Stem Cell Malaysia Blog

Stem cells without genetic defects heralded as breakthrough

2009-06-23T08:22:00.001-07:00

The prospect of treating genetic diseases with corrected stem cells grown from patients’ own bodies has moved closer, after the results of a remarkable experiment.

Scientists have successfully reprogrammed skin tissue from people with a rare form of anaemia to create powerful stem cells, while at the same time rectifying the genetic defect that causes the condition.

The corrected stem cells could be grown into blood precursor cells for therapy. As these would carry a patient’s own DNA, except for the mutation responsible for the illness, they could be transplanted without risk of rejection by the body’s immune system.

Though the research team, from Spain and the United States, has yet to use the cells to treat patients, and several important hurdles still remain, the achievement has been hailed as a significant advance for stem cell research.

It suggests that it should eventually be possible to treat many inherited conditions by making disease-free stem cells from their own bodies.

The experiment offers “proof of concept” that the technique “can be used for the generation of disease-corrected, patient-specific cells with potential value for cell therapy applications,” the researchers write in the journal Nature.

In the study, a team led by Juan Carlos Izpisúa Belmonte, of the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, took cells from six patients with Fanconi anaemia, a recessive genetic disorder that causes bone marrow failure and leukaemia. It is often fatal unless a bone marrow transplant is available from a perfectly matched donor.

The cells were infected with a genetically modified virus to correct the gene that causes Fanconi anaemia. These were then reprogrammed into an embryo-like state by modifying further genes, to create versatile master cells known as induced pluripotent stem cells (IPS cells).

When these IPS cells were grown in culture, they developed into blood progenitor cells of the sort that are required for transplant in Fanconi anaemia therapies.

As the IPS cells’ DNA had been corrected, they did not have the mutation that causes the disease, but they were otherwise genetically identical to the patients’ own tissue.

The reprogrammed, corrected cells are not yet suitable for transplanting into patients, because it is not yet known whether IPS cells can be safely given to patients.

The reprogramming technique currently relies on modifying genes with a virus, and there are fears that this could promote cancers. Several new reprogramming methods that do not rely on viruses, however, have recently been developed.

“The recent implementation of reprogramming protocols that do not rely on viral integration, if their applicability to human cells was confirmed, would bring the realisation of this possibility closer,” the researchers said.

The combination of reprogramming cells and correcting their DNA could also have potential for treating many other conditions with a genetic component, such as Parkinson’s disease, motor neuron disease and diabetes.

Chris Mathew, Professor of Molecular Genetics at King’s College London, said: “This is an important development for families with this rare, inherited blood disorder. The patients have low numbers of blood stem cells in their bone marrow, so there are very few target cells to correct by gene therapy.

“The new research shows that it is possible to reprogramme skin cells from these patients into stem cells in which the genetic defect has been corrected. In future it may become possible to transfer the corrected stem cells back into the patient, but much work remains to be done.”

Source: Timesonline 1 June 2009

New treatment options using cord blood in children with heart defects, diabetes type 1 and early childhood brain damage

2009-06-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

Jun.01, 2009 in Diabetes

Leipzig: My Body Cord blood stem cells possess a high potential for the treatment of congenital heart defects, diabetes type 1 and neonatal brain damage. The current research results confirm that the symposium on “Stem cells from umbilical cord blood - important for the Neonatology” on the 24th Perinatalkongress in Berlin on 07 May were presented.

Prof. Dr. Simon Hoerstrup of the University of Zurich wants to use stem cells for children with congenital cardiac defects to be treated. Currently, in these cases bioprostheses or mechanical prostheses, which do not grow, calcify, and subsequent operations may be necessary.

Hoerstrups group was in large animal models show that it is possible, humane Herzklappenimplantatate with growth and regeneration potential connection. In bioreactors, the heart valves can be bred and trained six to eight weeks implanted. Long-term observations showed that these heart valves are not only the full functionality of a natural heart valve, but also grow with the animal.

And umbilical cord blood were loud Hoerstrup appropriate stem cell sources, in order to grow heart valves. To even before the birth and to heart valve in severe cases, immediately after the birth to be able to implant, which could stem from the amniotic fluid or chorionic villus sampling on a win. Hoerstrup announced for the end of 2009 to first clinical interventions.

Better long-term prognosis of type 1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes, the most common chronic disease in childhood, is increasing in Western countries dramatically. Currently in Germany there are 15,000 infected children under 15 years. Although insulin therapy improves life expectancy of those affected, the children often suffer long-term consequences such as kidney, eye and nerve damage. The cost of treatment per child amounts to approximately 10,000 euros annually.

A new treatment approach might be the infusion of umbilical cord blood of their own, Dr. Petra Rauprich of Vita 34 representative for the Diabetes Research Group at the TU Munich presented. In a pilot study are currently in the U.S. and Germany 33 children with newly arisen type 1 diabetes with their own cord blood treated. The goal is the preservation of the remaining body’s own insulin-producing cells. First results from the USA show that the T cells in cord blood to a reduction of self-help. Furthermore, it was found that the blood glucose value was significantly reduced and the children were less insulin needed per day, as the body’s own insulin production was maintained.

First therapeutic attempt in Germany with autologous cord blood for child brain damage

Each year approximately 1,000 children suffer from lack of oxygen due to infection or a brain injury, often the worst physical and mental disabilities has been satisfied. Since about ten years, the group of Prof. Dr. Arne Jensen of the Ruhr-University Bochum in a stammzellbasierten therapy with cord blood for neonatal brain damage. In animal models, they could demonstrate that the stem cells in the injured brain region seems to immigrate here and by the release of messenger substances and growth factors to regenerate the damaged brain areas contribute to the injured animal consequently his motor skills gained back almost completely.

In January 2009 Jensen now treated in this way the first time in Germany two and a half year old boy, in consequence of a cardiac arrest a spastic cerebral palsy had suffered. The parents had their umbilical cord blood at birth precaution Vita 34 to be saved. Seven weeks after transplantation showed the previously tetraspastische constantly wimmernde Young significant improvements in motor function and behavior. He was able to eat independently, interacted with his environment, laughed and began to speak and walk. Jensen announced yet for this year a comprehensive study of neonatal brain damage.

Educating pregnant women is important
The new findings show that cord blood is a very good source of stem cells for regenerative therapy. In these cases, the autologous umbilical cord blood of the patient is always the first choice. Therefore, gynecologists Pregnant neutral and comprehensive information on these opportunities aufklären.Weitere information on press release:

The company was founded in 1997 by physicians in Leipzig and is the oldest and leading private umbilical cord blood bank in the German-speaking countries. To date, more than 60,000 parents decided to put the cord blood of their child Vita 34 in store for you.

Rejuvenation therapies

2009-06-23T08:12:00.000-07:00

Updates from the recent annual scientific conference organised by the Society for Anti-Ageing, Aesthetics and Regenerative Medicine Malaysia.

THE Society for Anti-Ageing, Aesthetics and Regenerative Medicine Malaysia (SAAARMM) had its annual scientific conference recently, and I would like to share some of the updates.

You will notice that the society has a long name. It started as just an anti-ageing society. Then aesthetics was added because the demand for aesthetic therapies actually exceeds that of anti-ageing therapies. While most people want to look young, not all of them are concerned about being young (ie healthy). Finally, regenerative medicine was added.

Anti-ageing medicine implies the slowing down or reversal of ageing in an otherwise “healthy” person, while regenerative medicine implies the restoration of health and functions in the unhealthy or diseased person. Once health is restored, any further gain would be anti-ageing. These are strategies applied at different points of the health spectrum.

I try not to miss the annual convention because I always get to meet two of the pioneers and leading researchers/proponents in this field. Both are from the US.

Dr Bob Goldman is the chairman and co-founder of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M), which is hugely responsible for popularising and promoting anti-ageing medicine throughout the world. He also holds the world record for hand-stand push-ups (doing push-ups with the body vertically up, head down).

Dr Nick Delgado is one of my mentors. He worked with the famous Pritikin Longevity Centre and also with top performance coach Anthony Robbins. Among other things, he taught me the goodness of whole-food juicing. He has his own range of supplements and anti-ageing strategy – The Delgado Protocol. At the age of 54, he is the world champion for vertical lifts (repetitive lifting of 25-pound weights on alternate arms) and continues to defend his title. He is also pioneering the use of stem cells for rejuvenation, and uses himself as a guinea-pig, getting the injections every month. Already he has more hair than last year. He hopes to live to 150!

The three of us are of the same age (so is Dr Ronald Klatz, President and co-founder of A4M). So it will be interesting to see how we age over the years. All three of us rely on hormone optimisation/balancing and nutritional supplements. They are super-fit and super-strong individuals, while I only go to the gym whenever possible. I have to rely on my qigong to keep up with them. And soon I will have to start injecting stem cells into myself too.

Rejuvenation strategies

The basis of health and rejuvenation has always been a healthy lifestyle, a nutritious diet, and adequate exercise. And may I add, enough life-force, or qi. Every other strategy is additional to these basic requirements.

The most exciting advances are in the use of stem cells for treating degenerative diseases, for rejuvenation, and even for aesthetics. I will share about this today.

The role of inflammation and the immune system involved in its modulation and the important roles played by certain nutrients were repeatedly emphasized by several of the experts at the meeting. There was also much discussion on the importance of many hormones. I will discuss these in another article.

We were shown examples of how protocols used in anti-ageing/regenerative therapy succeeded in reversing many chronic diseases (even cancers) and relieved the patients from being drug-dependent.

This shows that anti-ageing/regenerative medicine is more curative than the conventional disciplines, which are often satisfied with “normal readings” achieved by drug therapy.

Doctors in anti-ageing/regenerative medicine aim to recover normal function and normal health through lifestyle, hormonal and nutritional modification. We try to avoid chemical drugs. After achieving “normal” health (meaning free from disease, but not necessarily tip-top health), we then aim for optimum (ie best achievable) health.

Stem cells and cell therapy

Stem cells have been successfully used to improve or cure about 135 different diseases. Since many of these are degenerative diseases related to ageing, and the diseases themselves can be considered as accelerated ageing, it was just a matter of time before stem cell therapy found its role in anti-ageing/rejuvenation/regenerative medicine.

The Swiss and German pioneers of cell therapy were using embryonic, foetal and young animal organ cells since over 100 years ago. Live cell therapy (xenotransplantation, ie using the cells, tissues, or organs from another species) became established in the 1930s through the work of Dr Paul Niehans and others. Although he and his colleagues successfully treated thousands of people (including Pope Pious XII), cell therapy remained popular only in European rejuvenation clinics, and in cancer-treatment centres in Mexico and South America.

It is a well-known secret that many of our rich-and-famous people regularly go to these European clinics for rejuvenation cell therapy. Often, the doctors come here to treat their clients.

While it was not surprising that the organs or tissues from the embryos, foetuses or young animals enabled the regeneration of the corresponding diseased tissue/organ in the recipient patient, it is now realised that much of the healing and regeneration are possible because these transplanted tissues or organs are rich in stem cells. In other words, the same results would not be achieved if the adult tissues were transplanted. There would also be serious tissue-rejection problems with adult animal sources, which did not happen with all the cases using very young animals.

The practice of cell therapy is now more streamlined, with greater understanding of the different types of therapies available – for rejuvenation as well as treating specific health problems or diseases. The patient is usually given a combination of cells derived from many organs (and placenta), depending on the diagnosis.

The simplest is DNA extracted from foetal organ cells. These will “rejuvenate” the DNA of the corresponding organ-cells of the recipient, and restore the ability to produce certain proteins necessary for their function.

Then there are the lyophilised foetal organ cells, which are reconstituted just prior to injection. Of higher quality and effectiveness are the fresh frozen cells which are thawed prior to injection, and finally the best are the fresh cells which are injected soon after production.

However, the fresh cells must be given immediately (which means you have to be at the centre near the production facility) or kept cold during transportation and injected within 48 hours.

Autologous cellular regeneration

Now that research on stem cells is vigorously pursued in mainstream medicine, anti-ageing doctors are among those at the forefront in using them.

Previously, the main sources of stem cells were bone-marrow and stored newborn cord blood. Now the trend is to have autologous (your own cells) stem cells from more easily-obtained sources – blood and fat.

While blood, like the marrow, is a source of haemopoeitic stem cells (HSC, giving rise to all the different types of blood cells), fat tissue is a rich source of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC, precursors of many types of structural cells). Much research is being done on fat-derived stem cells (ADSC, Adipose-Derived Stem Cells) because most of us have plenty of fat to get rid off, which in turn can provide us with plenty of stem cells.

Even the differences between HSC, MSC, and other stem cell types are becoming unclear as scientists have successfully caused the differentiation of these stem cells to cell types previously thought impossible. For example, functioning heart cells have been created from stem cells found in menstrual blood.

Autologous cellular rejuvenation

ADSC is now widely used in aesthetic clinics. Stem cells and other precursor cells rich in growth factors are obtained from wherever there is excess fat (the usual source is the lower abdomen, obtained by simple large-needle syringe-liposuction) which is then specially prepared to concentrate the stem cells and precursor cells. Together, these cells (collectively called ADRC or Adipose-Derived Rejuvenating Cells) are then injected wherever required (usually the face as facial repair and rejuvenation constitute over 90% of aesthetic therapies).

It is best combined with PRP (platelet-rich plasma prepared from the patient’s own blood) to provide support and nutrients to the rejuvenating cells.

Plasma is rich in factors that attract and support stem cells, and other healing components, and the combination is also good for preventing and reversing scars.

Face, breast, and buttock augmentation with fat transfer (ie usually taking fat from abdomen and directly transplanting to another part of the body) will have better take-up rates (otherwise up to 80% of the fat transferred die off or do not take-up) and are longer-lasting with the addition of ADRC and PRP. Even the ordinary aesthetic fillers last longer with ADRC and PRP.

ADRC injected into the blood has also been found to be beneficial for patients with heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and other diseases.

So when you opt for rejuvenation with stem cells or other forms of cell therapy, you will benefit from both the aesthetic effect on your skin and hair (look younger), and also from the regenerative effect on your internal organs (become younger).

If you can afford it, you too can look younger, and be younger, just like the rich-and-famous!

Dr Amir Farid Isahak is a medical specialist who practises holistic, aesthetic and anti-ageing medicine. He is a qigong master and founder of SuperQigong. For further information, e-mailstarhealth@thestar.com.my. The views expressed are those of the writer and readers are advised to always consult expert advice before undertaking any changes to their lifestyles. The Star does not give any warranty on accuracy, completeness, functionality, usefulness or other assurances as to the content appearing in this column. The Star disclaims all responsibility for any losses, damage to property or personal injury suffered directly or indirectly from reliance on such information.

Source: The Star 31 May 2009

Local Teen Headed to China for Stem Cell Treatment

2009-06-23T08:06:00.000-07:00

Source: Nebraska.tv

Posted: May 30, 2009 12:19 PM

Updated: June 6, 2009 11:42 AM

A local teen battling a genetic disorder will embark half-way around the world Saturday
for stem cell treatment. Why? Because it's not allowed in the U.S.

Seventeen-year-old Nate Redman of Grand Island looked closely at the picture album his sister made him Friday afternoon. Seventeen years of memories, including wrestling and marching band, have slowly faded from his sight.

"I can't read music and my balance made it hard to march. I love wrestling, I've been doing it since I was six-years-old, but I just couldn't do it anymore," he said.

What was diagnosed in eighth grade as Stargardt's disease--a form of vision loss--was rediagnosed three weeks ago at Children's Hospital and Medical Center in Omaha as Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 7. Nate started noticing loss of coordination and speech about a year ago.

"My balance, speech, vision is all connected," he said.

President Barack Obama lifted an embryonic stem cell research ban in America back in March, but the country is still far behind what China is doing: treating specific genetic diseases with adult stem cells.

Redman's treatment will use adult stem cells, from an infant's umbilical cord.

"They take and culture the cells, grow them, and then inject them. In Nate's case, they'll go into his spinal column," his dad, Doug, said.

This isn't a cure for the Grand Island Northwest soon-to-be senior, but it's a start.

His mom started a blog to detail this rare, genetic disease, which is similiar to MS, except that it's neurological. MS is considered an autoimmune disease. The only treatment available for SCA Type 7 uses adult stem cells. While not as controversial as embryonic stem cells, treatment is still banned by the FDA.

"The FDA treats stem cells like a drug," Doug Redman said.

Stem cell treatment can't be approved until on-going trials are successful, which Redman said could take another five to ten years.

"With this type of condition, we don't have that much time to spare," he said of the progressive disease.

China, however, allows treatments now.

"Obviously, the big thing is that we slow the progression down until we have options in the
U.S.," he said.

So, Nate and his mom are off on a five-week trip to China. Six stem cell injections into his spinal column will be followed by speech and balance therapy.

"That it could just keep getting worse is kind of a big deal for me, but the fact that I have
hope it might get better is really promising," Nate said.

Reporter's Notes: Stacia Kalinoski

Doug Redman said there's a 75 percent chance Nate will see some improvements, but he'll likely have to go back to China every year for more treatment. Since the procedure is out of the country and not FDA-approved, insurance will not cover it. Doug said they're using Nate's college funds to pay for it.

Nate is thinking ahead to attending a community college after high school, but he and his dad say it all depends on how the treatments work. Right now, he uses brail to get by in school and cannot drive.

For updates on his progress, check out his family blog:www.stemcellschina.com/blog/nateredman.

Adult bone marrow stem cells injected into skeletal muscle can repair heart tissue

2009-06-23T07:58:00.000-07:00

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- University at Buffalo researchers have demonstrated for the first time that injecting adult bone marrow stem cells into skeletal muscle can repair cardiac tissue, reversing heart failure.

Using an animal model, the researchers showed that this non-invasive procedure increased myocytes, or heart cells, by two-fold and reduced cardiac tissue injury by 60 percent.

The therapy also improved function of the left ventricle, the primary pumping chamber of the heart, by 40 percent and reduced fibrosis, the hardening of the heart lining that impairs its ability to contract, by up to 50 percent.

"This work demonstrates a novel non-invasive mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapeutic regimen for heart failure based on an intramuscular delivery route," said Techung Lee, Ph.D., UB associate professor of biochemistry and senior author on the paper.

Mesenchymal stem cells are found in the bone marrow and can differentiate into a variety of cell types.

"Injecting MSCs or factors released by MSCs improved ventricular function, promoted myocardial regeneration, lessened apoptosis (cell death) and fibrotic remodeling, recruited bone marrow progenitor cells and induced myocardial expression of multiple growth factor genes," Lee said.

"These findings highlight the critical 'cross-talks' between the injected MSCs and host tissues, culminating in effective cardiac repair for the failing heart."

The paper reporting this development appears online in the Articles-in-Press section of the American Journal of Physiology -- Heart Circulation Physiology athttp://ajpheart.physiology.org/cgi/reprint/00186.2009v1

The heart disease death rate has dropped significantly in the last three decades due to better treatments, resulting in large numbers of people living with heart failure. This advance has lead to another health hurdle: The only therapy available to reverse the decline in cardiac function is heart transplantation, and donor hearts are very scarce.

Clinical trials of myocardial stem cell therapy traditionally have relied on surgery -- infusing the stem cells directly into the heart or injecting them into the myocardium, the heart muscle -- invasive methods that can result in harmful scar tissue, arrhythmia, calcification or small vessel blockages.

"In our research with a swine model of heart failure," said Lee, "we've found that only 1-to-2 percent of MSCs infused into the myocardium grafted into the heart, and there was no evidence that they differentiated into heart muscle cells. In addition, diseased tissue is not a healthy environment for cell growth.

"For these reasons, and because patients with heart failure are not good surgical risks, it made sense to explore a non-invasive cell delivery approach," said Lee. "An important feature of MSCs is their ability to produce a plethora of tissue healing effects, known as "tropic factors," which can be harnessed for stem cell therapy for heart failure.

Lee noted that the multiple trophic factors produced by MSCs have been shown in the literature to be capable of reducing tissue injury, inhibiting fibrosis, promoting angiogenesis, stimulating recruitment and proliferation of tissue stem cells, and reducing inflammatory oxidative stress, a common cause of cardiovascular disease and heart failure.

"Since skeletal muscle is the most abundant tissue in the body and can withstand repeated injection of large number of stem cells, we thought it would be a good method to deliver MSCs," Lee said. "We hypothesized that MSCs, via secretion of these functionally synergistic trophic factors, would be able to rescue the failing heart even when delivered away from the myocardium.

"This study proves our hypothesis," said Lee. "We've demonstrated that injecting MSCs, or trophic factors released by MSCs, into skeletal muscle improved ventricular function, promoted regeneration of heart tissue, decreased cell death and improved other factors that cause heart failure.

"This non-invasive stem cell administration regimen, if validated clinically, is expected to facilitate future stem cell therapy for heart failure."

Lee said the next step is to use genetic and pharmacological engineering to make the stem cells more active, so good therapeutic effects can be achieved with fewer cells.

"That is our goal. It would reduce the cost of stem cell therapy and make it more affordable for patients in the future."

Arsalan Shabbir and David Zisa, graduate students in UB's M.D./Ph.D. Medical Science Training Program, and Gen Suzuki, Ph.D., research scientist in the UB Center for Research in Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, also contributed to the research.

The work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and New York State Stem Cell Science (NYSTEM).

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, a flagship institution in the State University of New York system and its largest and most comprehensive campus. UB's more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.

Forbes: Vescell Stem Cell Therapy Saves Heart Failure Patient

2009-06-23T07:50:00.001-07:00

New Stem Cell Research Helping Heart Patients Now

Nashville, Tennessee 5/27/2009 12:00 PM GMT (TransWorldNews)

Vescell stem cell therapy, a treatment in which the patient’s own Adult Stem Cells are used to heal their heart disease was recently featured in a Forbes article.

The Forbes article focuses on Anderson Jordan, age 72, who had been suffering from congestive heart failure and severe coronary artery disease. Jordan, who at the time, was fading fast, took a leap of faith, even though his doctor resisted the idea of traveling from Nashville, Tennessee to Thailand for stem cell treatment.

As a result of having his own Adult Stem Cells implanted, Jordan’sejection fraction increased from 19% to 35%, which impressed his internist. Dr. William E. Baucom, Jordan's internist states in Forbes, "There is no way to know the exact reason, but [Jordan] has improved and he does look good today."

What is Vescell?A key aspect of VesCell therapy is the advanced cell isolation and expansion technique that allows for the stem cells to be harvested from blood collected in a procedure similar to a common blood donation. VesCell uses a patient’s own adult stem cells to treat Heart Disease and Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) and is a viable therapeutic possibility for heart or PAD patients without any other treatment option.

Jordan is the latest heart patient treated with Vescell ™ stem cell treatment featured in a major publication. Other heart patients treated with Vescell ™ have been featured in Reuters, Business Weekly, twice in Time Magazine, World Economic Forum and seen on ABC and National Geographic.

Vescell ™ stem cell therapy is published in peer-reviewed journals such as The British Journal of Hematology, The European Journal of Heart Failure, BioProcessing Journal, Asian Cardiovascular Thoracic Annals, and the American Heart Association’s Circulation Research.

Signs are good for Sophie after pioneering stem cell treatment

2009-05-28T08:11:00.001-07:00

ONE DAY AT A TIME: Sophie Edwards, who suffers from a rare form of leukaemia, is progressing well after undergoing pioneering treatment.

A GIRL diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia is progressing well after undergoing pioneering stem cell treatment after an earlier bone marrow transplant failed.

Sophie Edwards's family say they are taking one day at a time after the eight-year-old underwent the stem cell treatment three months ago.

Her mother, Emma Edwards, of Newsome, Huddersfield, said last night: "She is a lot better."

After her bone marrow transplant failed earlier this year, Mrs Edwards and her husband, Andrew, know only too well that Sophie's condition can suddenly change but so far all the signs are good.

Three months ago Sophie underwent a type of stem cell treatment that was the first of its kind in Leeds. Doctors used part of the original bone marrow left over from the previous transplant, but as Sophie was so ill there wasn't time for it to be treated, so instead it was transplanted unprepared and chemotherapy used to get rid of the cells she didn't need.

The original transplant took place at St James's Hospital, in Leeds, in October, but she rejected the transplant in January.

Sophie was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in February last year. Doctors then found Sophie was suffering from leukaemia with Philadelphia chromosome, which occurs in chronic leukaemia cases.

Source: www.yorkshirepost.co.uk 27 May 2009

Adult stem cells cure child of sickle cell anemia

2009-05-28T08:03:00.000-07:00

Research using adult stem cells has saved the life of a Texas boy suffering from sickle cell anemia.

Dallas-area residents Joe and Darlene Davis welcomed the news of a pregnancy and later the birth of their first son. Texas Alliance for Life recorded an interview with the couple.

"I was very excited to find that I had a son -- but finding out that he had sickle cell anemia, as a nurse I knew there was going to be a lot of problems associated with that disease," Joe said.

"The child can have strokes," Darlene also noted. "It can stunt his growth and damage some organs, and the child can die at an early age -- age 15 maybe or earlier."

Stem cell therapy was the key, and when the Davises received news of a new pregnancy and the birth of another son, they were elated because stem cells from the new baby's umbilical cord could be used to help their ailing firstborn.

"[Cells from] Isaac's umbilical cord blood, adult stem cells, [were] going to save my son's life, and that adult stem cell got my son cured today. He is healed," Darlene adds. "What I'm talking about is no more sickle cell, no more running to the hospital, no more fevers, no more blood transfusion. He's a healthy child today."

Research shows adult stem cells are now being used to treat well over 70 diseases and medical conditions, while research using embryonic stem cells -- which requires killing of a human embryo -- has produced no results.

Source: www.onenewsnow.com 28 May 2009

Great site - Cordblood America

2009-05-28T04:55:00.001-07:00

Found this link - a good umbilical cord blood site.

Has a good video in simple language of the benefits of storing cord blood in a blood bank. Click onto the lick below for some interesting insights!

http://www.cordblood-america.com/

Contact lens stem cell sight aid

2009-05-28T04:48:00.001-07:00

The treatment used stem cells from the patients' eyes

Scientists have used stem cells grown onto contact lenses to improve the sight of people with cornea damage.

The treatment was given to three patients by a team from Australia's University of New South Wales. All saw improvements within weeks.

They used the patients' own stem cells in the treatment, detailed in the journal Transplantation, and a type of lens already used after eye surgery.

UK experts said the small-scale study was promising.

This small-scale study reveals promising outcomes with the use of contact lenses

Sonal Rughani, RNIB

The cornea is the transparent layer that covers the eye - but it can lose transparency, damaging sight.

In the most serious cases, people can need cornea grafts or transplants.

Corneal disease can be caused by genetic disorders, surgery, burns, infections or chemotherapy.

In this study, all three patients had damage to the epithelium - the layer of cells covering the front of the cornea.

Eye cells

The researchers in this study used limbal stem cells - found within the eye.

Stem cells are "master cells", which have the power to transform themselves into other cell types.

The cells can be taken from any healthy part of the eye and, because they are from the patient's own body, the transplant will not be rejected.

They removed small samples of stem cells from the eyes of the three patients - two men and a woman - and grew them on contact lenses.

The patients then wore the lenses for 10 days.

During that period, the stem cells moved off the lenses and onto the damaged corneas.

The patients were followed up for between eight and 13 months.

'Step forward'

The researchers, led by Dr Nick di Girolamo, said each person's sight improved significantly within weeks of the procedure, and that it was a simple inexpensive technique which required a minimal hospital stay.

Professor Kuldip Sidhu, director of the Stem Cell Lab and Chair of Stem Cell Biology at the University of New South Wales, who was not directly involved in the work, said: "This study is a step forward towards developing regenerative medicine with stem cells for other debilitating human diseases.

And Loane Skene, professor of law at the University of Melbourne and former Deputy Chair of the Lockhart Committee on human cloning and embryo research, said: "Provided that patients are told that the new procedure is experimental and possible risks are not yet known, and they then consent to have it, this use of a patient's own stem cells is no more ethically contentious than a skin transplant"

Sonal Rughani, of the RNIB, said: "This small-scale study reveals promising outcomes with the use of contact lenses.

"We await further developments of this innovative nature."

Source: BBC News 28 May 2009

Sight restored with stem cell contact lenses

2009-05-27T23:21:00.000-07:00

PETER CAVE: Medical researchers at the University of New South Wales are claiming success in curing partial blindness by coating contact lenses with stem cells. The patients with diseased corneas wore the lenses coated with their own stem cells and after about a month their corneas had regrown.

The scientists say that in the future the technique may be used to help people blinded by other causes.

Meredith Griffiths reports.

MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: One of the main causes of blindness around the world is diseases affecting the cornea. That's the thin clear barrier at the front of the eye and if it gets diseased, scratched, scarred or burned, light can't make it through to the retina.

The World Health Organization says that every year corneal disease could be responsible for one-and-a-half-million people losing sight in one of their eyes. But now researchers in Sydney have found a way to overcome that for some patients.

Dr Nick Di Girolamo is a medical scientist at the University of New South Wales.

NICK DI GIROLAMO: The cornea is the window to the eye so any abnormal cells that are growing on top of a healthy cornea would preclude or would distort vision.

We've gone from patients that have only been able to count fingers, you know, at a close distance in front of their eye so to speak, to being able to read letters on a standard visual chart.

MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: The three patients in question were legally blind in one eye. The scientists took some stem cells from their healthy eyes and cultured them inside contact lenses for 10 days. The patients then wore the contacts and after less than a month their corneas had regenerated.

Dr Nick Di Girolamo again.

NICK DI GIROLAMO: We can grow the cells on a contact lens, that was the biggest challenge, to make sure that they were healthy and remained stable on that contact lens for a period of time. And then it was just a matter of trusting that they could transfer from the contact lens surface onto the patient's ocular surface.

MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: He says the patients only need to wear the contact lenses for about 10 days and that the beauty of the technique is that it uses the patient's own cells.

NICK DI GIROLAMO: So we're not going to be using any immunosuppressive therapy to prevent rejection if you want; whereas most other techniques out there utilise foreign human materials or stem cells that are grown in the presence of animal products. You know there's a potential risk of foreign infectious agents in that material.

MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: Dr Di Girolamo says the plan now is to grow a whole cornea.

NICK DI GIROLAMO: We're focusing on corneal disease because of the accessibility of the cornea but it's quite possible that using a similar material to the contact lens material, you know in the future that sort of material could be used as a carrier of different stem cells such as retinal stem cells to the back of the eye.

MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: Do you think in years to come this will help people with other problems who are blind for other reasons?

NICK DI GIROLAMO: Oh most definitely. Certainly you know there needs to be a lot more laboratory work looking at this sort of technique for diseases in the back of the eye, like macular degeneration for example.

MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: Jane Ellis from Vision Australia says the study is good news for anybody with corneal problems but she says at the moment the treatment can only help people with damage to the edge of the cornea.

JANE ELLIS: The most common form of corneal problem that we see in Australia is called keratoconus which is where the cornea grows in a very odd shape. The use of stem cells to correct that will be a great breakthrough because currently the treatment is around corneal transplant and as we know, the risks around surgery to the cornea are quite high. The waiting list for corneal transplants is very high.

MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: Jane Ellis says the study illustrates just one of the many possibilities that stem-cell research is opening up for people who are blind or have poor vision.

PETER CAVE: Meredith Griffiths.

Source: The World Today - Thursday, 28 May , 2009

New Tech research center’s aim: healing soldiers quicker

2009-05-27T03:34:00.000-07:00

Georgia Tech officials on Tuesday unveiled a $5 million research center aimed at finding better ways to heal combat wounds and speeding those treatments into military use.

Often, such advances lag for long periods before moving into clinical use, said Barbara Boyan, the director of the new center. Many researchers focus on study and publishing in scientific journals rather than planning to move a product to the market, she said.

The Georgia Tech Center for Advanced Bioengineering for Soldier Survivability has coupled with several medical device firms early on, giving it an edge in moving advancements into medical use, she said.

Researchers at the center, which include clinicians and consultants experienced in combat medical care, focus on the healing of wounds, broken bones and massive muscle loss.

Medical care on the battlefield largely focuses on stabilizing a soldier, such as stopping bleeding and preventing infection, Boyan said. Oftentimes that soldier can be back in the U.S. for medical care within two days.

“We can take a concept discovered in an academic setting and transfer it into helping improve their lives,” Boyan said.

The researchers currently are focusing on using a person’s own stem cells — not the controversial stem cells taken from human embryos — to enhance tissue and bone repair. They are developing a better way to deliver stem cells to an injured area, in which the cells take hold and help grow tissue and bone, she said.

The center began its research last year but only recently received full funding, officials said.

Boyan, who is also the associate dean for research at Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering, said the researchers hope their work leads to clinical trials within three years and is in use within five.

Eventually, she hopes that the advancements will be used in civilian trauma centers.

The center receives funding from the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine, the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research’s Orthopedic Trauma Research Program, the U.S. Department of Defense and from private industry.

Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution May 26, 2009

Adult allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation: a single centre experience in Malaysia

2009-05-26T09:50:00.000-07:00

An interesting statistical piece...

Gan GG, Zakaria Z, Sangkar JV, Haris AR, Bee PC, Chin E, Teh A.

Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

We analysed the outcome of 104 patients from a single institution who underwent allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) from their HLA-identical siblings between 1993 and 2006.

Sixty-nine percent of patients had peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) as the stem cell source and the remaining had bone marrow (BM).

The majority of patients are Chinese (60%) followed by Malays (24%) and Indians (14%). The median time to reach white cell counts of >1 x 10(9)/L and platelet counts of >30 x 10(9)/L was 13 and 15 days, respectively in patients who had PBSC transplantation compared with 16 and 25 days in patients who had BM transplantation, (p <>

Acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) of grade II to IV was observed in 34% of patients and chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) in 38% of patients. Although not statistically significant, there was a higher incidence of overall aGVHD in Indian patients (73%) compared to Chinese and Malays (57% and 56% respectively). There was no significant difference in the incidence of aGVHD and cGVHD with the source of stem cells.

Overall survival (OS) and disease free survival (DFS) was 50% and 60% at five years respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that patients transplanted in standard risk and those who had limited cGVHD had a significant better OS, (p = 0.05 and p = 0.05). Patients who had cGVHD and transplanted in standard risk had a better DFS, (p = 0.002 and p <>

In summary, AHSCT in standard risk patients is associated with a better outcome than those transplanted in high risk and although not statistically significant, there is a higher incidence of aGVHD in Indian patients.

Interview with soap star and stem cell transplant recipient Anthony Herrera

2009-05-26T09:38:00.000-07:00

I am honored to have been granted an interview withAs The World Turns soap star and stem cell transplant recipient, Anthony Herrera. Anthony and I first corresponded last year in regards to my upcoming book of memoirs, Survival Mode, based on my husband's battle with mantle cell lymphoma. Anthony had also written a book, The Cancer War,about his experience with the same cancer and kindly offered me the benefit of his insight.

Anthony was diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma, the rarest and deadliest form of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, in 1997 at New York University Hospital and was told, "There is nothing we can do. You are going to die." He then went to Memorial Sloan-Kettering and received chemotherapy, total body irradiation, and an autologous stem cell transplant(using his own stem cells). After relapsing in 1998, he received an allogenic stem cell transplant (also known as a bone marrow transplant) using stem cells donated by his brother, John. He required a boost ofdonor lymphocyte infusion after transplantation, and has been in remission since 2000.

Anthony graciously granted me an interview this week. Please read more about this inspirational man, who is alive today because of the miracle of stem cell transplants.

CD: How did your allogenic stem cell transplant in 1999 make medical history?

AH: What is important to know is that chemotherapy, radiation, and a transplant using my own stem cells failed. In 1999, my battle with mantle cell lymphoma became a pioneer case. Because of my new immune system (made possible by the allogenic stem cell transplant), there has been NO EVIDENCE OF DISEASE in my body for nine years.

Perhaps Dr. Giralt phrases it better:

"Herrera is one of the pioneer cases of mantle cell lymphoma - usually a lethal diagnosis. Despite having failed multiple other therapies, his case provided proof of principal that donor cells could induce long-term remission."

-Sergio Giralt, M.D. - Professor of Medicine, MD Anderson Cancer Center

CD: What was your brother's experience with the stem cell donation process?

AH: Donating stem cells is only slightly more uncomfortable than giving blood. The tricky part is the drug you have to inject that causes the bone marrow to overproduce, therefore, putting baby stem cells into the blood. This can cause some bone pain, unless the dosage is carefully administered.

CD: After your transplant, you required a boost of donor lymphocyte infusion. What did this process entail for you and John?

AH: This is the same process as donating stem cells for the transplant.

CD: In 2005, you testified for Senator Arlen Specter on the importance of the Federal Government's support of stem cell research. As an advocate for this cause, can you tell us how stem cell research has touched your life?

AH: In a few words - my life is better now, than it has ever been. Bishop Desmond Tutu said, "I can honestly thank God for my cancer."

CD: What would you like the public to know about the importance of volunteering to be listed on the marrow registry?

AH: There has been tremendous progress made in the last couple of years with the success of donor transplant. You may save someone's life!

You can watch Anthony Herrera on As The World Turns when his villainous character, James Stenbeck, returns to the show once again this summer.

Source: Examiner.com 20 May 2009

Yard sale aims to raise money for stem cell treatment for infant

2009-05-26T09:30:00.000-07:00

A yard sale to benefit Sight for Skyler will be held from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Beautiful Bowtique, 803 Mason Drive, off Barksdale Boulevard near the front entrance to Barksdale Air Force Base, in Bossier City.

Donations to Sight for Skyler also will be accepted at Beautiful Bowtique.

Skyler Goodwin has optic nerve hypoplasia, a rare disorder that has left the infant blind, with light perception, nystagmus, septo optic dysplasia, hypothyroidism and growth hormone deficiency.

Her parents are raising money for a special stem cell treatment available only in China. The treatment uses discarded umbilical cords to reverse the condition.

Source: www.shreveporttimes.com 22 May 2009

Postdoctoral positions for Neural Stem Cells in Neurooncology and Regenerative Neurosciences, Hospital University Sains Malaysia, Malaysia

2009-05-26T09:25:00.002-07:00

Postions for Postdocs in the use of Mesenchymal/Embryonic Neural Stem Cells in an animal brain/spinal cord injury model as well as the involvement of stem cells in the progression of brain tumour.

Applications with a Phd and a neuroscience background are invited for a 2-year post-doc fellowship, working with neural stem/progenitor cells and progression of medulloblastomas. The applicant should be experienced in molecular and cell biology and be experiences in doing animal brain cancer models studies.

We are currently seeking highly motivated Postdoctoral Research Fellows to join our team who have extensive experience in electrophysiological recording techniques and fine dissection skills and experience in stem cell culture at the Department of Neurosciences,University Sains Malaysia Health Campus where we are focusing on animal models of sensorimotor control of spinal locomotor circuits,neural plasticity, and functional recovery after stem cells have been transplanted into the brain or spinal cord after injury.

Candidates should have a Ph.D. in neuroscience, physiology or bioengineering or other related sciences with an academic record of scientific excellence, independent research, and a strong interest in an interdisciplinary approach with experience in stem cell culture,brain/spinal cord electrophysiology (in vivo and in vitro) recording and electromyography studies.

Applicants should submit a curriculum vita, list of publications, and e-mail address and telephone of 3 references who can attest to your lab skills.

Contact:
Prof Jafri Malin Abdullah MD, Ph.D.
Professor of Neurosciences and Senior Consultant Neurosurgeon,
Department of Neurosciences,
School Of Medical Sciences/Hospital University Sains Malaysia,
Jalan Sultanah Zainab 2,
Kubang Kerian,Kota Bharu,
Kelantan,16150,MALAYSIA

Tel:+6097664240 Fax:+6097648613

Scientists turn embryonic stem cell into heart cell

2009-05-26T09:15:00.000-07:00

An older news on stem cell development in Canada but still interesting to read today...

Canadian scientists have discovered how to turn an embryonic stem cell into a so-called "master" heart cell that can then turn into an "endless supply" of three different cell types found in a human heart, according to an online edition of the journal Nature posted on Wednesday.

The hope is that this breakthrough will lead to the creation of heart tissue that could repair hearts damaged by disease or heart attacks.

Embryonic stem cells are able to turn into any kind of cell in the human body. With this research, scientists were able to devise the right cocktail of growth factors and molecules to turn the master heart cell into three types of heart cells: muscle cells that pump blood, cells that form blood vessels and cells that create the lining of blood vessels.

"We're telling them in the best way we can to go down a pathway, and that pathway is towards a functioning heart cell," said study author Gordon Keller of Toronto's McEwan Center for Regenerative Medicine.

Keller noted that since the process was rather quick, and the stem cells became heart cells in about 14 days, it could have a big impact in the field of heart research.

The cells could be used to study the effectiveness of new drugs, Keller said. As well, researchers could determine if sheets of these cells could be used to repair large areas of a damaged heart.

Keller said that the next step is to try this particular recipe with skin cells. This could eliminate the problem of tissue rejection if heart cells were created by a person's own skin cells. As well, it circumvents the ethical controversy of using embryonic stem cells.

Source: Xinhua News Agency April 24, 2008

Stem cell surgery for cancer patient in Shanghai

2009-05-26T09:12:00.000-07:00

A 21-year-old leukemia patient underwent pioneering surgery in a Shanghai hospital Wednesday, when doctors transfused 30 milliliters of umbilical-cord blood donated by a Shanghai cord bank. Today they will transplant a batch of his father's stem cells, which are an imperfect match.

This combination of umbilical-cord blood and half-matched stem cells can offer lifesaving transplant opportunities to many more patients than traditional methods, which require a perfect match between patient and donor, said doctors from Shanghai No. 1 People's Hospital.

It will be a month before results of the transplant are determined.

About 40,000 to 50,000 people on China's mainland are diagnosed with leukemia every year - alf of them children. Only about 1,000 are able to receive a stem-cell transplant because of the difficulty of finding a matching donor.

The chances of finding a perfectly matched donor are as little as one in 100,000, when direct blood-relatives are not available. The possibility of an exact match is one in four between immediate relatives.

The chances of finding a donor of umbilical-cord blood is 50 to 100 times higher because this sort of transfusion is less prone to rejection. However, one unit of umbilical-cord blood is usually not enough to treat an adult patient.

Stem cells, from which all other cells in the body grow, are found in umbilical-cord blood, bone marrow and peripheral blood. With this new procedure, umbilical-cord blood is used to reduce the chance of the body rejecting half-matched stem cells.

"Without a perfectly matched donor, the recipient will develop severer rejection and could die," said Chen Liyun, a Shanghai Cord Bank official. "In cord blood, there's a special type of cell that can curb rejection. The method uses this kind of cell to control rejection."

Medical experts said hospitals in Beijing were the first in the nation to begin the practice four or five years ago.

The new transplant method offers options to patients who previously had none.

Dr Chen Jing from Shanghai Children's Medical Center said the technology is still new in clinical practice and there hasn't been a lot of data collected to confirm its effects.

"However, it is a solution for some patients who can't find a perfectly matched donor," Chen Jing said.

Source: Shanghai Daily April 9, 2009

New stem cell method

2009-05-26T09:04:00.000-07:00

Researchers have developed a new way to make embryonic-like stem cells by soaking them in genetically engineered proteins, a new step toward using ordinary cells to treat disease.

An international team led by the Scripps Research Institute in California said it is the safest method yet found to transform ordinary skin cells into what are called induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells.

They reported their finding, made using mouse cells, in the journal Cell Stem Cell.
They have also formed a corporate alliance to sell their technology to other researchers who want to make and work with the cells.

“Scientists have been dreaming about this for years,” said Sheng Ding of Scripps, who led the research.

Stem cells are the body’s master cells, providing a renewable source of brain, bone, muscle, blood and other cells. These cells make up days-old embryos and in the first few days after conception each one can give rise to all of the cells and tissues in the body.
These embryonic stem cells are sought after and studied by scientists who hope to understand and harness their powers to transform medicine by providing transplants to treat brain diseases, injuries, cancer and perhaps as a source of new organs.

Several teams have been working to find ways to simply make ordinary cells behave like embryonic stem cells — bypassing the need to get them from embryos, a painstaking process that some people also find morally objectionable.

Source: Keralaonline 26 May 2009

Enns applauds vote for adult stem cell research

2009-05-26T04:19:00.000-07:00

State Rep. John Enns had praise Tuesday for members of the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust board of directors for their vote to provide money for adult stem cell research.

A total of $5.5 million from the trust will be given for adult stem cell research.

The board voted Monday to make the contributions after hearing presentations about such research ongoing in Oklahoma. Under the plan, the board will give $500,000 for a yearlong planning phase to determine how the money should be distributed, then award $1 million in grants each year for five years.

“After conducting a legislative study last year, it became apparent that the state’s Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust Fund was one of the best sources to fund adult stem cell research,” said Enns, R-Enid. “I have worked with the board this year and was very pleased they are now willing to dedicate dollars to this very worthy research.”

Enns was author House Joint Resolution 1035, which would let the voters amend the Oklahoma Constitution to specify 10 percent of the interest earnings on the tobacco trust fund to be used for adult stem cell research.

With the resolution in conference committee in the Legislature and the tobacco trust funds action, Enns said passage of the bill is not necessary now. His resolution will remain in conference until the 2010 legislative session.

Dr. Stephen Prescott, president of Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, said adult stem cells have the potential to treat ailments including cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. He said OMRF scientists are researching how to “back up” progression of adult cells, so the cells can be reprogrammed for specific uses.

Adult stem cells are not taken from embryos.

“This new funding initiative will accelerate this re-search while speeding the delivery of new treatments to Oklahomans suffering from life-threatening diseases,” Prescott said.

Researchers hope adult stem cells someday will be used to regenerate organs from only a few cells.

Dr. Courtney Houchen, a researcher at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, said some scientists also are trying to look at ways to destroy some stem cells that are involved in the spread of cancer.

“It’s an emerging opportunity in Oklahoma,” said the trust board’s chairman, Casey Killblane.

The trust is funded by money from the 1998 tobacco settlement agreement, in which big tobacco companies gave money to states, which were to use the funds to cover government costs of providing health care to people who have become sick because of tobacco use.

The $647 million Oklaho-ma has received so far has been put in the trust and uses only the earnings the trust generates. Oklahoma has placed the funds under constitutional protection and can only use them for health programs.

“By focusing on this promising research, Oklahoma could attract new businesses, create new high-paying jobs and save lives,” Enns said. “While we should not allow tobacco funds to be diverted without careful consideration, I believe this research could result in significant medical breakthroughs that improve the lives of all Oklahomans.”

Source: www.enidnews.com 19 May 2009

Manchester to become stem cells and robotics excellence centre, says report

2009-05-26T03:44:00.000-07:00

Manchester is set to become a major business hub in the fields of stem cell research and robotics, according to a new report on the future landscape of British business produced by high street bank HSBC.

The bank’s Future of Business report said that Manchester would be one of a number of cities to benefit from a narrowing in the north/south divide which would take place as a living costs continued to rise in the south and mobile working becomes more widespread.

However, the bank did not include Manchester in a list of five so-called ‘supercities’ which will “derive their status, income and prestige from new economic income streams such as biotech, stem cell research, innovation, gaming and even alternative work practices,” according to the report’s author, Martin Raymond of The Future Laboratory. The five cities identified were Brighton, Leeds, Liverpool, London and Newcastle.

Some 59 per cent of Manchester-based businesses surveyed as part of the report said that they felt legislation and regulation posed the biggest threat to UK business’s competitiveness and 57 per cent argued that they would like to see more support for entrepreneurs.

Source: www.crainsmanchesterbusiness.co.uk 26 May 2009

Preventing Tumor Growth in Embryonic Stem Cells

2009-05-26T03:36:00.000-07:00

Researchers at the Hebrew University of Israel have created a method that can eliminate the tumor risk of using stem cells as the cure for various diseases. According to the scientists, this development may revolutionize the field of stem cell therapy and save many lives worldwide.

Human embryonic cells are a potentially powerful tool for the treatment of various ailments that cause tissue damage, such as diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and heart failure. These cells are capable of differentiation to all cell types of the mature human body under certain conditions. This ability has earned them the name “pluripotent,” and turned their study into one of the most important fields of research in today's regenerative medicine.

However, there are serious dangers in the use of stem cells to replace damaged tissue. Stem cells have shown a tendency to develop into a specific kind of tumor, called teratomata, when they are implanted into mice during experiments. Teratomatas develop from pluripotent cells and consist of different tissue type elements from one or more of the three germ cell layers. It is a generally accepted opinion among medical professionals that this tumerogenic feature will manifest itself in human patients as well. Since embryonic stem cells begin their lifetime as perfectly normal cells, the abovementioned tumor development remains a puzzling feature to researchers.

A group of researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have recently conducted a series of experiments trying to fully understand and solve this problem. In their latest project the team focused on analyzing the genetic basis of tumor formation originating from the human embryonic stem cells. They identified a gene, called survivin, which appears to be key to the tumorogenesis process. This gene is expressed in most cancer cells and early stage embryos, but is almost completely absent from mature human tissue.

Survivin (Credit: Protein Data Bank)

Survivin expression appears to be especially high in undifferentiated human embryonic stem cells and in their derived tumors. The research team was able to suppress the survivin activity in the embryonic stem cells as well as in the tumors, thus initiating programmed cell death (apoptosis) in those cells.

Although inhibiting survivin expression close to stem cell transplantation should minimize the risk of tumor formation, the researchers remain apprehensive. There are still major safety concerns about the use of stem cells and a combination of strategies may be needed to make the process safe and easy to use.

We at TFOT have recently brought you stories about stem cell therapy. One such story describes an alternative source of stem cells – hair follicles, discovered at the University of California, San Diego. We have also uploaded a video telling of the possibilities and principles of stem cell use in cell therapy.

Source: thefutureofthings.com 26 May 2009

Scientists discover stem cell clue to lung cancer development

2009-05-26T03:32:00.000-07:00

Cancer Research UK scientists have revealed that stem cells become 'activated' in severely damaged lungs and help to repair them, according to a study published in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences today (Monday).

These findings provide a crucial new insight into how lungs function on a cellular level and could help scientists devise a test to detect the early stages of lung cancer in people who are at a high risk of developing damaged lungs - such as long term smokers.

The primary role of stem cells is to maintain and repair the tissue in which they are found. But because stem cells are rare in comparison to normal cells, identifying exactly where they are and how they work has remained elusive.

A team of scientists from Cancer Research UK's Cambridge Research Institute and led by Professor Barry Stripp from Duke University Medical School in the US used a unique 'whole-lung' imaging method to examine and identify the location of stem cells in the lung tissue of mice, and determine the role they play in both healthy and damaged lungs.

They found that, while stem cells don't appear to be involved in the normal maintenance of healthy or moderately injured lungs, they do play a vital role in repairing severely damaged lungs.

Study author Dr Adam Giangreco, from Cancer Research UK's Cambridge Research Institute, said: "Our results suggest that tissue injury is a catalyst for stem cell activation, as we only saw stem cells working to repair this tissue after severe damage.

"Understanding how stem cells repair damaged lungs will also help us to determine the way in which these cells promote the development of lung diseases including cancer. We hope that these findings lead to improved methods for early lung cancer detection. These might include regular screening for lung stem cell activation in people with a high risk of lung damage."

Lung cancer is the second most common cancer in the UK with 38,000 people receiving a diagnosis every year. The disease is also the most common cause of cancer death in the UK, accounting for more than one in five of all cancer deaths - or 22 per cent.

The earlier lung cancer is diagnosed, the greater the chance of survival. But more than two-thirds of lung cancers are diagnosed at a late stage when the disease is much more difficult to treat successfully.

Co-author Professor Fiona Watt, group leader and deputy director of Cancer Research UK's Cambridge Research Institute, said: "We believe these findings may help us explain why in the context of normal airways, faulty genes do not automatically lead to lung cancer. But when there is severe injury to the lung - caused by smoking or industrial chemicals for example - activation of stem cells carrying these gene defects could then lead to the development of lung cancer."

Dr Lesley Walker, director of cancer information at Cancer Research UK, said: "These are very interesting findings which help to improve our understanding of what goes wrong when lungs become damaged. They could also have important practical applications in terms of detecting lung cancer and improving treatments for the disease.

"Sadly, fewer than ten per cent of lung cancer patients will survival for more than five years after diagnosis, so the need to find better methods of detecting and treating the disease is crucial.

"It's also important to remember that smoking causes nine in ten cases of lung cancer so quitting is the best way to reduce the risk of developing the disease."

http://info.cancerresearchuk.org

Source: www.news-medical.net 26 May 2009

Stem cells 'seek and destroy' cancer cells

2009-05-25T16:44:00.000-07:00

Genetically engineered stem cells from bone marrow showed promise as a potential new way to deliver a cancer-killing protein to tumors.

Experiments in cell cultures and in mice showed the adult stem cells -- a type known as mesenchymal stem cells -- could home in on cancer cells and deliver a lethal protein that attacked only the cancer while sparing normal healthy tissue.

"We've developed cells which specifically target cancer through the body and deliver an anti-cancer protein to where it is needed in a seek-and-destroy approach," said Dr. Michael Loebinger of University College London, who presented his findings at the American Thoracic Society conference in San Diego.

"Essentially, we've combined two pieces of research. The first is that mesenchymal stem cells have an innate ability to seek out tumors throughout the body," Loebinger said in a telephone interview.

Loebinger, Dr S M Janes and colleagues altered the cells to express or make the cancer-killing protein called TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand or TRAIL.

"This protein has the ability to cause the death only of cancer cells. By combining these two approaches, we have a cell which has the ability to go around the body and find and destroy tumors," Loebinger said.

Studies in cell cultures showed the cells were able to find and kill cells from lung, squamous, breast and cervical cancer. "Lots of cancer have sensitivity to this TRAIL protein," Loebinger said.

They also injected the cells into mice with breast tumors and showed they were able to safely kill the tumors but leave healthy tissue intact.

"When we delivered this therapy, 38 percent of the tumors were completely eliminated."

He said the goal would be to develop a cell-based cancer treatment for humans that specifically targets cancer cells.

An attractive property of these cells is that they are "immunoprivileged," meaning the body will not reject them as foreign invaders. That means they can be made in batches instead of having to make custom stem cell treatments for each patient, Loebinger said.

He said a number of safety studies would be needed, but the team hopes human trials could begin in two or three years.

Source: Reuters 21 May 2009

$18.9 million awarded for stem cell research in Maryland USA

2009-05-25T16:39:00.000-07:00

The Maryland Technology Development Corp. awarded $18.9 million this week to dozens of researchers involved in stem cell research at private and public institutions across the state. The state has been formally funding stem cell research since legislators passed the Maryland Stem Cell Research Act of 2006.

Stem cell research is widely regarded as having the potential to deliver groundbreaking cures to a broad range of health problems and help fuel the state's efforts to become a hub for the biotechnology industry. Fifty-nine projects received funding in the latest round of awards. The researchers work at numerous public and private organizations across Maryland, including the Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland, Hugo W. Moser Research Institute at Kennedy Krieger and GlobalStem.

Source: www.baltimoresun.com 16 May 2009

Paul pins hopes on stem cell therapy to save eyesight

2009-05-25T16:24:00.000-07:00

A Brisbane resident is pinning his hopes on experimental stem cell therapy in China to save his failing sight.

Paul Smith was born with a condition that will probably lead to blindness.

He is fundraising to undergo the controversial treatmena in six-months.

Earlier this year Paul heard about Irish girl Dakota Clarke, whose sight was partially restored after a visit to the same China clinic he intends to visit.

Mr Smith suffers from hydrocephalus, commonly known as fluid on the brain. A stint drains the fluid from his skull but one of the side affects of the illness is damage to his optic nerves, which he hopes injections of stem cells will repair.

Mr Smith said a specialist told him hypothetically he was likely to lose his site by the age of 40. Faced with such a bleak prognosis, he said he is willing to try the treatment which involves cells from donated umbilical cord blood.

“I’m nervous but that’s what keeps me going,” he said.

“I need to try and do something. I’m not just going to play the victim and just let the blindness happen.”

Mr Smith said even if his sight didn’t improve it could stave of blindness. His wife Mandi will accompany him on the trip to Qingdao for the treatment by Beike Biotechnology.

He said the trip and treatment would cost $64,000 and he is registering the name Pesos for Paul’s Peepers.

To donate to Mr Smith’s appeal call 0414719486.

Source: http://city-south-news.whereilive.com.au 25 May 2009

Teflon Knees: New replacements for torn and worn-out cartilage include freeze-dried collagen

2009-05-25T04:37:00.000-07:00

It seems as though modern humans and their knees aren't particularly well adapted to each other. We pound them down jogging on pavement, and we rip them up chasing inflated balls around a court or a field or zipping down snowy mountains on fiberglass planks. If we manage to escape this kind of trauma somehow, we just wear them out by living so long.

With all the practice repairing knees, orthopedic surgeons have made incredible progress over the past 25 years in learning new ways to reconstruct and replace knees. Ligament tears that once ended athletic careers now earn a lenient sentence of outpatient arthroscopic surgery and six months of rehab.

While the progress is appreciated, there is hardly a middle-aged athlete alive who doesn't wish more could be done, especially with the most nettlesome of knee problems: torn or worn-down cartilage. (Full disclosure: I have sampled heavily from the buffet of knee surgeries--a pair of ligament replacements, a pair of meniscus trimmings and an attempted cartilage repair job. The cartilage repair surgery was the hardest to recover from and sapped the most from a once-respectable vertical leap.)

A series of three recent papers in the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research outline an approach that could make one type of cartilage repair more successful. The paper's authors, researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Cambridge University in the U.K., describe a way to create a layered scaffolding of materials very similar to those already in bone and cartilage that can be placed in a torn section of cartilage to entice new cartilage to grow there.

Lorna Gibson, a professor of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT and one of the leaders of the research, says the teams' scaffolding improves on other similar approaches because it closely mimics the bone and cartilage interface in the human body.

The researchers' work is directed at a type of smooth cartilage that covers the ends of bones like Teflon, allowing hinged joints to glide open and closed easily. It's called articular cartilage, and it is strange stuff. Myron Spector, a Harvard Medical School professor and director of tissue engineering at VA Boston Healthcare System, describes articular cartilage cells as being "imprisoned in their own matrix."

The cells are thick with a tough, fibrous protein called collagen. They are unserviced by blood vessels or nerve cells. When there's a tear, there is no bleeding, no clotting, and no place for cells to migrate to and regrow. In fact, the fluid that lubricates the joint, called synovial fluid, is designed specifically to prevent clots, because scar tissue would gum up joints.

Spector says his work on cartilage can be more frustrating than his work on central nervous system problems. "You'd expect cartilage to be a no-brainer," he says, intending the pun. "But it's tough. It gets disheartening."

Investor-funded research could bring march of science to a standstill

2009-05-25T04:30:00.000-07:00

As private concerns increasingly tread on the territory of academic researchers, the result could be secrecy, delay and the pursuit of quick financial returns.

Dr. Philip H. Schwartz spent six years providing university researchers with neural stem cells cultured by a method he had helped invent at the Salk Institute in La Jolla.

He figured this was a win-win. His technique provided biomedical scientists with live tissue, an improvement over the dead cells, harvested from the brains of deceased patients, that had been the standard fare. Science marched ahead, bringing novel neurological applications closer to reality. The principles of wide dissemination of knowledge and scientific collaboration were served.

Then his employer, Children’s Hospital of Orange County, got a letter from Palo Alto-based StemCells Inc. The firm warned that Schwartz's program infringed its patents in the neural stem cell field and it wished to, er, discuss a licensing arrangement.

The hospital's lawyers advised Schwartz to stop sending out cells until they could make a deal with the company.

That was two years ago. There's still no licensing deal, and there haven't even been talks for more than a year.

"The long and the short of it," Schwartz told me last week, "is that I'm dead in the water."

On the surface, there shouldn't be a huge obstacle to a deal between StemCells and CHOC.

Both say they're open to an agreement. There isn't much overlap among their core clienteles: The company "is not in the business of selling cells to researchers" in basic science, according to its general counsel, Ken Stratton. Conversely, CHOC's Children's Research Institute is interested in supporting only "academic noncommercial researchers," says its director, Brent A. Dethlefs.

But in the biotech world, where millions or even billions of dollars in profits beckon to those who can assert ownership of important discoveries, good intentions and purely scientific goals don't matter like they used to. Access by basic researchers to the essential building blocks of biomedical advances has been shrinking for years, thanks to a land rush by entrepreneurs wielding patent portfolios.

As the conflict between CHOC and StemCells suggests, the penetration of private investment concerns into what used to be largely academic pastures threatens to hobble, rather than hasten, the march of science. The harvest may be secrecy, delay and the directing of research only toward developments that promise quick financial returns.

In the stem cell field, "the pendulum may have swung too far" toward private enterprise and away from open research, says Gregory D. Graff, a patent expert at Colorado State University.

As it happens, StemCells has good reason to support the needs of academic researchers. For one thing, progress in fundamental stem cell research is likely to "improve the value of their [patent] portfolio," Schwartz observes.

For another, the company's founders include three leading academic stem cell scientists: Irving L. Weissman of Stanford University, David J. Anderson of Caltech andFred Gage of Salk -- in whose very lab Schwartz developed his method.

None of the three appears to have gotten directly involved in the discussions, although one might think they would be especially sensitive to the need to balance the interests of private enterprise and academia. (None answered my requests for comment.)

So there has been no progress. The company says it did not explicitly threaten a lawsuit or even demand that CHOC cease distributing neural stem cells. But considering the firm's access to litigation firepower -- it's been waging a patent battle in court with another firm, Neuralstem Inc., since 2006 -- Dethlefs is probably wise to see its letter as a "veiled threat" and CHOC's lawyers prudent in suspending Schwartz's program.

Each side says it's waiting for the other to make an offer, but things may be moving backward. On Jan. 23, Dethlefs sent out a memo explaining to researchers that because of the "unresolved legal issue," it wouldn't be distributing cell lines that might come under the StemCells patents for the foreseeable future. The memo was postedlast month by John Simpson, a stem cell policy advocate, on his blog atconsumerwatchdog.org.

The problem affects more than just biotech. This month, former Intel Corp. Chief Executive Andrew Grove told a Silicon Valley audience that the evolution of patents into investment assets controlled by speculators threatens to stifle innovation in many industries.

AT&T's decision to license the transistor for a nominal $25,000 fee after its invention at Bell Labs, Grove maintained, helped launch the electronics industry and led, eventually, to the invention of the microprocessor. Today, the transistor would be tied up in a web of patent claims and its license priced for short-term profits.

The corralling of scientific discoveries behind patent walls is connected to the trend of major universities viewing their own labs as potential profit centers.

This trend rose up to bite academia on the behind in 2002, when Duke University lost an important case in federal court. To fend off a claim that its physics lab infringed on a former professor's patents, Duke asserted the "experimental use" exemption in patent law, which gave researchers doing purely academic work immunity from patent infringement claims.

But a federal appeals court found that Duke was, at heart, a business -- albeit one largely devoted to academic research. The judges pointed out that the university wasn't shy about "pursuing an aggressive patent licensing program" of its own. They narrowed the experimental use exemption to a pinprick, applying it only to research done "solely for amusement, to satisfy idle curiosity, or for strictly philosophical inquiry." The Supreme Court upheld the interpretation in 2003, jacking up the cost of basic research for everyone.

Navigating through patent thickets has become a permanent, and costly, part of any researcher's existence, especially in the life sciences.

Graff says this phenomenon is becoming especially pronounced in stem cell science, which is especially dependent on collaboration but is already being cordoned off by commercial entities claiming property rights to essential research. The best solution, he says, may be for academic institutions -- where 45% of all stem cell research is performed -- to create collaborative patent pools so they can more freely disseminate information and technology without giving up all their potentially lucrative patent rights.

Until that happens, however, programs like CHOC's will remain at the mercy of patent holders. Dethlefs says he believes that neural stem cells could be an important therapeutic tool and that Schwartz's program fed directly into CHOC's responsibility to serve its patients. Meanwhile, he says, "we're considering our options," which is the sort of thing you hear from people who don't have many options.

Source: Latimes.com 25 May 2009

Stem cell research gets £4m boost

2009-05-25T04:27:00.000-07:00

A GRANT of £4 million has been awarded by the government to scientists researching potential stem cell treatments for broken bones.

Over the next five years, teams at Imperial College London and the universities of Nottingham, Southampton and Keele will look at how stem cell technology can be used to repair human skeletal tissue.

Source: news.scotsmen.com 25 May 2009

Medical Council of Thailand finalises stem cell regulation

2009-05-25T04:24:00.000-07:00

The Medical Council of Thailand has completed a draft regulation on clinical trials using stem cell technology to provide consumers with better protection.

A panel of researchers from medical schools and private hospitals and a representative of the Food and Drug Administration agreed on the draft regulation on Friday after years of delaying a decision amid fears the regulation would block the benefits of using stem cell technology for lab research.

"The purpose of this regulation is to protect consumers from deceptive stem cell therapies," council president Somsak Lohlekha said. "So they don't have to unnecessarily pay huge sums of money for any treatment which is still at the experimental stage."

The draft regulation will be submitted to the public health minister for approval and published in the Royal Gazette. The process will take about three months before the country's first regulation on medical ethics regarding stem cell research for human treatment will be put into effect, he said. The regulation requires all studies on stem cell treatment, except for blood diseases, to be approved by an "ethics and academic panel" as well as the ethics committee of each medical school and hospital where any stem cell research would be undertaken.

Dr Somsak said panel members would be central to decisions on whether stem cell studies on humans at medical schools and hospitals met scientific and ethical standards. He said the panel would be made up of impartial experts on stem cell technology from medical universities.

Doctors conducting stem cell studies would be required to register with the Medical Council for monitoring and consumer protection purposes.

Dr Somsak said private clinics, especially dermatology clinics, providing expensive stem cell treatment were mushrooming, mainly due to a loophole in the drug bill.

The law could not be enforced against dermatologists formulating individual medications for patients or manufacturers and importers of cosmetics having animal stem cells as ingredients.

He also warned people about businesses that offer storage of stem cells at birth, which can cost as much as 200,000 baht.

Such services are reportedly popular among wealthy people who believe technological advancements will allow the cells to be used for treating future diseases.

He said scientific innovations could retrieve stem cells from blood for treatment at much cheaper cost. A warning on these misleading advertisements would be published on the Medical Council website, he said.

Source: Bangkok Post 25 May 2009

Acute need for public stem cell bank in South Africa

2009-05-25T04:21:00.002-07:00

Some of the country's top scientists are meeting this week to discuss the possibility of starting the country's first multi-million rand public stem cell bank.

The project is being spear-headed by Dr Michael Pepper, extraordinary professor in the department of immunology at the University of Pretoria and a director of Netcell, one of the country's three private stem cell banks.

Cervical cord blood contains stem cells used to treat blood-related disorders such as leukaemia and sickle-cell anaemia, as well as some immune and metabolic disorders. If this blood is harvested at birth and stored, it can be used to treat these disorders in later life.

Pepper said there was an acute need for a public stem cell bank.

"There are a lot of South Africans in need of a bone marrow transplant. There is a difficulty in getting matches from international banks because of the genetic diversity we have here. There is no facility that caters for the majority of the population."

He said the meeting this week would include all the stakeholders, including the Department of Health. A feasibility study is being carried out and they are looking at various ways of raising funds.

"To start a bank we would need R10-million and to drive it through to completion in a period of five years will take a total of R50-million."

The government had other health priorities, so it was unlikely to be able to fully fund it.

"We have the technology and the skills, the problem is raising the money."

The issue was raised at a recent public debate on stem cell banks in Cape Town at the MTN Sciencentre.

In South Africa there are three companies, Lazaron, Cryoclinic and Netcells, which offer stem-cell storage and which charge a collection fee of between R9 000 and R15 500 a baby. Some also charge an annual storage fee of R150.

A recent American study predicts that the chance of a person receiving a transplant of their own stem cells by the age of 70 is already one in 200.

UCT scientist in human genetics Jacquie Greenberg said stem cell research was the "hot science of now and the future".

"It really is exciting times. It is important that the government regulations allow this research here in South Africa and do not close the doors on it for the wrong reasons, such as because people do not understand its potential use and benefit."

She cautioned parents to be well informed before making a decision to save umbilical stems cells at a private cord blood bank.

"They must realise that it is a personal choice, not a must as some commercial cord blood banks often portray. They need to ask the right questions."

The questions include:

Is the bank accredited?

Is it honest about which diseases can be treated?

What happens if there are not enough cells collected for a transplant - will the bank then offer a refund?

Who owns the cord blood and what rights do you have?

What will happen if the bank goes out of business and closes down or what if you are unable to pay the annual storage fee?

Does the bank feed any of its profits and/or biological resources back into stem cell research?

She said it was essential that research continued so that scientists could develop therapies and cures using stem cells.

"There are no real successes as yet but there will be in the future, as long as research continues, and although many obstacles still remain, stem cell-based therapy is a most promising treatment for the future."

UCT department of human biology's Professor Susan Kidson said stem cell banks had been around for 30 years.

"But there is still a lot of hype. Little has been proven in the treatment of nervous system disorders. It is still in tests and trials. We need to be cautious because it is seen as an absolute cure."

She said a public cord blood bank, whose resources would be available to all, would be a great resource.

"But who would pay? The government has other dire medical health issues it needs to attend to."

Source: Sunday Argus on May 24, 2009

Family back in Central Texas after Chinese stem-cell treatment

2009-05-25T04:19:00.000-07:00

A Central Texas couple who recently took their young daughter to China so she could receive experimental stem cell therapy is hoping and praying the treatment will soon allow her to see.

So far, the improvements 20-month-old Sierra Fedelem has seen from the treatments have been small, said her parents, Jason and Rosetta Fedelem, of Temple. She now can sit unsupported for short periods of time and is able to stand with assistance for a couple of minutes rather than a few seconds like before. Other than that, she is the same as before the treatment.

But the Fedelems are still optimistic that recent treatments may help prove Sierra’s U.S. doctors wrong. When she was born, a compressed umbilical cord and waste that backed up in her lungs prevented her from breathing. The resulting lack of oxygen caused doctors to say she will never walk, talk, see or eat on her own.

The Chinese physicians who preformed the recent treatments told the Fedelems it takes a minimum of four months for the stem cells to fully work. That was backed up by other patients at the hospital there, who told them it took six months or longer before they saw dramatic change, the couple said.

“It takes time for the stem cells to attach and begin growing,” said Jason Fedelem, 27, who works in customer service for Sprint.

The family was able to make the trip to China after numerous fundraising events by family members and friends, including those at Grace Community Church in Waco, where the couple are members. The treatment itself cost about $23,000. Plus, the family had travel expenses.

The couple took Sierra to China because the type of treatment she received is not allowed in the United States. It involves injecting stem cells into the patient’s bloodstream in the hope that the cells will attach to damaged tissues and repair them.

Numerous companies in various countries offer stem cell therapy, claiming they can help improve conditions ranging from spinal cord injuries to cerebral palsy.

The Fedelems chose a firm called Beike Biotecnnology Co., which leases a floor of a hospital in Hangzhou, China. They liked the fact that the company uses umbilical stem cells, rather than embryonic ones. Plus, there have been no reports of Beike patients having any problems, they said.

The family was in China for nearly a month, leaving May 4. While there, Sierra received stem cell injections once a week. Given through an IV, the injections pumped 10 to 15 million stem cells into her in about 30 minutes, her mother said.

On days when she did not get injections, Sierra received physical therapy and electric-wave therapy, which is designed to stimulate muscles.

Even if nothing miraculous happens, the Fedelems said they will not regret taking their daughter halfway around the world for treatment.

“Any improvement is good,” Jason Fedelem said. “Sometimes you’ve got to take what you can get.”

U.S. doctors wary

Aaron Levine, an assistant professor at Georgia Institute for Technology who is researching overseas stem cell therapies, said he understands why people seek them out. However, they worry most U.S. doctors, he said.

The pre-eminent concern is whether the injections are safe, Levine said. Because they have only been done for a relatively short period of time, there is no way to gauge long-term effects. One credible published report said a patient who received fetal cell injections developed brain and spinal cord tumors, he said.

Plus, the clinics and hospitals where the injections are performed typically have lax oversight, Levine said. Those that have attempted to operate in countries with rigorous safety standards have often been shut down, he said.

Some of the clinics use embryonic stem cells, Levine said. But most use either umbilical stem cells or stem cells derived from adult bone marrow, he said.

Further casting doubts on the therapies is that the doctors who perform them have not released detailed information about their methods, Levine said. The fact that the same treatment is purported to help up to three dozen different diseases is suspect. Everything reputable scientists have discovered about stem cells points to the likelihood that treatments would have to be tailored to a specific condition to be effective, he said.

It’s possible some of the clinics may have stumbled upon beneficial therapies, Levine said. But unfortunately, there is no way to know without the scrutiny of scientific trials, he said.

Glowing online patient testimonials lure in patients, Levine said. But proving their veracity is virtually impossible, he said. He added that once people spend thousands of dollars on a treatment, they are more likely to want to believe it worked.

“There’s a really strong set-up for a placebo effect,” he said. “You can’t discount that these treatments could have some effect. It’s a possibility. . . . But right now, I think there are overwhelming reasons to be cautious.”

Source: Wacotrib.com 25 May 2009

Geron: Strong Investment in Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research

2009-05-25T04:17:00.000-07:00

Let me get the disclaimer out of the way first. I am not a medical doctor or biologist. I feel too many economists and analysts who do not have a background in these areas pretend that they do and write as such, but really have no clue what they are writing. I am just an investor with an interest in science. With that said, I have two companies that I believe are the leaders in the field of stem cell technology and have enormous potential. The two companies are Geron (GERN) and Advanced Cell Technology.

Geron is scheduled to begin the first ever human clinical trial with human embryonic stem cells (hESC) as the treatment this summer. The goal is to repair and regenerate the myelin sheath of spinal cord injuries. The myelin sheath is basically the electrical conductor that lets the brain’s signals reach other body parts. When damaged, these signals cannot pass the damaged area, resulting in paralysis. The results in the 2,000 rats in the animal model are very encouraging. They all regained movement in the lower lumbar region and had zero side-effects (i.e. tumors). The reason tumors can occur in these treatments is that the hESC needs to be differentiated to develop into the cell type that is wanted and require a delivery device that hits the injured spot in pinpoint accuracy. If either of these two requirements are not met, the hESCs can move throughout the body and/or have uncontrolled growth. Geron and Advanced Cell Technology, however, have these requirements covered.

Geron is not a one-trick pony either. It is also using hESC to develop cardiomyocytes for heart disease which is in product development; islets for diabetes, chondrocytes for cartilage regeneration, osteoblasts for bone regeneration, and hepatocytes for liver disease. The latter four mentioned are still in research phase.

Geron is not all hESC though. It is highly involved in cancer treatments focusing on telomerase. Telomerase is an enzyme that is found in a majority of cancer cells and is now thought to be the cause of the cancer cells’ immortality (never-ending division and growth). Geron’s drug, Imetelstat (formerly GRN163L), is a telomerase inhibitor designed to suppress telomerase in the cancer cells thus destroying them. Geron is currently conducting multiple trials in different types of cancer as a single-agent and multiple-agent with other cancer treatments. Two cancer vaccines are also developed by Geron. GRNVAC1 uses the telomerase inhibitor and is licensed to Merck. GRNVAC2 is the second generation of the cancer vaccine using dendritic cells produced from hESC instead of telomerase inhibition. This linktakes you to Geron’s website to the page discussing telomerase and the trials currently ongoing for cancer.

Safety and tolerability with Imetelstat is showing promise as dose escalation keeps increasing. Geron is now clinically seeing evidence of telomerase inhibition in humans. Geron also figured out how to stop thrombocytopenia, the only known side-effect of Imetelstat, from occurring. Thrombocytopenia is a reduction in, or condition of, having lower than normal platelet count in the blood. This side-effect occurred when Geron was using a dosing cycle of six weeks on, one week off. Since then Geron tried a two week on, one week off cycle. This new cycle has not affected results, telomerase inhibition, and has got rid of the thrombocytopenia side-effect.

Geron also holds patents on animal cloning, in addition to everything discussed above. Animal cloning has been approved by the FDA and EU as a breeding technique for farmers for use in the food supply. The best animals for meat and disease resistance would be cloned. These cloned animals would then mate and the offspring would eventually find their way to the supermarket, so we would be eating the offspring of clones and not the clones themselves, neither of which is found to be genetically different than eating the originals. If price comes down this technology could be main-stream for not only farmers, but racehorse owners to clone their stallions, and the average person to clone his or her beloved cats and dogs. Estimates have the potential of animal cloning reaching $20 billion a year.

Finally, for a start-up biotech, Geron has a pristine balance sheet. The company, last quarter, had cash and equivalents of $126 million, total assets of $211 million, total liabilities of only $7 million, with an estimated $35-$40 million cash burn rate per year for clinical trials.

Advanced Cell Technology is not as well managed fiscally as Geron. The company, in fact, was scheduled to be bankrupt in August of 2008. Advanced Cell Technology, however, has fought back by restructuring debt, securing private investments, and establishing a joint venture with South Korea’s leading stem cell company CHA Bio and Diostech. Advanced Cell Technology also hopes to receive NIH funding as a result of President Obama’s stem cell EO. The company is in the process of re-listing on the bulletin board with the eventual goal of re-listing on the NASDAQ.

Why invest in Advanced Cell Technology then? Like Geron, its patent breadth is vast. The company plans on being the second company (Geron is the first) to conduct a hESC trial as it plans to file an IND with the FDA for its retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) program for eye disease this year. Advanced Cell Technology is also ready to start phase 2 of its myoblast trial for heart disease. This trial was basically bought as the company bought Mytogen in 2007 which is the main source of its financial woes. This trial uses adult stem cells which is why it is in trial and was not affected by the previous stem cell limits imposed by the previous administration.

Perhaps the biggest of all potential products is Advanced Cell Technology’s patent on the creation of blood from hESC. Advanced Cell Technology is the company that first created hemoglobin from hESC and says it could create it on a mass scale. The significance of this is the potential to end our blood shortage with universal and disease-free blood. There has to be a certain amount of blood on hand in hospitals for surgical procedures in case of a mishap in all developed nations. This means endless demand for a blood product.

Stem cells, especially hESC, are coming upon a crossroads. Setbacks in Geron’s trial will unfairly hinder the entire industry while successes will unfairly life the entire industry and probably signal the all’s clear to big pharma to buy up these companies for pipeline. One thing is clear though, an interesting and historic time for the direction of the future of medicine is upon us.

Source: Seeking Alpha 25 May 2009

Novocell Awarded Patent for Innovative Stem Cell Therapy for Diabetes

2009-05-23T22:02:00.000-07:00

Patent Covers Groundbreaking Process for the Generation of Insulin-Producing Cells from Embryonic Stem Cells

@ The 2009 BIO International Convention

Novocell, Inc., a stem cell engineering company, today announced that it has received U.S. Patent # 7,534,608 with method claims covering the Company’s innovative stem cell therapy for the production of functional pancreatic, insulin-producing cells from human embryonic stem cells (hES). Novocell’s therapy is being developed as a method for the use of hES cells to replace insulin-producing pancreatic cells that are destroyed in people with diabetes.

The patent claims are supported by landmark research by Novocell (Kroon et. Al. Pancreatic endoderm derived from human embryonic stem cells generates glucose-responsive insulin-secreting cells in vivo Nature Biotechnology 26(4):443-52, 2008) demonstrating for the first time that hES cells can be turned into pancreatic cells capable of releasing insulin in response to glucose challenge in mice. Such cells exhibit properties characteristic of functional human adult pancreatic insulin-producing cells and provide protection in an animal model of diabetes characterized by loss of pancreatic insulin-producing cells.

“Novocell continues to build its patent position around its intellectual property for using stem cell therapies to treat diabetes,” said Fred Middleton, Chairman of Novocell. “We are pleased the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is continuing to recognize the pioneering nature of Novocell’s stem cell research program as a novel approach to providing diabetes therapy.”

“This important patent covers our methods employing hES cells as a renewable source of glucose-responsive, insulin-producing cells for diabetes cell replacement therapies,” said Emmanuel Baetge, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of Novocell. “This proprietary process provides a potential treatment option that could lead to the first widespread application of a cell replacement therapy for diabetes.”

Source: Businesswire.com 19 May 2009

Video on US man's damaged heart healed by adult stem cells

2009-05-23T20:40:00.000-07:00

From a blog in the US on adult stem cells...

There is a video from "The Texas Alliance for Life." It's about a man whose heart (damaged by a heart attack) was totally healed using adult stem-cells. The Texas Alliance For Life is promoting a couple of bills in the Texas State Legslature to establish a consortium to further adult stem-cell research, which (unlike embryonic stem-cell research) is morally sound and actually produces results.

One of the things I had not known was that when Californians gave $3billion+ to Proposition 71, a stated goal of the ESCR backers was to produce just one treatment within10 years. This, while adult stem-cells are treating and curing people just about weekly if not daily.

Link to the blog and video

UB Scientists Develop Novel Method to Stimulate Growth of New Neurons in Adult Brain

2009-05-23T20:37:00.000-07:00

Eureka! Age-long neurological disorders have finally met their match. University at Buffalo researchers, led by Michal Stachowiak, Ph.D., director of the Molecular and Structural Neurobiology and Gene Therapy, have identified a new mechanism that plays a central role in adult brain stem cell development and prompts brain stem cells to differentiate into neurons.

The research team set out to see if it is possible to generate a wave of new neurons from stem cells and direct them to the affected areas using a mouse model. Their discovery, known as Integrative FGFR1 Signaling (INFS), has fundamentally challenged the prevailing ideas of how signals are processed in cells during neuronal development. So what exactly does this mean?

In essence, the INFS mechanism is considered capable of repopulating degenerated brain areas. This increases the possibility for new treatments for brain injuries, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders which result from an extensive loss of neurons, accompanied by functional deterioration in the affected brain tissue. Such neurodegenerative diseases are a major health concern, given the rising aging population worldwide.

The approach uses gene engineering and nanoparticles for gene delivery to activate the INFS mechanism directly and promote neuronal development. The INFS-targeting gene can prompt these stem cells to differentiate into neurons to replenish dead cells.

"In this way, targeting the INFS potentially could be used to cure certain brain diseases, particularly in the case of a stroke or injuries that happen as a single episode and are not continuously attacking the brain," said Dr. Stachowiak. "This study provides proof of concept for a novel approach to the treatment of neuronal loss by means of therapeutic gene transfer. This is a particularly attractive alternative to viral-mediated gene transfer.

Stachowiak and his wife, Ewa K. Stachowiak, Ph.D., research assistant professor of pathology and anatomical sciences, along with their postdoctoral fellows and graduate students, have spent more than 15 years studying the mechanisms that control natural neurogenesis, the creation of new neurons.

Stachowiak and colleagues are currently working on approaches for further development of gene delivery methods for the treatment of neuronal loss. "Now that we know the mechanism, we can search effectively for the means to control it," said Ewa Stachowiak.

Results of the research appear in a recent issue of Integrative Biology.

Source: www.buffalorising.com 23 May 2009

Embryonic vs. Adult Stem Cells Research

2009-05-23T20:30:00.000-07:00

by Dr Centeno
We’ve all heard about embryonic stem cells (ESC’s). They have been in the news and the focus of controversy for a decade. We’ve seen far less media coverage of adult stem cells. Adult stem cells (ASC’s) are found in everyone’s body and they are capable of repairing a host of tissues. In fact, the research on adult cell lines has surpassed embryonic.
My search begins at the National Library of Medicine, looking at all embryonic stem cell published papers vs. the total on all adult stem cell lines. For every one ESC paper, there were at least two ASC papers.
In addition, the research on ASC’s is vastly more mature, focusing on animal models of tissue healing, dosing, early human cases, medication interaction with cells, possible complications, etc… The ESC research is more test tube and review articles on what might be possible someday. Looking in specific categories, I found the following:
Cartilage Repair: 230 articles on embryonic vs. 1,113 for just one adult stem cell line (mesenchymal stem cells)
Myocardial Infarction: 186 for embryonic stem cells vs. 341 for adult mesenchymal stem cells, 69 for endothelial progenitor cells
Wound Healing: 114 for embryonic stem cells vs. 330 for adult mesenchymal stem cells, 565 for adult epithelial stem cells
For a more detailed analysis, take a look at the American Stem Cell Therapy Assocition (ASCTA) white paper on adult stem cells vs. embronic stem cell research. Summary? Adult stem cell research is much farther ahead. In addition, as I have posted on before, if the cells are autologous (from the same patient), they also have a much lower risk profile. While one day embryonic cells may rule the day, for now, adult stem cells are beating the pants off ESC’s in practical research.
To delve further, the first 20 references for myocardial infarction for adult stem cells are almost all devoted to actual animal models of treatment, advanced concepts such as dosing, etc…
Almost none of the 20 references in the same search for embryonic stem cells reveal any animal testing; the focus being review articles what about might be theoretically possible. The conclusion, adult stem cells are much farther along in their development with regard to real world treatments.
What have these actual animal and early human models shown that adult stem cells are capable of healing?
•Orthopedic tissues such as cartilage, bone, muscle, tendon, spinal disc, and ligament[1‐25]
• Heart [26‐40]
• Pancreas (Diabetes)[41‐50]
• Wound Healing[51‐61]
• Lungs[62‐70]
• Brain (stroke, brain injury, Multiple Sclerosis, ALS)[71‐94]
• Spinal Cord (Spinal Cord Injury)[95‐99]
• Liver[100‐110]
• Kidney[111‐125]
Source: http://www.regenexx.com/2009/05/embryonic-vs-adult-stem-cells/

Desperate patients are traveling far and wide for access to stem-cell cures unavailable in the United States

2009-05-23T19:55:00.001-07:00

In Pictures: Five Overseas Stem-Cell Treatment Options

In December 2008, Carlene Gregg Victor left Houston's George Bush International airport with a wheelchair and a flicker of hope. After a 10-hour plane ride and a five-hour snowy drive from Amsterdam to Cologne, Germany, she and her husband arrived at a hotel near the Xcell-Center for Regenerative Medicine, where they would mount a desperate offensive in their battle with her Parkinson's disease.

By that time, Gregg Victor, 65, had suffered from Parkinson's for seven years. Her right hand trembled so much that she couldn't write anymore; feeling in the toes of her right foot would fade in and out; and she couldn't twist that ankle. When she walked, her right leg moved more slowly than her left.

Frustrated by the lack of treatment options in the U.S., she was willing to gamble on a $10,000 procedure involving the injection of 3 million of her own stem cells, extracted from bone marrow in her hip, into the fluid surrounding her spinal cord.

Unlike other cells, stem cells have the power to replicate, making them potentially powerful weapons against all manner of pathologies, from Alzheimer's to diabetes. The cells can be harvested from numerous sources--often from a patient's own bone marrow or from umbilical cord blood of healthy newborns. Once multiplied and conditioned, the cells can be injected intravenously into the blood stream or directly into injured sections of the body, depending on the ailment.

Gregg Victor is one of the 1.5 million Americans who traveled abroad to get medical treatments last year. Most of these so-called medical tourists sought quicker access to health services, care for non-covered procedures like dental surgeries and cheap elective procedures like face lifts. More than a few were pursuing new stem-cell-based treatments unavailable in the States and rarely covered by American insurance companies. In March, President Barack Obama issued an order removing the limitations on stem-cell research set by George W. Bush, but real movement on this issue, if any, is still many years away.

In the meantime, patients are paying up. Adult stem-cell treatments, often arranged by American-based intermediaries, run between $10,000 and $35,000, depending on the treatment. Airfare and hotel stays are extra.

Never mind that scientists say this is risky, unproven stuff. "I believe that [stem cells] will give us some new way to heal diseases, but for now [success] is anecdotal," says Dr. Donald Kohn, researcher with the Broad Stem Cell Research Center at UCLA. "I believe [any healing] is more a psychological effect."

Irving Weissman, director of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine (ISSCR) at Stanford University, is more blunt: "I've have worried about [stem-cell related medical tourism] for a long time," he says. "Every reputable doctor or scientist worries about it."

Source: Forbes 21 May 2009

FOR BLOOD STEM CELLS, THE FORCE IS STRONG

2009-05-23T13:25:00.002-07:00

Blood stem cells grow with the flow, two new studies show.

The studies, led by independent groups at Children’s Hospital Boston, report that an embryo’s heartbeat and blood circulation stimulate the growth of blood stem cells.

The discovery could be a boon to researchers seeking to make blood stem cells for people with blood cancers, immune system disorders and other diseases that require bone marrow transplants. In children and adults, blood stem cells reside in the bone marrow. Only about a third of patients who require bone marrow transplants have matching donors.

“Basically we cannot offer optimal therapy to two-thirds of patients,” says Leonard Zon, director of the Stem Cell Program at Children’s Hospital Boston, and a coauthor of one of the new studies, which appears online May 13 and in the May 15 Cell.

Scientists can make red and white blood cells easily in the laboratory, but bone marrow patients need blood stem cells to constantly replenish their blood supply. Producing these cells, also called hematopoietic stem cells, is much more difficult, Zon says.

Now, his group suggests that a little force can boost blood stem cell production in zebrafish embryos. Reporting online May 13 in Nature, a group led by George Daley, director of the Pediatric Stem Cell Transplantation Program at Children’s Hospital Boston, demonstrates that blood flow also triggers hematopoietic stem cell production in mouse embryos. Both groups found nitric oxide plays an important role.

Daley’s group directly tested the ability of blood flow to turn cells into hematopoietic stem cells. The team placed mouse embryonic stem cells in a centrifuge-like device that mimics shear stress — the frictional force blood creates when it flows over cells — in a mouse’s aorta. In early embryos, blood stem cells first form on the floor of the aorta. Later in development, they migrate to the bone marrow.

Embryonic stem cells exposed to the same magnitude of shear stress as found in the mouse aorta produced hematopoietic stem cells. Cells that were exposed to a different magnitude of shear stress, such as that in the human aorta, did not.

A nitric oxide–blocking drug reduced the number of blood stem cells induced by the shear stress. Nitric oxide is a chemical produced naturally in the body and is known to be important in regulating blood vessel growth and elasticity.

When the researchers gave the nitric oxide–blocker to pregnant mice, their embryos also had problems making blood stem cells.

Zon’s team used zebrafish embryos, which are transparent, to watch the stem cells develop. He and his colleagues found that chemicals that increase blood flow in the tails of zebrafish embryos also boost activity of the RUNX1 gene, a master regulator of blood stem cells. Mutant embryos that don’t have a heartbeat because of a defect in a heart muscle protein don’t make hematopoietic stem cells in their tails.

When the researchers gave a nitric oxide compound to the mutant embryos, however, the embryos produced more blood stem cells. The nitric oxide–blocker also inhibited blood stem cell production, the researchers found. Those findings suggest that blood flow may increase nitric oxide levels, which then boost stem cell production, Zon says.

Intuitively, scientists might expect that mechanical forces play a role in shaping development, but few biologists have studied this due to experimental difficulties, says Ihor Lemischka, a stem cell biologist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.

“I think we’ll be seeing more of these types of studies,” Lemischka says.

It’s still not clear how the cells sense shear stress, and researchers are trying to unravel the chain of events between mechanical force and stem cell production in order to manipulate the process to make blood stem cells for transplant.

Source: Sciencenews.org May 2009

Adult Stem Cells Injected in Heart Boost Blood Flow

2009-05-23T13:15:00.000-07:00

Patients with clogged arteries and severe chest painwho were injected with stem cells from their own bone marrow had a small improvement in blood flow and the pumping ability of their hearts, along with an easing of pain, researchers found.

Doctors in the Netherlands drew bone marrow from the hips of patients in the study. After isolating the stem cells, they injected them back into the patients’ hearts and monitored their progress. The results were published today in theJournal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers are pursuing the use of different kinds of stem cells to treat a range of conditions, and several thousand heart patients have been treated with adult stem cells, those found in mature organs. While some cardiologists originally hoped bone marrow cells might generate new heart muscle to replace damaged tissue, that hasn’t been found to occur, said Warren Sherman, a cardiologist at Columbia University in New York.

“The focus has shifted,” said Sherman, in a telephone interview today. “Cardiologists are now hoping that bone marrow stem cells can promote the growth of new blood vessels and improve the quality of life and level of chest pain patients have.”

The new study, in 50 patients, showed that adult stem cells can improve blood flow and ease chest pain, Sherman said.

In the study, half of the patients got their own stem cells and the others got a simulated treatment. The cardiologists used a catheter, a thin wire threaded through their arteries that also carried a small camera to guide the injections.

Less Pain

The key finding in Sherman’s view was that the treated patients reported greater easing of their chest pain at three months and six months after the procedure than did the placebo patients. On a scale of 0 to 100, the patients who got their own stem cells improved from 56 to 69 after six months, while the placebo patients went from 57 to 64.

“Most patients are looking for relief of chest pain more than improvement in ventricular function,” or pumping action, Sherman said.

He said to truly demonstrate effectiveness of bone marrow cells, larger studies will need to be completed.

Source: Bloomberg 19 May 2009

Bone marrow cells treat heart symptoms

2009-05-23T13:10:00.001-07:00

Injecting bone marrow stem cells into the damaged heart can help alleviate angina symptoms in patients suffering from a chronic form of cardiovascular disease.

Myocardial ischemia is a chronic condition in which long-term reduced blood flow to certain areas of the heart results in oxygen deprivation to the heart muscle and inadequate removal of toxic metabolites.

According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, inserting bone marrow cells into the damaged areas of the heart is associated with modest improvements in blood flow to the heart muscle and in overall heart function.

Stem cell infusion improves heart's ability to pump blood with each contraction, leading to greater improvements in the patient's ability to exercise and their quality-of-life.

Scientists concluded that bone marrow stem cell therapy is a safe and feasible method in treating patients with ischemic heart disease.

Source: www.presstv.ir 20 May 2009

Researchers induce formation of new blood vessels using stem cells from bone marrow

2009-05-23T13:03:00.000-07:00

Therapy restores blood flow in mice, forms the basis for upcoming clinical trials in humans.

Researchers have successfully induced the formation of new blood vessels in mice with reduced blood flow (ischemia) to their limbs using adult human stem cells. The breakthrough treatment resulted in fully functioning limbs that showed both increased blood flow to previously damaged areas and an increase in the number of blood vessels. The study, published in this week’s print edition of the journal Blood, paves the way for the stem cell-based treatment of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in humans, a painful condition common in diabetic patients that can lead to amputation.

“We have shown that you can introduce adult stem cells to the blood that will go directly to the areas of low oxygen and initiate the formation of new blood vessels,” said Jan Nolta, professor of internal medicine and director of the UC Davis Stem Cell Program.

The “homing” behavior of the cells to find damaged vessels was particularly remarkable with ALDH bright cells, a particular population of stem cells used for the study, added Nolta. Images of mouse limbs show how the cells target the area of low oxygen and result in revascularization of the injured limb.

“We don’t even have to know what area needs repair. A unique characteristic of these adult stem cells is that when they are injected, they go to areas of damage to start the repair. That’s why we like to call them the ‘paramedics of the body,’” she said.

Source: insciences.org 23 May 2009

PAD is characterized by reduced blood flow to the legs and feet caused by blockage of the arteries. In severe cases, it causes persistent pain and tissue damage. There are no drugs currently approved to treat the condition in its worst form, critical limb ischemia (CLI), and when surgical interventions and other standards of care fail, amputation can be the only option.

The current findings also have important implications for treating other kinds of ischemic damage, said senior author David Hess, an assistant professor of physiology and pharmacology at the University of Western Ontario’s Robarts Research Institute.

“These principles could be applied not only to ischemic limbs, but also to aid in the formation of new blood vessels in ischemic tissue anywhere in the body, for example after a stroke or heart attack,” said Hess, who began the work while a postdoctoral fellow in Nolta’s laboratory when she was at Washington University in St. Louis.

Nolta, who arrived at UC Davis in 2006, said the key to the current findings was the isolation of the ALDH bright cells, which highly express the enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase. This population contains the most primitive subsets of three types of cells from the bone marrow. The first type, hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), give rise to all blood cell types in the body. The other two are mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) and endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs). Blood vessels contain mixtures of the latter two cell types, and HSCs and MSCs can both have significant healing effects on damaged tissue.

Using human bone marrow, the researchers simultaneously isolated the three different types of stem cells in the ALDH bright population. These stem cells, called pro-angiogenic stem cells, were purified to remove any inflammatory or contaminating mature cells. The cells were labeled with glowing iron nanoparticles for imaging purposes, which allowed them to be tracked by the team, and then injected into the circulation of mice that had one of their leg arteries removed.

Imaging studies showed that the stem cells went directly to the site of low blood flow in the limbs. Laser doppler imaging showed an increase in blood flow for the treated limbs. Using standard cytology techniques, the research team counted the number of blood vessels and confirmed new blood vessel formation.

“We have shown that this population of stem cells can successfully revascularize a limb, restoring it to its full function,” Nolta said.

The findings, Hess said, are immediately clinically applicable because these human stem cells were used in immune-deficient mouse models, which cannot reject the cells. In fact, preclinical data from the current research was used by Aldagen, a North Carolina-based biopharmaceutical company, as part of the data package submitted to the FDA for clearance to begin a multicenter trial using the same cells used to treat the mice. Aldagen, the company that first brought ALDH bright cells into the clinic, completed a Phase I/II trial and found the treatment safe and well-tolerated and that these cells could improve the clinical status of patients with severe CLI and improve blood flow in affected legs. In this trial, patients with late-stage critical limb ischemia were injected with ALDH bright cells prepared from the patients’ own bone marrow.

Nolta and a team at the UC Davis Vascular Center hope to begin clinical trials for the treatment of peripheral arterial disease in the coming year, as well as to continue basic and clinical research on the potential use of stem cells to treat heart attack and stroke. They are working to understand the mechanism behind the homing behavior observed in the stem cells.

“We have found that the key is a class of molecules called chemokines,” Nolta explained, who, along with her colleagues, is preparing to publish additional work showing how stem cells are able to find their way to areas of low oxygen in the body. “We know that if we eliminate specific molecules, the stem cells lose their homing abilities,” she said.

UC Davis is playing a leading role in stem cell research, with more than 125 scientists and physicians currently working on a variety of stem cell investigations at campus locations in both Davis and Sacramento. The university recently broke ground for its Institute for Regenerative Cures, a facility supported by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). The 92,000 square-foot research facility located in Sacramento will enable researchers to have access to state-of-the-art laboratories and cell manufacturing and testing rooms. That project, along with the Translational Human Embryonic Stem Cell Shared Research Facility in Davis, will complement the university's NIH-supported Clinical and Translational Science Center and help turn stem cells into cures. For more information, visithttp://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/stemcellresearch/.

China's bone marrow bank gathers 970,000 donors

2009-05-23T12:56:00.003-07:00

The China Marrow Donor Program (CMDP) has gathered 970,000 donors by the end of last month since its establishment in 2001.

"We expect the number of donors to reach 1 million next year," said Hong Junling, the CMDP director, at the program's annual meeting here Tuesday.

The number of donors increased by 170,000 in 2008 over the previous year, he said.

He attributed the increase to more investment in collecting samples, building storages and improving test devices.

The marrow bank, sponsored by the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC), received an allocation of 86 million yuan (12.46 million U.S. dollars) from the central government's proceeds from lottery sales last year.

In the past eight years, about 1,200 volunteers have donated hematopoietic stem cells to patients of blood diseases through the program, he said.

Among them, about 50 people donated to patients abroad, he added.

As the world's largest marrow bank for Chinese, it opens matching service to patients in more than 20 countries and regions including the United States, Canada and Great Britain.

The donor database now has a branch in every provincial division in the Chinese mainland. It also cooperated with six umbilical cord blood banks in the mainland, which enabled it to include 30,000 cord blood samples in its service.

Stem cell transplants have proved effective in treating blood diseases such as sickle-cell anemia, leukemia and other disorders. Matching of a donor and a recipient for HLA was pivotal for the success of blood stem cell transplants.

In China, about one million people were waiting for matching hematopoietic stem cells while the number of leukemia patients increased by around 40,000 annually. "We hope to increase cooperation with marrow banks abroad, especially with those countries and regions that have more Chinese donors," said Jiang Yiman, the RCSC executive vice president, at the same meeting.

Source: Xinxua 19 May 2009

Stem Cell Bank Coming up in Ahmedabad

2009-05-23T12:50:00.000-07:00

StemCyte Inc, United States, an International umbilical cord blood stem cell storage bank and a therapeutic company has joined hands with Apollo Hospitals Enterprise and Cadila Pharmaceuticals to set up a hybrid public and private umbilical cord blood stem cell bank and research institute — StemCyte India Therapeutics in Ahmedabad. The company plans to build an inventory of approximately 25,000 ethnically diverse umbilical cord blood units to help treat critically-ill patients in India and around the world. Dr Robert Chow, Global Medical Director founded StemCyte Inc, USA in 1997 operating both as an International Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cell Storage Bank and a Therapeutic Company. He invented the company's proprietary processing technology.

The body's immune system can reject implanted cells and hence it is important that they are as close a match as possible. This possibility is enhanced if the cord blood comes from the same racial and/or ethnic profile as the patient that is to be treated. "Presently it is not easy to find a stem cell match for an Indian person and hence creating a public umbilical cord blood bank in India will enable Indian's in India and around the world to benefit, by having access to these units," said Kenneth Giacin, Chairman & CEO,

Till date, approximately 14,000 umbilical cord blood stem cell transplants have been carried out worldwide. StemCyte Inc— the parent company has provided more than 950 cord blood stem cell products for transplantation, to over 175 leading transplant centres in more than 30 countries.

More than 70 blood related diseases had been successfully treated with umbilical cord blood stem cells. These include various cancers (leukemias, lymphomas, myelomas), blood disorders (thalassemia, sickle cell anaemia, fanconi anemia) and autoimmune deficiency diseases.

Source: www.expresshealthcaremgmt.com May 2009

Good News: Rhode Island Considers Public Cord-Blood Bank

2009-05-23T12:48:00.000-07:00

For years, women have been able to store their babies' cord blood at a steep cost. Now, Rhode Island is working toward hosting New England’s first public cord-blood bank.

Stem cells found in cord blood have been used to treat diseases and conditions such as leukemia and lymphoma.

The Rhode Island Blood Center and Women & Infants Hospital have started collecting donated umbilical-cord blood in a one-year trial program. Initially, the blood will be sent to the New Jersey Cord Blood Bank. The blood stored there and at other public blood banks is used to treat people around the world.

“Cord-blood donation is an incredible, painless way to save someone’s life,” Dr. Carolyn Young, chief medical officer at the Rhode Island Blood Center, told The Providence Journal. “There is no controversy, unlike embryonic stem cells.”

Jennifer Lahl, national director for The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network, reminded the public that ethical stem-cell research like cord-blood research is the only type that has successfully treated humans.

“It’s good policy as well as good medicine," she said, "and good ethical, scientific discovery and progress.”

Source: Citizenlink.org 22 May 2009

Storing umbillical cord blood (UCB) in Malaysia

2009-05-23T12:37:00.001-07:00

An older but relevant piece on cord blood banking in Malaysia featured in the Star on June 3rd, 2007

Private cord blood banking – some salient questions and straight answers - By DR NG SOO CHIN

EXPECTING parents are faced with a lot of important decisions before their baby is born. These include the basics, such as what to name the baby, which hospital and doctors to go to, breastfeeding vs. formula feeding, etc.

And more and more, they have to consider the issue of whether or not to bank or store their baby’s umbilical cord blood (UCB) and in Malaysia, which company to bank with since there are now three competing companies!

What does the umbilical cord blood contain?

The presence of haematopoietic stem cells is the cell of interest. Compared to stem cells form bone marrow, the UCB stem cells are more primitive and more “naive”, and as a result, allogeneic transplant can be done with only a partial HLA matched.

There is likely presence of other cells of importance such as the mesenchymal and neural precursor cells, which may be grown into other lineages such as, cartilage, fat, hepatic or cardiac cell under suitable environment.

What are the difference between public or community cord blood banking and private cord blood banking?

The public cord bank or community cord blood bank received cord blood from voluntary donors and they are typed and stored for anyone who needs to use it.

The bank is usually affiliated to a university and is run as a non-profit organisation. The centre that requests for the cord blood for use for specific patients will need to pay a fixed sum to the public cord bank to defray the expenses incur in collection, typing and storage of the cord blood.

The private cord blood banks cater for the individual family who chooses to store the baby’s UCB at time of birth. The parents concerned will need to pay for the collection and storage fees. They are run as a business concern and not infrequently, there were criticisms of hard- selling their services.

There are currently three companies that provide such services in Malaysia and not surprisingly there is a tough fight for the clients who can afford such services.

Another consideration now in many who are starting families is whether to store their baby’s cord blood. – AP

What is the long-term viability of frozen cord blood?

So far, recovery of viable stem cells from cord blood is over 90% at 15 years. In theory, it should be possible to store cells for millenia at -196 degrees Celsius, the temperature of liquid nitrogen.

Below -130 degrees Celsius, no liquid water exists in cells, which prevents biochemical reactions between molecules dissolved in water. At -196 degrees Celsius there is not enough thermal energy in the cell to drive any biochemical reaction. The only degradation that can occur at this temperature is reactions caused by cosmic background radiation.

It can be calculated that, at normal terrestrial conditions, it would take about 2000 years before such reactions caused a significant amount of damage.

What are the potential benefits of collecting and storing umbilical cord blood?

If one reads through a brochure on private cord banking, UCB storage is branded as a form of medical insurance and it can be used for treatment of both malignant and benign blood disorders. Because umbilical cord blood contains a rich source of hematopoietic stem cells and progenitor cells, it has been effective as an alternative allogeneic donor source in a variety of paediatric genetic, haematologic, immunologic, and oncologic disorders.

The potential uses in regenerative medicine and degenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s diseases are generally highlighted.

What do the cord bank operators fail to tell you?

The amount of stem cells harvested in the UCB will fall short of the minimum number required for stem cell or bone marrow transplant if the kid grows up to more than 100 pounds!

On average, a cord blood sample contains 8.6 million nucleated cells per millilitre, and a successful transplant requires harvesting 1 millilitre of cord blood per pound of patient weight.

There are intense research going on to expand the cells in vivo and there are anecdotal reports of such success, but it is not going to be easy and certainly will be an expensive undertaking.

Certain childhood malignancy such as the common acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is unlikely to benefit much from autologous UCB transplantation.

What is the chance of using the stored cord blood?

The probability that the average child will require a transplant of her own stem cells before age 20 has been estimated as 4 in 10,000 (.04%). Current estimates place the chances of a child needing to use his or her own cord blood sample at somewhere between 1 in 1,000 and 1 in 200,000.

However, over the course of a lifetime up to age 70, the probability that a person will require a transplant of her own stem cells is 1 in 450 (0.23%), and the likelihood of requiring any transplant, from yourself or a sibling, is 1 in 220 (0.46%).

In other words it is not a common occurrence, especially in the childhood when stem cell transplant is needed

What are the recommendations of the Professional bodies?

The American Association of Paediatrics in the latest 2007 policy statement stated that private UCB storage as “biological insurance” should be discouraged. There is not enough evidence to support the routine harvesting and storage of umbilical cord.

The AAP panel express concern that “families may be vulnerable to emotional marketing (from private blood banks) at the time of birth of a child and may look to their physicians for advice.” They point out that the vast majority of children will never require the use of stored cord blood.

The AAP experts conclude that because the potential uses of cord blood remain extremely “limited”, cord blood banking should only be considered “if there is a family member with a current or potential need to undergo a stem cell transplantation.”

On the other hand, they encourage parents to donate cord blood “at no cost” to national stem cell banks, in much the same that organs are donated to help strangers in need. Parents should give informed consent before donating cord blood, and contact between the donor family and blood bank should be maintained in case “a genetic disease or (leukaemia) develops” within the donor family.

The Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of United Kingdom in 2006 proclaimed that “?there is insufficient evidence to recommend directed commercial UCB collection and storage in low risk families”.

The European Group in Ethnics in Science and New Technologies in 2004 wrote to the European Commission that the legitimacy of commercial cord blood bank for autologous or own use should be questioned as they sell a service, which has presently, no real use regarding therapeutic options. Thus they provide more than they can deliver. The activities of such banks raised serious ethnical criticisms.

The same group recommended any kind of advertisement by commercial cord blood bank in the media, including the internet, must be adequately controlled by public authorities. The support for public cord bank should be increased

What are the latest results of UCB transplants?

The use of umbilical cord blood to treat a wide variety of diseases is a relatively new and growing technology. More than 5,500 unrelated-donor cord blood stem cell transplantations have been performed for malignancies, bone marrow failure, haemoglobinopathies, immunodeficiencies, and inborn errors of metabolism.

Cord blood may be superior to bone marrow stem cell transplantation because of greater availability, a reduced risk for graft-vs-host disease, and less risk for blood-borne illness.

However, autologous cord blood has less potential to treat diseases such as leukaemia because the genetic traits for cancer exist within the blood sample destined for transplantations.

Historically UCB transplants have significantly high mortality due largely due to slow engraftment of stem cells. A new innovate approach using double cord blood collection seemed to improve the transplant results.

If double cord turns out to be the transplant format of choice, it would mean the storage of own UCB is an inadequate exercise as one still has to source for another cord blood collection.

What if I have not stored my child’s cord blood and he/she is struck with the dreaded illness mentioned, is she/he doomed?

Take a deep breath and calm down. You could search from the public cord blood bank or from the bone marrow registry for potential donors if no sibling matched donor is forth-coming.

Some types of cancer with genetic basis e.g. acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) may be best treated with stem cells form allogeneic source or different persons.

How do I feel (does it matter?) about the whole thing?

In an ideal world, all children should have their UCB stored but for the expenses and logistics involved.

I have no problems with people storing cord blood for own use later. Neither have I had any qualms about private companies collecting storing cord blood stem cells.

My concern is that as consumers, the parents are not being presented with the whole truth and this is not acceptable from a viewpoint of good clinical practice.

I am also concerned about the “entrapment syndrome” – the private cord blood Co can present various reasons to up their fees in the future and I don’t think the consumers have very little to fight back. What if the company folds?

Despite being claimed as a form of medical insurance, I agreed with Dr Mitchell Cairo (paediatric oncologist and stem cell researcher) that insurance should have a definable pay-offs and not on theoretical considerations.

Perhaps, parents should instead invest on educational or health insurance for the baby rather than on something nebulous as private cord blood banking!

References:

1. Kobylka, P., et al. 1998, Transplantation, 65(9):1275-1278.
2. Mazur P. 1988, Ann NY Acad Sci. 541:514-31. “Stopping biological time. The freezing of living cells”
3. W Reed, et al, Blood 2003; 101(1):351
4. FL Johnson, 1997; J Ped Hem Onc 19(3): 183-186
5. Pasquini, MC, Logan, BR, Verter, F, Horowitz, MM, & Nietfeld, JJ 2005 ASH meeting poster#5260
6. Pediatrics. 2007;119:165-170

7. Royal college of Obstetrics and Gynecology: Scientific advisory committee opinion paper 2:June 2006

Disclaimer: The author is a consultant haematologist and he has no personal interest in any of the private cord blood companies. This article was also published in Berita MMA (Malaysian Medical Association) April issue.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely that of the author’s. The information provided is for educational and communication purposes only and it should not be construed as personal medical advice. Information published in this article is not intended to replace, supplant or augment a consultation with a health professional regarding the reader’s own medical care. The Star does not give any warranty on accuracy, completeness, functionality, usefulness or other assurances as to such information. The Star disclaims all responsibility for any losses, damage to property or personal injury suffered directly or indirectly from reliance on such information.

A Major Breakthrough in Generating Safer, Therapeutic Stem Cells from Adult Cells

2009-05-23T12:14:00.000-07:00

Scientists Completely Avoid Problems of Genetic Manipulation by Instead Using Chemical Programming

A group of researchers at The Scripps Research Institute and other institutions have achieved a breakthrough in converting adult cells all the way back to the most primitive embryonic-like cells without using the dangerous genetic manipulations associated with previous methods. The new technique solves one of the most challenging safety hurdles associated with personalized stem cell-based medicine because for the first time it enables scientists to make stem cells in the laboratory from adult cells without genetically altering them. This discovery has the potential to spark the development of many new types of therapies for humans, for diseases that range from Type 1 diabetes to Parkinson's disease.

The study was published in an advance, online issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell on April 23, 2009.

"We are very excited about this breakthrough in generating embryonic-like cells from fibroblasts [cells that gives rise to connective tissue] without using any genetic material," says Scripps Research Associate Professor Sheng Ding, who led the research. "Scientists have been dreaming about this for years."

Normally, cells develop from stem cells into a myriad of increasingly more specialized cell types during early development and throughout a lifetime. In humans and other mammals, these developmental events are irreversible. This means that when tissues are damaged or cells are lost, there is usually no source from which to replenish them. Having a source of the most primitive stem cells available would be useful in many medical situations because these cells are "pluripotent," having the ability to become any of the body's cell types—potentially providing doctors with the ability to repair damaged tissues throughout the body.

However bright this promise, the use of stem cells in medicine has faced many hurdles. One strategy has been to work towards a therapy where doctors could take a patient's own adult cells and "reprogram" them into stem cells. This not only avoids potential ethical problems associated with the use of human embryonic stem cells, it also addresses concerns about compatibility and immune rejection that plague therapies such as organ transplantation.

A few years ago, a team of researchers in Japan made a breakthrough in this general approach by converting mouse skin cells into mouse stem cells. The Japanese team accomplished this remarkable transformation by inserting a set of four genes into these skin cells. While the study was a powerful proof-of-principle, the therapeutic potential of genetically reprogrammed cells is limited because of safety issues. One obvious problem is that the four required genes and their associated foreign DNA sequences permanently reside in the cells when transplanted. Moreover, the specific genes in question are problematic because, in living tissue, they are linked to the development of cancerous tumors.

Many scientists have been trying to find safer ways to generate stem cells from adult cells—developing methods that require fewer genes, or techniques that can put genes in and then take them out. However, to date all of these have still harbored significant safety concerns due to the nature of the genetic manipulations. Ding and his team previously reported the discovery of drug-like small molecules to replace some of those genes, but have also hoped to go even further and find ways to reprogram adult cells into stem cells without using any genes or genetic manipulations at all.

The team of scientists accomplished this extraordinarily challenging feat by engineering and using recombinant proteins, that is proteins made from the recombination of fragments of DNA from different organisms. Many different recombinant proteins have been therapeutically and routinely used to treat human diseases. Instead of inserting the four genes into the cells they wanted to reprogram, the scientists added the purified engineered proteins and experimented with the chemically defined conditions without any genetic materials involved until they found the exact mix that allowed them to gradually reprogram the cells.

The scientists found that those reprogrammed embryonic-like cells (dubbed "protein-induced pluripotent stem cells" or "piPS cells") from fibroblasts behave indistinguishably from classic embryonic stem cells in their molecular and functional features, including differentiation into various cell types, such as beating cardiac muscle cells, neurons, and pancreatic cells.

The first author of the article, "Generation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Using Recombinant Proteins" was Hongyan Zhou of Scripps Research. In addition to Ding and Zhou, authors of the paper include Shili Wu, Geoffery Bien, Susan Yao, and Yong Zhu of ProteomTech Inc. (Costa Mesa, CA); Jinyoung Joo, Dong Wook Han, and Hans R. Schöler of the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine (Germany); Lingxun Duan of LD Biopharma, Inc. (San Diego); and Saiyong Zhu, Tongxiang Lin, Sunia Trauger, and Gary Siuzdak of Scripps Research.

This work was supported by Fate Therapeutics.

Source: www.scripps.edu 23 April 2009

The Stem Cell Facelift: A Promising Plastic Surgery Innovation

2009-05-23T11:58:00.000-07:00

The world of plastic surgery seems poised for innovation once again! How about a facelift without surgery? Sounds too good to be true? Stay tuned.

By lifting the ban on federal funding for promising stem cell research, on March 9, 2009 President Obama brought this highly charged topic to the forefront once again. Not surprisingly, anti-abortion rights activists condemned Obama’s decision. Although I strongly applaud his stand, I certainly would never support the use of our finite supply of embryonic stem cells for beauty enhancement treatments – nor have I heard of any reputable surgeon who advocates such research and application for anything short of curing human disease and restoring body parts. But anti-aging specialists and plastic surgeons now have discovered other sources of stem cells - unburdened by moral and ethical decisions. Enter adult stem cells.

Understanding Stem Cells

A stem cell is a cell from which other types of cells develop. Stem cells have the ability to make more of themselves and to differentiate as they do so, in order to grow a wide variety of tissues. While embryonic stem cells are the most well-known type, not all multi-potent cells come from embryos. An abundant source of stem cells also can be harvested from our own fat. Within this past decade, researchers have begun to recognize that these pre-fat cells were actually stem cells that could be coaxed into becoming not just more fat, but cartilage, bone, and even neurons and heart muscle. Because of their diverse capablilities, these stem cells are known as multipotent.

Researchers are discovering that the lipoaspirate from liposuction, which we make in our bodies, can be converted into cells having the ability to differentiaten and replicate. By capitalizing on stem cell biology, plastic surgeons are beginning to implement methods for using those cells to reconstruct lost tissue and to build new tissue in less invasive ways than ever before.

Fat Grafting in Development

Plastic surgeons, recognizing that fat is an ideal material for soft tissue augmentation with the most natural-appearing results, have been reinjecting fat into faces for decades. The biggest problem with this procedure has been the resorption or breakdown of the reinjected fat, with resulting impermanence to the improvement.

“The grafted fat must gain its own blood supply in its new location in order to persist long-term, and this generally is not possible when large amounts are

injected at once and when specialized instrumentation and techniques are not employed,” explains board certified plastic surgeon, Dr. Michael Law.

Structural fat grafting, also known as lipostructure or microfat grafting, has been a step forward in establishing permanence of the reinjected fat. With this process, small amounts of fat (less than 0.1 cc at a time) are carefully microinjected in a series of discrete layers to gradually build new soft tissue structure. As there is space between each microinjection, new blood vessels are able to grow into the grafted fat, allowing it to persist.

This procedure requires specialized training and specialized surgical instruments, as well as patience on the part of both surgeon and patient, but when performed properly, permanent improvement in facial plastic contours is possible.

Researchers are experimenting with new ways to process fat so that these fragile stem cells can create a blood supply for the transplanted cells to help them survive. One experimental method has involved separating out multipotent adult stem cells and growing them in a petri dish, while coaxing them to differentiate into specific tissue types such as fat or cartilage. Those differentiated cells are then injected into the patient, where they continue to grow and divide, creating a small amount of natural tissue.

Photos courtesy of Dr. Vincent Makhlouf - Des Plaines

A second method uses mechanized means to accomplish similar goals. Cytori is a San Diego-based company that makes equipment to process fat stem cells immediately after the doctor liposuctions off some of the patient’s fat. Half that fat gets set aside, while the other half is processed to extract a condensed mixture rich in stem cells. That mixture is then injected back into the reserved fat, producing a fat graft supercharged with stem cells, ready to be reinjected into the patient. The result is an immediate fat graft supercharged with stem cells. An additional benefit is that because the patient is the donor, there is no risk of tissue rejection.

Photos Courtesy of Skin Essentials@bod:evolve

The Facelift of the Future

Today many diverse procedures are being utilized to rejuvenate the face. While some involve surgery such as eyelifts and facelifts, other non-surgical options have emerged in the past ten years as a means to temporarily rejuvenate the face. Enter muscle relaxers as Botox (and more recently Reloxin), and fillers such as Juvederm, Radiesse and Restylane. These options can provide patients with a younger, more rested appearance, but because they are only temporary measures, injections need to be periodically repeated.

Photos courtesy of Dr. Vincent Makhlouf - Des Plaines

If clinical trials continue to show promise, the “Stem Cell Facelift” may just be the next huge step forward in facial rejuvenation. This Stem Cell Facelift would involve removing fat from a patient’s body – typically from the thigh or abdomen - processing it in some way and then injecting it back into that same person’s face - all in a single procedure. Anti-aging specialist and plastic surgeon, Dr. Vincent Giampapa, Assistant Clinical Professor at UMDNJ Medical Center in Newark, New Jersey and Director of The Plastic Surgery Center Internationale and the Giampapa Institute for Age Management, has pioneered this procedure and has been performing it for the last four years. He claims that the patients he has treated have exhibited not only marked improvement in both the underlying soft tissue contours of the face but also in skin quality and tone and that the results it yields are extremely natural. Priced at $5,000, it is considerably less costly than a surgical facelift that typically costs triple that amount.

Photos courtesy of Dr. Vincent Makhlouf - Des Plaines

Dr. Renato Calabria, a plastic surgeon with offices in both Italy and Ca., is slowly integrated this technique, which he calls the “Stem Cell Enhanced Facelift”, into his own practice. By introducing these reengineered stem cells into specific layers of facial tissue during the surgical facelift, he claims to see dramatic improvement in not just facial contour, but in skin quality and tone as well. He believes that the growoth factors contained in the implanted cells stimulate skin renewal properties.

Will this change the way facelifts are done in the future or better yet, provide us with that dream come true - a cost effective, knife-free facial rejuvenation procedure performed in an office setting requiring only local anesthesia, with shorter downtime and natural, long lasting results.

The hope for the future is that one day we will be able to say yes to all of the above and that these reengineered stem cells will be used not only to fill out wrinkles on an aging face, but also to replace lost breast tissue or augment the breast without the insertion of an implant.

Source: Makemeheal.com 22 May 2009

Qatar to get cord-blood bank, aims to become regional leader of futuristic stem-cell technology

2009-05-23T11:43:00.000-07:00

The Master Cells

The first time Leanda Guy heard about stem cell banking, she was 10 weeks pregnant with her son Renouard. Fascinated by the idea that stem cells found in her baby's umbilical cord could be used to treat illnesses, the British marketing executive decided to bank Renouard's cord blood after he was born.

"Obviously I hope and pray Renouard will never need his cells," said the 40-year-old mother of two. "However, I am really pleased they are there as an insurance."

Stem cells stored from these children's cord blood may help protect them against future diseases.

Medical professionals are just beginning to unlock the potential of stem cells, which have the ability to change into the cells of other tissues. These "master cells" play an especially critical role in the immune system and have been used since 1988 to treat leukemia and other blood-related illnesses.

In the long run, the hope is that doctors will be able to use stem cells to treat victims of strokes and heart attacks, or those with illnesses like diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. Because the cells can also generate various types of tissue - and have already been used to grow new corneas - scientists are working on developing the technology to grow whole organs.

Cord Blood Banking in Doha

For the past two years, couples in Qatar have had the option of privately banking their babies' cord blood with Cryo-Save, a Netherlands-based company that has been collecting stem cells from umbilical tissue since the year 2000.

So far, about four dozen families here have chosen to bank with the company's Dubai branch - a relatively small number, given the thousands of babies born in Doha each year. For some parents, the high cost of collecting and storing the cord blood for 20 years -13,000 QAR - plays a factor.

An Image of stem cell provided by the Virgin Health Bank

But Doha residents will soon have another banking option, as Virgin Health Bank moves its headquarters from the United Kingdom to the Qatar Science & Technology Park. Working with Hamad Medical Center, the company, which was co-founded by Sir Richard Branson of the Virgin Group, plans to create the world's first national stem cell bank.

The public-private bank will store a portion of the child's cells for the family's use and release the rest, with parental permission, into the national public bank for use in the wider patient community. Virgin operates similarly with its European clients by requiring them to make an altruistic donation of a sample from each collection to a public resource.

"It's important that we fill these banks up with as many stem cells as we can..."

For Guy, who banked with Virgin's UK branch, the chance to possibly help others with her son's cord blood served as a big motivating factor. "It's important that we fill these banks up with as many stem cells as we can." she said.

Though Virgin charges a fee for its collection and storage services and details of the bank's alliance with QSTP are still being worked out, HMC managing director Hanan Al Kuwari said the government is considering underwriting the costs of cord blood banking for Qatar residents.

"Our organizations will be working together to develop a program which, we hope, will become the model for the region," she said at a press conference to announce Virgin's move.

Virgin, which is rolling out a pilot program and is supposed to become fully operational by 2010, has received the blessings of HH Sheikha Mozah Nasser al-Misnad and prominent Islamic scholar Yousuf al-Qaradawi. The company plans to eventually open its services to other countries in the area.

Public Education

One of Virgin's first priorities as it sets up shop is educating the population about the benefits of cord blood banking, said Andrew Glen, a company spokesman.

For many parents, the high costs typically associated with cord blood banking are not the only deterrent - a lack of public awareness also plays a role, health officials say.

One of Virgin's first priorities as it sets up shop is educating the population about the benefits of cord blood banking.

One common misunderstanding is confusing embryonic stem cells and cord blood stem cells. Because the latter are collected from fetal tissue that is usually discarded after birth, they are not considered as controversial as embryonic stem cells, which require the destruction of human embryos. Virgin does not deal with these types of cells, Glen said.

Briefing parents on what happens to their child's stem cells once they are collected is also tantamount. Immediately after the baby is delivered and the umbilical cord is clamped, a trained medical professional will collect the blood, which will be cryogenically frozen at a facility being built in Doha. The procedure is painless and takes five to 10 minutes.

Though Virgin deals strictly with the collection and storage of stem cell samples, QSTP may elect to use some of the public samples for research purposes, but only with parental consent, Glen said.

Conversely, Cryo-Save, which operates in 38 countries, is strictly a private banking service, which means the baby's stem cells are for the family's exclusive use. Doctors might recommend this approach for couples who have a family history of certain diseases, said Nawal Souahla, a spokeswoman for Cryo-Save. Another advantage of banking privately is an increased chance of a successful transplant for relatives, who are more likely to find a match in the family, Souahla added.

Parents who elect to use the service can pick up a collection kit from Cryo-Save's Doha office, located next to La Cigale Hotel, before the mother gives birth. The kit can be used at any hospital in Doha.

An Eye on the Future

To date, cord blood banking has been offered mostly by private companies that market the expensive service as "biological insurance" or "a wise investment." That's because the probability of someone needing their own stem cells is currently very small – doctors can only treat about 85 diseases with the cells, and most require a transplant from a healthy donor into the ill patient.

"If you need stem cells therapy today, you're likely to need someone else's," Glen said.

But as the science continues to develop, the expectation is that the number of future applications for stem cells will grow exponentially – because "on the regenerative side, you'll need your own cells," Glen added.

That's why, he said, it is important to bank cord blood for both public and private use. By establishing a large pool of public samples, patients have an increased chance of finding donated stem cells to match their own, similar to a blood type for a transfusion. And a child's own stem cells can serve as an exact match in the event that he needs, for example, a new liver.

The worldwide shortage of matched stem cells makes collecting the cells of minorities especially important, proponents of the QSTP-Virgin alliance say.

"The possibilities are astounding," said Guy, who has banked both her children's cord blood..."They've grown a body part out of it already."

The possibilities are astounding, said Guy, who has banked both her children's cord blood. "What happens normally is that it all gets thrown away, which is such a waste," she said. "The baby is finished with the umbilical cord by the time it's born, and now there's the technology to save these (stem cells).

"They've grown a body part out of it already," she added, referring to a November 2008 breakthrough in which a woman successfully received a trachea transplant that was grown from her own stem cells.

"If they can do that today, what are they going to be able to do in 15 years time? It could save someone's life," Guy said.

For more information on Virgin Health Bank or if you are interested in enrolling in the pilot program, visit www.virginhealthbank.com/qatar

Source: Qatarvisitor.com

World's first public-private cord blood bank launched in United Kingdom

2009-05-23T11:40:00.000-07:00

Obstetricians and midwives are calling for discussionson the logistics of collecting umbilical cord blood for banking,after the launch of the world's first dual private and publiccord blood stem cell bank in the United Kingdom.

The Virgin Health Bank will provide parentswith the facility to store their child's umbilical cord bloodin two portions—one as a private sample for the sole useof the child and his or her family and the second as a publicsample, available free of charge to anyone requiring stem celltransplantation.

It is expected that around 80% of each samplewill be placed in the public bank and 20% held in the privatebank, although this will depend on the individual cord bloodsample, stem cell expansion and whether cells meet the regulatoryrequirements for the international transplantation registry.

Source: BMJ.com 3 February 2009

Room for growth in stem cell research market

2009-05-23T11:35:00.000-07:00

An old article from the Star in April 2008...

Malaysia's stem cell research and therapy market is estimated to be worth US$157mil, said Malaysian Biotechnology Corp Sdn Bhd (BiotechCorp) chief executive officer Datuk Iskandar Mizal Mahmood.

He said although the penetration rate for stem cell research and therapy was still small, the potential of the sector was huge, with year-on-year growth rate estimated at about 12%.

“The numbers will be much more in the next five to 10 years. The growth and success of the biotechnology sector hinges on our success in expanding capability and competency of our people in biotechnology,” he said after the launch of the Stem Cells Operational & Professional Excellence (Scope) programme by Stempeutics Research Malaysia Sdn Bhd yesterday.

Stempeutics is a subsidiary of India-based Manipal Education & Medical Group. It aims to promote stem cell activities in Malaysia with focus on research, therapeutics and therapy in the field of regenerative medicine.

Under Scope, Stempeutics will train 15 Malaysian employees at its facilities in Bangalore, India in preparation for the commencement of Stempeutics world-class stem cell lab at Technology Park Malaysia next month.

“We have an ambitious target of expanding the pool of knowledge workers in biotechnology from 40,000 in 2011 to 80,000 by 2015. Thus the Scope programme is key for us to continue closing the gap,” he said, adding that the country still lagged behind China, India, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore in terms of number researchers.

Iskandar said apart from Stempeutics, there were a few more companies in Malaysia undertaking stem cell therapy due to the rising global interest in regenerative medicine.

Stempeutics president B N Manohar said the company had planned to set up multiple labs in Malaysia. “To date we have invested about RM6mil for our first lab but we see the need for two more labs. This will cost about RM30mil in the next three to four years.”

The next batch of Scope training would be in Malaysia and the trainee headcount would grow to 45 people in the next 12 to 24 months.