Marrow Recipients Get Rare Chance to Meet Their "Genetic Twins" at City of Hope

Research team at York University aims to improve bone disease treatment

12:45pm Friday 25th April 2014 in News By Barry Nelson, Health Editor

RESEARCHERS are aiming to develop new therapies for osteoarthritis by rejuvenating old stem cells to repair cartilage damage.

A research team at York University have been awarded 190,158 from the medical research charity Arthritis Research UK to carry out a three-year study to investigate how rejuvenated cells from older people with osteoarthritis can be used to repair worn or damaged cartilage, reducing chronic pain.

There is currently no treatment to prevent the progression of osteoarthritis, and people with severe disease often need total joint replacement surgery.

A patients own bone marrow stem cells are a valuable source of potential treatment as they can generate joint tissue that wont be rejected when re-implanted. However, as people grow older the number of stem cells decreases and those that remain are less able to grow and repair tissue.

Dr Paul Genever, lead researcher, who heads up the Arthritis Research UK Tissue Engineering Centre at the University of York said: A way to reset stem cells to an earlier time point, termed rejuvenation, has recently been discovered, allowing more effective tissue repair.

This project will firstly compare rejuvenated and non-rejuvenated stem cells to see if the process improves cartilage repair, and secondly, investigate whether it is possible to develop new drugs which are able to rejuvenate stem cells.

In the UK, more than 8m people, have sought treatment from their GP for the condition, which causes pain and stiffness in the joints due to cartilage at the ends of bones wearing away.

Professor Alan Silman, medical director at charity Arthritis Research UK, said: This is pioneering research, which has the potential to help reduce pain and disability and improving quality of life of those living with osteoarthritis.

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Research aims to improve bone disease treatment

Wounded Warrior severe low back pain 3 months after stem cells by Dr Harry Adelson
Seven years ago while serving in Special Forces in Afghanistan, Ben was hit directly in the chest by a Rocket-Propelled-Grenade which slammed him against a wall and crushed his spine. THEN...

By: Harry Adelson, N.D.

Excerpt from:
Wounded Warrior severe low back pain 3 months after stem cells by Dr Harry Adelson - Video

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

23-Apr-2014

Contact: Nicanor Moldovan Moldovan.6@osu.edu 614-247-7801 Ohio State University

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

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

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

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

The study is published in the journal PLOS ONE.

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

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

Continued here:
Stem cells in circulating blood affect cardiovascular health, study finds

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

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

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

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

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

The study is published in the journal PLOS ONE.

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

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

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

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Stem Cells in Circulating Blood Affect Cardiovascular Health

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Bangalore, Apr 22 : City-based Narayana Health City (NHC) with over 300 successful Bone Marrow Transplants to its credit, today show cased the efficacy of this treatment modality with over 80 per cent success rate for curing cancerous and genetic blood diseases.

The two types of diseases which can be cured by bone marrow transplant are Leukemia, Severe Aplastic Anemia, Thassemia and Immune Deficiency Disorders.

Bone marrow transplant is a highly advanced procedure that involves transfusion of bone marrow stem cells from a healthy donor to a patient.

Speaking to reporters here, Dr Sharat Damodar, HoD and Senior Consultant Hematologist, Bone marrow transplant unit at NHC said the nature of blood diseases/disorders is either genetic in nature or acquired due to exposure to several risk factors including hazardous environment and consumption of adulterated food.

"Bone marrow transplants are now producing high success rates as it is curative in nature and offers hope to patients of a life beyond painful and fatal diseases," he said.

Dr Damodar, however, regretted that most of bone transplants are now done using bone marrow stem cells from blood relatives of the patients. "In India it is a challenge to find donors and we should consider it as our social responsibility to volunteer for donating healthy bone marrow and help patients in need," he added.

He said the government had recently opened donor registry DATRI and 50,000 people had enrolled into it.

"Compared to a population of 126 crore, we have just 50,000 donors. This is in comparison to an European country like Germany you can find millions of them," he added.

Dr Damodar and his team of experts also presented and shared the cases of patients who have been in remission for five years and leading a disease free life post bone marrow transplantation.

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NHC showcase bone marrow transplant to cure blood disorders

BONE MARROW TRANSPLANTATION OVERVIEW

Bone marrow transplantation (BMT), also called hematopoietic stem cell transplant or hematopoietic cell transplant, is a type of treatment for cancer (and a few other conditions as well). A review of the normal function of the bone marrow will help in the understanding of bone marrow transplantation.

Bone marrow functionBone marrow is the soft, spongy area in the center of some of the larger bones of the body. The marrow produces all of the different cells that make up the blood, such as red blood cells, white blood cells (of many different types), and platelets. All of these cells develop from a type of precursor cell found in the bone marrow, called a hematopoietic stem cell.

The body is able to direct hematopoietic stem cells to develop into the blood components needed at any given moment. This is a very active process, with the bone marrow producing millions of different cells every hour. Most of the stem cells stay in the marrow until they are transformed into the various blood components, which are then released into the blood stream. Small numbers of stem cells, however, can be found in the circulating blood, which allows them to be collected under certain circumstances. Various strategies can be employed to increase the number of hematopoietic stem cells in the blood prior to collection. (See 'Peripheral blood' below.)

Bone marrow transplantationSome of the most effective treatments for cancer, such as chemotherapy and radiation, are toxic to the bone marrow. In general, the higher the dose, the more toxic the effects on the bone marrow.

In bone marrow transplantation, you are given very high doses of chemotherapy or radiation therapy, which is intended to more effectively kill cancer cells and unfortunately also destroy all the normal cells developing in the bone marrow, including the critical stem cells. After the treatment, you must have a healthy supply of stem cells reintroduced, or transplanted. The transplanted cells then reestablish the blood cell production process in the bone marrow. Reduced doses of radiation or chemotherapy that do not completely destroy the bone marrow may be used in some settings. (See 'Non-myeloablative transplant' below.)

The cells that will be transplanted can be taken from the bone marrow (called a bone marrow transplant), from the bloodstream (called a peripheral blood stem cell transplant, which requires that you take medication to boost the number of hematopoietic stem cells in the blood), or occasionally from blood obtained from the umbilical cord at the time of birth of a normal newborn (called an umbilical cord blood transplant).

TYPES OF BONE MARROW TRANSPLANTATION

There are two main types of bone marrow transplantation: autologous and allogeneic.

Autologous transplantIn autologous transplantation, your own hematopoietic stem cells are removed before the high dose chemotherapy or radiation is given, and they are then frozen for storage and later use. After your chemotherapy or radiation is complete, the harvested cells are thawed and returned to you.

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Bone marrow transplantation (stem cell transplantation)

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Jacquelyn Jeanty

Jacquelyn Jeanty has worked as a freelance writer since 2008. Her work appears at various websites. Her specialty areas include health, home and garden, Christianity and personal development. Jeanty holds a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Purdue University.

Since 1968, bone-marrow transplant procedures have been used to treat diseases such as leukemia, lymphomas and immune-deficiency disorders. By comparison, stem-cell transplants procedures are a fairly new development within the medical-science world. As a result, the potential uses and risks involved with stem-cell procedures are as of yet not fully known.

Transplant procedures are intended to replace defective or damaged tissues and cells with cells that are able to replace damaged tissue and restore normal function within the body. The use of bone-marrow material versus stem cell material is actually referring to two sides of the same coin, as bone marrow is a type of stem cell derived from the cells inside the bone. Stem cells, in general, can be taken from a number of sources, some of which include the umbilical cord, fetal material, the placenta, somatic cells, embryonic materials, as well as bone marrow material. The type of transplant procedure used will depend on the type of treatment needed and the area of the body affected.

Stem-cell research is a developing field in which stem cells are used to cure diseases, engineer gene-types and clone animals and humans. What makes stem cells so promising is their ability to evolve into a variety of different tissue forms. When used to treat diseased tissues, stem cells may provide a permanent cure as healthy new cells reproduce and replace defective cell organisms. This type of transplant may someday provide a way to treat cancer formations inside the body. Bone marrow stem cells are being used to replace unhealthy bone marrow in people who suffer from blood-borne diseases such as leukemia.

As with any type of surgical procedure, certain risks are involved when undergoing a stem-cell transplant. Frequent testing and possible hospitalizations may be necessary after the procedure is done. Individuals who receive donor stem cells may experience what's called the "graft-versus-host disease." This condition occurs when the patient's immune system reacts to the transplanting of donor stem cells. Symptoms of graft-versus-host disease include vomiting, diarrhea, skin rashes and abdominal pain. Organ damage, blood vessel damage and secondary cancers are other possible complications that can arise.

Bone-marrow material is made up of the soft tissue contained inside the bones. This material is responsible for producing and storing the body's blood cells. Bone marrow can be extracted from the breast bone, the hips, the spine, the ribs and the skull. Transplant materials can be used to replace unhealthy bone material for individuals who've undergone radiation or chemotherapy treatments. Individuals who suffer from a genetic disease such as Hurler's syndrome or adrenoleukodystrophy can also benefit from receiving a healthy supply of bone-marrow material.

The risks involved with bone marrow transplants vary depending on how healthy a person is, the type of transplant being done and how compatible a donor's material is. Individuals who've undergone chemotherapy or radiation treatments may experience complications because of the weakened state that the body is in. As bone-marrow material can come from the patient or from a donor, compatibility risks are more of a concern when donor materials are used. Possible complications from a transplant include anemia, infection, internal bleeding or internal-organ damage.

There are different types of bone marrow transplants, including an allogeneic and an autologous transplant. In allogeneic bone marrow transplants, stem cells...

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Stem - Cell Transplant Vs. Bone - Marrow Transplant | eHow

Watch the Cancer.Net Video: Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplantation: An Introduction, with Sonali Smith, MD, adapted from this content.

Key Messages:

Stem cell transplantation is a procedure that is most often recommended as a treatment option for people with leukemia, multiple myeloma, and some types of lymphoma. It may also be used to treat some genetic diseases that involve the blood.

During a stem cell transplant diseased bone marrow (the spongy, fatty tissue found inside larger bones) is destroyed with chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy and then replaced with highly specialized stem cells that develop into healthy bone marrow. Although this procedure used to be referred to as a bone marrow transplant, today it is more commonly called a stem cell transplant because it is stem cells in the blood that are typically being transplanted, not the actual bone marrow tissue.

The purpose of bone marrow and hematopoietic (blood-forming) stem cells

Bone marrow produces more than 20 billion new blood cells every day throughout a person's life. The driving force behind this process is the hematopoietic (pronounced he-mah-tuh-poy-ET-ick) stem cell. Hematopoietic stem cells are immature cells found in both the bloodstream and bone marrow. These specialized cells have the ability to create more blood-forming cells or to mature into one of the three different cell types that make up our blood. These include red blood cells (cells that carry oxygen to all parts of the body), white blood cells (cells that help the body fight infections and diseases), and platelets (cells that help blood clot and control bleeding). Signals passing from the body to the bone marrow tell the stem cells which cell types are needed the most.

For people with bone marrow diseases and certain types of cancer, the essential functions of red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets are disrupted because the hematopoietic stem cells dont mature properly. To help restore the bone marrows ability to produce healthy blood cells, doctors may recommend stem cell transplantation.

Types of stem cell transplantation

There are two main types of stem cell transplantation:

Autologous transplantation (AUTO). A patient undergoing an AUTO transplant receives his or her own stem cells. During the AUTO transplant process, the patients stem cells are collected and then stored in a special freezer that can preserve them for decades. Usually the patient is treated the following week with powerful doses of chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy, after which the frozen stem cells are thawed and infused into the patient's vein. The stem cells typically remain in the bloodstream for about 24 hours until they find their way to the marrow space, where they grow and multiply, beginning the healing process.

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What is Stem Cell/Bone Marrow Transplantation? | Cancer.Net