When World Series champion Matt Szczur joined a bone marrow registry in 2007 as a freshman in college, he didnt think much of it. At the time, Szczur (pronounced like Caesar) was playing football for Villanova University. His coach, the legendary Andy Talley, encouraged him to get involved with an organization called Be The Match. As its name implies, the group matches bone marrow donors with recipients and raises money to help those suffering from life-threatening blood cancers, like leukemia and lymphoma, to provide necessary treatment.

I thought Id test [to be a match], and if I get a call, great, Szczur said in an interview with nft now. If not, it is what it is.

Fifteen years ago, the chances of matching a donor to a recipient were not what they are today. Bone marrow and cord blood unit donor-recipient pairing relies on matching human leukocyte antigen (HLA) types, something a patients ethnic background plays a prominent role in predicting. The more people in the registry, the larger the chances are of finding matches for people in need.

Szczur put it out of his mind until the fall of 2009 when he got a call from the Be The Match registry telling him they had found a recipient for his bone marrow type. It was right in the middle of playoffs, Szczur continued. I went and spoke with Talley, and he put his head down and said, Matt, I know youre going to do the right thing.

That match was a young girl named Anastasia Volkovskaya from Ukraine, whose doctors diagnosed her with leukemia just three months after being born.Doctors told us that she needs a transplant, explained Volkovskayas father Ivan in an ESPN video on Szczurs journey to becoming a donor produced for the sports-magazine broadcast series E:60. But in Ukraine, they dont do this. They said, Deal with it.

Volkovskayas parents kept searching for ways to save their daughter, eventually finding a clinic in Israel that could provide the transplant if they could find a matching donor. They found one in Szczur who was a 100 percent match. On May 4, 2010, Szczur donated his bone marrow in a peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) procedure, a non-surgical operation in which doctors separate a patients blood-forming cells from the rest of the blood for bone marrow transplants.

It would take a while before Szczur learned precisely to whom he had donated. Confidentiality practices keep donors from learning the identity of recipients they match with for at least a year after the procedure. It deeply moved him when he finally learned Anatasias identity and got in contact with her and her family.

I remember like it was yesterday when I got the email from Be The Match about who she was and where shes from, Szczur said. When I was finally able to get in contact with her it was very emotional. I now have a son whos three. I understood the importance of [donating] then, but now, you know, Id do anything in the world to help my son, and Im sure thats how [ Volkovskayas parents] felt.

Volkovskayas parents appreciation for what Szczur did knows no bounds. This man gave life not just to one kid, he gave life to a whole family, said Anatasias mother Marina in ESPNs E:60 video.

Throughout his life, Szczur has engaged with art in one way or another. Whether sitting next to his father as a child and watching him make colorful bucktails (anglers lures traditionally made from deer hair) or experimenting with painting as a way to decompress from the stresses of being an athlete, its a part of life from which he never liked to stray very far.

After going on to play for Major League Baseball and winning the World Series with the Chicago Cubs in 2016, Szczur and his wife Natalie started a non-profit foundation dedicated to philanthropy and charity. To raise awareness for the foundation, Szczur decided to paint two self-portraits and auction them at an event the couple held in his hometown of Cape May, New Jersey. Both sold for $500. Cubs management later reached out to commission Szczur to make a painting of the teams World Series win, which the organization sold for $40,000.

Szczurs interest and involvement in NFTs would follow soon after. During the pandemic in 2020, fellow MLB player Micah Johnson reached out to Szczur to ask if he wanted to collaborate on an NFT project.I had read about the blockchain, but I had no idea what it was, Szczur said. I knew a little bit about Bitcoin, but Id never heard of Ethereum. I trusted Micah because he was a baseball player, and I knew he was a grinder. I respected him.

It doesnt get more real than someone who actually donated and saved the life of another human being.

Johnson suggested creating a portrait of George Floyd, and the two split the portrait in half, each depicting their side of Floyd in their own style. The limited edition piece sold out on Nifty Gateway in under six minutes, and the two used the funds raised from the painting to donate to initiatives dedicated to fighting injustices in the Black community.

Szczur has continued to expand into the world of crypto art, creating pieces that collectors can buy on OpenSea, Nifty Gateway, and SuperRare. His artwork frequently features bones and skeletons, which reflects the awareness hes trying to raise about bone marrow donations.

Having long wanted to work with Be The Match, Szczur found a golden opportunity to do so when a friend who had contacts at the bone marrow registry asked if he wanted to collaborate with the organization earlier this year.

Szczur and Be The Match are releasing two separate NFTs on Nifty Gateway in the coming days and weeks to raise awareness and money for the registry. The first is an open edition piece called Be The Match that drops on Friday, August 26, and will be available for sale for 48 hours. Editions start at $150 each. A second, limited-edition NFT drop will also be available through a 48-hour auction on Thursday, September 8, which Szczur says will be a different take on his previous skeleton and bone-themed NFT creations.

Half of all the proceeds from the NFT sales will go toward the Be The Match Foundation to help patients looking for a donor and add more potential donors to their registry.

This is Be The Matchs first experience in the NFT space, explained Alex Mensing, a Be The Match spokesperson in an interview with nft now. A partnership with Matt was a no-brainer. Hes been spreading awareness about bone marrow donations through his NFTs already, its something hes super passionate about. It doesnt get more real than someone who actually donated and saved the life of another human being. Thats our mission.

One of the reasons both Mensing and Szczur are excited to use NFTs as a way to spread awareness of the registry is because HLA types largely determine who can and cant match. The more diverse the registry, the greater the chances of those matches actually occurring.

I can say in all honesty that NFTs changed my life.

Right now, you see a disparity in the registry based on the ethnic diversity of the patient who is searching, elaborated Mensing. So today, a patient whos white or Caucasian has a 79 percent chance of finding a match on our registry. But Black or African American patient has only a 29 percent chance of finding a match. And so were doing a lot of recruitment to get more people to join the registry. And we have the most diverse registry in the world. Its just still not diverse enough to meet all of the patient need that exists.

Szczurs excitement for and dedication to the cause hes devoted the last decade to are admirable. Despite the maligned reputation people often attribute to NFTs and cryptocurrencies, hes adamant about their ability to do good in the world.

I can say in all honesty that NFTs changed my life, Szczur said. From top to bottom. I had no idea what I was going to do when I finished [playing] baseball. So, the transition from baseball to real life was helped so much by NFTs. I know people are skeptical about it, and they have the right to be. Cryptocurrency is so volatile. But they changed my life. Im grateful for the space.

The former MLB world champion is even more grateful for the chance to use the technology to spread awareness about a cause in which he firmly believes. His experience as a Be The Match donor is something he says will stick with him his entire life.

Theyre literally saving lives, Szczur emphasized. Everybody says theres no cure for cancer, but here we are doing this, and nobody really hears about it. So, I continue to push for this cure and for bone marrow awareness. I will continue to push this because I saw the impact that it had on my life and the impact it had on this familys life.

Those looking to support the foundations efforts and help save lives can add their names to Be The Matchs bone marrow registry here.

Read the rest here:
A World Baseball Champion Is Using NFTs to Help Save Lives - nft now

Clogging a proteins active site is a straightforward way to take it offline. Thats why the active site is often the first place drug designers look when designing new drugs, Reich explained. However, about eight years ago he decided to investigate compounds that could bind to other sites in an effort to avoid off-target effects.

As the group was investigating DNMT3A, they noticed something peculiar. While most of these epigenetic-related enzymes work on their own, DNMT3A always formed complexes, either with itself or with partner proteins. These complexes can involve more than 60 different partners, and interestingly, they act as homing devices to direct DNMT3A to control particular genes.

Early work in the Reich lab, led by former graduate student Celeste Holz-Schietinger, showed that disrupting the complex through mutations did not interfere with its ability to add chemical markers to the DNA. However, the DNMT3A behaved differently when it was on its own or in a simple pair; it wasnt to stay on the DNA and mark one site after another, which is essential for its normal cellular function.

Around the same time, the New England Journal of Medicine ran a deep dive into the mutations present in leukemia patients. The authors of that study discovered that the most frequent mutations in acute myeloid leukemia patients are in theDNMT3Agene. Surprisingly, Holz-Schietinger had studied the exact same mutations. The team now had a direct link between DNMT3A and the epigenetic changes leading to acute myeloid leukemia.

Reich and his group became interested in identifying drugs that could interfere with the formation of DNMT3A complexes that occur in cancer cells. They obtained a chemical library containing 1,500 previously studied drugs and identified two that disrupt DNMT3A interactions with partner proteins (protein-protein inhibitors, or PPIs).

Whats more, these two drugs do not bind to the proteins active site, so they dont affect the DNMT1 at work in all of the bodys other cells. This selectivity is exactly what I was hoping to discover with the students on this project, Reich said.

These drugs are more than merely a potential breakthrough in leukemia treatment. They are a completely new class of drugs: protein-protein inhibitors that target a part of the enzyme away from its active site. An allosteric PPI has never been done before, at least not for an epigenetic drug target, Reich said. It really put a smile on my face when we got the result.

This achievement is no mean feat. Developing small molecules that disrupt protein-protein interactions has proven challenging, noted lead authorJonathan Sandovalof UC San Francisco, a former doctoral student in Reichs lab. These are the first reported inhibitors of DNMT3A that disrupt protein-protein interactions.

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A new kind of chemo - University of California

Doctor with a cancer patient.

But, in order to defeat an enemy like cancer, you must first know more about it. Let's take a closer look at this dreadful disease.

Knowing the potential indicators of cancer is important regardless of your age or state of health. Symptoms are generally insufficient to diagnose the illness on their own. However, they may serve as hints for you and your physician to quickly identify and address the issue. Treatment for many types of cancer is most effective early on, when a tumor is tiny and the disease hasn't spread to other parts of the body.

The signs listed below are not exhaustive and do not necessarily indicate the presence of cancer. There are many common conditions that might share these symptoms. Visit your doctor as soon as possible so they can examine you more closely and take appropriate measures.

Cancer frequently exhibits the following symptoms in both men and women:

Artist's impression of cancer.

For men only, there are some sex-specific symptoms that could indicate the presence of cancer. For men, prostate, lung, and colorectal cancers are the most prevalent cancers that tend to develop.

Male cancer symptoms include:

Women, on the other hand, are more susceptible to some forms of cancer that are usually not expressed in males. Breast, lung, and colorectal cancer are some of the most common cancers in women, although men can also have these types of cancer. Cancers such as uterine, endometrial, cervical, vaginal, and vulvar cancers are particular to women.

Some of the warning signs for women include:

Every cancer starts in cells. More than a hundred billion billion (100,000,000,000,000) cells make up our bodies. Changes in one cell or a small number of cell can lead to the development of cancer.

Artistic impression of cancer cells.

When cells grow old or become damaged, they die, and new cells take their place. How much and how frequently cells divide is regulated by a number of factors, but sometimes this orderly process breaks down, and abnormal or damaged cells grow and multiply when they shouldn't. When cancer occurs, cells may begin to grow and multiply in an uncontrolled way, resulting in the formation of a mass known as a tumor, if any of these signals are damaged or absent.

The primary tumor is where cancer first appears. Some cancers, like leukemia, attack different parts of the body; in this case, the cancer originates in blood cells. With leukemia, however, tumors do not grow in a clump. Instead, cancer cells accumulate in the blood and, occasionally, the bone marrow.

However, any cell is technically vulnerable to becoming cancerous. While the functions of various cell types in the body vary, their basic functions are pretty much alike.

Every cell has a nucleus, which serves as its command center. Chromosomes, which contain thousands of genes, are located inside the nucleus. Long strands of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) are found in genes and serve as coded instructions for making proteins and other molecules.

Genes can be thought of as instructions for producing different products that the cells need. This may be a protein or regulatory molecules that help the cell assemble proteins. RNA. This process helps to control elements such as:

Genes ensure that cells develop and replicate (make copies) in an orderly and controlled manner, which is necessary to maintain the body's wellness.

When a cell divides, the genes can occasionally change. This is called a mutation. Ultimately, this means that a gene has been damaged or changed in some way.

A cell can randomly undergo a mutation while it is dividing. Some mutations result in the cell losing the ability to comprehend its own instructions. It might begin to outgrow control. One mutation is not generally enough to cause cancer. Usually, cancer occurs from multiple mutations over a period of time. That is one reason why cancer occurs more often in older people.

Gene mutations in a specific gene could signify that:

Cancer cells.

A damaged cell can take years to divide, grow, and develop into a tumor large enough to produce symptoms or be detected on a scan.

But what actually causes a cell's genes to mutate?

Since mutations can happen by chance when a cell is dividing, this can result in the cell becoming accidentally cancerous. But, mutations can also occur during the normal functions of cellular life.

Mutations can also be triggered by substances that enter the body from the outside, such as the substances in cigarette smoke. Sometimes, people also inherit genetic flaws that increase their risk of getting cancer.

Every day, some genes are damaged, but cells are quite good at fixing them. But the harm can worsen over time. Additionally, if cells develop too quickly, they are less able to repair the damaged genes and may be more prone to acquiring new mutations.

The first point to note is that not all cancers are fatal.

In England and Wales, for example, 50 out of every 100 (50%) people with cancer survive for ten years or more. In the UK, cancer survivorship is increasing and has doubled in the past 40 years. However, there is a huge variation in ten-year survival rates for different types of cancer, ranging from 98% for testicular cancer to just 1% for pancreatic cancer.

Read the original post:
These are some of the very worst cancers you could ever get - Interesting Engineering

A type of blood cell cancer called angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL) can develop as mutations accumulate with age in the stem cells from which the T cells in the blood develop.

However, the underlying mechanism by which AITL develops was unknown. Now, a team from the University of Tsukuba in Japan have shown that B cells, another type of blood cells, accumulate mutations in genes that control how the genetic material in the cell is packaged. These aberrant B cells then interact with T cells and lead to the development of AITL.

The paper, Clonal germinal center B cells function as a niche for T-cell lymphoma, was published in the journal Blood.

Blood cells such as B cells and T cells, involved in immunity, develop from stem cells in the bone marrow. Sometimes, mutations occur in individual stem cells that lead to the mutant stem cell giving an increased output of blood cells, all of which carry identical mutations.

The likelihood of this increases with age, known as age-related clonal hematopoiesis, or ACH. ACH is known to be linked to various cancers. AITL, a cancer of the T cells, is linked to ACH with mutations in a gene called TET2. The team used mouse models and human samples to show that theTET2 mutation needed to be present in all blood cells, not just the T cells, for a mouse model to develop AITL.

Using single-cell RNA sequencing, a technique that can show which genes are active within just one cell, they were able to profile the immune cells present in the samples. This revealed a significant increase in the number of aberrant germinal center B cells, a type of B cells with activating and proliferative capacities. These B cells showed recurrent mutations to genes for histone proteins, which organize the genetic material in the cell into higher structures. They also showed alterations to the pattern of a DNA modification called methylation, which affects the genes expressed in the cell.

B cells and T cells can interact through molecules on the cell surface known as CD40 and CD40 ligand.

Analysis of the single-cell sequencing data identified this interaction between CD40 and CD40 ligand as potentially essential for mediating crosstalk between the aberrant B cells and the tumor cells, said lead author Manabu Fujisawa.

Most importantly, the survival of the mice with AITL could be prolonged by treatment with an antibody designed to inhibit CD40 ligand, said main author Mamiko Sakata-Yanagimoto.

The genes expressed in the aberrant mouse GCB cells are also expressed in cells from human AITL withTET2 mutations.

This means that antibodies against CD40 ligand could potentially be a new therapeutic approach to human AITL.

The rest is here:
University of Tsukuba researchers understand the mechanism of AITL - Labiotech.eu

AS one of the most common childhood cancers around, chances are you know what leukaemia is.

But can you actually name any of the symptoms associated with the deadly illness?

1

According to results of a recent survey, less than1 per cent of Britsare able to identify all four common symptoms of the cancer.

Leukaemia is a type of blood cancer that affects people of all ages, with 10,000 people getting diagnosed in the UK every year.

Overall survival rate for the disease stands at just over 50 per cent, making it one of the most deadly forms of cancer.

However, a survey conducted by two cancer charities found that over two-fifths (42 per cent) of people cannot recognise any of the four most widely reported symptoms of the disease.

It also revealed that 43 per cent people wrongly think leukaemia is most common in the under 24s.

Common leukaemia signs and symptoms include:

Leukaemia a type of blood cancer that affects cells in bone marrow and attacks the immune system.

The most common symptoms are:

Other symptoms of leukaemia include:

Fiona Hazell, chief executive ofLeukaemia UK-- one of the charities who published the survey-- believe this mistaken belief could cost lives.

"In reality, both incidence and mortality rates rise sharply after the age of 55," she explained.

"Raising awareness in this age group is critical in order to treat it early and effectively; and ultimately to improve survival rates overall," she said.

Like with all cancers, catching leukaemia early means treatment is more likely to be successful.

In response to the survey results, Leukaemia UKand Leukaemia Care have together launched a new campaign -- called #SpotLeukaemia -- to make people more aware of the symptoms.

Zack Pemberton-Whiteley, chief executive ofLeukaemia Care also said the results of the survey were "extremely worrying."

"It's crucial that if you think you have fatigue, bruising or bleeding or repeated infections that you contact your GP and ask for a blood test. It's as simple as that," he said.

There are four main types of leukaemia.

They are:

Acute Lymphocytic Leukaemia (ALL)-A rapidly progressing form of the disease.More common in children.

Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) -Rapidly progressive. More common in adults.

Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia (CLL) -Slowly progressing form and more common in adults.

Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia (CML) -Progresses slowly and is more common in adults.

Cancer types, signs and symptoms

Everything you need to know about different types of Cancer

Currently there are five ways leukaemia can be treated.

They are:

Chemotherapy-These are cell-killing drugs which kill and/or stop them from dividing. Chemotherapy is often given in blocks or cycles of treatment.One cycle of treatment will consist of a series of doses of chemotherapy followed by a break for the healthy cells to recover.

Radiation therapy -This treatment uses high-energy radiation to kill cancer cells. It is not used to treat all types of leukaemia.

Targeted therapy -Drugs which specifically recognise and kill leukaemia cells.

Biological therapy -A treatment which uses the immune system to destroy leukaemia cells.

Stem cell transplant -Youngerpatients may be given a stem cell transplant (bone marrow transplant). This may be done using your own healthy stem cells or stem cells from a donor. This is most commonly done for acute leukaemia if chemotherapy does not cure the disease.

Read more:
Urgent warning as millions of Brits dont know the key signs of deadly cancer... - The US Sun

Certain patients with Wilm's tumor-expressing solid tumors are eligible to be treated with an investigational agent in a phase 1 clinical trial.

The first patient was dosed in a phase 1 dose escalation study (NCT05360680) which is evaluating CUE-102, of the interleukin 2 (IL-2) series, as monotherapy for the treatment of patients with Wilms Tumor 1 (WT1)-positive recurrent/metastatic cancers. The study will focus on colorectal, gastric, pancreatic, and ovarian cancers, according to a press release from Cue Biopharma.1

CUE-102 has the potential to activate the patients immune system against numerous WT1-expressing cancers, including solid tumors and hematologic malignancies, and has demonstrated selective and significant activation of WT1-specific T cells in preclinical studies. We believe that CUE-102 can play an important role in changing the treatment landscape for patients with WT1-positive cancers, by potentially delivering higher efficacy and lower toxicities than current available treatments, said Ken Pienta, MD, acting chief medical officer of Cue Biopharma, in a press release.

In a preclinical study of CUE-102 tested humans with peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) for cellular activity and specificity, while in vivo CUE-102 is testing in mice who are human leukocyte antigen HLA-A2 transgenic. Investigators found that CUE-102 both activates and expands WT1-specific CD8-positive T cells from PBMC of healthy donors. Similar to results seen with CUE-101, CUE-102 showed significant functional reduction of the IL-2 components.The in vivo study found CUE-102 expands polyfunctional WT1-specific CD8-positive T cells from mice who were nave and previously immunized, but the treatment did not alter the frequencies of other immune lineages.The in vivo study also found the WT1-specific CD8-positive T cells had a polyfunctional response to peptide-loaded target cells and selectively killed WT1-presenting target cells.These results, along with a tolerable safety profile, support the initiation of the phase 1 trial of CUE-102.2

This phase 1 study aims to find the dose-limiting toxicity and maximum-tolerated dose of CUE-102. The secondary end points include safety and tolerability, antitumor response rate, antitumor duration of response, antitumor clinical benefit rate, progression-free survival, and overall survival. The dose escalation portion of the trial will administer CUE-102 in intravenous doses of 1 mg/kg, 2 mg/kg, 4 mg/kg, 8 mg/kg, and an experimental recommended phase 2 dose every 3 weeks for up to 2 years.3

Eligible patients in this phase 1 study will include patients who have colorectal, gastric, pancreatic, or ovarian cancer who have an ECOG performance status of 0 or 1, a life expectancy of at least 12 weeks, have a human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A*0201 genotype as determined by genomic testing, and tumors who are WT1-positive. Patients will be deemed ineligible if patients with central nervous system metastases have been treated and be asymptomatic, have a history of prior allogeneic bone marrow, stem cell, or solid organ transplant, treatment with radiation therapy within 14 days before the first dose of CUE-102, and a history of clinically significant cardiovascular disease.3

Initiating this phase 1 clinical study of CUE-102 at a starting dose of 1mg/kg, a clinically active dose in our Phase 1 CUE-101 clinical trial for HPV+ head and neck cancer, is an important step forward in demonstrating the modularity of our Immuno-STAT platform and the broader clinical potential of our CUE-100 series of biologics, said Dan Passeri, chief executive officer of Cue Biopharma, in the press release. We believe, given the preservation of the core molecular framework between CUE-102 and CUE-101 with the primary exception of the tumor-specific epitope, initiating the dose escalation trial at 1 mg/kg will result in reduced time and cost to evaluate tolerability at therapeutically active doses.

References

1. Cue biopharma doses first patient in phase 1 study of CUE-102 for Wilms Tumor 1 (WT1) - expressing cancers. Press release. Cue Biopharma; August 22, 2022. Accessed August 23, 2022. https://www.cuebiopharma.com/investors-media/news/

2. Zhang C, Girgis N, Merazga Z, et al. 720CUE-102 selectively activates and expands WT1-specific T cells for the treatment of patients with WT1+ malignancies. Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer. 2021;9:doi: 10.1136/jitc-2021-SITC2021.720

3. A phase 1 in patients with HLA-A*0201+ and WT1+ recurrent/metastatic cancers. ClinicalTrials.gov. Updated July 7, 2022. Accessed August 23, 2022. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/record/NCT05360680?term=NCT05360680&draw=2&rank=1&view=recor

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Phase 1 Trial of CUE-102 in WT1+ Solid Tumors is Now in Motion - Targeted Oncology

MIAMI, Aug. 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LongeveronInc. (NASDAQ: LGVN),a clinical stage biotechnology company developing cellular therapies for chronic, aging-related and life-threatening conditions, today announced that the European Patent Office (EPO) has issued a notice of its intent to grant the Company a patent (EP Application No. 15861319.0) related to methods to treat endothelial dysfunction and monitor the efficacy of allogeneic mesenchymal cell therapies, also known as medicinal signaling cells (MSCs). The cells are administered to patients with cardiovascular disease through the monitoring of a protein, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF), which is a signal protein produced by many cells that stimulates the formation of blood vessels.

We are extremely pleased to receive this notice from the European patent office, said Chris Min, M.D., Ph.D., Interim Chief Executive Officer and Chief Medical Officer at Longeveron. This patent will bolster our robust intellectual property portfolio and support our goal of delivering effective cell therapies for a range of aging-related and life-threatening conditions.

The patent is titled Methods for Monitoring Efficacy of Allogeneic Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy in a Subject. Longeverons lead investigational product is Lomecel-B, a cell therapy product derived from MSCs. Many of Longeverons clinical studies point to Lomecel-B exerting effects through pro-vascular functions and/or reducing endothelial dysfunction, a condition where the lining of blood vessels is abnormal leading to diminished health of blood vessels and blood flow regulation.

The Company is evaluating the use of MSCs to treat several indications, including Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS), a rare and life-threatening congenital heart defect that affects approximately 1,000 babies per year. Longeveron received both a Rare Pediatric Disease Designation and Orphan Drug Designation from the United States Food and Drug Administration in 2021 for Lomecel-B for the treatment of infants with HLHS. Longeveron is currently evaluating Lomecel-B for HLHS in a Phase 2a trial.

Longeveron is also conducting a trial of Lomecel-B in patients with Alzheimers Disease in the US and for aging frailty in Japan.

Now that the European Patent Office has issued an Intention to Grant, Longeveron will await grant of the patent and then begin the process of registering the patent in a number of nation members of the European Patent Organization. In those jurisdictions where the patent is registered, the patent is expected to expire in November of 2035.

About Longeveron Inc.

Longeveron is a clinical stage biotechnology company developing cellular therapies for specific aging-related and life-threatening conditions. The Companys lead investigational product is the Lomecel-B cell-based therapy product, which is derived from culture-expanded medicinal signaling cells (MSCs) that are sourced from bone marrow of young, healthy adult donors. Longeveron believes that by using the same cells that promote tissue repair, organ maintenance, and immune system function, it can develop safe and effective therapies for some of the most difficult disorders associated with the aging process and other medical disorders. Longeveron is currently sponsoring Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials in the following indications: Alzheimers disease, hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), Aging Frailty, and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). Additional information about the Company is available at http://www.longeveron.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which reflect management's current expectations, assumptions, and estimates of future performance and economic conditions, and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by the statements made herein. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "believe," "expects," "may," "looks to," "will," "should," "plan," "intend," "on condition," "target," "see," "potential," "estimates," "preliminary," or "anticipates" or the negative thereof or comparable terminology, or by discussion of strategy or goals or other future events, circumstances, or effects. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements in this release include, but are not limited to, statements about the ability of Longeverons clinical trials to demonstrate safety and efficacy of the Companys product candidates, and other positive results; the timing and focus of the Companys ongoing and future preclinical studies and clinical trials and the reporting of data from those studies and trials; the size of the market opportunity for the Companys product candidates, including its estimates of the number of patients who suffer from the diseases being targeted; the success of competing therapies that are or may become available; the beneficial characteristics, safety, efficacy and therapeutic effects of the Companys product candidates; the Companys ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval of its product candidates; the Companys plans relating to the further development of its product candidates, including additional disease states or indications it may pursue; existing regulations and regulatory developments in the U.S., Japan and other jurisdictions; the Companys plans and ability to obtain or protect intellectual property rights, including extensions of existing patent terms where available and its ability to avoid infringing the intellectual property rights of others; the need to hire additional personnel and the Companys ability to attract and retain such personnel; the Companys estimates regarding expenses, future revenue, capital requirements and needs for additional financing; the Companys need to raise additional capital, and the difficulties it may face in obtaining access to capital, and the dilutive impact it may have on its investors; the Companys financial performance, and the period over which it estimates its existing cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund its future operating expenses and capital expenditures requirements. Further information relating to factors that may impact the Company's results and forward-looking statements are disclosed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Longeverons Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, filed with the SEC on March 11, 2022, and the Companys Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the periods ended March 31, 2022, and June 30, 2022. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and the Company disclaims any intention or obligation, other than imposed by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Investor Contact:

Elsie YauStern IR, Inc.212-698-8700elsie.yau@sternir.com

More:
Longeveron Receives Intent to Grant Notice from the European Patent Office for Methods to Monitor Efficacy of Lomecel-B - BioSpace

MONDAY, Aug. 22, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a decrease in transplantation in 2020, according to a study published in the July 1 issue of the American Journal of Surgery.

Alejandro Suarez-Pierre, M.D., from the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora, and colleagues examined adult transplantation data as time series data in a population-based cohort study. Models of transplantation rates were developed using data from 1990 to 2019 to project the expected 2020 rates in a theoretical scenario in which the pandemic did not occur. Observed-to-expected (O/E) ratios were calculated for transplants.

The researchers found that 32,594 transplants were expected in 2020, but 30,566 occurred (O/E, 0.94; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.88 to 0.99). A total of 50,241 waitlist registrations occurred compared with 58,152 expected (O/E, 0.86; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.80 to 0.94). For kidney, liver, heart, and lung, the O/E ratios (95 percent confidence intervals) of transplants were 0.92 (0.86 to 0.98), 0.96 (0.89 to 1.04), 1.05 (0.91 to 1.23), and 0.92 (0.82 to 1.04), respectively. The corresponding O/E ratios (95 percent confidence intervals) of waitlist registrations were 0.84 (0.77 to 0.93), 0.95 (0.86 to 1.06), 0.99 (0.85 to 1.18), and 0.80 (0.70 to 0.94).

"The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a significant deficit in solid organ transplantation, donation, and waitlist registrations in the United States in 2020. The impact was strongest in kidney transplantation and waitlist registration," the authors write. "While the pandemic persisted through 2020, the transplant system adapted remarkably well with a record number of transplantations performed."

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Drop Seen in Transplantation in 2020 With COVID-19 Pandemic - Consumer Health News | HealthDay - HealthDay News

New York, Aug. 23, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kenneth Research has published a detailed market report on Global Cell Banking Outsourcing Market for the forecast period, i.e., 2022 2031, which includes the following factors:

Global Cell Banking Outsourcing Market Size:

The global cell banking outsourcing market generated the revenue of approximately USD 7200.1 million in the year 2021 and is expected to garner a significant revenue by the end of 2031, growing at a CAGR of ~18% over the forecast period, i.e., 2022 2031. The growth of the market can primarily be attributed to the development of advanced preservation techniques for cells, and increasing adoption of regenerative cell therapies for the treatment of chronic diseases such as cancer. Additionally, factors such as growing demand for gene therapy, and increasing worldwide prevalence of cancer are expected to drive the market growth. According to the World Health Organization, nearly 10 million people died of cancer across the globe in 2020. The most recurrent cases of deaths because of cancer were lung cancer which caused 1.80 million deaths, colon, and rectum cancer which caused 916 000 deaths, liver cancer which caused 830 000 deaths, stomach cancer which caused 769 000 deaths, and breast cancer which caused 685 000 deaths. Furthermore, it was noticed that about 30% of cancer cases in low and lower-middle income nations are caused by cancer-causing diseases such the human papillomavirus (HPV) and hepatitis.

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Global Cell Banking Outsourcing Market: Key Takeaways

Increasing Geriatric Population across the Globe to Boost Market Growth

Increasing demand for stem cell therapy, and increasing biopharmaceutical production are estimated to fuel the growth of the global cell banking outsourcing market. Among the geriatric population around the world, the demand of stem cell therapy is at quite a high rate. Hence, growing geriatric population across the globe is also expected be an important factor to influence the market growth. According to the data by World Health Organisation (WHO), the number and proportion of geriatric population, meaning the people aged 60 years and older in the population is rising. The number of people aged 60 years and older was 1 billion in 2019. This number is estimated to increase to 1.4 billion by 2030 and 2.1 billion by 2050.

In addition to this, increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, supportive initiatives by governments around the world, and growing awareness about stem cell banking are predicted to be major factors to propel the growth of the market. The growth of the global cell banking outsourcing market, over the forecast period, can be further ascribed to the rising investments in the R&D activities to continuously bring up more feasible solutions for medical procedures. According to research reports, since 2000, global research and development expenditure has more than tripled in real terms, rising from approximately USD 680 billion to over USD 2.5 trillion in 2019.

Browse to access In-depth research report on Global Cell Banking Outsourcing Market with detailed charts and figures: https://www.kennethresearch.com/report-details/cell-banking-outsourcing-market/10070777

Global Cell Banking Outsourcing Market: Regional Overview

The global cell banking outsourcing market is segmented into five major regions including North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa region.

Advanced Healthcare Facilities Drove Market in the North America Region

The market in the North America region held the largest market share in terms of revenue in the year 2021. The growth of the market in this region is majorly associated with the increasing number of pharmaceutical companies & manufacturers in the region, and increasing awareness for the use of stem cells as therapeutics. Increasing number of bone marrow and cord blood transplants throughout the region is also estimated to positively influence the market growth. It was noted that, 4,864 unrelated and 4,160 related bone marrow and cord blood transplants were performed in the United States in 2020.

Increasing Prevalence of Chronic Diseases to Influence Market Growth in the Asia Pacific Region

On the other hand, market in the Asia Pacific region is estimated to grow with the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The market in this region is driven by the increasing investment in biotechnology sector by government and private companies specifically in countries such as China, India, and Japan. Moreover, the increasing pool of patient with chronic diseases, such as cancer, and the ongoing research & development activities for cancer treatment is expected to propel the growth of the market. Further, increasing percentage of regional health expenditure contributing to the GDP is also estimated to be a significant factor to influence the growth of the cell banking outsourcing market in the Asia Pacific region. As per The World Bank, in the year 2019, share of global health expenditure in East Asia & Pacific region accounted to 6.67% of GDP.

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The study further incorporates Y-O-Y growth, demand & supply and forecast future opportunity in:

Middle East and Africa (Israel, GCC [Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman], North Africa, South Africa, Rest of Middle East and Africa).

Global Cell Banking Outsourcing Market, Segmentation by Bank Phase

The bank storage segment held the largest market share in the year 2021 and is expected to maintain its share by growing with a notable CAGR during the forecast period. The market growth is anticipated to be driven by the development of effective preservation technologies such as cryopreservation technique. Cryopreservation is a technique in which low temperature is used to preserve the living cells and tissue for a longer time. With the growing healthcare expenditure per capita across the world, demand for bank storage increasing notably. As sourced from The World Bank, in 2019, worldwide health expenditure per capita was USD 1121.97.

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Global Cell Banking Outsourcing Market, Segmentation by Product

The adult cell banking segment is estimated to hold a substantial market share in the global cell banking outsourcing market during the forecast period. The growth of this segment can be attributed to the significant prevalence of chronic diseases among the adults around the globe. For instance, according to the National Library of Medicine 71.8% of adult population suffered from cardiovascular diseases, 56% had diabetes, and 14.7% adults had arthritis as of 2020.

Global Cell Banking Outsourcing Market, Segmentation by Cell Type

Global Cell Banking Outsourcing Market, Segmentation by Bank Type

Few of the well-known market leaders in the global cell banking outsourcing market that are profiled by Kenneth Research are SGS SA, WuXi AppTec, LifeCell International Pvt. Ltd., BSL Bioservice, LUMITOS AG, Cryo-Cell International, Inc., REPROCELL Inc, CORDLIFE GROUP LIMITED, Reliance Life Sciences, and Clean Biologics and others.Enquiry before Buying This Report @ https://www.kennethresearch.com/sample-request-10070777

Recent Developments in the Global Cell Banking Outsourcing Market

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Global Cell Banking Outsourcing Market to Grow at a CAGR of ~18% during 2022-2031; Market to Expand Owing to the Development of Advanced Cell...

An American Heart Association fellowship will allow a Binghamton graduate student to further her research in developing 3D heart models. Natalie Weiss is interested in the pharmaceutical implications for treating cardiac fibrosis, an abnormal thickening and scarring of heart tissue that is common with many types of heart diseases and conditions.

The AHA is such a big and well-respected organization, so it is a nice validation to see that they value my research and ideas, said Weiss, a biomedical engineering doctoral student from the Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science who received a competitive two-year pre-doctoral fellowship.

Weiss conducts her work in the lab of Tracy Hookway, assistant professor of biomedical engineering. The team uses cell culture, 3D modeling of stem cells and live imaging of tissue for regenerative medicine therapy.

Natalie has been a huge asset to my lab, Hookway said. Shes incredibly intelligent and very ambitious, and shes not afraid to ask questions.

Weiss research involves creating working models of human hearts and then testing various drugs and therapies with the goal of resolving or improving cardiac fibrosis. She uses stem cells derived from human skin to make heart muscle cells and then combines them with proteins, sugars and a gel polymer, which is then piped into a 3mm donut ring mold (of sorts). The process takes about a week and a half, but once the cells are added to the mold, the ring forms overnight into a simplified, beating human heart model.

By testing on these models, it saves time, money and testing on animals, Weiss said, adding that she often has 40 rings going at a time. What Im hoping to do, once the models are a little more advanced, is replicate the stiffness of cardiac fibrosis in the model and then test a couple of drugs and see if it responds in a positive way.

As a high school student in East Meadow, Long Island, Weiss knew she was interested in the medical field. She volunteered in an emergency room and got her EMT certification.

Ive also always loved problem solving taking things apart and figuring out how they worked, she said. I wasnt aware I could put those two interests together until a biomedical engineering major kept popping up again and again as I was researching college programs.

She received her undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering at Stony Brook University in 2019, and then started her graduate career at Binghamton that fall. She selected the program because she was impressed with Hookway, who would become her advisor.

I wanted someone who I can connect with, Weiss said. Dr. Hookway really seemed like someone who would advocate for her students, so I knew she was going to care about my progress and help me out.

Once Weiss completes her doctorate, she hopes to complete a post-doctoral fellowship and then become a professor and run her own research lab.

This article was originally published in Discover-e.

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Heart Association fellowship to support research - Binghamton

Abstract:Background: One of the best and most effective applied and tolerable approaches for cardioprotecion is the regular exercise. In situation of exercise activity and even cardiac ischemic injury, the activity of the myocardial stem cells and their recruiting factors are changed so that contribute the adaptation and repairment of the myocardium. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of myocardial preconditioning with high intensive interval training on SDF-1a myocardial levels, CXCR4 receptors and c-kit after acute myocardial infarction in male rats. Methods: 20 male Wistar rats (8 week old ,weight 234.8 5.7 g) were randomly divided into 4 groups of control (C), training (T), myocardial infraction (MI) and training+ myocardial infraction (T+MI). The training groups performed two weeks of high-intensity interval training in four sections. Each section included two or three days of practice sessions and two sessions each per a day. The number or intensity of the intervals increased in each section. SDF-1, CXCR4 and C-Kit proteins were measured by the Western blot method in the myocardial tissue and myocardial injury enzymes (CK, LDH, troponin T) were measured in serum.Results: The results of this study showed that that SDF-1, CXCR4 and C-Kit had a significant increase after two weeks of high intensity interval training and myocardial infraction. Also, serum enzyme measurements showed a positive effect of exercise, so that in the myocardium injury enzymes significantly increased in the myocardial infarction group compared with the other three groups, training and training- myocardial infarction (P<0.001). As well as, there was a significant difference between the groups of training -myocardial infarction in all of the enzymes of the myocardium injury compared to the control and training groups. Conclusions: Even short terms of high intensity interval training can increase the levels of proteins SDF1-a, CXCR4 and C-Kit in order to cardioprotection against myocardial injury through recruitment stem cells.

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High intensity interval training protects the heart against acute myocardial infarction through SDF-1a, CXCR4 receptors and c-kit levels - Newswise

The therapeutic efficacy of intravenous hiPSC-MSCs infusion without intramuscular cellular transplantation

First, we determined whether hiPSC-MSCs could migrate into the ischemic limb after a single intravenous cellular infusion. Our results showed that most of the hiPSC-MSCs engrafted into the liver 12h after infusion (Supplementary Fig.1). The engrafted hiPSC-MSCs gradually migrated into the ischemic limb at day 3 and disappeared at day 14 (Supplementary Fig.1). A few cells engrafted in the ischemic limb, the engraftment rate was extremely low, evidenced by the DiR signal that was 9.8106 at day 7 after a single intravenous administration of 5105 hiPSC-MSCs versus 1.4109 7 days after a single intramuscular injection.

To compare intravenous cellular administration and intramuscular cellular delivery, three groups of mice that received intravenous hiPSC-MSC infusion once, every week or every 3 days without intramuscular administration of hiPSC-MSCs respectively and one group that received intramuscular hiPSC-MSC delivery only were employed (Fig.1a). Intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs once, every week or every 3 days without intramuscular administration of hiPSC-MSCs in the Saline-MSC/once, Saline-MSC/week and Saline-MSC/3 days groups significantly improved blood perfusion from day 7 onwards compared with the ischemia group (Fig.1b, all p<0.05). Repeated intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs in the Saline-MSC/week and Saline-MSC/3 days groups further increased blood perfusion at day 35 compared with the Saline-MSC/once group (Fig.1b, all p<0.05), although there was no difference between the first two groups (Fig.1b, p>0.05). Nevertheless intramuscular administration of hiPSC-MSCs in the MSC-Saline group achieved a better beneficial effect than intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs in the Saline-MSC/once, Saline-MSC/week and Saline-MSC/3 days groups from day 21 onwards (Fig.1b, all p<0.05).

To evaluate blood perfusion in the groups that received intravenous hiPSC-MSCs infusion without intramuscular hiPSC-MSCs transplantation, Laser Doppler imaging analysis was performed immediately and every week following femoral artery ligation (a). A single or repeated intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs in the Saline-MSC/once, Saline-MSC/week or Saline-MSC/3 days groups significantly increased blood perfusion from day 7 onwards compared with the ischemia group. Moreover, repeated intravenous hiPSC-MSCs infusion further improved blood perfusion at day 35. Nonetheless intramuscular hiPSC-MSC transplantation in the MSC-Saline group showed a superior beneficial effect over repeated intravenous hiPSC-MSC infusion in the Saline-MSC/week and Saline-MSC/3 days groups (b).

Taken together, our results demonstrated that systemic intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs without intramuscular administration of hiPSC-MSCs improved blood perfusion. Repeated intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs every week or every 3 days without intramuscular administration of hiPSC-MSCs further increased blood perfusion compared with a single intravenous injection, although there was no significant difference between intravenous administration repeated every week versus every 3 days. Nonetheless intramuscular administration of hiPSC-MSCs achieved a better beneficial effect than intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs once, every week or every 3 days.

Five groups of ICR mice were employed in the main experiment (Fig.2): (1) ischemia group receiving intravenous administration of saline immediately after induction of ischemia and intramuscular administration of culture medium at day 7; (2) MSC-Saline group receiving intravenous administration of saline immediately after induction of ischemia and intramuscular administration of 3106 hiPSC-MSCs at day 7; (3) MSC-MSC/once group receiving intravenous administration of 5105 hiPSC-MSCs immediately after induction of ischemia and intramuscular administration of 3106 hiPSC-MSCs at day 7; (4) MSC-MSC/week group receiving repeated intravenous administration of 5105 hiPSC-MSCs immediately and every week following induction of ischemia for 4 weeks and intramuscular administration of 3106 hiPSC-MSCs at day 7; (5) MSC-MSC/3 days group receiving repeated intravenous administration of 5105 hiPSC-MSCs immediately and every 3 days following induction of ischemia for 4 weeks and intramuscular administration of 3106 hiPSC-MSCs at day 7.

There are five groups of ICR mice in main experiment: ischemia group, MSC-Saline group, MSC-MSC/once group, MSC-MSC/week group, MSC-MSC/3 days group.

Serial laser doppler imaging and analysis was performed to evaluate the blood perfusion and monitor the blood flow recovery in the ischemic hind limb (Fig.3a). After induction of ischemia, blood perfusion of the ligated limb significantly decreased to an extremely low level relative to the non-ligated limb in the ischemia group (2.980.56), MSC-Saline group (2.960.30), MSC-MSC/once group (2.950.48), MSC-MSC/week group (3.010.29) and MSC-MSC/3 days group (2.970.30). There was no significant difference between the five groups (Fig.3b, all p>0.05). These results confirmed that acute hind-limb ischemia was induced in all groups. Intramuscular administration of hiPSC-MSCs with intravenous administration of saline or with intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs once or every week or every 3 days in the MSC-Saline, MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups resulted in a significant and progressive improvement in the blood perfusion of the ligated limb from day 14 onwards compared with the ischemia group (Fig.3b, all p<0.05). Intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs significantly increased blood perfusion in the MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups from day 7 onwards compared with the ischemia and MSC-Saline groups (Fig.3b, all p<0.05). Repeated intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs in the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups further increased blood perfusion from day 28 onwards compared with the MSC-MSC/once group (Fig.3b, all p<0.05). Nevertheless there was no significant difference between mice that received repeated intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs in the MSC-MSC/week versus MSC-MSC/3 days groups throughout the study period. On day 35, blood perfusion of the ligated hind limb in the ischemia, MSC-Saline, MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups were 30.570.81, 40.560.84, 44.990.75, 50.410.68 and 51.120.86 respectively.

Laser Doppler imaging analysis was performed immediately and every week following femoral artery ligation to evaluate blood perfusion in the ischemic hind limbs (a). After intramuscular transplantation of hiPSC-MSCs, blood perfusion was significantly improved in the MSC-Saline, MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups compared with the ischemia group from day 14 onwards (all p<0.05). A single and repeated intravenous hiPSC-MSC infusion further improved blood perfusion in the MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups compared with MSC-Saline group (all p<0.05). Moreover, the blood perfusion was significantly higher in the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups compared with the MSC-MSC/once group (all p<0.05). There was no significant difference between the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups (p>0.05) (b).

Taken together, our results showed that systemic intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs combined with intramuscular transplantation of hiPSC-MSCs improved blood perfusion in a mouse model of hind-limb ischemia relative to intramuscular hiPSC-MSC transplantation without systemic hiPSC-MSC delivery. In addition, repeated intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs every week or every 3 days further improved the therapeutic effects of hiPSC-MSC-based therapy compared with a single intravenous injection. No significant difference was observed between repeated intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs every week and every 3 days.

To evaluate neovascularization in the ischemic limb, immunohistochemical staining with anti-mouse alpha-smooth muscle antigen (-SMA) and anti-mouse von Willebrand factor (vWF) antibodies were performed to assess arteriogenesis and angiogenesis following cellular transplantation respectively (Fig.4a). On day 14, intramuscular transplantation of hiPSC-MSCs in the MSC-Saline group did not increase arteriogenesis and capillary formation (Fig.4b,c, p>0.05). Nevertheless, systemic intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs in the MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups significantly improved arteriogenesis and capillary formation compared with the ischemia group (Fig.4b,c, all p<0.05). On day 35, compared with the ischemia group, intramuscular transplantation of hiPSC-MSCs in the MSC-Saline, MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups significantly increased neovascularization (Fig.4b,c, all p<0.05). Moreover, systemic intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs in the MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups further improved neovascularization compared with the MSC-Saline group on day 35 (Fig.4b,c, p<0.05). In addition, repeated intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs in the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups further promoted neovascularization compared with the MSC-MSC/once group (Fig.4b,c, all p<0.05). There was no difference in neovascularization between the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups (Fig.4b,c, all p>0.05).

Immunohistochemical staining with anti-mouse vWF (green) and anti-mouse -SMA (red) antibodies was performed to assess angiogenesis and arteriogenesis in ischemic tissues. Massons trichrome staining was performed to evaluate the degree of fibrosis (a). On day 14, neovascularization was markedly increased in the MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups, not in the MSC-Saline group, relative to the ischemia group. On day 35, after intramuscular transplantation of hiPSC-MSCs, neovascularization was significantly improved in the MSC-Saline, MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups compared with the ischemia group (all p<0.05). Intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs in the MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups enhanced the therapeutic effects of intramuscularly transplanted hiPSC-MSCs on neovascularization compared with the MSC-Saline group (all p<0.05). Moreover, neovascularization was further enhanced by repeated intravenous hiPSC-MSC infusion in the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups compared with the MSC-MSC/once group (b, c). On day 14, fibrosis was remarkably decreased in the MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups, not in the MSC-Saline group, relative to the ischemia group. On day 35, after intramuscular transplantation of hiPSC-MSCs, fibrosis was significantly reduced in the MSC-Saline, MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups compared with the ischemia group (all p<0.05). Intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs in the MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups enhanced the therapeutic effects of intramuscularly transplanted hiPSC-MSCs on reduction of fibrosis compared with the MSC-Saline group (all p<0.05). Moreover, the anti-fibrotic effect was further enhanced by repeated intravenous hiPSC-MSC infusion in the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups compared with the MSC-MSC/once group (d).

To assess the degree of fibrosis in the ischemic limb, Massons Trichrome staining were performed to determine the percentage of fibrotic tissue in the ischemic limb (Fig.4a). On day 14, intramuscular transplantation of hiPSC-MSCs in the MSC-Saline group did not decrease fibrosis (Fig.4d, p>0.05). Nevertheless, systemic intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs in the MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups significantly reduced fibrosis compared with the ischemia group (Fig.4d, all p<0.05). Compared with the ischemia group, intramuscular transplantation of hiPSC-MSCs in the MSC-Saline, MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups significantly ameliorated fibrosis on day 35 (Fig.4d, all p<0.05). Moreover, systemic intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs in the MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups significantly reduced fibrosis compared with the MSC-Saline group (Fig.4d, all p<0.05). In addition, repeated intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs in the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups further decreased fibrosis compared with the MSC-MSC/once group (Fig.4d, all p<0.05). There were no differences in fibrosis between the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups (Fig.4d, all p>0.05).

Taken together, our results showed that systemic intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs combined with intramuscular transplantation of hiPSC-MSCs promoted neovascularization and reduced fibrosis in a mouse model of hind-limb ischemia. Repeated intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs every week or every 3 days further increased the neovascularization and decreased the fibrosis following cellular transplantation compared with a single intravenous injection. No significant difference was observed between repeated intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs every week and every 3 days.

Fluorescent imaging of ischemic hind limbs was performed immediately and every week after induction of ischemia to access the cellular engraftment and survival of intramuscularly transplanted hiPSC-MSCs (Fig.5a). To avoid any confusion on the fluorescent signal, intravenous administered hiPSC-MSCs were not labeled with DiR. There was no significant difference in fluorescent signal intensity over the ischemic hind limb after intramuscular cellular transplantation (Fig.5b, all p>0.05). Systemic intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs significantly increased cellular engraftment and survival in the MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups from day 14 onwards relative to the MSC-Saline group (Fig.5b, all p<0.05). Moreover, repeated intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs in the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups further improved cellular engraftment and survival from day 21 onwards compared with the MSC-MSC/once group (Fig.5b, all p<0.05). There was no significant difference between mice that received repeated intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs in the MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups throughout the study period. On day 35, the estimated survival rates in MSC-Saline, MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups decreased to 2.590.31%, 8.330.54%, 13.560.49% and 14.230.42%, respectively (Supplementary Fig.2 and Supplementary Data1).

A series of fluorescent images of ischemic hind limbs was performed immediately and every week following intramuscular transplantation of hiPSC-MSCs to detect the fate of intramuscularly transplanted hiPSC-MSCs (a). A single or repeated intravenous hiPSC-MSCs infusion in the MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups significantly prolonged the survival of intramuscular transplanted hiPSC-MSCs from day 14 onwards compared with the MSC-Saline group (all p<0.05). Moreover, repeated intravenous hiPSC-MSCs infusion in the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups further improved the survival of intramuscularly transplanted hiPSC-MSCs from day 21 onwards compared with the MSC-MSC/once group (all p<0.05), whereas no significant difference was observed between MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups (p>0.05) (b).

Cellular engraftment and survival of intramuscularly transplanted hiPSC-MSCs were further confirmed by immunohistochemical double staining with anti-human GAPDH and anti-human mitochondria antibodies (Fig.6a). Systemic intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs significantly increased human GAPDH and human mitochondria positive cells over the ischemic hind limb in the MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups from day 14 onwards relative to the MSC-Saline group (Fig.6b, all p<0.05). Moreover, on day 35, repeated intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs in the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups further increased the human GAPDH and human mitochondria positive cells compared with the MSC-MSC/once group (Fig.6b, all p<0.05). No difference between the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups was noted (Fig.6b, all p>0.05).

The engraftment of intramuscularly transplanted hiPSC-MSCs was further confirmed by double immunohistochemical staining with anti-human GAPDH (green) and anti-human mitochondria antibodies (red) at day 14 and 35 (a). A single or repeated intravenous hiPSC-MSC infusion in the MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups significantly improved the engraftment of intramuscularly transplanted hiPSC-MSCs from day 14 onwards (all p<0.05). Repeated intravenous hiPSC-MSC infusion in the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups further improved the engraftment of intramuscular transplanted hiPSC-MSCs at day 35 compared with the MSC-MSC/once group (all p<0.05), whereas no significant difference was observed between the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups (p>0.05) (b).

Taken together, our results demonstrated that systemic intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs enhanced engraftment and survival of intramuscularly transplanted hiPSC-MSCs. In addition, repeated intravenous administration every week or every 3 days further increased the cellular engraftment and survival compared with a single intravenous injection. No significant difference was observed between repeated intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs every week versus every 3 days.

Immunohistochemical staining with anti-mouse CD68 antibody was performed to calculate the number of macrophages after cellular transplantation and evaluate the infiltration of macrophages (Fig.7a). M2 macrophages were further characterized by immunohistochemical staining with anti-mouse Arginase-1 antibody (Fig.7a). Although there was no significant difference between any of the five groups at day 7 and 14 after induction of ischemia (Fig.7b, all p>0.05), intramuscular administration of hiPSC-MSCs in the MSC-Saline, MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups significantly increased M2 macrophage polarization in the ligated limb from day 14 onwards relative to the ischemia group (Fig.7c, all p<0.05). Moreover, intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs remarkedly promoted M2 macrophage polarization in the MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups from day 7 onwards compared with the ischemia and MSC-Saline groups (Fig.7c, all p<0.05). On day 35, intramuscular administration of hiPSC-MSCs in MSC-Saline group had significantly decreased the infiltration of macrophages although the M2 macrophage percentage was similar to that in the ischemia group (Fig.7b,c, all p<0.05). Systemic intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs in the MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups significantly decreased macrophage infiltration and increased M2 macrophage polarization relative to the MSC-Saline group (Fig.7b,c, all p<0.05). Repeated intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs in the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups further reduced the infiltration of macrophages and increased the polarization of M2 macrophages compared with the MSC-MSC/once group (Fig.7b,c, all p<0.05). There was no noticeable difference in either the infiltration of macrophages or polarization of M2 macrophages between the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups (Fig.7b,c, all p>0.05).

Muscular infiltration of macrophages was determined by immunohistochemical staining with anti-mouse CD68 antibody (green) at day 7, 14, and 35. Number of M2 macrophages was detected by immunohistochemical staining with anti-mouse Arginase-1 antibodies (red) (a). At day 35, after intramuscular transplantation of hiPSC-MSCs, total macrophages were significantly decreased in the MSC-Saline, MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups compared with the ischemia group (all p<0.05). A single or repeated intravenous hiPSC-MSCs infusion in the MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups significantly decreased the muscular infiltration of macrophages compared with the MSC-Saline group (all p<0.05). In addition, repeated intravenous hiPSC-MSCs infusion in the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups further decreased the muscular infiltration of macrophages compared with the MSC-MSC/once group (all p<0.05). Nevertheless no significant difference was observed between groups at day 7 and 14 (all p>0.05) (b). Intramuscular transplantation of hiPSC-MSCs without intravenous hiPSC-MSC infusion significantly increased the polarization of M2 macrophages at day 14 compared with the ischemia group (p<0.05). A single or repeated intravenous hiPSC-MSC infusion in the MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups significantly improved the polarization of M2 macrophages from day 7 onwards (all p<0.05). Repeated hiPSC-MSCs infusion further promoted the polarization of M2 macrophages compared with a single intravenous hiPSC-MSCs infusion in the MSC-MSC/once group at day 35 (all p<0.05) (c).

Taken together, our results demonstrated that systemic intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs decreased the infiltration of macrophages and increased the polarization of M2 macrophages. Repeated intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs every week or every 3 days further decreased the infiltration of macrophages and increased the polarization of M2 macrophages compared with a single intravenous injection, whereas no significant difference was observed between repeated intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs every week and every 3 days.

The limb tissue level of a specific subset-related cytokines was measured using a commercial mouse inflammatory factor array. For anti-inflammatory cytokines, on day 14, there was no significant difference on interleukin (IL)10 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) among the ischemia, MSC-Saline and MSC-MSC/once groups (Supplementary Fig.3a,b, all p>0.05). Nonetheless, repeated systemic intravenous hiPSC-MSC infusion in the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups significantly increased IL-10 and VEGF compared with the ischemia group (Supplementary Fig.3a,b, all p<0.05). Moreover, an increase of IL-10 was observed in the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups relative to the MSC-Saline group (Supplementary Fig.3a,b, all p<0.05). On day 35, intramuscular transplantation of hiPSC-MSCs in the MSC-Saline group did not significantly improved IL-10 relative to ischemia group. Nevertheless, systemic intravenous hiPSC-MSC infusion in the MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups significantly improved IL-10 compared with the ischemia group (Supplementary Fig.3a, all p<0.05). Moreover, repeated systemic intravenous hiPSC-MSC infusion in the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups further increased IL-10 compared with the MSC-MSC/once group (Supplementary Fig.3a, all p<0.05). No significant difference on VEGF was observed among all five groups on day 35 (Supplementary Fig.3b, all p<0.05).

For inflammatory cytokines, on day 14, intramuscular transplantation of hiPSC-MSCs in the MSC-Saline, MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups significantly decreased IL-1A and IL-17A compared with the ischemia group (Supplementary Fig.3c,d, all p<0.05). Nonetheless, there was no significant difference among the MSC-Saline, MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups (Supplementary Fig.3c,d, all p>0.05). There was no significant difference on IL-2 and macrophage colony-stimulating factor (MCSF) among the ischemia, MSC-Saline and MSC-MSC/once groups (Supplementary Fig.3e,f, all p>0.05). Nonetheless, repeated systemic intravenous hiPSC-MSC infusion in the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups significantly decreased IL-2 and MCSF compared with the ischemia group (Supplementary Fig.3e,f, all p<0.05). On day 35, intramuscular transplantation of hiPSC-MSCs in the MSC-Saline, MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups significantly reduced IL-17A relative to ischemia group (Supplementary Fig.3d, all p<0.05). Moreover, repeated systemic intravenous hiPSC-MSC infusion in the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups further decreased IL-17A compared with the MSC-Saline and MSC-MSC/once groups respectively (Supplementary Fig.3d, all p<0.05). No significant difference on IL-1A, IL-2 and MCSF was observed among all five groups on day 35 (Supplementary Fig.3c,e,f, all p>0.05).

Taken together, our results demonstrated that systemic intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs could improve anti-inflammatory cytokines and decreased inflammatory cytokines. Repeated intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs every week or every 3 days further improved anti-inflammatory cytokines and decreased inflammatory cytokines compared with a single intravenous injection. No significant difference was observed between repeated intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs every week and every 3 days.

Flow cytometry analysis of fresh splenocytes was performed to assess splenic Tregs and natural killer (NK) cells populations and so determine the in vivo immunomodulatory effect of systemic administration of hiPSC-MSCs (Fig.8a). Splenic NK cells were defined as both a CD49b-FITC and NK1.1-APC positive cell population. Our result showed that splenic NK cells progressively decreased following intramuscular hiPSC-MSC transplantation or intravenous hiPSC-MSC infusion in the MSC-Saline, MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups, whereas no significant difference was noted between different time points in the ischemia group (Supplementary Fig.4a). Compared with the ischemia group, intramuscular administration of hiPSC-MSCs in the MSC-Saline, MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups significantly decreased splenic NK cells from day 14 onwards (Fig.8b, all p<0.05). Systemic intravenous hiPSC-MSC infusion in the MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups significantly reduced splenic NK cells from day 7 onwards relative to the ischemia and MSC-Saline groups (Fig.8b, all p<0.05). Repeated systemic intravenous hiPSC-MSC infusion in the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups further reduced splenic NK cells from day 14 onwards compared with the MSC-MSC/once group (Fig.8b, all p<0.05). Nonetheless no significant difference was observed between the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups (Fig.8b, all p>0.05).

Splenic Tregs and NK cells were determined by flow cytometry analysis at day 7, 14 and 35 (a). After intramuscular transplantation of hiPSC-MSCs, splenic NK cells were significantly decreased in the MSC-Saline, MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups from day 14 onwards compared with the ischemia group (all p<0.05). A single or repeated intravenous hiPSC-MSC infusion in the MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups significantly decreased splenic NK cells from day 7 onwards compared with the ischemia and MSC-Saline groups (all p<0.05). Repeated intravenous hiPSC-MSC infusion in the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups further decreased splenic NK cells from day 14 onwards compared with the MSC-MSC/once group (all p<0.05) (b). After intramuscular transplantation of hiPSC-MSCs, splenic Tregs were significantly increased in the MSC-Saline, MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups at day 35 compared with the ischemia group (all p<0.05). A single or repeated intravenous hiPSC-MSC infusion in the MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups significantly increased splenic Tregs compared with the ischemia and MSC-Saline groups (all p<0.05). Moreover, repeated intravenous hiPSC-MSC infusion in the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups further increased splenic Tregs from day 14 onwards compared with the MSC-MSC/once group (all p<0.05) (c).

Splenic Tregs were determined as Foxp3 positive cells in a proportion of pre-gated CD4 positive cells. Our result showed that splenic Tregs reached a peak on day 7 in the MSC-MSC/once group, whereas these immunomodulatory cells continued to increase in the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups. No significant difference was observed between different time points in the ischemia and MSC-Saline groups (Supplementary Fig.4b). Compared with the ischemia group, intramuscular administration of hiPSC-MSCs in the MSC-Saline, MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups significantly increased splenic Tregs on day 35 (Fig.8c, all p<0.05). Intravenous hiPSC-MSC infusion in the MSC-MSC/once, MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups significantly improved splenic Tregs from day 7 onwards compared with the ischemia and MSC-Saline groups (Fig.8c, all p<0.05). Repeated systemic intravenous hiPSC-MSCs infusion in the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups further increased splenic Tregs from day 14 onwards compared with the MSC-MSC/once group (Fig.8c, all p<0.05), but there was no significant difference between the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/3 days groups (Fig.8c, all p>0.05).

Taken together, our results demonstrated that systemic intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs could modulate systemic immune cell activation by decreasing splenic NK cells as well as increasing splenic Tregs. Repeated intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs every week or every 3 days further decreased splenic NKs and increased splenic Tregs compared with a single intravenous injection. No significant difference was observed between repeated intravenous administration of hiPSC-MSCs every week and every 3 days.

To compare the survival and engraftment of intramuscularly transplanted hiPSC-MSCs with intervenous infusion of hiPSC-MSCs and subcutaneous administration of cyclosporine A, fluorescent imaging of ischemic hind limb was performed immediately and every week in the MSC-Saline-Cyc, MSC-MSC/once-Cyc and MSC-MSC/week-Cyc groups (Supplementary Fig.5a). There was no significant difference in cellular engraftment between the MSC-MSC/once and MSC-Saline-Cyc groups through this study (Supplementary Fig.5b, p>0.05). Although repeated intravenous infusion of hiPSC-MSCs without subcutaneous administration of cyclosporine A remarkedly increased cell engraftment in the MSC-MSC/week group relative to the MSC-MSC/once group (Supplementary Fig.5b, p<0.05), no significant difference was observed after subcutaneous administration of cyclosporine A between the MSC-MSC/week-Cyc and MSC-MSC/once-Cyc groups (Supplementary Fig.5b, p>0.05). Nonetheless, subcutaneous administration of cyclosporine A did not improve the cell engraftment in the MSC-MSC/once-Cyc and MSC-MSC/week-Cyc groups relative to the MSC-MSC/once and MSC-MSC/week groups respectively (Supplementary Fig.5b, p>0.05).

To compare the therapeutic efficacy of intramuscularly transplanted hiPSC-MSCs with intervenous infusion of hiPSC-MSCs and subcutaneous administration of cyclosporine A, serial laser doppler imaging and analysis was performed to evaluate the blood perfusion and monitor the blood flow recovery in the ischemic hind limb (Supplementary Fig.6a). When comparison between the MSC-MSC/once and MSC-Saline-Cyc groups was performed, intravenous infusion of hiPSC-MSCs significantly improved blood perfusion in the MSC-MSC/once group relative to MSC-Saline-Cyc group during the first 2 weeks (Supplementary Fig.6b, p<0.05). Following intramuscular hiPSC-MSC transplantation at day 7, blood perfusion progressly increased in the MSC-MSC/once and MSC-Saline-Cyc groups. Nevertheless, no significant difference was observed between the MSC-MSC/once and MSC-Saline-Cyc groups from day 21 onwards (Supplementary Fig.6b, p>0.05). Repeated intravenous infusion of hiPSC-MSCs with or without subcutaneous administration of cyclosporine A significantly improved blood perfusion at day 35 in the MSC-MSC/week and MSC-MSC/week-Cyc groups compared with the MSC-MSC/once and MSC-MSC/once-Cyc groups respectively (Supplementary Fig.6b, p<0.05). Nonetheless, subcutaneous administration of cyclosporine A did not improve the blood perfusion in the MSC-MSC/once-Cyc and MSC-MSC/week-Cyc groups relative to the MSC-MSC/once and MSC-MSC/week groups respectively (Supplementary Fig.6b, p>0.05).

Cumulatively, our results demonstrated that no significant difference was observed in cell engraftment between a single or repeated intravenous hiPSC-MSC infusion and subcutaneous administration of cyclosporine A. Although there was no significant difference in blood perfusion between the cyclosporine A and single hiPSC-MSC infusion, a significantly improved blood perfusion was observed in the repeated hiPSC-MSC infusion groups relative to the cyclosporine A group. Furthermore, subcutaneous administration of cyclosporine A did not further increased cell engraftment or therapeutic efficacy in either single or repeated hiPSC-MSC infusion groups.

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SOMERVILLE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cellarity, a life sciences company founded by Flagship Pioneering to transform the way medicines are created, announced today the release of a unique single-cell dataset to accelerate innovation in mapping multimodal genetic information across cell states and over time. This dataset will be used to power a competition hosted by Open Problems in Single-Cell Analysis.

Cells are among the most complex and dynamic systems and are regulated by the interplay of DNA, RNA, and proteins. Recent technological advances have made it possible to measure these cellular features and such data provide, for the first time, a direct and comprehensive view spanning the layers of gene regulation that drive biological systems and give rise to disease.

Advancements in single-cell technologies now make it possible to decode genetic regulation, and we are excited to generate another first-of-its-kind dataset to support Open Problems in Single Cell Analysis, said Fabrice Chouraqui, PharmD, CEO of Cellarity and a CEO-Partner at Flagship Pioneering. Developing new machine learning algorithms that can predict how a single-cell genome can drive a diversity of cellular states will provide new insights into how cells and tissues move from health to disease and support informed design of new medicines.

To drive innovation for such data, Cellarity generated a time course profiling in vitro differentiation of blood progenitors, a dataset designed in collaboration with scientists at Yale University, Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, and Helmholtz Munich. This time course will be used to power a competition to develop algorithms that learn the underlying relationships between DNA, RNA, and protein modalities across time. Solving this open problem will help elucidate complex regulatory processes that are the foundation for cell differentiation in health and disease.

While multimodal single-cell data is increasingly available, methods to analyze these data are still scarce and often treat cells as static snapshots without modeling the underlying dynamics of cell state, said Daniel Burkhardt, Ph.D., cofounder of Open Problems in Single-Cell Analysis and Machine Learning Scientist at Cellarity. New machine learning algorithms are needed to learn the rules that govern complex cell regulatory processes so we can predict how cell state changes over time. We hope these new algorithms can augment the value of existing or future single-modality datasets, which can be cost effectively generated at higher quality to streamline and accelerate research.

In 2021, Cellarity partnered with Open Problems collaborators to develop the first benchmark competition for multimodal single-cell data integration using a first-of-its-kind multi-omics benchmarking dataset (NeurIPS 2021). This dataset was the largest atlas of the human bone marrow measured across DNA, RNA, and proteins and was used to predict one modality from another and learn representations of multiple modalities measured in the same cells. The 2021 competition saw winning submissions from both computational biologists with deep single-cell expertise and machine learning practitioners for whom this competition marked their first foray into biology. This translation of knowledge across disciplines is expected to drive more powerful algorithms to learn fundamental rules of biology.

For 2022, Cellarity and Open Problems are extending the challenge to drive innovation in modeling temporal single-cell data measured in multiple modalities at multiple time points. For this years competition, Cellarity generated a 300,000-cell time course dataset of CD34+ hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPC) from four human donors at five time points. HSPCs are stem cells that give rise to all other cells in the blood throughout adult life, and a 10-day time course captures important biology in CD34+ HSPCs. Being able to solve the prediction problems over time is expected to yield new insights into how gene regulation influences differentiation.

Entries to the competition will be accepted until November 15, 2022. For more information, visit the competition page on Kaggle.

About Open Problems in Single Cell Analysis

Open Problems in Single-Cell Analysis was founded in 2020 bringing together academic, non-profit, and for-profit institutions to accelerate innovation in single-cell algorithm development. An explosion in single-cell analysis algorithms has resulted in more than 1,200 methods published in the last five years. However, few standard benchmarks exist for single-cell biology, both making it difficult to identify top performing algorithms and hindering collaboration with the machine learning community to accelerate single-cell science. Open Problems is a first-of-its-kind international consortium developing a centralized, open-source, and continuously updated framework for benchmarking single-cell algorithms to drive innovation and alignment in the field. For more information, visit https://openproblems.bio/.

About Cellarity

Cellaritys mission is to fundamentally transform the way medicines are created. Founded by Flagship Pioneering in 2017, Cellarity has developed unique capabilities combining high-resolution data, single cell technologies, and machine learning to encode biology, predict interventions, and purposefully design breakthrough medicines. By focusing on the cellular changes that underlie disease instead of a single target, Cellaritys approach uncovers new biology and treatments and is applicable to a vast array of disease areas. The company currently has programs underway in metabolic disease, hematology, immuno-oncology, and respiratory disease. For more info, visit http://www.cellarity.com.

About Flagship Pioneering

Flagship Pioneering conceives, creates, resources, and develops first-in-category bioplatform companies to transform human health and sustainability. Since its launch in 2000, the firm has, through its Flagship Labs unit, applied its unique hypothesis-driven innovation process to originate and foster more than 100 scientific ventures, resulting in more than $100 billion in aggregate value. To date, Flagship has deployed over $2.9 billion in capital toward the founding and growth of its pioneering companies alongside more than $19 billion of follow-on investments from other institutions. The current Flagship ecosystem comprises 41 transformative companies, including Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ: DNLI), Evelo Biosciences (NASDAQ: EVLO), Foghorn Therapeutics (NASDAQ: FHTX), Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA), Omega Therapeutics (NASDAQ: OMGA), Rubius Therapeutics (NASDAQ: RUBY), Sana Biotechnology (NASDAQ: SANA), and Seres Therapeutics (NASDAQ: MCRB).

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Cellarity Releases Novel, Open-Source, Single-Cell Dataset and Invites the Machine Learning and Computational Biology Communities to Develop New...

My gold standard would be the use of an orthobiologic joint treatment, such as autologous protein solution, as it would be the least invasive joint treatment for a pregnant mare as only one injection is recommended, while other regenerative products often recommend a series of treatments for best effects, she adds.

Orthobiologic treatments are processed using the horses own blood, often stallside, to isolate properties beneficial to the joint. These treatments can provide targeted pain relief without the potential negative physiological and metabolic side effects (e.g., spontaneous abortion, harm to the fetus) of steroid use. The downside is these treatments are significantly more expensive than steroids.

In most cases I would feel comfortable injecting a fetlock joint in a pregnant mare with a low dose of a steroid such as triamcinolone if I felt it was indicated for the quality of life of the mare and orthobiologic treatments were not an option financially, Crosby says. Treatment with polyacrylamide (hydro)gel (PAAG) could also be considered, although (manufacturers of) these formulations often recommend pretreatment with a steroid for best effects. Polyacrylamide gel works by reducing friction in a joint, which can be a very effective option for advanced arthritis.

Fitz is a 14-year-old Morgan gelding with early onset pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID, formerly equine Cushings disease). His condition is well-controlled on 1 milligram of pergolide (Prascend) daily, and his owner shows him regularly in saddle seat shows. Earlier this year Fitz was diagnosed with coffin joint osteoarthritis. He improved on a polysulfated glycosaminoglycan (Adequan) series but is still experiencing performance issues.

Bonny Henderson, DVM, IVCA, CVA, CREP, owner of Henderson Equine Clinic, in Avon, New York, is a huge proponent of adjunct therapies. Prior to injections she recommends her clients try a variety of nutraceuticals to provide building blocks for the healing process and to decrease systemic inflammation. She says shes had incredible results with this approach.

I like to combine Eastern and Western medicine for my patients, Henderson says. I try to get people to treat the whole horse, identify what is causing the lameness and why exactly the cause occurredin other words, the functional limitations predisposing the horse to the injury itself. Then I treat both the lameness and the underlying cause.

This case requires careful attention because of the horses endocrine disease. PPID horses can be more sensitive to steroids, and this can result in laminitis, says Henderson. Even if hes well-maintained, you have to take into account his body condition score and hoof capsule. If the hoof capsule contains external growth rings wider in the heel than the toe, youve likely had some prior clinical or subclinical (not showing obvious signs) laminitic episodes. There is a lot of concussion going through these horses feet; ground force reactions are much more pronounced due to the shoeing package and actions of the horse and have a greater impact on the hoof. You have to watch out for a subclinical condition of what we used to term road founder that would compound the metabolic issue of PPID.

In these complex cases Henderson says she reaches for an orthobiologic. I would first ultrasound this joint to visualize the health of the cartilage, she says. If there is cartilage present, I would start with an autologous protein solution. If the lameness is from an injury or if there is a lot of (inflammation in the joint fluid), I would recommend injecting -2 macroglobulin, followed by the autologous protein solution once the inflammation is resolved.

The -2 macroglobulin injections are relatively novel treatments in equine practice. This orthobiologic isolates the horses natural -2 macroglobulin, a potent anti-inflammatory with molecules typically too large to cross into the joint. The veterinarian can then inject the -2 macroglobulin into the joint to reduce the synovitis (joint inflammation) without the negative effects of corticosteroids.

Clover is a 22-year-old Thoroughbred mare. She is a retired racehorse-turned-jumper-turned-dressage horse. Her multitude of careers has left her with relatively severe carpal arthritis of her right forelimb, with osteochondral fragments and excessive bony changes. She has a very caring owner who has tried just about anything to keep the mare comfortable, including rounds of polysulfated glycosaminoglycan, intravenous hyaluronic acid, and systemic anti-inflammatories. Clover is still lame and resistant to flexion of the carpus. This joint is end-stage.

When osteophytes (bone spurs) are present in a joint, they are not usually the direct cause of a horses pain. In my experience, the greater pain comes from synovitis and the lack of cartilage. I would talk to the owner about -2 macroglobulin, because these cases often require a multiple-layered treatment plan, says Henderson. I would also recommend following the -2 macroglobulin with a 2.5% polyacrylamide hydrogel once the severe inflammation is controlled.

Researchers have shown that the 2.5% PAAG provides the synovial lining with structure and stability and facilitates increased production of joint fluid. The integration of the product into the membrane, thickening the structure, also provides shock absorption. It essentially increases joint lubrication and provides a cushion in these end-stage joints.

Often, horses with end-stage OA stop responding to medical management, at which point surgical fusion of the joint can offer long-term comfort.

Cole is an 8-year-old Warmblood stallion who competes in the hunter/jumper ring. His attending veterinarian has diagnosed him via radiographs and computed tomography with osteoarthritic changes in his distal cervical vertebrae, causing a left forelimb lameness.

Cervical pain and dysfunction in the horse has become increasingly recognized as a cause of poor performance and can be more involved than just pain originating from the joint proper, says Michael Caruso III, VMD, Dipl. ACVS-LA, owner of Reedsdale Equine Specialists, in Nashville, Tennessee, who specializes in equine lameness diagnosis and treatment.

While OA can affect any joint, the cervical vertebrae can be an insidious location. Osteoarthritis of the cervical articular process joints (is) obviously a disease of the cartilage surface and bone, but other structures are involved and intimately associated with the joint, including the joint capsule, synovium, subchondral bone (beneath the cartilage), and paraspinal muscles, Caruso explains.

Because cervical OA is so complex, vets must combine multiple methods to treat it. I believe that many horses with cervical facet joint pain/osteoarthritis require a multimodal approach to treatment depending upon the age of the horse and severity of the dysfunction, he says. We know that horses with neck arthritis can present with a wide range of issues, from poor performance and intermittent forelimb lameness to ataxia (incoordination).

Cervical joint OA can disrupt the adjacent spinal cord nerve roots, causing this neurologic manifestation.

Injection must be performed using ultrasound guidance, Caruso says. I would inject the articular process joints with a corticosteroid (betamethasone or triamcinolone), plus or minus hyaluronic acid, plus or minus (the antimicrobial) amikacin and, depending on the horses range of motion and muscle tension, might prescribe a muscle relaxant (methocarbamol) and/or perform mesotherapy and shock wave for any muscular/fascial pain adjacent to the affected joints.

Caruso says he would take any metabolic issues into account before injecting corticosteroids. In horses that have some sort of metabolic dysfunction, I will routinely utilize orthobiologics in the affected joints, he says, adding that his personal preferences are platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and autologous conditioned serum.

All horses treated for cervical pain are prescribed therapeutic rehabilitation, Caruso says. Dynamic exercises of not only the cervical region but also the whole body appear to positively affect muscle activation and strengthening. The exercise program aims to improve joint stability and range of motion by focusing on the deep paravertebral muscles.

Remington is a 6-year-old Warmblood gelding who competes in the jumpers. He becomes lame in the right hind, and his veterinarian isolates the lameness to the stifle. On imaging, the medial (toward the midline) meniscus looks enlarged and mottled. He is referred for an arthroscopy of his medial femorotibial joint. The surgeon suggests injecting it six weeks following the procedure.

With this case, Caruso says hed first recommend injecting mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) into the medial femorotibial joint. While we have lots to learn about stem cells, in the stifleespecially postoperatively with meniscal damagestem cells have been shown to improve the long-term outcome for return to work in the horse, he says.

He cites one study (Ferris et al., 2014) on the outcome of horses undergoing stifle surgery plus bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell injections. The researchers found that of the horses treated for stifle injury with surgery and stem cells, 75% returned to some level of work postoperatively, which compares to previous reports of 60-63% with surgery alone.

The stifle is one joint that I will recommend injection with bone-marrow-derived MSCs following arthroscopic surgery as a first-line treatment, Caruso says. This is one joint that I believe stem cells have an advantage if finances allow.

Veterinarians typically harvest stem cells from the horse at the time of surgery, usually from the sternum, pelvis, or tibia. While they have potent healing factors, they are generally more expensive than the other orthobiologics mentioned. If an owner cant afford that price tag following stifle surgery, Caruso recommends PRP.

Clinically, I see a great response (from PRP) both in soft tissues and in joints, he says. I feel that MSC injection in stifle cases with proper rehabilitation following meniscal injury are more successful with less convalescent time.

While joint injection techniques are well-documented, the tricky part is what goes into the syringe. Gone are the days of simple corticosteroid injections as our only optionthough theyre still used and have a place in equine medicine. The insights from these veterinarians show we have several ways to approach a lameness, especially a complicated joint case.

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Equine Joint Injections: Case by Case The Horse - TheHorse.com

Polish Ministry of Health Approves Tilray Branded Medical Cannabis for Pharmaceutical Distribution in Addition to Wholesale Approval Polish Ministry of Health Approves Tilray Branded Medical Cannabis for Pharmaceutical Distribution in Addition to Wholesale Approval

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Tilray Medical Bolsters Market Leading Position in Europe With Market Authorization in Poland

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Aug. 17, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc. (OTCQB: KBLB) ("Company" or "Kraig Labs"), the biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of spider silk, announces that the Company has now been granted a business license to begin operations in Lam Dong Province.

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CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Aug. 17, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Magenta Therapeutics (Nasdaq: MGTA), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel medicines designed to bring the curative power of stem cell transplant to more patients, today announced that it has appointed Michael Vasconcelles, M.D. to its board of directors. Dr. Vasconcelles will also serve on the company’s R&D Committee and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee.

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Magenta Therapeutics Appoints Michael Vasconcelles, M.D. to the Board of Directors

Nes-Ziona, Israel, Aug. 17, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Enlivex Therapeutics Ltd. (Nasdaq: ENLV, the “Company”), a clinical-stage macrophage reprogramming immunotherapy company, today announced that the Israeli Ministry of Health (MOH) authorized the initiation of a company-sponsored Phase I/II clinical trial designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability and preliminary efficacy of Allocetra™ alone, and in combination with a PD1 checkpoint inhibitor, in patients with advanced solid tumors.

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Enlivex Receives Israeli Ministry of Health Approval for the Initiation of a Phase I/II Trial Evaluating Allocetra™ Alone and in Combination with a...

AGOURA HILLS, Calif., Aug. 17, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Oncotelic Therapeutics, Inc. (“Oncotelic” or the “Company”) (OTCQB:OTLC), developer of treatments for rare and orphan indications, including Parkinson Disease and various cancers, today announced that the Company will be participating at Biotechgate Digital Partnering – a business development & licensing event - Aug 29 - Sep 2, 2022. An updated investor slide deck will be available at our website after the event.

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Oncotelic Participating at Biotechgate Digital Partnering

CINCINNATI, Aug. 17, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Blue Water Vaccines Inc. (“BWV” or “Blue Water Vaccines” or “the Company”), a biopharmaceutical company developing transformational vaccines to address significant global health challenges, today announced that the Company plans to explore the potential to develop a novel monkeypox vaccine using its norovirus shell and protrusion (S&P) virus-like particle (VLP) platform.

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Blue Water Vaccines Announces Exploration of Its Virus-Like Particle (VLP) Platform for Use in Monkeypox Vaccine Candidate