People who suffer from heart failure could someday be able to use their own skin stem cells to regenerate their damaged heart tissue, according to a new Israeli study.

Researchers took stem cells from the skin of two patients with heart failure and genetically programmed them to become new heart muscle cells. They then transplanted the new cells into healthy rats and found that the cells integrated with cardiac tissue that already existed.

The study, published in European Heart Journal, marks the first time ever that scientists could use skin cells from people with heart failure and transform damaged heart tissue this way.

The newly generated cells turned out to be similar to embryonic stem cells, which can potentially be programmed to grow into any type of cell.

"What is new and exciting about our research is that we have shown that it's possible to take skin cells from an elderly patient with advanced heart failure and end up with his own beating cells in a laboratory dish that are healthy and young the equivalent to the stage of his heart cells when he was just born," Dr. Lior Gepstein, lead researcher and a senior clinical electrophysiologist at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, Israel, said in a news release.

The findings open up the possibility, the authors wrote, that people can use their own skin cells to repair their damaged hearts, which could prevent the problems associated with using embryonic stem cells.

"This approach has a number of attractive features," said Dr. Tom Povsic, an interventional cardiologist at Duke University Medical Center. "We can get the cells that you start with from the patient himself or herself. It avoids the ethical dilemma associated with embryonic stem cells and it removes the possibility of rejection of foreign stem cells by the immune system." Povsic was not involved with the Israeli study.

Another advantage of using skin cells is that other types of cells taken from patients themselves, such as bone marrow cells, could potentially lead to the development of unhealthy tissue.

"If a patient is already sick with heart disease, one of the reasons it may develop is that stem cells weren't able to repair the heart the way they should," Povsic added. Skin cells, he explained, are generally healthy.

"It is very exciting and very interesting, but we are far away from taking this to patients," said Dr. Marrick Kukin, director of the Heart Failure Program at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital who was also not involved in the Israeli study.

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Can Stem Cells Repair Heart Tissue?

(CBS News) A new study of patients with heart failure found a novel treatment approach might reverse the damage that has long been considered irreversible: Fixing their damaged hearts using stem cells derived by their own skin cells.

Stem cells heal heart attack scars, regrow healthy muscle Stem cells cure heart failure? What "breakthrough" study shows

In what scientists are calling a first, skin cells were taken from heart failure patients and transformed into stem cells, which were then turned into heart muscle cells capable of beating - albeit in a petri dish.

The treatment approach has scientists buzzing because it avoids the risk of possible immune system rejection from transplanting "foreign" stem cells, since the cells came from patients' own bodies.

"What is new and exciting about our research is that we have shown that it's possible to take skin cells from an elderly patient with advanced heart failure and end up with his own beating cells in a laboratory dish that are healthy and young - the equivalent to the stage of his heart cells when he was just born," the study's author Professor Lior Gepstein, professor of cardiology and physiology at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, said in a news release.

Just how do skin cells become heart cells? Researchers took skin cells from two male patients with heart failure, a 51 and 61-year-old, and genetically reprogrammed them by injecting a cocktail of "transcription factors" and a virus into the nucleus of the skin cell, followed by removing the virus and transcription factors that have been linked to cancerous tumor growth. The goal was to reprogram the cells into human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) that could help repair hearts.

"One of the obstacles to using hiPSCs clinically in humans is the potential for the cells to develop out of control and become tumours," explained Prof Gepstein in using the technique.

Once in stem cell-form, the cells differentiated in a petri dish to become heart muscle cells called cardiomyocytes, which the researchers then combined with heart tissue and cultured them into healthy heart muscle tissue. Within 48 hours, the tissues were beating together.

"The tissue was behaving like a tiny microscopic cardiac tissue comprised of approximately 1000 cells in each beating area," Gepstein said in a statement.

The researchers then transplanted the new human tissue into rats, finding it grafted to the rat's host cardiac tissues. Their research is published in the May 22 issue of the European Heart Journal.

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Skin cells transformed into beating heart tissue, fueling heart failure treatment hopes

CARLSBAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--International Stem Cell Corporation (OTCBB: ISCO) (www.internationalstemcell.com) today announced that several of its leading scientists will present experimental results from three of ISCOs pre-clinical therapeutic programs.

These results not only show the progress we have made in these important programs, but also demonstrate the broad application of human parthenogenetic stem cells in the development of treatments for incurable diseases

Firstly, the application of A9 dopaminergic neurons derived from human parthenogenetic stem cells (hpSC) for the treatment of Parkinsons disease. Demonstrating functional dopaminergic neurons in vivo represents an important milestone towards the goal of creating well characterized populations of cells that could be used to develop a treatment for Parkinsons.

Secondly, the differentiation of hpSC and embryonic stem cells into cornea-like constructs for use in transplantation therapy and the in vitro study of ocular drug absorption. There are approximately ten million people worldwide who are blind as a result of damage to their cornea. Generating human corneas from a pluripotent stem cell source should increase the likelihood that people will receive treatment in the future even in the absence of suitable tissue from eye banks.

Lastly, the in vivo and in vitro characterization of immature hepatocyte derived from hpSC. Such cells could be used to develop a treatment for individuals with a liver that has been damaged by disease or sufferers of genetic disorders that inhibit normal liver function. In both cases, implanting healthy hepatocyte cells could treat the underlying disease and prolong the life of the individual.

These results not only show the progress we have made in these important programs, but also demonstrate the broad application of human parthenogenetic stem cells in the development of treatments for incurable diseases, says Dr. Ruslan Semechkin, Vice President of Research and Development.

The presentations will take place at the 15th Annual Meeting of American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy, in Philadelphia at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 17th.

About International Stem Cell Corporation

International Stem Cell Corporation is focused on the therapeutic applications of human parthenogenetic stem cells (hpSCs) and the development and commercialization of cell-based research and cosmetic products. ISCO's core technology, parthenogenesis, results in the creation of pluripotent human stem cells from unfertilized oocytes (eggs). hpSCs avoid ethical issues associated with the use or destruction of viable human embryos. ISCO scientists have created the first parthenogenic, homozygous stem cell line that can be a source of therapeutic cells for hundreds of millions of individuals of differing genders, ages and racial background with minimal immune rejection after transplantation. hpSCs offer the potential to create the first true stem cell bank, UniStemCell. ISCO also produces and markets specialized cells and growth media for therapeutic research worldwide through its subsidiary Lifeline Cell Technology (www.lifelinecelltech.com), and stem cell-based skin care products through its subsidiary Lifeline Skin Care (www.lifelineskincare.com). More information is available at http://www.internationalstemcell.com or follow us on Twitter @intlstemcell.

To receive ongoing corporate communications, please click on the following link: http://www.b2i.us/irpass.asp?BzID=1468&to=ea&s=0

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International Stem Cell Corporation Scientists to Present Pre-Clinical Research Results at American Society of Gene ...

CARLSBAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

International Stem Cell Corporation (OTCBB: ISCO.OB - News) http://www.internationalstemcell.com today announced that the Company has developed new technologies to commercialize the use of human parthenogenetic stem cells (hpSC) to treat human diseases. The methods announced today are capable of producing populations of stem cells and their therapeutically valuable derivatives not only to a higher level of purity but also at a cost that is approximately several times lower than previously reported techniques.

ISCOs research team has developed a new method to derive high-purity populations of neural stem cells (NSC) from hpSC and further differentiate them into dopaminergic neurons. This method is capable of generating sufficient quantities of neuronal cells for ISCOs pre-clinical and clinical studies and is highly efficient as it requires substantially less time and labor in addition to using fewer costly materials than traditional methods. ISCOs technologies make possible the creation of billions of neuronal cells necessary for conducting such studies from a small batch of stem cells.

ISCO has also announced today that it has developed a new high-throughput cell culture method for growing human parthenogenetic stem cells (hpSC) in large quantities. This new technique is easily scalable and can produce the quantities of cGMP grade hpSC necessary for commercial and therapeutic applications.

One of the most challenging issues in commercializing stem cell based treatments is creating high-purity populations of stem cell derivatives at a reasonable cost. I believe the new methods we have developed solve this important problem and help position us for future clinical studies, says Dr. Ruslan Semechkin, Vice President, R&D.

About International Stem Cell Corporation

International Stem Cell Corporation is focused on the therapeutic applications of human parthenogenetic stem cells (hpSCs) and the development and commercialization of cell-based research and cosmetic products. ISCO's core technology, parthenogenesis, results in the creation of pluripotent human stem cells from unfertilized oocytes (eggs). hpSCs avoid ethical issues associated with the use or destruction of viable human embryos. ISCO scientists have created the first parthenogenic, homozygous stem cell line that can be a source of therapeutic cells for hundreds of millions of individuals of differing genders, ages and racial background with minimal immune rejection after transplantation. hpSCs offer the potential to create the first true stem cell bank, UniStemCell. ISCO also produces and markets specialized cells and growth media for therapeutic research worldwide through its subsidiary Lifeline Cell Technology, and stem cell-based skin care products through its subsidiary Lifeline Skin Care (www.lifelineskincare.com). More information is available at http://www.internationalstemcell.com or follow us on Twitter @intlstemcell.

To receive ongoing corporate communications, please click on the following link: http://www.b2i.us/irpass.asp?BzID=1468&to=ea&s=0.

Forward-looking Statements

Statements pertaining to anticipated developments, the potential benefits of research programs and new manufacturing technologies, and other opportunities for the company and its subsidiaries, along with other statements about the future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans, or prospects expressed by management constitute forward-looking statements. Any statements that are not historical fact (including, but not limited to statements that contain words such as "will," "believes," "plans," "anticipates," "expects," "estimates,") should also be considered to be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, risks inherent in the development and/or commercialization of potential products and technologies regulatory approvals, need and ability to obtain future capital, application of capital resources among competing uses, and maintenance of intellectual property rights. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements and as such should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect the company's business, particularly those mentioned in the cautionary statements found in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The company disclaims any intent or obligation to update forward-looking statements.

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International Stem Cell Corporation Announces New Stem Cell Manufacturing Technologies to Support its Therapeutic ...

A stem cell breakthrough at UCLA could mark a big step for a biopharmaceutical company to use its proprietary technology to forge partnerships with pharmaceutical companies and other research institutions.

Fibrocell Sciences technology isolates, purifies and multiplies a patients fibroblast cells, connective skin cells that make collagen. In a research collaboration with the company, UCLA used the technology to isolate, identify and increase the number of different skin cell types, which lead to two rare adult stem cell-like subpopulations being identified in adult human skin SSEA3-expressing regeneration-associated cells associated with skin regeneration after injuries and mesenchymal adult stem cells.

The findings could have broad applications for personalized medicine. Currently, adult stem cells are derived from adipose tissue and bone marrow. Using mesenchymal stem cells would be less invasive and could be more efficient. Mesenchymal stem cells are being used in research to develop osteoblasts, or bone cells; chondrocytes, or cartilage cells; and adipocytes, or fat cells.

David Pernock, the chairman and CEO of Fibrocell, said the move could mark a significant step in the companys growth.

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Stem cell collaboration could set stage for company’s growth

ALBANY, N.Y. Almost halfway through a $600 million state program supporting stem cell research, eight medical schools around New York are reporting progress on projects such as replicating liver cells and eradicating leukemia cells.

Only on msnbc.com

A new report from Associated Medical Schools of New York updates work at the institutions where hundreds of researchers are starting to unravel causes and potential treatments for conditions ranging from autism to heart disease and cancer. Stem cells are self-renewing and have the ability to develop into other types of cells.

The Mount Sinai School of Medicine reported finding a method to transform human skin cells into stem cells and turned differentiated human stem cells into heart cells. Those findings are expected to result in better understanding of how heart disease develops and allow initial testing of new treatments on stem cells before they are used on human subjects.

Dr. Ihor Lemischka, director of the Black Family Stem Cell Institute at Mount Sinai, said recreating heart cells in a dish from a patient with LEOPARD Syndrome, a disease caused by a genetic mutation, has opened ongoing avenues for researching the disease and screening potential drugs.

"It was a major achievement," Lemischka said. The initial work was reported in June 2010 in the journal Nature.

The shared research facility at Mount Sinai supports the work at 80 different labs, Lemischka said.

The Empire State Stem Cell Program was intended to fund projects in early stages, including those that initially have been unable to get federal or private funding. Grants have also been used for capital projects like renovating labs and establishing new stem cell centers.

The Albert Einstein College of Medicine reported replicating liver cells that could help reduce the need for liver transplants using live donors and cadavers.

Dr. Allen Spiegel said 12 new researchers have been hired with state funding at the Bronx school, which also lists anemia, brain disorders, heart disease and obesity among its stem cell research subjects.

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NY medical schools chart progress with stem cells

By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Staff

Two teams of Boston scientists have developed new ways to turn stem cells into different types of lung tissue, surmounting a major hurdle for scientists trying to harness the power of stem cell biology to study and develop treatments for major lung diseases.

One team then used skin cells from cystic fibrosis patients to create embryonic-like stem cells, then working in lab dishes used those cells to grow tissue that lines the airways and contains a defect responsible for the rare, fatal disease. The technique -- essentially a recipe for growing such lung tissue -- could provide a powerful platform to screen drugs and study the biology of the disease.

Growing lung tissue in the laboratory has long been a goal of stem cell scientists, but has been more technically difficult than growing other types of tissues, such as brain cells or heart cells. Such lung tissue is valuable because it could be used to screen potential drugs and more closely probe the problems that underlie diseases such as asthma, emphysema, and rare genetic diseases. Such techniques may also one day help researchers grow replacement tissues and devise ways to restore or repair injured lung tissue.

A team led by Massachusetts General Hospital researchers created lung tissue from a patient with the genetic mutation that most commonly underlies cystic fibrosis and researchers hope the technique will also be a powerful tool to study other diseases that affect the airway tissue, such as asthma and lung cancer. The other team, led by Boston University School of Medicine scientists, was able to derive cells that form the delicate air sacs of the lung from mouse embryonic stem cells. The team is hoping to refine the recipe for making the cells so that they can be used to derive lung tissue from a bank of 100 stem cell lines of patients with lung disease. Both papers were published Thursday in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a Cambridge biotechnology company, earlier this year received approval for Kalydeco -- the first drug to directly target the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis. That compound was discovered by screening massive numbers of potential drugs against cells engineered to carry the same defect that underlies cystic fibrosis.

We had to use engineered cells, and certainly using more native human cells ... would be potentially beneficial, said Dr. Frederick Van Goor, head of biology for Vertexs cystic fibrosis research program. We had to rely on donor tissue obtained from patients with cystic fibrosis, and its a bit more challenging, because the number of donor lungs you can get and the number of cells you can derive from there are more limited.

Van Goor said it was too soon to say whether the company would use the new technology in screening, but noted that the tests the company had used to determine whether a drug was likely to work against the disease had, in some cases, given scientists false leads. Some molecules that worked on the engineered cells did not work in the complicated biology of the lung.

Its a significant event for the lung field, said Dr. Thiennu Vu, associate professor of medicine at the University of California San Francisco, who was not involved in the research. She added that much work remains before such cells could be used to repair or replace damaged tissue, and even before such cells would necessarily be useful for drug screening. It will be important, she said, to refine the recipe to ensure that the technique yields pure populations of the specific types of functional lung cells.

In the competitive world of science, where credit for being the first to do something is crucially important, the two research teams accomplishments are an unusual example of competitors turning into collaborators -- forging a relationship that both teams felt helped speed up progress.

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Boston scientists grow lung tissue from cystic fibrosis patients’ skin cells

Source: ISNA, Tehran

Iranian researcher and lecturer Radbod Darabi jointly with his collogues from the University of Minnesota's Lillehei Heart Institute have effectively treated muscular dystrophy in mice using human stem cells derived from a new process which for the first time makes the production of human muscle cells from stem cells efficient and effective.

Radbod Darabi, MD, PhD with Rita Perlingeiro, PhD. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Minnesota Academic Health Center)

The research outlines the strategy for the development of a rapidly dividing population of muscle-forming cells derived from induced pluripotent (iPS) cells.

IPS cells have all of the potential of embryonic stem (ES) cells, but are derived by reprogramming skin cells. They can be patient-specific, which renders them unlikely to be rejected, and do not involve the destruction of embryos.

This is the first time that human stem cells have been shown to be effective in the treatment of muscular dystrophy.

According to the researchers, there has been a significant lag in translating studies using mouse stem cells into therapeutically relevant studies involving human stem cells.

This lag has dramatically limited the development of cell therapies or clinical trials for human patients.

The latest research from the University of Minnesota provides the proof-of-principle for treating muscular dystrophy with human iPS cells, setting the stage for future human clinical trials.

As the researchers noted one of the biggest barriers to the development of cell-based therapies for neuromuscular disorders like muscular dystrophy has been obtaining sufficient muscle progenitor cells to produce a therapeutically effective response.

Read the rest here:
Iranian researcher helps treating muscular dystrophy using stem cells

May 4, 2012 9:27am

ABC News Paula Faris reports:

It is a medical claim that sounds like science fiction. Walk into a plastic surgeons office for a face-lift and walk out roughly four hours later with a whole-body makeover that required no incision and leaves you with no scars.

But some doctors say that fiction is now reality in the form of a stem-cell makeover, a procedure that uses the fat and stem cells from one part of the body to revamp another part of the body, all in a single office visit.

Such a claim convinced Debra Kerr to try the procedure herself in hopes of achieving a younger look. My eyes are looking heavier, and the lines are so pronounced and gravitys really taken over, Kerr, 55, said. I want to look as good and as young as I really feel.

Kerr, a skin-care specialist from Ohio, underwent a stem-cell makeover in which fat was removed from her waist via liposuction. The fat was then spun in the lab to concentrate its stem cells and, hours later, injected into Kerrs face and breasts.

Were taking a patients own fatty tissue, and we are just repositioning it in another part of their body, said Dr. Sharon McQuillan, a physician and founder of the Ageless Institute in Aventura, Fla., where Kerr had her procedure done.

Courtesy Dr. Sharon McQuillan

Because the makeover uses a patients own stem cells, there is virtually no risk that the body will reject the transfer, according to doctors like McQuillan who perform the procedure.

This enhancement will be enough to make her [Kerr] happy, McQuillan said. She wont have any scars. She doesnt really have any of the risks associated with general anesthesia or a full face lift.

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4-Hour, Whole-Body 'Face-Lift' Uses Patient's Own Fat, Stem Cells

Public release date: 3-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Caroline Marin crmarin@umn.edu 612-624-5680 University of Minnesota Academic Health Center

MINNEAPOLIS/SAINT PAUL (May 4, 2012) Researchers from the University of Minnesota's Lillehei Heart Institute have effectively treated muscular dystrophy in mice using human stem cells derived from a new process that for the first time makes the production of human muscle cells from stem cells efficient and effective.

The research, published today in Cell Stem Cell, outlines the strategy for the development of a rapidly dividing population of skeletal myogenic progenitor cells (muscle-forming cells) derived from induced pluripotent (iPS) cells. iPS cells have all of the potential of embryonic stem (ES) cells, but are derived by reprogramming skin cells. They can be patient-specific, which renders them unlikely to be rejected, and do not involve the destruction of embryos.

This is the first time that human stem cells have been shown to be effective in the treatment of muscular dystrophy.

According to U of M researchers who were also the first to use ES cells from mice to treat muscular dystrophy there has been a significant lag in translating studies using mouse stem cells into therapeutically relevant studies involving human stem cells. This lag has dramatically limited the development of cell therapies or clinical trials for human patients.

The latest research from the U of M provides the proof-of-principle for treating muscular dystrophy with human iPS cells, setting the stage for future human clinical trials.

"One of the biggest barriers to the development of cell-based therapies for neuromuscular disorders like muscular dystrophy has been obtaining sufficient muscle progenitor cells to produce a therapeutically effective response," said principal investigator Rita Perlingeiro, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine in the Medical School's Division of Cardiology. "Up until now, deriving engraftable skeletal muscle stem cells from human pluripotent stem cells hasn't been possible. Our results demonstrate that it is indeed possible and sets the stage for the development of a clinically meaningful treatment approach."

Upon transplantation into mice suffering from muscular dystrophy, human skeletal myogenic progenitor cells provided both extensive and long-term muscle regeneration which resulted in improved muscle function.

To achieve their results, U of M researchers genetically modified two well-characterized human iPS cell lines and an existing human ES cell line with the PAX7 gene. This allowed them to regulate levels of the Pax7 protein, which is essential for the regeneration of skeletal muscle tissue after damage. The researchers found this regulation could prompt nave ES and iPS cells to differentiate into muscle-forming cells.

Continue reading here:
U of M researchers develop new muscular dystrophy treatment approach using human stem cells

ScienceDaily (May 4, 2012) Researchers from the University of Minnesota's Lillehei Heart Institute have effectively treated muscular dystrophy in mice using human stem cells derived from a new process that -- for the first time -- makes the production of human muscle cells from stem cells efficient and effective.

The research, published May 4 in Cell Stem Cell, outlines the strategy for the development of a rapidly dividing population of skeletal myogenic progenitor cells (muscle-forming cells) derived from induced pluripotent (iPS) cells. iPS cells have all of the potential of embryonic stem (ES) cells, but are derived by reprogramming skin cells. They can be patient-specific, which renders them unlikely to be rejected, and do not involve the destruction of embryos.

This is the first time that human stem cells have been shown to be effective in the treatment of muscular dystrophy.

According to U of M researchers -- who were also the first to use ES cells from mice to treat muscular dystrophy -- there has been a significant lag in translating studies using mouse stem cells into therapeutically relevant studies involving human stem cells. This lag has dramatically limited the development of cell therapies or clinical trials for human patients.

The latest research from the U of M provides the proof-of-principle for treating muscular dystrophy with human iPS cells, setting the stage for future human clinical trials.

"One of the biggest barriers to the development of cell-based therapies for neuromuscular disorders like muscular dystrophy has been obtaining sufficient muscle progenitor cells to produce a therapeutically effective response," said principal investigator Rita Perlingeiro, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine in the Medical School's Division of Cardiology. "Up until now, deriving engraftable skeletal muscle stem cells from human pluripotent stem cells hasn't been possible. Our results demonstrate that it is indeed possible and sets the stage for the development of a clinically meaningful treatment approach."

Upon transplantation into mice suffering from muscular dystrophy, human skeletal myogenic progenitor cells provided both extensive and long-term muscle regeneration which resulted in improved muscle function.

To achieve their results, U of M researchers genetically modified two well-characterized human iPS cell lines and an existing human ES cell line with the PAX7 gene. This allowed them to regulate levels of the Pax7 protein, which is essential for the regeneration of skeletal muscle tissue after damage. The researchers found this regulation could prompt nave ES and iPS cells to differentiate into muscle-forming cells.

Up until this point, researchers had struggled to make muscle efficiently from ES and iPS cells. PAX7 -- induced at exactly the right time -- helped determine the fate of human ES and iPS cells, pushing them into becoming human muscle progenitor cells.

Once Dr. Perlingeiro's team was able to pinpoint the optimal timing of differentiation, the cells were well suited to the regrowth needed to treat conditions such as muscular dystrophy. In fact, Pax7-induced muscle progenitors were far more effective than human myoblasts at improving muscle function. Myoblasts, which are cell cultures derived from adult muscle biopsies, had previously been tested in clinical trials for muscular dystrophy, however the myoblasts did not persist after transplantation.

Read more from the original source:
New muscular dystrophy treatment approach developed using human stem cells

Researchers from the University of Minnesota's Lillehei Heart Institute have effectively treated muscular dystrophy in mice using human stem cells derived from a new process that for the first time makes the production of human muscle cells from stem cells efficient and effective.

The research, published today in Cell Stem Cell, outlines the strategy for the development of a rapidly dividing population of skeletal myogenic progenitor cells (muscle-forming cells) derived from induced pluripotent (iPS) cells. iPS cells have all of the potential of embryonic stem (ES) cells, but are derived by reprogramming skin cells. They can be patient-specific, which renders them unlikely to be rejected, and do not involve the destruction of embryos.

This is the first time that human stem cells have been shown to be effective in the treatment of muscular dystrophy.

According to U of M researchers who were also the first to use ES cells from mice to treat muscular dystrophy there has been a significant lag in translating studies using mouse stem cells into therapeutically relevant studies involving human stem cells. This lag has dramatically limited the development of cell therapies or clinical trials for human patients.

The latest research from the U of M provides the proof-of-principle for treating muscular dystrophy with human iPS cells, setting the stage for future human clinical trials.

"One of the biggest barriers to the development of cell-based therapies for neuromuscular disorders like muscular dystrophy has been obtaining sufficient muscle progenitor cells to produce a therapeutically effective response," said principal investigator Rita Perlingeiro, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine in the Medical School's Division of Cardiology. "Up until now, deriving engraftable skeletal muscle stem cells from human pluripotent stem cells hasn't been possible. Our results demonstrate that it is indeed possible and sets the stage for the development of a clinically meaningful treatment approach."

Upon transplantation into mice suffering from muscular dystrophy, human skeletal myogenic progenitor cells provided both extensive and long-term muscle regeneration which resulted in improved muscle function.

To achieve their results, U of M researchers genetically modified two well-characterized human iPS cell lines and an existing human ES cell line with the PAX7 gene. This allowed them to regulate levels of the Pax7 protein, which is essential for the regeneration of skeletal muscle tissue after damage. The researchers found this regulation could prompt nave ES and iPS cells to differentiate into muscle-forming cells.

Up until this point, researchers had struggled to make muscle efficiently from ES and iPS cells. PAX7 induced at exactly the right time helped determine the fate of human ES and iPS cells, pushing them into becoming human muscle progenitor cells.

Once Dr. Perlingeiro's team was able to pinpoint the optimal timing of differentiation, the cells were well suited to the regrowth needed to treat conditions such as muscular dystrophy. In fact, Pax7-induced muscle progenitors were far more effective than human myoblasts at improving muscle function. Myoblasts, which are cell cultures derived from adult muscle biopsies, had previously been tested in clinical trials for muscular dystrophy, however the myoblasts did not persist after transplantation.

Read the original post:
Researchers develop new muscular dystrophy treatment approach using human stem cells

by JEAN ENERSEN / KING 5 News

KING5.com

Posted on April 27, 2012 at 11:01 PM

A Bellevue doctor is one of only two researchers in the country testing stem cells as an anti-aging treatment.

Working with volunteer patients, Dr. Fredric Stern extracts stem cells with a liposuction-like procedure. The cells are then mixed with a special medium.

"Half is saved cyrogenically for future use and the other half is shipped to the laboratory in Arizona where on that end the stem cells are grown further," Stern said.

The end product goes into a cream called tropoelastin. The hope is that high concentrations of a patient's own stem cells in the cream will boost the skink's ability to repair itself.

If the eye cream proves successful in the eight-week study, the company will also offer a facial cream. Both could be available within a few months.

Stern said he expects the price to be comparable to high-end cosmetic products that typically cost hundreds of dollars.

Stern said the skin treatment is just the beginning. He said wound care is another possible use.

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Bellevue doctor tests stem-cell cream as anti-aging therapy

A previously hairless mouse following an implantation of bioengineered hair follicles recreated from adult tissue-derived stem cells

Researchers lead by Professor Takashi Tsuji from the Tokyo University of Science have successfully induced the natural hair growth and loss cycle in previously hairless mice. They have achieved this feat through the implantation of bioengineered hair follicles recreated from adult-tissue derived stem cells. While these results offer new hope for curing baldness, the work has broader implications, demonstrating the potential of using adult somatic stem cells for the bioengineering of organs for regenerative therapies.

The method devised by Professor Tsujis team involves reconstructing hair follicle germs from adult epithelial stem cells and cultured dermal papilla cells (dermal papilla are nipple-like projections at the base of hairs) and implanting these germs within or between skin layers. To recreate the desired hair densities normally about 120 hair shafts per square centimeter (0.15 square inch) or 60-100 hair shafts per square centimeter following a conventional hair transplantation method 28 bioengineered follicle germs were transplanted onto a circular patch of cervical skin measuring 1 cm (0.39 in) in diameter. The resulting hair density of 124 hair shafts per square centimeter (plus or minus 17 shafts) turned out to be satisfactory, but there was more good news.

Far more importantly, the implanted follicle germs developed all the proper structures and formed correct connections with the surrounding host tissues, including epidermis, arrector pili muscle and nerve fibers. Also, the stem and progenitor cells along with their niches were recreated in the bioengineered follicles, making a continuous hair-growth cycle possible.

The method has been shown to work with all types of hair follicles, regardless of function, structure and color (depending on the type of the origin follicle). In fact, some features of the hair shaft, such as pigmentation, may be controlled fancy a new permanent hair color?

Although more research is still necessary (such as further study of stem cell niches and optimizing the way origin follicles are to be sourced for clinical applications), the study constitutes another milestone on the way to next generation regenerative therapies.

Source: Tokyo University of Science

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Adult stem cells used to induce the natural hair growth cycle in hairless mice

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

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

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

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

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

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

View original post here:
Bioengineered Follicles Grow Hair On Bald Mice

Is your child about to lose her milk tooth? Instead of throwing it away, you can now opt to use it to harvest stem cells in a dental stem cell bank for future use in the face of serious ailments. Now thats a tooth fairy story coming to life.

Still relatively new in India, dental stem cell banking is fast gaining popularity as a more viable option over umbilical cord blood banking.

Stem cell therapy involves a kind of intervention strategy in which healthy, new cells are introduced into a damaged tissue to treat a disease or an injury.

The umbilical cord is a good source for blood-related cells, or hemaotopoietic cells, which can be used for blood-related diseases, like leukaemia (blood cancer). Having said that, blood-related disorders constitute only four percent of all diseases, Shailesh Gadre, founder and managing director of the company Stemade Biotech, said.

For the rest of the 96 percent tissue-related diseases, the tooth is a good source of mesenchymal (tissue-related) stem cells. These cells have potential application in all other tissues of the body, for instance, the brain, in case of diseases like Alzheimers and Parkinsons; the eye (corneal reconstruction), liver (cirrhosis), pancreas (diabetes), bone (fractures, reconstruction), skin and the like, he said.

Mesenchymal cells can also be used to regenerate cardiac cells.

Dental stem cell banking also has an advantage when it comes to the process of obtaining stem cells.

Obtaining stem cells from the tooth is a non-invasive procedure that requires no surgery, with little or no pain. A child, in the age group of 5-12, is any way going to lose his milk tooth. So when its a little shaky, it can be collected with hardly any discomfort, Savita Menon, a pedodontist, said.

Moreover, in a number of cases, when an adolescent needs braces, the doctor recommends that his pre-molars be removed. These can also be used as a source for stem cells. And over and above that, an adults wisdom tooth can also be used for the same purpose, Gadre added.

Therefore, unlike umbilical cord blood banking which gives one just one chance - during birth - the window of opportunity in dental stem cell banking is much bigger.

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Your child’s milk tooth can save her life

ScienceDaily (Mar. 26, 2012) A breakthrough using cutting-edge stem cell research could speed up the discovery of new treatments for motor neuron disease (MND).

The international research team has created motor neurons using skin cells from a patient with an inherited form of MND.

Role of protein

Using patient stem cells to model MND in a dish offers untold possibilities for how we study the cause of this terrible disease as well as accelerating drug discovery by providing a cost-effective way to test many thousands of potential treatments said Professor Siddharthan Chandran, Director of the University's Euan MacDonald Centre for MND Research.

The study discovered that abnormalities of a protein called TDP-43, implicated in more than 90 per cent of cases of MND, resulted in the death of motor neuron cells.

This is the first time that scientists have been able to see the direct effect of abnormal TDP-43 on human motor neurons.

The study, led by the University of Edinburgh's Euan MacDonald Centre for Motor Neuron Disease Research, was carried out in partnership with King's College London, Columbia University, New York and the University of San Francisco.

Motor neuron disease

MND is a devastating, untreatable and ultimately fatal condition that results from progressive loss of the motor nerves -- motor neurons -- that control movement, speech and breathing.

The study, funded by the MND Association, is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Stem cell study aids quest for motor neuron disease therapies

Public release date: 26-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Tara Womersley tara.womersley@ed.ac.uk 44-131-650-9836 University of Edinburgh

A breakthrough using cutting-edge stem cell research could speed up the discovery of new treatments for motor neurone disease (MND).

The international research team has created motor neurones using skin cells from a patient with an inherited form of MND.

The study discovered that abnormalities of a protein called TDP-43, implicated in more than 90 per cent of cases of MND, resulted in the death of motor neurone cells.

This is the first time that scientists have been able to see the direct effect of abnormal TDP-43 on human motor neurons.

The study, led by the University of Edinburgh's Euan MacDonald Centre for Motor Neurone Disease Research, was carried out in partnership with King's College London, Colombia University, New York and the University of San Francisco.

MND is a devastating, untreatable and ultimately fatal condition that results from progressive loss of the motor nerves motor neurones that control movement, speech and breathing.

Professor Siddharthan Chandran, of the University of Edinburgh, said: "Using patient stem cells to model MND in a dish offers untold possibilities for how we study the cause of this terrible disease as well as accelerating drug discovery by providing a cost-effective way to test many thousands of potential treatments."

The study, funded by the MND Association, is published in the journal PNAS

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Stem cell study aids quest for motor neurone disease therapies

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

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

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

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

The gene "Oct4" is the central control factor

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

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

Low risk of tumor and unlimited self renewal

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

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New shortcut for stem cell programming

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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