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Stem cell therapy offers new treatment options for pets -- and humans

By Rob Waugh

PUBLISHED: 11:00 EST, 7 June 2012 | UPDATED: 11:01 EST, 7 June 2012

A single genetic tweak is all that is needed to turn ordinary skin cells into functioning brain cells, scientists have shown

A single genetic tweak is all that is needed to turn ordinary skin cells into functioning brain cells, scientists have shown.

The research could help to treat Alzheimers, Parkinsons and other brain diseases.

Working in the laboratory, US scientists transferred a single gene called Sox2 into both mouse and human skin cells.

Within days the cells transformed themselves into early-stage brain stem cells.

These induced neural stem cells (iNSCs) then began to self-renew and mature, eventually becoming neurons capable of transmitting electrical signals.

In less than a month the cells had developed neural networks. Transplanted into mouse brains, they functioned without any adverse side effects, such as tumour growth.

Lead researcher Dr Yadong Huang, from the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco, California, said: Many drug candidates, especially those developed for neurodegenerative diseases, fail in clinical trials because current models dont accurately predict the drugs effects on the human brain.

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New hope for Alzheimer's sufferers as breakthrough allows scientists to grow new brain cells from normal skin

News | Mind & Brain

A unique form of carbon dating, made possible by the Cold War, suggests that new neurons rarely survive in the human olfactory bulb after birth

By Ferris Jabr | June 7, 2012

BOMBSHELL FINDINGS: A new study relying on radioactive carbon from Cold War nuclear tests argues that the adult human brain rarely weaves new neurons into the olfactory bulb, but not everyone is convinced. Image: Adapted from Wikimedia Commons images

In this groundbreaking adventure into the worlds of psychopaths, the renowned psychologist Kevin Dutton argues that there is a fine line between a brilliant...

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The human body is a tireless gardener, growing new cells throughout life in many organsin the skin, blood, bones and intestines. Until the 1980s most scientists thought that brain cells were the exception: the neurons you are born with are the neurons you have for life. In the past three decades, however, researchers have discovered hints that the human brain produces new neurons after birth in two places: the hippocampusa region important for memoryand the walls of fluid-filled cavities called ventricles, from which stem cells migrate to the olfactory bulb, a knob of brain tissue behind the eyes that processes smell. Studies have clearly demonstrated that such migration happens in mice long after birth and that human infants generate new neurons. But the evidence that similar neurogenesis persists in the adult human brain is mixed and highly contested.

A new study relying on a unique form of carbon dating suggests that neurons born during adulthood rarely if ever weave themselves into the olfactory bulb's circuitry. In other words, peopleunlike other mammalsdo not replenish their olfactory bulb neurons, which might be explained by how little most of us rely on our sense of smell. Although the new research casts doubt on the renewal of olfactory bulb neurons in the adult human brain, many neuroscientists are far from ready to end the debate.

In preparation for the new study, Olaf Bergmann and Jonas Frisn of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and their colleagues acquired 14 frozen olfactory bulbs from autopsies performed between 2005 and 2011 at the institute's Department of Forensic Medicine. To determine whether the neurons were younger than the people they came fromwhich would mean the cells were generated after birththe researchers needed to isolate the cells' DNA. First, they dissolved the brain tissue into a kind of soup, which they spun at high speeds so that the dense cell bodies and nuclei containing DNA sank to the bottom of the flasks. Using Y-shaped proteins called antibodies, which were hitched to fluorescent markers, the researchers tagged nuclei from both neurons and from glia, non-neuronal brain cells. After a laser-equipped cell-sorting machine identified and separated the nuclei, the researchers isolated and purified the DNA within.

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How Nuclear Fallout Casts Doubt on Renewal of Some Adult Brain Cells

ScienceDaily (June 7, 2012) Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have for the first time transformed skin cells -- with a single genetic factor -- into cells that develop on their own into an interconnected, functional network of brain cells. The research offers new hope in the fight against many neurological conditions because scientists expect that such a transformation -- or reprogramming -- of cells may lead to better models for testing drugs for devastating neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease.

This research comes at a time of renewed focus on Alzheimer's disease, which currently afflicts 5.4 million people in the United States alone -- a figure expected to nearly triple by 2050. Yet there are no approved medications to prevent or reverse the progression of this debilitating disease.

In findings appearing online June 7 in Cell Stem Cell, researchers in the laboratory of Gladstone Investigator Yadong Huang, MD, PhD, describe how they transferred a single gene called Sox2 into both mouse and human skin cells. Within days the skin cells transformed into early-stage brain stem cells, also called induced neural stem cells (iNSCs). These iNSCs began to self-renew, soon maturing into neurons capable of transmitting electrical signals. Within a month, the neurons had developed into neural networks.

"Many drug candidates -- especially those developed for neurodegenerative diseases -- fail in clinical trials because current models don't accurately predict the drug's effects on the human brain," said Dr. Huang, who is also an associate professor of neurology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), with which Gladstone is affiliated. "Human neurons -- derived from reengineered skin cells -- could help assess the efficacy and safety of these drugs, thereby reducing risks and resources associated with human trials."

Dr. Huang's findings build on the work of other Gladstone scientists, starting with Gladstone Investigator, Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD. In 2007, Dr. Yamanaka used four genetic factors to turn adult human skin cells into cells that act like embryonic stem cells -- called induced pluripotent stem cells.

Also known as iPS cells, these cells can become virtually any cell type in the human body -- just like embryonic stem cells. Then last year, Gladstone Senior Investigator Sheng Ding, PhD, announced that he had used a combination of small molecules and genetic factors to transform skin cells directly into neural stem cells. Today, Dr. Huang takes a new tack by using one genetic factor -- Sox2 -- to directly reprogram one cell type into another without reverting to the pluripotent state.

Avoiding the pluripotent state as Drs. Ding and Huang have done is one approach to avoiding the potential danger that "rogue" iPS cells might develop into a tumor if used to replace or repair damaged organs or tissue.

"We wanted to see whether these newly generated neurons could result in tumor growth after transplanting them into mouse brains," said Karen Ring, UCSF Biomedical Sciences graduate student and the paper's lead author. "Instead we saw the reprogrammed cells integrate into the mouse's brain -- and not a single tumor developed."

This research, which was performed at the Roddenberry Center for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine at Gladstone, has also revealed the precise role of Sox2 as a master regulator that controls the identity of neural stem cells. In the future, Dr. Huang and his team hope to identify similar regulators that guide the development of specific neural progenitors and subtypes of neurons in the brain.

"If we can pinpoint which genes control the development of each neuron type, we can generate them in the petri dish from a single sample of human skin cells," said Dr. Huang. "We could then test drugs that affect different neuron types -- such as those involved in Parkinson's disease -- helping us to put drug development for neurodegenerative diseases on the fast track."

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Skin cells reprogrammed into brain cells

A team of scientists has discovered what could be a novel source for researching and potentially treating Alzheimer's disease and other conditions involving the destruction of brain cells.

Researchers at the University of California San Francisco-affiliated Gladstone Institutes converted skin cells from mice and humans into brain stem cells with the use of a protein called Sox2. Using only this protein to transform the skin cells into neuron stem cells is unusual. Normally, the conversion process is much more complex.

Neuron stem cells are cells that can be changed into the nerve cells and the cells that support them in the brain. The neuronal stem cells formed in this study are unique because they were prepared in a way the prevented them from becoming tumors, which is what often happens as stem cells differentiate, explained David Teplow, professor of neurology and director of the Easton Center for Alzheimer's Disease Research at UCLA. Teplow was not involved in the study, but is familiar with this type of research.

These immature brain stem cells then developed into different types of functional brain cells, which were eventually able to be integrated into mouse brains.

Jonathan Selig/Getty Images

The idea that these cells can become fully functioning brain tissue is significant, the authors explained, because by becoming part of the brain, the cells can replace the cells killed off by the disease process.

These cells also offer a potential way to learn about the mechanisms behind neurodegenerative disorders as well as lead to research into new drugs, explained Dr. Yadong Huang, a study co-author and associate investigator at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease.

"The next step is, we are trying to get these skin cells from patients with this disease so we can reprogram and convert the diseased cells into these neuron stem cells and develop those into neurons in culture," he said.

After that, researchers can study how these diseases develop based on what's observed in culture dishes.

"It's really hard to get neurons from human brains for research, and now, we can generate them," Huang said. "Secondly, we can do some drug screening. If we have patient-specific neurons in culture, we can test some or develop some drugs to see how they work on these neurons."

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Skin Cells Turned Into Brain Cells

MADISON, Wis., June 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Cellular Dynamics International, Inc. (CDI), the world's largest commercial producer of human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell lines and tissue cells, today announced the launch of its MyCell Services. These services include novel iPS cell line reprogramming, genetic engineering and differentiation of iPS cells into commercially available iCell terminal tissue cells (for example, heart or nerve cells).

"CDI's mission is to be the top developer and manufacturer of standardized human cells in high quantity, quality and purity and to make these cells widely available to the research community. Our MyCell Services provide researchers with unprecedented access to the full diversity of human cellular biology," said Bob Palay, CDI Chief Executive Officer. "The launch of MyCell Services furthers CDI founder and stem cell pioneer Jamie Thomson's vision to enable scientists worldwide to easily access the power of iPSC technology, thus driving breakthroughs in human health."

Over the past 2 years, CDI has launched iCell Cardiomyocytes, iCell Neurons and iCell Endothelial Cells for human biology and drug discovery research. MyCell Services leverage CDI's prior investment in building an industrial manufacturing platform that can handle the parallel production of multiple iPSC lines and tissue cells, manufacturing billions of cells daily.

Chris Parker, CDI Chief Commercial Officer, commented, "Not all studies requiring human cells can be accomplished by using cells from a limited set of normal, healthy donors. Researchers may need iPS cells or tissue cells derived from specific ethnic or disease populations, and MyCell Services enable them to take advantage of our deep stem cell expertise and robust industrial manufacturing pipeline to do so. Previously, scientists had to create and differentiate iPS cells themselves. Such activities consume significant laboratory time and resources, both of which could be better applied to conducting experiments that help us better understand human biology. CDI's MyCell Services enable scientists to re-direct those resources back to their experiments."

CDI pioneered the technique to create iPS cells from small amounts of peripheral blood, although iPS cells can be created from other tissue types as well. Additionally, CDI's episomal reprogramming method is "footprint-free," meaning no foreign DNA is integrated into the genome of the reprogrammed cells, alleviating safety concerns over the possible use of iPS cells in therapeutic settings. These techniques have been optimized for manufacture of over 2 billion human iPS cells a day, and differentiated cells at commercial scale with high quality and purity to match the research needs.

Modeling Genetic Diversity

CDI has several projects already underway using MyCell Services to model genetic diversity of human biology. The Medical College of Wisconsin and CDI received a $6.3M research grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), announced July 2011, for which CDI's MyCell Services will reprogram an unprecedented 250 iPS cell lines from blood samples collected from Caucasian and African-American families in the Hypertension Genetic Epidemiology Network (HyperGEN) study. In addition, MyCell Services will differentiate these iPS cells into heart cells to investigate the genetic mechanisms underlying Left Ventricular Hypertrophy, an increase of the size and weight of the heart that is a major risk factor for heart disease and heart failure.

Researchers are also using CDI's MyCell Services to generate iPS cells and liver cells from individuals with drug induced liver injury (DILI), toward an eventual goal of identifying genetic factors linked to idiosyncratic liver toxicity. "The most problematic adverse drug event is sudden and severe liver toxicity that may occur in less than one in one thousand patients treated with a new drug, and thus may not become evident until the drug is marketed. This type of liver toxicity is not predicted well by usual preclinical testing, including screening in liver cultures derived from random human donors," said Paul B. Watkins, M.D., director of with The Hamner - University of North Carolina Institute for Drug Safety Sciences. "The ability to use iPS cell technology to prepare liver cultures from patients who have actually experienced drug-induced liver injury, and for whom we have extensive genetic information, represents a potential revolution in understanding and predicting this liability."

Screening Human Disease

While most diseases are multi-systemic, focus typically centers on only one organ system. For example, congenital muscular dystrophy (CMD) is a group of rare genetic diseases with a focus on skeletal muscle, yet other systems, including heart, eye, brain, diaphragm and skin, can be involved. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying complex disease phenotypes requires access to multiple tissue types from a single patient. While some systems are readily accessible for taking a biopsy sample, for example skin, other organs are not.

Originally posted here:
Cellular Dynamics Launches MyCell™ Services

SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwire -06/07/12)- Bio-Matrix Scientific Group, Inc. (BMSN) (BMSN) announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary Regen BioPharma, Inc. has executed an exclusive option agreement which grants Regen BioPharma an option to license Patent #6,821,513 which patents methods of stimulating blood production in patients with deficient stem cells. The patent, as well as data licensed with the patent, covers methods of stimulating the bone marrow to generate new blood cells. The patent and option agreement are disclosed in the Company's most recent 8K filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on June 6, 2012.

"The technology has broad applicability to help cancer patients recover faster following chemotherapy, as well as for recipients of bone marrow and cord blood transplants. Currently, new blood cell production is stimulated by expensive drugs such as Neupogen and Neulasta which replicate the body's growth factors but can cause side effects and rely upon the diminished recuperative powers of an immune compromised patient," stated J. Christopher Mizer, President of Regen BioPharma.

David Koos, Chairman & CEO of Bio-Matrix Scientific Group, added, "We are excited to get this therapy into the clinic. Based on peer-reviewed published animal data, it has the potential to restore immune function faster and more effectively than the existing standard of care."

The licensed technology covers the use of a naturally-occurring cell type for stimulation of bone marrow stem cells. By utilizing cells as opposed to drugs, Regen BioPharma believes it possesses a substantial advantage to existing approaches in terms of safety and economics of production. Currently the market for growth factors that stimulate blood making stem cells is more than $4.84 billion per year (www.wikinvest.com/stock/Amgen).

About Bio-Matrix Scientific Group Inc. and Regen BioPharma, Inc.:Bio-Matrix Scientific Group, Inc. (BMSN) (BMSN) is a biotechnology company focused on the development of regenerative medicine therapies and tools. The Company is focused on human therapies that address unmet medical needs. Specifically, Bio-Matrix Scientific Group Inc. is looking to increase the quality of life through therapies involving stem cell treatments. These treatments are focused in areas relating to cardiovascular, hematology, oncology and other indications.

Through Its wholly owned subsidiary, Regen BioPharma, it is the Company's goal to develop translational medicine platforms for the rapid commercialization of stem cell therapies. The Company is looking to use these translational medicine platforms to advance intellectual property licensed from entities, institutions and universities that show promise towards fulfilling the Company's goal of increased quality of life.

Disclaimer

This news release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified. Future events and actual results could differ materially from those set forth in, contemplated by, or underlying the forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties to which forward-looking statements are subject include, but are not limited to, the effect of government regulation, competition and other material risks.

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Bio-Matrix Scientific Group's Regen BioPharma Subsidiary Executes Option Agreement to License Stem Cell Intellectual ...

06-06-2012 13:09 Mesenchymal stem cell homing to tissue damage, umbilical cord stem cells historically used for anti-aging, mesenchymal stem cells role in immune system modulation, inflammation reduction and stimulating tissue regeneration, donor stem cell safety and testing, the role of HLA matching in donated umbilical cord-derived stem cells, umbilical cord blood safety data and historical use in blood transfusions, allogeneic stem cell persistence in human mothers. Treatment information at More information on Dr. Riordan at

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Neil Riordan PhD - Stem Cell Therapy for Spinal Cord Injury (Part 3 of 5) || Stem Cell Treatments - Video

It's always troubling to see a misunderstanding concerning a recent scientific discovery. The latest concerns an Israeli team of scientists, led by Lior Gepstein, that converted skin cells from two patients with heart attack into stem cells and then heart cells.

SourceFed, one of my favorite channels on YouTube, proclaimed that Gepstein's study means that a cure for heart disease is "10, 15 years out." Similar statements were also circulated by The Guardian, The Los Angeles Times, CBS News, and others.

However, the claims that SourceFed and other news outlets have made are not true. If anything, the field of heart regeneration is moving away from what the study did. If there is a cure for heart attack in 10 to 15 years, it will not be because of this study.

Generating stem cells from skin cells is relatively old news. This feat was first performed in 2006 for mice (2007 for humans) concurrently by two teams of scientists led by Shinya Yamanaka in Japan and James Thomson in the United States, respectively. Since then, the technology has evolved so fast that generating heart cells from stem cells is truly nothing new.

Stem cells often differentiate into heart cells, or cardiomyocytes, without much technical intervention. Even I, a mere undergraduate student, have generated beating heart cells several times without much trouble, from mice and rat skin cells. And I'm not even in the field of heart regeneration. I work with stem cells in neurobiology.

The technique to generate heart cells from skin-derived stem cells (or induced pluripotent stem cells) has existed for a long time. After a brief search on Google Scholar, I found a paper published in 2008 detailing how to generate heart cells from skin cells. This may not seem like a long time ago, but in the stem-cell world, that's almost an eon.

So if we have been able to generate heart cells for such a long time, why has no one actually successfully transplanted heart cells into patients? One of the reasons is that there are so many different problems with not only transplanting heart cells onto a beating heart but also with the induced pluripotent stem cells that are derived from skin cells.

When a heart is damaged, scar tissues grow over the damaged part of the heart. The scar tissue does not function like regular heart cells. Instead of beating, the scar tissue just sits there, not doing anything and getting in the way of the beating heart. It's just like a scab on your arm from a scrape. The only difference is that the scab eventually comes off, because your skin is constantly making new cells, but the scar on your heart doesn't, because heart cells rarely regenerate, if at all.

Transplanting new heart cells without removing the scars is like putting a new layer of skin over the old scab and expecting the scab to go away. The old scab doesn't go away. More likely, the transplanted tissue will just die off.

As a result, instead of trying to transplant new tissue, the field of heart regeneration is now trying to transform the cells in scar tissue into beating heart cells. Though there are also problems with this new direction, it opens up ways of solving a whole host of other problems that plague heart-cell transplantation.

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Rui Dai: Our Misunderstanding of Stem Cells

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Leading stem cell therapeutic and regenerative medicine company, AuxoCell Laboratories, Inc., today announced an agreement with CordVida, a Brazilian stem cell cryopreservation company, which will allow CordVida to expand its services. Families who select CordVida to store umbilical cord blood will now have the opportunity to bank stem cells from an additional source cord tissue. With this agreement, AuxoCell broadens its international reach to South America.

At AuxoCell, we are pleased by the opportunity to provide this groundbreaking technology to families around the globe, said Rouzbeh R. Taghizadeh, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of AuxoCell Laboratories, Inc. CordVida is Brazils premier cord blood bank and adheres to the highest quality standards. It is for that reason that we have selected them as our exclusive partner in Brazil.

Cord tissue has an abundant source of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Currently, there is a significant amount of research underway focused on mesenchymal stem cells extracted from cord tissue. MSCs are rapidly becoming the leading stem cell in regenerative medicine studies, and MSCs from a variety of sources are in use in over 150 clinical trials. The AuxoCell cord tissue technology represents the gold standard in the industry, as its technology prepares stem cells that are ready for immediate use, if needed.

CordVida is excited to be the first company in Brazil to offer storage of multiple kinds of stem cells, says Roberto Waddington, CEO for CordVida. Considering the enormous therapeutic prospects of cord tissue derived MSCs, our clients in the future will now rely on a much wider array of potential therapeutic applications.We are proud that AuxoCell selected CordVidaas its exclusive technology partner for all of Brazil.

Banking umbilical cord tissue stem cells offers clients a chance to reap the benefits of research that is being conducted on MSCs. Additionally, AuxoCells own studies have shown that a combination of cord tissue mesenchymal stem cells derived using AuxoCells validated processing SOPs and hematapoietic stem cells (HSCs) from the cord blood enhances the engraftment of the cord blood HSCs.

About AuxoCell

AuxoCell Laboratories, Inc. (AuxoCell) is a leading stem cell therapeutic and regenerative medicine company located in Massachusetts. AuxoCell's primary research focus is to develop the enormous therapeutic potential of the primitive stem cells found in the Wharton's Jelly of the human umbilical cord. With exclusive patent rights and proprietary processing protocols, AuxoCell is uniquely situated to offer the very best in cord tissue stem cell banking. Through strategic partnerships with both private and public cord blood banks, stem cell centers, and research laboratories around the world, AuxoCell strives every day to bring novel stem cell therapies from the bench to the bedside. Additional information is available through HYPERLINK http://www.auxocell.com or at (617) 610-9000.

About CordVida

Founded in 2004, CordVida is the premier stem cell cryopreservation company in Brazil with 10.000 umbilical cord blood units stored. It is the cord blood bank of choice for key doctors in Brazil. Committed to the highest global quality standards, CordVida has been AABB accredited since 2008. Half of the transplants made in Brazil using private cord blood units have been made with units stored in CordVida.

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AuxoCell Laboratories Licenses Umbilical Cord Tissue Stem Cell Service to Brazil’s CordVida

A local veterinary clinic recently added a cuttingedge treatment.

Dr. Tina Gemeinhardt, owner of Tsawwassen Animal Hospital, is excited to be offering stem cell therapy to animals suffering from arthritis and joint issues.

"I'm excited about trying to bring some relief to dogs that are living in pain," she said.

The therapy, which uses stem cells harvested from fat that is surgically removed from the dog, is, in most cases, able to offer relief from the pain and stiffness associated with

Gemeinhardt said once it's determined the therapy is the right course of treatment for an animal, body fat is surgically removed and sent to a lab in California where the stem cells are harvested. The harvested stem cells are then sent back to the vet clinic within 48 hours and injected into the joints in question.

Gemeinhardt, who added the treatment to the clinic's list of services earlier this year, said it's not quite clear exactly how the stem cells work.

"Stem cells seem to inherently know what needs to be done in that area," she said.

The treatment is not a cure-all - the arthritis is still there but the symptoms are lessened - and it does not work instantly. The vet said most animals start to notice a difference in a month or so, and some might require follow up injections.

She said about 85 per cent of animals receiving stem cell therapy have had a beneficial response, while 15 per cent saw no response.

Beatrice, a seven-yearold chow chow, has seen remarkable results. Owner Rose McClelland said Beatrice had been having problems with arthritis in her hips for years and medication wasn't working any more.

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Treatment eases arthritis pain in dogs

A drug that stops the body from rejecting bone marrow transplants in cancer patients could be ready for human trials in three years time.

The latest development comes after more than a decade of research unlocking the function of a protein called perforin, which kills rogue cells in the body.

Australian researchers involved in unravelling perforin's molecular structure, a discovery published in the journal Nature in 2010, are now working towards developing a safe drug to block the protein.

Perforin plays a key role in the body's immune response by punching holes in, and killing, cells which have been hijacked by viruses or cancer to rid the body of disease.

However, the protein is problematic for bone marrow transplant patients because it can cause the body to reject the treatment.

For this reason, a project led by the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne is developing a drug to inhibit the protein in bone marrow stem cell transplant patients to help their recovery.

The drug works in mouse models, but a $6.8 million grant from the UK's Wellcome Trust will allow the drug to be fine-tuned for human trials.

'In the mouse models we use, we know the inhibitors are effective,' project leader Professor Joe Trapani, executive director of cancer research at Peter Mac, told AAP.

'They actually help stem cells survive when they would otherwise be rejected.'

The Peter Mac team is working with New Zealand chemist Prof Bill Denny to refine the drug, along with Monash University and Queensland Institute of Medical Research scientists.

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Bone marrow transplant drug trial closer

Public release date: 5-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: David Eve celltransplantation@gmail.com Cell Transplantation Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair

Tampa, Fla. (June 5 , 2012) A study characterizing the multipotency and transplantation value of olfactory stem cells, as well as the ease in obtaining them, has been published in a recent issue of Cell Transplantation (20:11/12), now freely available on-line at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct/.

"There is worldwide enthusiasm for cell transplantation therapy to repair failing organs," said study lead author Dr. Andrew Wetzig of the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. "The olfactory mucosa of a patient's nose can provide cells that are potentially significant candidates for human tissue repair."

According to the study authors, olfactory neural stem cells can be derived from a patient's own cells, they are readily available by a minimally invasive biopsy technique, and they can be expanded in vitro. The cells are plentiful because the olfactory epithelium undergoes neurogenesis and continual replacement of sensory neurons throughout adult life.

"Using the rat as our animal model source, we examined the basic aspects of olfactory neural stem cell biology and its potential for self-renewal and phenotypic expression in various circumstances," said Dr. Wetzig. "Previously, we found that they have performed well in pre-clinical models of disease and transplantation and seem to emulate a wound healing process where the cells acquire the appropriate phenotype in an apparently orderly fashion over time."

The researchers concluded that the olfactory neurospheres contain stem cells whose capacity for differentiation is triggered by signals from the immediate environmental niche.

"Stem cell numbers were shown to be enriched by our culture methods," explained Dr. Wetzig. "We also demonstrated that when adult olfactory stem cells are transplanted into an environmental niche different from that of their origin, they demonstrate multipotency by acquiring the phenotype of the resident cells."

"This study highlights another potential source of stem cells that has shown some degree of promise in a number of studies" said Dr. John Sladek, professor of neurology and pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. "Their relatively easy accessibility and multipotent properties are important factors that could rank these cells competitively with other stem cells thus giving them a potential impact as an excellent source for cell therapy".

###

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The potential impact of olfactory stem cells as therapy reported in Cell Transplantation

ROCKVILLE, Md., June 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Neuralstem, Inc. (NYSE MKT: CUR) announced that the Emory University Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved the amendment to the ongoing Phase I trial evaluating Neuralstem's spinal cord stem cells in the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease). The amendment permits the return of three previously-treated patients to the trial to receive additional injections of cells. This modification to the protocol was approved earlier by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Implementation was contingent upon IRB approval, which has now been secured.

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"Bringing patients back for a second set of injections should they meet the inclusion requirements at the time of surgery, or giving new patients both lumbar and cervical injections, is a major step forward toward testing the maximum safe dosing of our cell therapy," said Richard Garr, Neuralstem President & CEO. "We have been encouraged by the results of the trial to date, and are eager to commence treating patients with this increased dosage."

About the Study

The ongoing Phase I study is designed to assess the safety of Neuralstem's spinal cord stem cells (HSSC's) and transplantation technique in up to 18 patients with ALS.

The first twelve patients were all transplanted in the lumbar (lower back) region of the spine. Of these, the initial six (Cohort A) were all non-ambulatory with permanent paralysis. The first patient was treated on January 20, 2010. Successive surgeries have followed at the rate of one every one-to-two months. The first three patients (Cohort A1) were each treated with five unilateral HSSC injections in L2-L4 lumbar segments, while the next three patients (Cohort A2) received ten bilateral injections (five on each side) in the same region. The next six patients (Cohort B and C) were all ambulatory. Of these, the first three (Cohort B) received five unilateral injections in the L2-L4 region. The last three patients (Cohort C) in this study group received ten bilateral injections in the same region.

The trial was then approved to progress to cervical transplantations, with two cohorts of three patients (Cohort D and Cohort E). Cohort D has received five injections in the cervical region of the spinal cord. Cohort E will receive a total of fifteen injections, five in the cervical region and ten in the lumbar region.

About Neuralstem

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Neuralstem Updates ALS Stem Cell Trial Progress; Emory University Institutional Review Board Approves Amendment

A DRUG that stops the body from rejecting bone marrow transplants in cancer patients could be ready for human trials in three years time.

The latest development comes after more than a decade of research unlocking the function of a protein called perforin, which kills rogue cells in the body.

Australian researchers involved in unravelling perforin's molecular structure, a discovery published in the journal Nature in 2010, are now working towards developing a safe drug to block the protein.

Perforin plays a key role in the body's immune response by punching holes in, and killing, cells which have been hijacked by viruses or cancer to rid the body of disease.

However, the protein is problematic for bone marrow transplant patients because it can cause the body to reject the treatment.

For this reason, a project led by the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne is developing a drug to inhibit the protein in bone marrow stem cell transplant patients to help their recovery.

The drug works in mouse models, but a $6.8 million grant from the UK's Wellcome Trust will allow the drug to be fine-tuned for human trials.

"In the mouse models we use, we know the inhibitors are effective," project leader Professor Joe Trapani, executive director of cancer research at Peter Mac, told AAP.

"They actually help stem cells survive when they would otherwise be rejected."

The Peter Mac team is working with New Zealand chemist Prof Bill Denny to refine the drug, along with Monash University and Queensland Institute of Medical Research scientists.

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Bone marrow transplant drug a step closer

ALPHARETTA, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

SANUWAVE Health, Inc. (SNWV), today announced the publication of peer-reviewed, preclinical research that demonstrates the ability of the Companys Extracorporeal Shock Wave Technology (ESWT) to stimulate proliferation of periosteal adult stem cells (cambium cells) within the body and subsequently form bone. In addition, the combination of ESWT-proliferated adult stem cells and a bioactive scaffold regenerated more bone than a bioactive scaffold alone.

The publication, titled The Use of Extracorporeal Shock Wave-Stimulated Periosteal Cells for Orthotopic Bone Regeneration, appeared in the online edition of Tissue Engineering, Part A as an ePublication ahead of print. The abstract of the publication can be viewed online at: http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ten.TEA.2011.0573.

Led by Myron Spector, M.D., a professor and researcher at Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, the authors stated, This study investigated a novel approach for treatment of bone loss, which has potential for many clinical situations where bone apposition is required (e.g., vertical ridge augmentation, regrowing bone following tumor resection, and regenerating bone lost at sites of osteolysis or bone degeneration).

The cambium cells of the periosteum (outer membrane covering bone) currently have limited suitability for clinical applications in their native state due to their low cell number (only 2 to 5 cells thick). However, ESWT has been shown to cause a rapid increase in periosteal cambium cell numbers and subsequent periosteal osteogenesis (bone formation). The advantages of adding a scaffold as we did in this study are threefold: the scaffold contours the new bone, it helps maintain bone at the implant site, and it creates a space to allow the periosteal cells to further proliferate and fill the scaffold.

The authors concluded, The ESWT-stimulated samples of tibial bone outperformed the control group in all key outcome variables, and the study results therefore demonstrated the efficacy of ESWT-stimulated periosteum for bone generation. These results successfully demonstrated the efficacy of periosteum stimulated by ESWT technology for bone generation.

In the first phase of this research, the authors successfully demonstrated that ESWT increased the thickness of the cambium layer surrounding bone and the number of cambium cells within that layer. This proliferation of adult stem cells is an important part of many tissue engineering strategies. Then, in a novel second phase, the authors combined the ESWT-proliferated adult stem cells with a porous calcium phosphate scaffold that is commonly utilized in clinical applications to stimulate bone regeneration. A comparator control group received the scaffold alone with no prior ESWT treatment. The results were statistically significant and favored the ESWT group. In fact, at two weeks post-surgery, there was a significant increase in all key outcome variables for bone growth favoring the group that received ESWT prior to being combined with a scaffold compared with the group that received only the scaffold.

Summary of Key Study Findings

About SANUWAVE Health, Inc. SANUWAVE Health, Inc. (www.sanuwave.com) is an emerging regenerative medicine company focused on the development and commercialization of noninvasive, biological response activating devices for the repair and regeneration of tissue, musculoskeletal and vascular structures. SANUWAVEs portfolio of products and product candidates activate biologic signaling and angiogenic responses, including new vascularization and microcirculatory improvement, helping to restore the bodys normal healing processes and regeneration. SANUWAVE intends to apply its PACE technology in wound healing, orthopedic/spine, plastic/cosmetic and cardiac conditions. Its lead product candidate for the global wound care market, dermaPACE, is CE marked and has Canadian device license approval for the treatment of the skin and subcutaneous soft tissue. In the U.S., dermaPACE is currently under the FDAs Premarket Approval (PMA) review process for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers. SANUWAVE researches, designs, manufactures, markets and services its products worldwide, and believes it has demonstrated that its technology is safe and effective in stimulating healing in chronic conditions of the foot (plantar fasciitis) and the elbow (lateral epicondylitis) through its U.S. Class III PMA approved Ossatron device, as well as stimulating bone and chronic tendonitis regeneration in the musculoskeletal environment through the utilization of its Ossatron, Evotron and orthoPACE devices in Europe.

Forward-Looking Statements This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, such as statements relating to financial results and plans for future business development activities, and are thus prospective. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not statements of historical fact regarding intent, belief or current expectations of the Company, its directors or its officers. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Companys ability to control. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Among the key risks, assumptions and factors that may affect operating results, performance and financial condition are risks associated with the marketing of the Companys product candidates and products, unproven pre-clinical and clinical development activities, regulatory oversight, the Companys ability to manage its capital resource issues, competition, and the other factors discussed in detail in the Companys periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement.

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SANUWAVE Technology Shown to Proliferate Stem Cells and Form Bone

Public release date: 4-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: David Eve Celltransplantation@gmail.com Cell Transplantation Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair

Tampa, Fla. (June 4, 2012) When autologous (self-donated) lung-derived mensenchymal stem cells (LMSCs) were transplanted endoscopically into 13 adult female sheep modeled with emphysema, post-transplant evaluation showed evidence of tissue regeneration with increased blood perfusion and extra cellular matrix content. Researchers concluded that their approach could represent a practical alternative to conventional stem cell-based therapy for treating emphysema.

The study is published in Cell Transplantation (21:1), now freely available on-line at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct/.

"Mensenchymal stem cells are considered for transplantation because they are readily available, highly proliferative and display multi-lineage potential," said study corresponding author Dr. Edward P. Ingenito of the Brigham and Women's Hospital Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. "Although MSCs have been isolated from various adult tissues - including fat, liver and lung tissues - cells derived from bone marrow (BM) have therapeutic utility and may be useful in treating advanced lung diseases, such as emphysema."

However, according to the authors, previous transplantation studies, many of which used an intravenous delivery method, have shown that BM-MSCs have been only marginally successful in treating lung diseases. Further, therapeutic responses in those studies have been limited to animal models of inflammatory lung diseases, such as asthma and acute lung injury.

To try and answer the questions surrounding the utility of BM-MSCs for treating advanced emphysema, a disease characterized by tissue destruction and loss of lung structural integrity, for this study the researchers isolated highly proliferative, mensenchymal cells from adult lung parenchyma (functional tissue) (LMSCs) and used an endoscopic delivery system coupled with a scaffold comprised of natural extracellular matrix components.

"LMSCs display efficient retention in the lung when delivered endobronchially and have regenerative capacity through expression of basement membrane proteins and growth factors," explained Dr. Ingenito.

However, despite the use of autologous cells, only a fraction of the LMSCs delivered to the lungs alveolar compartment appeared to engraft. Cell death likely occurred because of the failure of LMSCs to home to and bind within their niche, perhaps because the niche was modified by inflammation or fibrosis. These cells are attachment-dependent and failure to attach results in cell death."

Their findings did suggest, however, that LMSCs were capable of contributing to lung remodeling leading to documented functional improvement rather than scarring 28 days post transplantation.

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Cell transplantation of lung stem cells has beneficial impact for emphysema

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) Injecting stem cells into the brain of someone who has had a stroke is a hot button issue.

Is it safe? Can it be done?

Thats what researchers at the University of Pittsburgh are trying to find out.

Because these are cells that have not been injected into the brain before, we need to know whether it is safe to do so, UPMC neurologist Dr. Lawrence Wechsler said.

So far, at UPMC, two people have received injections of stem cells from the bone marrow of healthy adult donors.

Roger Hill is one of them.

In August 2009, he woke up with a stroke. The first thing he noticed was his vision. He couldnt see half of his world and then his left side left him.

Something happened with my left leg. I fell down, he said. I couldnt feel my left knee.

The problem was in the brain.

A stroke most commonly happens because of a blocked artery. Part of the brain dies from a lack of oxygen and blood flow. Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability.

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Researchers Testing Stem Cells As Treatment For Stroke Recovery

Public release date: 4-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: David Eve celltransplantation@gmail.com Cell Transplantation Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair

Tampa, Fla. (June 4, 2012) After carrying out a study comparing the repopulation efficiency of immature hepatic stem/progenitor cells and mature hepatocytes transplanted into liver-injured rats, a research team from Sapporo, Japan concluded that mature hepatocytes offered better repopulation efficiency than stem/progenitor cells.

Until day 14 post-transplantation, the growth of the stem/progenitor cells was faster than the mature hepatocytes, but after two weeks most of the stem/progenitor cells had died. However, the mature hepatocytes continued to survive and proliferate one year after their implantation.

The study is published in Cell Transplantation (21:1), now freely available on-line at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct/.

"Cell-based therapies as an alternative to liver transplantation to treat liver disease have shown promise," said study corresponding author Dr. Toshihiro Mitaka of the Cancer Research Institute of the Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan. "However, the repopulation efficiency of two candidate cell sources - hepatic progenitor/stem cells and mature hepatocytes - had not been comprehensively assessed and questions concerning the efficiency of each needed to be resolved."

The researchers noted that the shortage of cell sources and the difficulties of cryopreservation have limited the clinical application of cell based therapies. Stem or progenitor cells have been considered candidate cells because they can expand in vitro and can be cryopreserved for a long time.

However, after transplantation into liver injured rats, the researchers found that stem/progenitor cells did not survive well and most of the transplanted cells had disappeared within two months. In contrast, the mature hepatocytes gradually repopulated the rat livers and continued doing so past one year.

The researchers noted that the sizes of the hepatocytes were not uniform.

"Unexpectedly, the small hepatocytes repopulated significantly less well than the larger ones," explained Dr. Mitaka. "We also found that serial transplantation did not enhance nor diminish the repopulation capacity of the cells to any significant degree."

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Mature liver cells may be better than stem cells for liver cell transplantation therapy

SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwire -06/04/12)- Medistem Inc. (MEDS) announced today positive safety data from the first 5 patients enrolled in the Non-Revascularizable IschEmic Cardiomyopathy treated with Retrograde COronary Sinus Venous DElivery of Cell TheRapy (RECOVER-ERC) trial. The clinical trial uses the company's "Universal Donor" Endometrial Regenerative Cells (ERC) to treat Congestive Heart Failure (CHF).

According to the study design, after 5 patients enter the trial, they must be observed for a two month time period before additional patients are allowed to enter the study. Patient data was analyzed by the study's independent Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB), which concluded that based on lack of adverse effects, the study be allowed to continue recruitment.

"Medistem is developing a treatment for CHF that uses a 30-minute catheter-based procedure to administer the ERC stem cell into the patients' hearts. The achievement of 2 month patient follow-up with no adverse events is a strong signal for us that our new approach to this terrible condition is feasible," said Thomas Ichim, CEO of Medistem.

The RECOVER-ERC trial will treat a total of 60 patients with end-stage heart failure with three concentrations of ERC stem cells or placebo. The clinical trial is being conducted by Dr. Leo Bockeria, Chairman of the Backulev Centre for Cardiovascular Surgery, in collaboration with Dr. Amit Patel, Director of Clinical Regenerative Medicine at University of Utah.

"As a professional drug developer, I am very optimistic of a stem cell product that can be used as a drug. The ERC stem cell can be stored frozen indefinitely, does not need matching with donors, and can be injected in a simple 30-minute procedure into the heart," said Dr. Sergey Sablin, Vice President of Medistem and co-founder of the multi-billion dollar NASDAQ company Medivation.

Currently patients with end-stage heart failure, such as the ones enrolled in the RECOVER-ERC study, have no option except for heart transplantation, which is limited by side effects and lack of donors. In contrast to other stem cells, ERC can be manufactured inexpensively, do not require tissue matching, and can be administered in a minimally-invasive manner. Animal experiments suggest ERC are more potent than other stem cell sources at restoring heart function. The FDA has approved a clinical trial of ERC in treatment of critical limb ischemia in the USA.

About Medistem Inc. Medistem Inc. is a biotechnology company developing technologies related to adult stem cell extraction, manipulation, and use for treating inflammatory and degenerative diseases. The company's lead product, the endometrial regenerative cell (ERC), is a "universal donor" stem cell being developed for critical limb ischemia and heart failure. A publication describing the support for use of ERC for this condition may be found at http://www.translational-medicine.com/content/pdf/1479-5876-6-45.pdf.

Cautionary Statement This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of our securities. This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified. Future events and actual results could differ materially from those set forth in, contemplated by, or underlying the forward-looking information. Factors which may cause actual results to differ from our forward-looking statements are discussed in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Medistem Achieves Important ERC Stem Cell Clinical Trial Milestone