PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

1-Apr-2014

Contact: Sandy Van sandy@prpacific.com 808-526-1708 Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

LOS ANGELES (April 1, 2014) The Cedars-Sinai Regenerative Medicine Institute has received a $2.5 million grant from the Department of Defense to conduct animal studies that, if successful, could provide the basis for a clinical trial of a gene therapy product for patients with Lou Gehrig's disease, also called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.

The incurable disorder attacks muscle-controlling nerve cells motor neurons in the brain, brainstem and spinal cord. As the neurons die, the ability to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. Patients experience muscle weakness that steadily leads to paralysis; the disease usually is fatal within five years of diagnosis. Several genes have been identified in familial forms of ALS, but most cases are caused by a complex combination of unknown genetic and environmental factors, experts believe.

Because ALS affects a higher-than-expected percentage of military veterans, especially those returning from overseas duties, the Defense Department invests $7.5 million annually to search for causes and treatments. The Cedars-Sinai study, led by Clive Svendsen, PhD, professor and director of the Regenerative Medicine Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and Genevive Gowing, PhD, a senior scientist in his laboratory, also will involve a research team at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and a Netherlands-based biotechnology company, uniQure, that has extensive experience in human gene therapy research and development.

The research will be conducted in laboratory rats bred to model a genetic form of ALS. If successful, it could have implications for patients with other types of the disease and could translate into a gene therapy clinical trial for this devastating disease.

It centers on a protein, GDNF, that promotes the survival of neurons. In theory, transporting GDNF into the spinal cord could protect neurons and slow disease progression, but attempts so far have failed, largely because the protein does not readily penetrate into the spinal cord. Regenerative Medicine Institute scientists previously showed that spinal transplantation of stem cells that were engineered to produce GDNF increased motor neuron survival, but this had no functional benefit because it did not prevent nerve cell deterioration at a critical site, the "neuromuscular junction" the point where nerve fibers connect with muscle fibers to stimulate muscle action.

Masatoshi Suzuki, PhD, DVM, assistant professor of comparative biosciences at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who previously worked in the Svendsen Laboratory and remains a close collaborator, recently found that stem cells derived from human bone marrow and engineered to produce GDNF protected nerve cells, improved motor function and increased lifespan when transplanted into muscle groups of a rat model of ALS.

"It seems clear that GDNF has potent neuroprotective effects on motor neuron function when the protein is delivered at the level of the muscle, regardless of the delivery method. We think GDNF will be able to help maintain these connections in patients and thereby keep the motor neuron network functional," Suzuki said.

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$2.5 million Defense Department grant funds gene therapy study for Lou Gehrig's disease

Patients with severe ischemic heart disease and heart failure can benefit from a new treatment in which stem cells found in bone marrow are injected directly into the heart muscle, according to research presented at the American College of Cardiology's 63rd Annual Scientific Session.

"Our results show that this stem cell treatment is safe and it improves heart function when compared to placebo," said Anders Bruun Mathiasen, M.D., research fellow in the Cardiac Catherization Lab at Rigshospitalet University Hospital Copenhagen, and lead investigator of the study. "This represents an exciting development that has the potential to benefit many people who suffer from this common and deadly disease."

Ischemic heart disease, also known as coronary artery disease, is the number one cause of death for both men and women in the United States. It results from a gradual buildup of plaque in the heart's coronary arteries and can lead to chest pain, heart attack and heart failure.

The study is the largest placebo-controlled double-blind randomized trial to treat patients with chronic ischemic heart failure by injecting a type of stem cell known as mesenchymal stromal cells directly into the heart muscle.

Six months after treatment, patients who received stem cell injections had improved heart pump function compared to patients receiving a placebo. Treated patients showed an 8.2-milliliter decrease in the study's primary endpoint, end systolic volume, which indicates the lowest volume of blood in the heart during the pumping cycle and is a key measure of the heart's ability to pump effectively. The placebo group showed an increase of 6 milliliters in end systolic volume.

The study included 59 patients with chronic ischemic heart disease and severe heart failure. Each patient first underwent a procedure to extract a small amount of bone marrow. Researchers then isolated from the marrow a small number of mesenchymal stromal cells and induced the cells to self-replicate. Patients then received an injection of either saline placebo or their own cultured mesenchymal stromal cells into the heart muscle through a catheter inserted in the groin.

"Isolating and culturing the stem cells is a relatively straightforward process, and the procedure to inject the stem cells into the heart requires only local anesthesia, so it appears to be all-in-all a promising treatment for patients who have no other options," Mathiasen said.

Although there are other therapies available for patients with ischemic heart disease, these therapies do not help all patients and many patients continue to face fatigue, shortness of breath and accumulation of fluid in the lungs and legs.

Previous studies have shown mesenchymal stromal cells can stimulate repair and regeneration in a variety of tissues, including heart muscle. Mathiasen said in the case of ischemic heart failure, the treatment likely works by facilitating the growth of new blood vessels and new heart muscle.

The study also supports findings from previous, smaller studies, which showed reduced scar tissue in the hearts of patients who received the stem cell treatment, offering additional confirmation that the treatment stimulates the growth of new heart muscle cells.

The rest is here:
New human trial shows stem cells are effective for failing hearts: Bone marrow-derived stem cells injected directly ...

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

31-Mar-2014

Contact: Beth Casteel bcasteel@acc.org 202-375-6275 American College of Cardiology

WASHINGTON (March 31, 2014) Patients with severe ischemic heart disease and heart failure can benefit from a new treatment in which stem cells found in bone marrow are injected directly into the heart muscle, according to research presented at the American College of Cardiology's 63rd Annual Scientific Session.

"Our results show that this stem cell treatment is safe and it improves heart function when compared to placebo," said Anders Bruun Mathiasen, M.D., research fellow in the Cardiac Catherization Lab at Rigshospitalet University Hospital Copenhagen, and lead investigator of the study. "This represents an exciting development that has the potential to benefit many people who suffer from this common and deadly disease."

Ischemic heart disease, also known as coronary artery disease, is the number one cause of death for both men and women in the United States. It results from a gradual buildup of plaque in the heart's coronary arteries and can lead to chest pain, heart attack and heart failure.

The study is the largest placebo-controlled double-blind randomized trial to treat patients with chronic ischemic heart failure by injecting a type of stem cell known as mesenchymal stromal cells directly into the heart muscle.

Six months after treatment, patients who received stem cell injections had improved heart pump function compared to patients receiving a placebo. Treated patients showed an 8.2-milliliter decrease in the study's primary endpoint, end systolic volume, which indicates the lowest volume of blood in the heart during the pumping cycle and is a key measure of the heart's ability to pump effectively. The placebo group showed an increase of 6 milliliters in end systolic volume.

The study included 59 patients with chronic ischemic heart disease and severe heart failure. Each patient first underwent a procedure to extract a small amount of bone marrow. Researchers then isolated from the marrow a small number of mesenchymal stromal cells and induced the cells to self-replicate. Patients then received an injection of either saline placebo or their own cultured mesenchymal stromal cells into the heart muscle through a catheter inserted in the groin.

"Isolating and culturing the stem cells is a relatively straightforward process, and the procedure to inject the stem cells into the heart requires only local anesthesia, so it appears to be all-in-all a promising treatment for patients who have no other options," Mathiasen said.

More:
New human trial shows stem cells are effective for failing hearts

Graham Parker, 41, from County Durham is one of first to benefit from trial Some participants were given stem cells and the rest placebo Stem cells were taken from bone marrow in his hip and injected into heart Years later Graham feels better - but still classed as having heart failure

By Carol Davis

PUBLISHED: 18:04 EST, 31 March 2014 | UPDATED: 18:25 EST, 31 March 2014

Graham Parker took part in a trial using stem cells to repair heart damage

A major new trial is using patients' own stem cells to treat heart failure. One of the first to benefit is Graham Parker, 41, an archaeology student from Stanley, County Durham. He tells CAROL DAVIS his story.

Working as a supply teacher a few years ago, I started feeling exhausted. I couldn't walk more than 50 metres without pausing, was constantly breathless and would wake at night coughing.

At first I thought it was a cold or flu, or the stress of a house move. But my mum, a retired nurse, pointed out I'd been ill for two months, and sent me to the doctor.

The GP suspected asthma, and gave me an inhaler. But within a week it was worse and I couldn't walk more than a few yards without retching.

So I saw a second GP. She didn't say what she thought it was - she called an ambulance instead. I was admitted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead, then transferred to the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle while they ran several tests, including an ECG (electrocardiogram) and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan.

Doctors explained I had heart failure: part of my heart muscle was damaged and the lower pumping chamber had become flabby so couldn't pump blood round my body properly. This was why I was so exhausted.

See the article here:
Revolutionary stem cell op to treat heart failure

St. Petersburg, FL (PRWEB) April 01, 2014

Sublime Beauty has recently introduced its newest serum which makes a positive impact on aging skin within 30 days.

Cell Renewal | Fibroblast Serum is discounted 35% for 2 days only at the company webstore, SublimeBeautyShop with coupon code CELLRENEW35.

"A key ingredient is Human Fibroblast Conditioned Media, rich in proteins and growth factors, that instruct the skin's fibroblasts to product collagen," says Kathy Heshelow, founder of Sublime Beauty. "The non-embryonic stem cells are powerful indeed - no fillers are used."

The company offers a free brochure about the ingredients on the product page. "We find that our customers want to know about ingredients in the product, what they do and what to expect." says Heshelow. "We offer lots of education on our products."

Sublime Beauty focuses on anti-aging and healthy-skin oriented products, from Skin Brushing and collagen boosters to organic products for the skin. It specializes in serums.

The company offers free standard shipping within the continental U.S and a Sublime Beauty VIP Club. Interested clients can sign up for secret deals and deep discounts as well.

The 35% off sale ends Wednesday at midnight.

Go here to see the original:
The New Scientific Serum That Helps Skin Become Younger and Healthier on Sale at Sublime Beauty Now

Just weeks after invalidating a groundbreaking paper describing a simple technique for generating pluripotent stem cells, professor Kenneth Ka Ho Lee now believes he has identified the correct approach.

Lee, chief of stem cell research at the Chinese University of Hong, spoke to Wired.co.uk in March about his tentative excitement when he read the Nature study in question, published at the start of the year. The proposed Stap cells (stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency) in it were a revelation, because they suggested there was a simple way to generate embryonic-like stem cells that could potentially be used in the treatment of diseases such as Parkinson's. The method involved reprogramming a donor's own adult blood and skin cells (in this case, mice) by exposing them to extreme trauma, such as an acid bath.

Lee could see its potential, but like the rest of the community he had his doubts. While reports circulated that the images published in the Nature study also featured in older papers penned by lead researcher Haruko Obokata of Japan's Riken Centre, Lee set about trying to replicate the experiment himself.

It didn't work.

Since then the Riken Centre has launched an investigation into the legitimacy of the trial, and that investigation today revealed Obokata had indeed falsified information, including results and images of DNA fragments used.

"Actions like this completely destroy data credibility," commented Shunsuke Ishii, head of the investigative committee and a Riken molecular geneticist, at a press conference. "There is no doubt that she was fully aware of this danger. We've therefore concluded this was an act of research misconduct involving fabrication." Obokata has denied the allegations, but Riken says its own research team will be the one to verify the results and carry out the experiment again.

In the interim however, a coauthor on the paper at the centre of the debacle,Charles Vacanti published yet another protocol for the Stap technique. Vacanti, of ear-on-a-mouse fame, is a professor at Harvard Medical School and published online what he said was found to be "an effective protocol for generating Stap cells in our lab, regardless of the cell type being studied". It was a combination of the two approaches mentioned in the Naturepaper -- the acid bath, and the trituration process (the application of pressure on the cells using pipettes to induce stress). He describes the latter process as being exerted with force, more so than in the original paper, and over a lengthy period -- twice a day for the first week.

Nature had already rejected Lee's version of experiments for publication last month. Undeterred, he set about applying Vacanti's technique. Liveblogging the experiments on ResearchGate, the open source platform where Lee had published his first set of experiments, the Hong Kong researcher immediately saw the excess stress was leading to rapid cell death among the lung fibroblast cells used.

"We estimated that there was a 50 percent decrease in cell number," Lee wrote four days ago on the blog. "In the original paper reported in Nature, such decrease in cell count was reported for day two, which is inline with our current experiment. Day three will be critical as this was the time Oct4-GFP expression [an indication that stem cells are generating] was reported for Stap cells. If we find that the cell number decreased even more drastically in our cultures, we will harvest some of the cultures and use them directly for qPCR analysis [quantitative polymerase chain reaction,a screening technique for stem cells]."

Nevertheless, things appeared to turn around. In his preliminary studies Lee has concluded that it could be the extreme stress through trituration, and not the acid bath, that was responsible for creating the Stap cells. "I am shocked and amazed by the qPCR results for the three-day-old control and Stap cultures," he wrote on ResearchGate, alongside a graph of the results. "Totally speechless!"

Link:
'Fabricated' stem cell paper may have just been proven valid

Viruses were traditionally thought to be malicious nanoscopic bearers of death and destruction. But modern science has suggested that while that is sometimes the case, the relationship between viruses and living organisms is a complicated one, as is the question of whether viruses can be truly considered "living" organisms. I. Viruses Can Actually be Useful, Sometimes In case newly discovered mega-viruses -- which rival small bacteria in size, function, and genetic complexity (and are sometimes "infected" by other viruses) -- aren't mind-warping enough, recent evidence suggests that as much of 8 percent of the genetic material found in higher organisms such as humans may be "borrowed" from viral genomes. These pieces of DNA are identifiable, if you know what you're looking for, but long ago lost their ability to depart and jump to new hosts. In that regard, mankind can be viewed as similar in some ways to lichen -- as a collection of multiple fused "organisms" living as one -- as modern man's genetic code consists of virus and traditional eukaryotic genes functioning side by side. The latest wild discovery comes courtesy of Montreal, Quebec, Canada's McGill University.

Professor Bourque states in an interview with National Geographic:

[Acquiring useful genes from viruses] can be faster than just relying on random mutations to get something that might work.

[These genes should be examined] to see if they have also evolved new functional roles, like HERV-H did in stem cells. We suspect that these genes may play important roles in other cell types as well, such as liver, kidney, and brain.

Sources: NATURE STRUCTURAL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, National Geographic

Original post:
Primate Stem Cell Creation Appears Driven by Genes From Ancient Virus

Heather Burke - Stem Cell Therapy for treating her Multiple Sclerosis
Heather Burke, a 26-year-old mother of two is about to embark on a medical journey that could stop her multiple sclerosis in its tracks. The disease, which a...

By: DIAD0NU

Original post:
Heather Burke - Stem Cell Therapy for treating her Multiple Sclerosis - Video

April 1, 2014

University of Nottingham

Scientists at The University of Nottingham have developed a new substance which could simplify the manufacture of cell therapy in the pioneering world of regenerative medicine.

Cell therapy is an exciting and rapidly developing area of medicine in which stem cells have the potential to repair human tissue and maintain organ function in chronic disease and age-related illnesses. But a major problem with translating current successful research into actual products and treatments is how to mass-produce such a complex living material.

There are two distinct phases in the production of stem cell products; proliferation (making enough cells to form large tissue) and differentiation (turning the basic stem cells into functional cells). The material environment required for these two phases are different and up to now a single substance that does both jobs has not been available.

Now a multi-disciplinary team of researchers at Nottingham has created a new stem cell micro-environment which they have found has allowed both the self-renewal of cells and then their evolution into cardiomyocyte (heart) cells. The material is a hydrogel containing two polymers an alginate-rich environment which allows proliferation of cells with a simple chemical switch to render the environment collagen-rich when the cell population is large enough. This change triggers the next stage of cell growth when cells develop a specific purpose.

Major priority

Professor of Advanced Drug Delivery and Tissue Engineering, Kevin Shakesheff, said:

Our new combination of hydrogels is a first. It allows dense tissue structures to be produced from human pluripotent stem cells (HPSC) in a single step process never achieved before. The discovery has important implications for the future of manufacturing in regenerative medicine. This field of healthcare is a major priority for the UK and we are seeing increasing investment in future manufacturing processes to ensure we are ready to deliver real treatments to patients when HPSC products and treatments go to trial and become standard.

The research, Combined hydrogels that switch human pluripotent stem cells from self-renewal to differentiation, is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

More here:
Big Breakthrough In Stem Cell Manufacturing Technology

Dr Antonia Park, according to the Professional Regulatory Commission, is not authorized to practice medicine in the Philippines. She faces charges of estafa and reckless imprudence resulting in homicide.

MANILA, Philippines The alternative medicine doctor who took in former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2012 for possible stem cell therapy is not licensed to practice in the Philippines.

On Tuesday, April 1, Antonia Park of the Green & Young Health & Wellness Center admitted to Rappler in a phone interview she is not a registered physician in the Philippines because "I'm not from here." She is instead a registered medical practitioner in London and Korea.

"Thats why its a wellness center. If dito ako [registered], maglalagay na lang ako ng medical center," she said, referring to her center located in Tagaytay City. (That's why it's a wellness center. If I am registered here, I might as well put up a medical center.)

A document from the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC) dated Aug 12, 2013 showed Park is not in the database of physicians which contains the names of those duly authorized to practice medicine in the Philippines.

Certification Antonia Carandang Park

Park and some of her clinic staff are facing charges of estafa and reckless imprudence resulting in homicide. The charges were filed last year by businessman Bernard Tan with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) after his 23-year-old daughter Kate died.

Kate, an Ateneo student who graduated with honors in March 2013, died 4 months later on July 4, due to a tumor that blocked the entry of blood to her heart, secondary to Hodgkin's Lymphoma. The disease is an uncommon but curable cancer of the lymphatic system.

High-profile patient

Read the original here:
Arroyo's alternative medicine doctor unlicensed

Charles Q. Choi

A virus that invaded the genomes of humanity's ancestors millions of years ago now plays a critical role in the embryonic stem cells from which all cells in the human body derive, new research shows.

The discovery sheds light on the role viruses play in human evolution and could help scientists better understand how to use stem cells in advanced therapies or even how to convert normal cells into stem cells.

Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent, meaning they are capable of becoming any other kind of cell in the body. Scientists around the world hope to use this capability to help patients recover from injury and disease.

Researchers have struggled for decades to figure out how pluripotency works. These new findings reveal that "material from viruses is vital in making human embryonic stem cells what they are," said computational biologist Guillaume Bourque at McGill University in Montreal, a co-author of the study published online March 30 in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.

Viral Invasion

To make copies of itself, a virus has to get inside a cell and co-opt its machinery. When one type of virus called a retrovirus does this, it slips its own genes into the DNA of its host cell. The cell is then tricked into assembling new copies of the retrovirus. The most infamous retrovirus is HIV, the virus behind AIDS.

In rare cases, retroviruses infect sperm or egg cells. If that sperm or egg becomes part of a person, their cells will contain retrovirus DNA, and they can pass that DNA on to their descendants. Past research suggests that at least 8 percent of the human genome is composed of these so-called endogenous retroviruses-leftovers from retroviral infections our ancestors had millions of years ago.

Scientists long thought that endogenous retroviruses were junk DNA that didn't do anything within the human genome, said study co-author Huck-Hui Ng, a molecular biologist at the Genome Institute of Singapore.

However, recent studies have revealed that might not be true for one class of endogenous retroviruses known as human endogenous retrovirus subfamily H. HERV-H DNA was surprisingly active in human embryonic stem cells but not in other regular types of human cells.

Read the rest here:
Ancient Virus DNA Gives Stem Cells the Power to Transform

Stem Cell Therapy - 2
2 .

By: tscmru

Read the original here:
Stem Cell Therapy - 2 - Video

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

31-Mar-2014

Contact: Emma Rayner emma.rayner@nottingham.ac.uk 44-011-595-15793 University of Nottingham

Scientists at The University of Nottingham have developed a new substance which could simplify the manufacture of cell therapy in the pioneering world of regenerative medicine.

Cell therapy is an exciting and rapidly developing area of medicine in which stem cells have the potential to repair human tissue and maintain organ function in chronic disease and age-related illnesses. But a major problem with translating current successful research into actual products and treatments is how to mass-produce such a complex living material.

There are two distinct phases in the production of stem cell products; proliferation (making enough cells to form large tissue) and differentiation (turning the basic stem cells into functional cells). The material environment required for these two phases are different and up to now a single substance that does both jobs has not been available.

Now a multi-disciplinary team of researchers at Nottingham has created a new stem cell micro-environment which they have found has allowed both the self-renewal of cells and then their evolution into cardiomyocyte (heart) cells. The material is a hydrogel containing two polymers an alginate-rich environment which allows proliferation of cells with a simple chemical switch to render the environment collagen-rich when the cell population is large enough. This change triggers the next stage of cell growth when cells develop a specific purpose.

Professor of Advanced Drug Delivery and Tissue Engineering, Kevin Shakesheff, said:

"Our new combination of hydrogels is a first. It allows dense tissue structures to be produced from human pluripotent stem cells (HPSC) in a single step process never achieved before. The discovery has important implications for the future of manufacturing in regenerative medicine. This field of healthcare is a major priority for the UK and we are seeing increasing investment in future manufacturing processes to ensure we are ready to deliver real treatments to patients when HPSC products and treatments go to trial and become standard."

The research, Combined hydrogels that switch human pluripotent stem cells from self-renewal to differentiation, is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

See the original post here:
Major breakthrough in stem cell manufacturing technology

Stem Cell Therapy - 4
4 .

By: tscmru

Continue reading here:
Stem Cell Therapy - 4 - Video

Stem Cell Therapy for Spinal Cord Injury: Jamie Richie discusses her improvements
Jamie Richie discussed her treatments and improvements while undergoing her third round of stem cell therapy at the Stem Cell Institute in Panama City, Panam...

By: http://www.cellmedicine.com

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Stem Cell Therapy for Spinal Cord Injury: Jamie Richie discusses her improvements - Video

Aventura Hospital and Medical Center - Stem Cell Therapy
In this video Dr. Coy discusses how he is studying stem cells in the heart. Steam Cell Therapy is an exciting technology that is now harvesting cells that ar...

By: HCAEastFloridaHealth

See the article here:
Aventura Hospital and Medical Center - Stem Cell Therapy - Video

Brother describes pulling mudslide victim's body from car

By Jonathan Kaminsky DARRINGTON, Washington (Reuters) - Days after risking his own life and defying arrest by joining the search for Washington state mudslide victims in a vast, mucky debris field near Oso, Dayn Brunner retrieved the body of the No. 1 person he had been looking for - his sister. Brunner, 42, recounted the tragic coincidence in an interview with Reuters on Friday, two days after it unfolded on the enormous mound of mud and rubble left by last Saturday's disaster, which has claimed at least 26 lives and left 90 people still missing. Brunner said he was on the mud pile on Wednesday afternoon when other rescue workers found a blue object and called him over to the spot. It was the same color as the car his sister, Summer Raffo, 36, was known to have been driving through the area when the slide struck.

Read more:
Study Shows Neuralstem Cells Transplanted Into Brain Significantly Improve Post-Stroke Symptoms in Rats

George Washington University (GW) researcher Narine Sarvazyan, Ph.D., has invented a new organ to help return blood flow from veins lacking functional valves. A rhythmically contracting cuff made of cardiac muscle cells surrounds the vein acting as a 'mini heart' to aid blood flow through venous segments. The cuff can be made of a patient's own adult stem cells, eliminating the chance of implant rejection.

"We are suggesting, for the first time, to use stem cells to create, rather than just repair damaged organs," said Sarvazyan, professor of pharmacology and physiology at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences. "We can make a new heart outside of one's own heart, and by placing it in the lower extremities, significantly improve venous blood flow."

The novel approach of creating 'mini hearts' may help to solve a chronic widespread disease. Chronic venous insufficiency is one of the most pervasive diseases, particularly in developed countries. Its incidence can reach 20 to 30 percent in people over 50 years of age. It is also responsible for about 2 percent of health care costs in the United States. Additionally, sluggish venous blood flow is an issue for those with diseases such as diabetes, and for those with paralysis or recovering from surgery.

This potential new treatment option, outlined in a recently published paper in the Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology and Therapeutics, represents a leap for the tissue engineering field, advancing from organ repair to organ creation. Sarvazyan, together with members of her team, has demonstrated the feasibility of this novel approach in vitro and is currently working toward testing these devices in vivo.

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by George Washington University. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

View post:
'Mini heart' invented to help return venous blood

When someone has chronic venous insufficiency, it means that because of faulty valves in their leg veins, oxygen-poor blood isn't able to be pumped back to their heart. The George Washington University's Dr. Narine Sarvazyan has created a possible solution, however a beating "mini heart" that's wrapped around the vein, to help push the blood through.

The mini heart takes the form of a cuff of rhythmically-contracting heart tissue, made by coaxing the patient's own adult stem cells into becoming cardiac cells. When one of those cuffs is placed around a vein, its contractions aid in the unidirectional flow of blood, plus it helps keep the vein from becoming distended. Additionally, because it's grown from the patient's own cells, there's little chance of rejection.

So far, the cuffs have been grown in the lab, where they've also been tested. Soon, however, Sarvazyan hopes to conduct animal trials, in which the cuffs are actually grown on the vein, in the body.

"We are suggesting, for the first time, to use stem cells to create, rather than just repair damaged organs," she said. "We can make a new heart outside of ones own heart, and by placing it in the lower extremities, significantly improve venous blood flow."

Scientists at Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation are also working on a treatment for chronic venous insufficiency, although their approach has been to create artificial venous valves that could be used to replace the defective natural ones.

A paper on Sarvazyan's research was recently published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology and Therapeutics. One of the mini hearts can be seen beating away, in the video below.

Source: The George Washington University

Read the original here:
"Mini hearts" on veins could be used to treat circulatory problems

LAKE MARY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35 ORLANDO) -

A 26-year-old mother of two is about to embark on a medical journey that could stop her multiple sclerosis in its tracks. The disease, which attacks the central nervous system, affects more than 400,000 Americans.

There is no cure for multiple sclerosis, but Heather Nicole Burke believes the stem cell replacement procedure she is about to undergo could make a big difference.

Burke contacted FOX 35, because she wants others to know that the procedure. When Burke got news that her insurance would cover the still-experimental procedure, "I looked at my phone, and I was like, 'This is real! I'm going to get my life back! I'm going to be OK! I'm going to be able to take care of my children!'"

Burke will soon travel from Florida to Chicago for a multi-step stem cell therapy that could stop her disease from progressing.

Dr. Richard Burt, the chief or immunotherapy at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and his team will use Burke's stem cells to reset her immune system.

"It generates an immune system that ends up -- in the process of doing that -- developing a tolerance to self which puts the disease in remission," Burt explained.

Burt has been performing the experimental procedure on humans since 2008. He said he sees only seven percent of patients relapse. Burt said he often finds insurance companies are willing to pay for the therapy.

"The majority of the time insurance does pay many of the major carriers pay. Medicare pays. Medicaid in the state of Illinois pays. It's a rare carrier that doesn't pay," Burt said.

Burke said her insurance will cover all of the $150,000 procedure. He called that a bargain, considering she is on 19 medications, one of which costs her insurance company $200,000 each year.

Read more from the original source:
Woman to undergo stem cell procedure to treat multiple sclerosis