Huntington’s disease neurons created from stem cells
By raymumme
An international consortium of Huntington's disease experts, including several from the Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center at UC Irvine and the UCSF Gladstone Institutes, has generated a human model of the deadly inherited disorder directly from the skin cells of affected patients.
The re-created neurons, which live in a petri dish, will help researchers better understand what disables and kills brain cells in people with HD and let them gauge the effects of potential drug therapies on cells that are otherwise locked deep in the brain.
UCI scientists were part of a consortium that in 1993 identified the autosomal dominant gene mutation responsible for HD, but there is still no cure, and no treatments are available to even slow its onset or progression. The research, published online today in the journal Cell Stem Cell, is the work of the Huntington's Disease iPSC Consortium. Participants examined several other cell lines and control cell lines to ensure that their results were consistent and reproducible in different labs.
"Our discovery will enable us for the first time to test therapies on human Huntington's disease neurons," said Leslie Thompson, UCI professor of psychiatry & human behavior and neurobiology & behavior, one of the world's leading HD experts and a senior author of the study. "This has been a remarkable time in HD research, with the advent of stem cell technologies that have allowed these scientific advancements. Also, having a team of scientists working together as a consortium has benefited the research tremendously and accelerated its pace."
Huntington's is such a rare disease, although it is the most common inherited neurodegenerative disorder. It afflicts approximately 30,000 people in the United States-with another 75,000 people carrying the gene that will eventually lead to it.
"An advantage of this human model is that we now have the ability to identify changes in brain cells over time-during the degeneration process and at specific stages of brain-cell development," said Gladstone Senior Investigator Dr. Steve Finkbeiner. "We hope this model will help us more readily uncover relevant factors that contribute to Huntington's disease and especially to find successful therapeutic approaches."
UC Irvine press release
Gladstone Institutes press release
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Huntington’s disease neurons created from stem cells
Turning skin cells into brain cells
By raymumme
Public release date: 28-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Stephanie Desmon sdesmon1@jhmi.edu 410-955-8665 Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
Johns Hopkins researchers, working with an international consortium, say they have generated stem cells from skin cells from a person with a severe, early-onset form of Huntington's disease (HD), and turned them into neurons that degenerate just like those affected by the fatal inherited disorder.
By creating "HD in a dish," the researchers say they have taken a major step forward in efforts to better understand what disables and kills the cells in people with HD, and to test the effects of potential drug therapies on cells that are otherwise locked deep in the brain.
Although the autosomal dominant gene mutation responsible for HD was identified in 1993, there is no cure. No treatments are available even to slow its progression.
The research, published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, is the work of a Huntington's Disease iPSC Consortium, including scientists from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and the University of California, Irvine, as well as six other groups. The consortium studied several other HD cell lines and control cell lines in order to make sure results were consistent and reproducible in different labs.
The general midlife onset and progressive brain damage of HD are especially cruel, slowly causing jerky, twitch-like movements, lack of muscle control, psychiatric disorders and dementia, and eventually death. In some cases (as in the patient who donated the material for the cells made at Johns Hopkins), the disease can strike earlier, even in childhood.
"Having these cells will allow us to screen for therapeutics in a way we haven't been able to before in Huntington's disease," says Christopher A. Ross, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, neurology, pharmacology and neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and one of the study's lead researchers. "For the first time, we will be able to study how drugs work on human HD neurons and hopefully take those findings directly to the clinic."
Ross and his team, as well as other collaborators at Johns Hopkins and Emory University, are already testing small molecules for the ability to block HD iPSC degeneration. These small molecules have the potential to be developed into novel drugs for HD.
The ability to generate from stem cells the same neurons found in Huntington's disease may also have implications for similar research in other neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
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Turning skin cells into brain cells
Stem Cell Therapy – Healthier Looking Skin ,Promote Younger, Reduce Wrinkles – Video
By raymumme
28-06-2012 09:19 Stem Cell Therapy More Info: Stem Cell Therapy -- Reduce Wrinkles,Promote Younger, Healthier Looking Skin * Increase production of new skin cells by 57% * Re-activate stem cells to stimulate fresh, new skin cell production * Increase natural collagen production by 80% * Decrease wrinkle appearance 56% in 30 days * Increase elastin synthesis by 61% Stem Cell Therapy, Stem Cell Skin Cream, Stem Cell Therapy BioLogic Solutions, Wrinkle Reducer, Decrease Wrinkles,Vanish Wrinkles Feel Younger, Aging Cream, Younger Looking Skin, No More Botox,antiaging,antiaging cream,botox alternative,
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Stem Cell Therapy - Healthier Looking Skin ,Promote Younger, Reduce Wrinkles - Video
Harvard Bioscience plays role in stem cell transplants
By raymumme
Harvard Bioscience, Inc. (Nasdaq: HBIO), a life sciences tools company, says the first two successful stem cells laryngotracheal transplants have been completed in Russia using the companys specially-designed bioreactor to grow the cells, which were taken from the patients bone marrow.
Last November, the Holliston, Mass.-based company announced that a simpler procedure, a tracheal transplant, had been completed using stem cells grown in the bioreactor. A few month later, the company announced that the recipient of the tracheal transplant, Christopher Lyle, had died.
The transplants, which required more than six months of preparation, were performed on the first two patients enrolled in an ongoing clinical trial at Krasnodar Regional Hospital in Russia. The company said the procedures are the result of a global collaboration involving organizations in the U.S., Sweden, Russia, Germany, and Italy. The patients were treated as part of a $4.8 million Russian government grant designed to foster international collaboration.
Both of the patients are under 35 and suffered severe damage to their tracheas due to car accidents and subsequent comas they sustained. The company said both patients were able to breathe and speak normally after the procedure.
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Harvard Bioscience plays role in stem cell transplants
Beating Cardiomyocytes: From skin cells to stem cells
By raymumme
22-06-2012 13:13 This is a small group of beating heart cells in a cell culture that was derived from non-embryonic pluripotent stem cells ("induced pluripotent stem cells"). The induced pluripotent stem cells were generated from skin fibroblasts that were isolated from an 87 year old Native American female. This movie was made through a microscope- the entire culture is only about a millimeter (4 hundredths of an inch) across. The cultures were produced by members of the Loring Lab at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California.
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Beating Cardiomyocytes: From skin cells to stem cells
Scientists grow tiny liver in mouse's head
By raymumme
Using stem cells from human skin, Japanese scientists have grown a small human liver inside the skull of a mouse.
Hideki Taniguchi and Takanori Takebe from Yokohama City University used stem cells generated from human skin cells and developed them into percussor liver cells, the New Scientist reports.
Then they added other cells from umbilical cord blood vessels. The combination of cells then "guided itself" to form a small structure similar to liver tissue, Takebe said.
"We mixed and graded the cells onto the culture dish and they moved to form a cluster," he said. "It was a surprising outcome from what was, to be honest, an accident."
They implanted the structure into the head of a mouse, which was suffering from a severe genetic immune system disorder that prevented it from having an immune reaction to the foreign tissues.
The increased blood flow in the mouse's skull allowed the tissue to keep growing.
Within 48 hours, human blood vessels and human proteins formed. Glycogen and amino acids levels were the same as those of a human liver.
"It's not yet a perfect liver," Takebe said. "Improvements need to be made, such as the reconstruction of a bile duct."
The study could be significant for the field of regenerative medicine, but the researchers aren't yet sure whether the organ is a fully functioning liver, or whether they will be able to scale it to human size.
The findings were presented at the at the International Society for Stem Cell Research's annual meeting in Yokohama.
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Scientists grow tiny liver in mouse's head
CUR – Neuralstem Pioneering Efforts In ALS
By raymumme
As of now, management is planning to conduct the pivotal program on its own, mostly likely seeking funding through grants with the ALS Association and U.S. National Institutes of Health. However, management is also in discussion with potential pharmaceutical partners on the pivotal program. ALS is a highly attractive area for Big Pharma. Depending on the strength of the phase 1 / 2 data, Neuralstem may be able to strike a commercialization partnership in 2014 to help defer the costs of the planned pivotal trial. We expect that any deal with a larger pharmaceutical company would include a substantial upfront payment that Neuralstem would then use to fund expansion of the development platform into new indications, such as spinal cord injury (IND filed) or stroke.
Market Opportunity
In February 2011, the U.S. FDA granted Neuralstem an Orphan Drug designation for its human spinal cord stem cells (HSSC) for the treatment of ALS. As noted above, there are approximately 30,000 patients in the U.S. living with ALS. We estimate that approximately half of these patients are characterized with an FVC > 60% and may be eligible for treatment with Neuralstems hNSCs. Given the Orphan Drug designation, the limited patient population, and the lack of any meaningful treatment options, we think Neuralstem or its commercialization partner could price this therapy at upwards of $100,000. Therefore, the peak market opportunity for Neuralstem is $1.5 billion.
That being said, drug development in ALS has been a graveyard for pharmaceutical companies. One would assume, based on numerous past clinical failures, that Neuralstems chances in ALS are slim. Small molecules including gabapentin, topiramate, celecoxib, tamoxifen, indinavir, minocycline, and xaliproden, many of which are approved for other indications and have posted annual sales over a billion dollars, have all failed human clinical programs for ALS. Even Vitamin E and Creatine have been tested, to little avail, in ALS. Failed mechanisms of action included calcium channel blockers, glutamate regulators, neuroprotectants, immunosuppressants, GABA receptors, anti-inflammatory agents, and antioxidants.
However, there is one thing in common we see in all of the above failures. They are one molecule targeting one mechanism of action or one pathway. ALS is a high complex and largely uncharacterized disease. Neuralstems approach uses human spinal stem cells that, once injected, can provide multiple mechanisms of action on multiple pathways to affect the disease. Plus, Neuralstems approach is highly targeted, with the cells injected directly into the lumbar or cervical spine. Following grafting, the hypothesis is that the cells rebuild circuitry with the patient motor neurons and protect existing neurons from further degradation. Its clearly a unique approach, and one we believe has a better chance of success than many of the previous failed theories enacted over the past decade.
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CUR - Neuralstem Pioneering Efforts In ALS
Neuralstem Pioneering Efforts In ALS
By raymumme
By Jason Napodano, CFA
Neuralstem, Inc. (NYSE MKT:CUR) has developed a technology that allows large-scale expansion of human neural stem cells ("hNSC") from all areas of the developing human brain and spinal cord. The company owns of has exclusive license to 25 patients and 29 patent applications pending worldwide in the field of regenerative medicine and cell therapy. Management is currently focusing the company's efforts on replacing damaged, malfunctioning, or dead neural cells with fully functional ones that may be useful in treating many central nervous system diseases and neurodegenerative disorders.
Neuralstems lead development program is for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ("ALS"), also known as Lou Gehrigs disease, named after the famous New York Yankee first baseman who was diagnosed with the disease in 1939, and passed in 1941 at the age of only 37.
ALS Background
ALS is a rapidly progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by weakness, muscle atrophy and twitching, spasticity, dysarthria (difficulty speaking), dysphagia (difficulty swallowing), and respiratory compromise. The disease is almost always fatal, typically due to respiratory compromise or pneumonia, in two to four years. Initial symptoms of ALS include weakness and/or stiffness followed by muscle atrophy in the arms and legs. This is followed by slurred speech or difficulty swallowing, and loss of tongue mobility. Approximately a third of ALS patients also experience pseudobulbar affect (uncontrollable emotions). As the disease progresses, worsening dysphagia and respiratory failure leads to death. A small percentage of patients may also experience cognitive affects such as frontotemporal dementia and anxiety.
The vast majority (~95%) of cases are idiopathic, although there is a known hereditary factor that leads to familial ALS associated with a defect on the 21st chromosome that accounts for approximately 1.5% of all cases. There are also suspected environmental causative factors, including exposure to a dietary neurotoxin called BMAA and cyanobacteria, and use of pesticides. However, in all cases, the defining factor of ALS is rapid and progressive death of upper and lower motor neurons in the motor cortex of the brain, brain stem, and spinal cord. Prior to their destruction, motor neurons develop proteinaceous inclusions in their cell bodies and axons. This may be partly due to defects in protein degradation.
Treatment for ALS is limited, and as of today only riluzole, marketed by Sanofi-Aventis as Rilutek, has been found to improve survival to a modest extent (several months). Riluzole preferentially blocks TTX-sensitive sodium channels, which are associated with damaged neurons. This reduces influx of calcium ions and indirectly prevents stimulation of glutamate receptors. Together with direct glutamate receptor blockade, the effect of the neurotransmitter glutamate on motor neurons is greatly reduced. Riluzole does not reverse the damage already done to motor neurons, and people taking it must be monitored for liver damaged (about 10% incidence).
The remaining treatments for ALS are designed to relieve symptoms and improve quality of life. This supportive care includes a multidisciplinary approach that may include medications to reduce fatigue, control spasticity, reduce excess saliva and phlegm, limit sleep disturbances, reduce depression, and limit constipation. As noted above, median survival is two to four years. In the U.S., approximately 30,000 persons are currently living with ALS.
Neuralstems Approach For ALS
Neuralstem is seeking to treat the symptoms of ALS via transplantation of its hNSCs directly into the gray matter of the patients spinal cord. In ALS, motor neurons die, leading to paralysis. In preclinical animal work, Neuralstem cells both made synaptic contact with the host motor neurons and expressed neurotrophic growth factors, which are protective of cells.
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Neuralstem Pioneering Efforts In ALS
Pluristem Therapeutics' Cell Therapy Broadens Addressable Markets – Demonstrates Systemic Effectiveness of …
By raymumme
HAIFA, Israel, June 19, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pluristem Therapeutics, Inc. (PSTI) (TASE:PLTR) announced today at the 2012 Bio International Convention the results of a pre clinical study it conducted measuring the effectiveness of its Placental eXpanded (PLX) cells when administered intramuscularly(IM). Cell therapies are traditionally delivered through intravenous (IV) injections for systemic effect. However, Pluristem's latest findings show that its PLX cells can be effective when injected by needle, into the muscle. Avoiding the use of an IV is simple and more cost-effective. This opens far larger markets for treatments in a wide range of potential outpatient settings and local clinics.
"The ability for IM injections of PLX cells has significant market implications that potentially broaden the indications and frequency with which our cell therapy can be used. We look forward to conducting additional testing of this very promising approach," said Zami Aberman, Chairman and CEO of Pluristem.
The study found that Intramuscularly administered PLX cells are safe, effective, easy to inject and provided systemic therapeutic benefits in a wide range of hematological disorders, as well as primary and secondary bone marrow failure, such as in radiation sickness and possibly for some complications from chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
The results of the study demonstrated a significant survival and recovery rate of bone marrow and peripheral blood counts in animals pre-irradiated by high lethal doses. These findings indicate that the IM route of administration of PLX cells stimulate the hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) of the bone marrow to produce red and white blood cells as well as platelets crucial for the treatment of hematological disorders. The study was conducted in cooperation with the Sharett Institute of Oncology at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem.
"Pluristem is extremely pleased at how convincingly this study's data demonstrates that our PLX cells have the ability to stimulate the HSCs involved in rescuing bone marrow. With PLX cells, we may be able to reverse the traditional mindset that if you want to get a systemic effect, you need to inject the cells intravenously," said Liat Flaishon, MD. PhD. BD Director and the Head of the Radiation project at Pluristem.
"We had announced on May 9, 2012 the successful treatment of a pediatric patient whose bone marrow graft was rescued using our PLX cells. This data demonstrates the basis for the successful treatment. In the treatment conducted by Professor Reuven Or from the Bone Marrow Transplantation Unit at Hadassah, PLX cells were given to this patient intramuscularly as well," added Dr. Flaishon.
Prof. Raphael Gorodetsky, Head of the Laboratory of Biotechnology and Radiobiology in the Cancer Research Laboratories of Sharett Institute of Oncology at Hadassah Hospital, has been conducting the animal studies of Pluristem's PLX cells in the past several months. In these studies PLX cells and control medium were administered intramuscularly to C3H mice previously irradiated by a total body dose of 770cGy. The company previously reported initial results from these studies with respect to Acute Radiation Syndrome.
The key results of the Study include:
- After an initial sharp fall, a significant increase in the total number of bone marrow cells extracted from the major bones at 23 days was recorded: from~16million cells/mouse to ~32 million cells/mouse in the PLX treated (p<0.001). Non-irradiated animals had an average of 40 million cells.
- at 23 days a significant increase in the total number of red blood cells was recorded from 3.5 in the surviving controls to 6 million cells/microliter, in comparing the PLX (p<0.001). Non-irradiated animals had an average of 7 million cells/microliter.
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Pluristem Therapeutics' Cell Therapy Broadens Addressable Markets - Demonstrates Systemic Effectiveness of ...
ViaCyte Appoints Dr. Paul Laikind Chief Executive Officer
By raymumme
SAN DIEGO, June 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --ViaCyte, Inc. today announced the appointment of seasoned entrepreneur, Paul Laikind, Ph.D., as President & Chief Executive Officer. Allan Robins, Ph.D., who was serving as Acting CEO, will continue in his role as Vice President & Chief Technology Officer. ViaCyte is a leading pre-clinical company developing a novel cell therapy product for the treatment of insulin dependent diabetes.
Dr. Laikind brings over 25 years of leadership experience in the biotechnology and life sciences industry to ViaCyte. He is a serial entrepreneur, who co-founded three San Diego companies, Gensia Pharmaceuticals Inc., Viagene Inc., and Metabasis Therapeutics Inc., serving in various executive positions including President and CEO. All three companies went public and were eventually acquired. Most recently, he served as Chief Business Officer and Senior Vice President of Business Development at the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute.
"Paul brings to ViaCyte a wealth of experience in managing new businesses based on highly innovative life sciences technologies," said Fred Middleton, Chairman of ViaCyte. "We are pleased to have him join to lead ViaCyte through our next phase of development in bringing our transformative stem cell therapy to patients with diabetes. We believe Paul's leadership and business development skills will greatly assist us in our strategy to be a leader in regenerative medicine therapy and to capitalize on our current technology leadership position in the development of stem cell therapy."
As Sanford-Burnham's first Chief Business Officer, Dr. Laikind set a new direction for the Institute's business development activity through a combination of licensing and strategic partnerships with large pharmaceutical organizations, including collaborations with Pfizer's Centers for Therapeutic Innovation, Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a division of Johnson & Johnson, and Takeda Pharmaceutical. Working with the Institute's leadership team he helped establish a sophisticated infrastructure for advanced drug discovery and development at Sanford-Burnham.
Prior to Sanford-Burnham, Dr. Laikind served as President & CEO from 1999-2008 for Metabasis Therapeutics, which developed new therapies for metabolic and liver diseases. Dr. Laikind co-founded Gensia Pharmaceuticals in 1986, was a board member of the company and held various executive leadership positions. While at Gensia he was responsible for establishing a number of important strategic partnerships. In 1997, he was part of a team that restructured Gensia to focus on specialty pharmaceuticals. The restructured company was renamed Gensia Sicor and went on to be acquired for over $3 billion by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries in 2004. Soon after founding Gensia, he was co-founder of Viagene, a gene therapy company. Viagene completed an initial public offering in 1993 and was acquired in 1995 by Chiron Inc., now a subsidiary of Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics.
Dr. Laikind earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of California, San Diego and is the inventor on a number of key patents.
"ViaCyte addresses one of the largest commercial and medical opportunities in stem-cell-derived therapeutics, and its team is internationally recognized for its scientific leadership," said Dr. Laikind. "I look forward to working with ViaCyte through clinical development and market launch of its first important product that promises to change the way we treat insulin dependent diabetes."
About ViaCyte
ViaCyte is a preclinical cell therapy company focused on diabetes. The Company's technology is based on pancreatic beta cell progenitors derived from human pluripotent stem cells. These cells are implanted using a durable and retrievable encapsulation device. Once implanted and matured, these cells secrete insulin in response to blood glucose levels. ViaCyte's goal is long term insulin independence without immune suppression, and without hypoglycemia and other diabetes-related complications.
ViaCyte is a private company headquartered in San Diego, California with additional operations in Athens, Georgia. The Company is funded in part by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
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ViaCyte Appoints Dr. Paul Laikind Chief Executive Officer
Vein grown from 10-year-old girl's stem cells
By raymumme
Highly-magnified red blood cells course through a vein. Picture: file Source: Supplied
DOCTORS in Sweden successfully replaced a potentially-fatal blocked vein in a 10-year-old girl with one grown from her own stem cells, according to a study published today.
The team - from the University of Gothenburg andSahlgrenska University Hospital - accomplished the feat by populating a section of vein from a dead donor using stem cells gleaned from the girl's bone barrow.
"The new stem-cells-derived graft resulted not only in good blood flow rates and normal laboratory test values but also, in strikingly improved quality of life for the patient," the study's authors wrote in The Lancet.
The successful feat also "opens interesting new areas of research," they added.
The operation marked the latest step in scientists' ability to create replacement organs for transplant.
In 2010, doctors at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital made history by successfully transplanting a donor windpipe into a young boy, also aged 10, that was regenerated inside his body using his own stem cells.
In the latest instance, a 3.5-inch (9cm) section of groin vein from the donor was stripped of any living cells and "recellularised" with new cells grown from stem cells taken from the girl's bone marrow.
Techniques that use stem cells from a patient's own body carry the major benefit that they do not provoke an immune response. In the Swedish case, one alternative treatment option was a liver transplant, which would have required a lifetime of immunosuppressants. The work was funded by the Swedish government.
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Vein grown from 10-year-old girl's stem cells
Doctors make new vein using patient's own stem cells for transplant into 10-year-old girl
By raymumme
LONDON For the first time doctors have successfully transplanted a vein grown with a patient's own stem cells, another example of scientists producing human body parts in the lab.
In this case, the patient was a 10-year-old girl in Sweden who was suffering from a severe vein blockage to her liver. Last March, the girl's doctors decided to make her a new blood vessel to bypass the blocked vein instead of using one of her own or considering a liver transplant.
They took a 9-centimeter (3 -inch) section of vein from a deceased donor, which was stripped of all its cells, leaving just a hollow tube. Using stem cells from the girl's bone marrow, scientists grew millions of cells to cover the vein, a process that took about two weeks. The new blood vessel was then transplanted into the patient.
Because the procedure used her own cells, the girl did not have to take any drugs to stop her immune system from attacking the new vein, as is usually the case in transplants involving donor tissue.
"This is the future for tissue engineering, where we can make tailor-made organs for patients," said Suchitra Sumitran-Holgersson of the University of Gothenburg, one of the study's authors.
She and colleagues published the results of their work online Thursday in the British medical journal Lancet. The work was paid for by the Swedish government.
The science is still preliminary and one year after the vein was transplanted, it needed to be replaced with another lab-grown vein when doctors noticed the blood flow had dropped. Experts from University College London raised questions in an accompanying commentary about how cost-effective the procedure might be, citing "acute pressures" on health systems that might make these treatments impractical for many patients.
Sumitran-Holgersson estimated the cost at between $6,000 and $10,000.
Similar methods have already been used to make new windpipes and urethras for patients. Doctors in Poland have also made blood vessels grown from donated skin cells for dialysis patients.
Patients with the girl's condition are usually treated with a vein transplant from their own leg, a donated vein, or a liver transplant. Those options can be complicated in children and using a donated vein or liver also requires taking anti-rejection medicines.
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Doctors make new vein using patient's own stem cells for transplant into 10-year-old girl
Stem cell scientist wins award
By raymumme
13 June 2012 Last updated at 08:31 ET
Japanese stem cell scientist Dr Shinya Yamanaka has been awarded the Millennium Technology Prize.
His award is for discovering how to reprogram human cells to mimic embryonic stem cells, which can become any cell in the body.
Called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, these now aid research into regenerative medicine.
He was joint-winner with Linus Torvalds, who created a new open source operating system for computers.
This is the first time the prize has been shared by two scientists - they will split the 1.2m euros ($1.3m; 800,000) award.
My goals over the decade include to develop new drugs to treat intractable diseases by using iPS cell technology and to conduct clinical trials using it on a few patients with Parkinson's diseases, diabetes or blood diseases.
The President of the Republic of Finland, Sauli Niinisto, presented the prize at the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki.
Dr Ainomija Haarla, President of Technology Academy Finland - the foundation which awards the prize every two years - said: "The International Selection Committee has to judge whether an innovation has had a favourable impact on people's lives and assess its potential for further development to benefit humanity in the future.
"The innovations of both this year's winners embody that principle.
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Stem cell scientist wins award
'GMA' host Roberts on illness: 'I will beat this'
By raymumme
Getty Images file
By Lisa Flam
Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts made some news of her own today: Shes been diagnosed with a rare blood and bone marrow disease called myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a condition once known as pre-leukemia. Roberts, a breast cancer survivor, said she received the diagnosis several months ago and will receive a bone marrow transplant from her older sister later this year.My doctors tell me Im going to beat this and I know its true,she wrotewhen she announced her diagnosis. MDS is a pre-cancerous disorder half way between benign and malignant, said Dr. Martin Tallman, chief of the leukemia service at New Yorks Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. It occurs when the bone marrow produces blood cells that break apart and disintegrate when they enter the blood stream.
When the marrow produces blood cells, theyre cracked, theyre fragile and faulty and they disappear, he said.Those disappearing blood cells leave patients with a low blood count, Tallman told msnbc.com, which can leave patients feeling fatigued from anemia, susceptible to infections like pneumonia and suffering from internal bleeding. The condition is curable, though it can also lead to fatal complications, primarily through infection, and some MDS patients develop leukemia.
MDS is more common in people over 60, and in most cases, doctors dont know why they developed the disorder, though genetic changes that take place as people get older are thought to be the cause. A minority of MDS patients develop the disorder following chemotherapy for cancer treatment.
Sometimes treatment for cancer can lead to other serious medical issues and thats what Im facing right now, Roberts said on the air this morning, noting that she beat breast cancer five years ago. Tallman explains that as chemotherapy drugs are killing cancer cells, they can also cause genetic changes in healthy cells, which can lead to whats called treatment-related MDS. We are able to cure certain disease but we pay a price, he said.
About 12,000 people a year are diagnosed with MDS in the U.S. each year, according to the American Cancer Society. The number of cases of MDS is rising, according to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering website, because there is a growing population of older people, and because patients are living longer after being treated for their first cancer.
For years, patients with MDS were treated with antibiotics and blood transfusions, but three new types of chemotherapy drugs to fight MDS became available starting in about 2004, said Tallman, a hematologist-oncologist.They are effective in about 30 percent to 40 percent of patients, he said. Some patients dont require treatments at all and can live with the disease; others are cured with the chemotherapy drugs alone. The only proven cure for MDS is a stem cell transplant, Tallman said, describing what it also called a bone marrow transplant.
Roberts says she is beginning a pre-treatment regimen of chemotherapy today before undergoing the bone marrow transplant. Her doctors gave her a good outlook, she wrote.
They say Im younger and fitter than most people who confront this disease and will be cured.
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'GMA' host Roberts on illness: 'I will beat this'
'Good Morning America' co-host Robin Roberts has blood disorder
By raymumme
"Good Morning America" co-host Robin Roberts, who five years ago beat breast cancer, said Monday that she has now been diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, a blood disorder caused by chemotherapy for her cancer. She is now taking chemotherapy in preparation for receiving a bone marrow transplant from her sister later this year. Because she is relatively young and healthy, the combination of treatments should cure the condition, doctors have told her.
Myelodysplastic syndrome is sometimes known as pre-leukemia, and many researchers now believe that, if untreated, it will progress to acute myeloid leukemia. It most commonly strikes people between the ages of 58 and 75, but can occur at any age, particularly if the patient has had cancer chemotherapy. It is estimated to affect as many as 50 Americans per 100,000, with about 20,000 new cases each year.
It is a disease of the bone marrow -- the semi-liquid tissue inside bones that produces blood cells. Stem cells in the bone marrow develop into two types of cells, myeloid and lymphoid. Lymphoid cells go on to become white blood cells that fight infections. Myeloid cells develop into three different types of cells: red blood cells, which carry oxygen; platelets, which control bleeding by forming clots; and white blood cells. In myeloplastic syndrome the myeloid cells stop developing; they do not function normally and either die in the bone marrow or soon after they enter the blood. The dysfunctional cells crowd out healthy cells.
Symptoms are often not apparent, but can include shortness of breath, weakness or tiredness, pale skin, easy bruising and bleeding, and fever or frequent infections. The best treatment for the type of disorder Roberts is suffering is to kill all the stem cells with chemotherapy, then replace them with functioning stem cells from a donor -- in this case, her sister. Treatment is usually more effective when the disorder has been caused by chemotherapy.
Roberts announced her condition on the show and on the ABC blog, saying she will continue her job at "Good Morning America" and that "My doctors tell me Im going to beat this and I know its true."
Twitter/@LATMaugh
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'Good Morning America' co-host Robin Roberts has blood disorder
Michelle Obama & More Celebs Tweet At Robin Roberts After MDS Diagnosis
By raymumme
061112_RobinRobertsABC_ftrGood Morning America host Robin Roberts announced June 11 that she was diagnosed with Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS), a blood disorder affecting the stem cells in the bone marrow. Celebrities and first lady Michelle Obama have already offered their support on Twitter!
Robin Robertshas a special connection to The Obamas: She found out she was interviewingPresident Obama on the very same day she underwent a painful bone marrow extraction. The combination of landing the biggest interview of my career and having a drill in my back reminds me that God only gives us what we can handle and that it helps to have a good sense of humor when we run smack into the absurdity of life, Robin wrote on her blog. And First Lady Michelle Obama was quick to offer her condolences to the GMA host.
.@RobinRoberts, Barack and I have you in our prayers. We believe in you and thank you for bringing awareness and hope to others. mo, Michelletweeted June 11.
Heres what other celebs tweeted about Robin:
prayers for Robin Roberts tweeted hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons.
We all love you & are cheering you on!! tweeted fellow journalist Katie Couric.
I wish my friend@RobinRobertsthe strength, faith & love she will need on this new journey. I send all that and more. tweeted Maria Shriver.
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Michelle Obama & More Celebs Tweet At Robin Roberts After MDS Diagnosis
Clues found to way embryonic kidney maintains its fleeting stem cells
By raymumme
ScienceDaily (June 11, 2012) Studying mice and humans, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and their collaborators in Paris have identified two proteins that are required to maintain a supply of stem cells in the developing kidney.
In the presence of the two proteins, FGF9 and FGF20, mouse kidney stem cells stayed alive outside the body longer than previously reported. Though the cells were maintained only five days (up from about two), the work is a small step toward the future goal of growing kidney stem cells in the lab.
In the developing embryo, these early stem cells give rise to adult cells called nephrons, the blood filtration units of the kidneys.
The results appear online June 11 in Developmental Cell.
"When we are born, we get a certain allotment of nephrons," says Raphael Kopan, PhD, the Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Professor of Developmental Biology. "Fortunately, we have a large surplus. We can donate a kidney -- give away 50 percent of our nephrons -- and still do fine. But, unlike our skin and gut, our kidneys can't build new nephrons."
The skin and the gut have small pools of stem cells that continually renew these organs throughout life. Scientists call such pools of stem cells and their support system a niche. During early development, the embryonic kidney has a stem cell niche as well. But at some point before birth or shortly after, all stem cells in the kidney differentiate to form nephrons, leaving no self-renewing pool of stem cells.
"In other organs, there are cells that specifically form the niche, supporting the stem cells in a protected environment," Kopan says. "But in the embryonic kidney, it seems the stem cells form their own niche, making it a bit more fragile. And the signals and conditions that lead the cells to form this niche have been elusive."
Surprisingly, recent clues to the signals that maintain the embryonic kidney's stem cell niche came from studies of the inner ear. David M. Ornitz, MD, PhD, the Alumni Endowed Professor of Developmental Biology, investigates FGF signaling in mice. Earlier this year, Ornitz and his colleagues published a paper in PLoS Biology showing that FGF20 plays an important role in inner ear development.
"Mice without FGF20 are profoundly deaf," Ornitz says. "While they are otherwise viable and healthy, in some cases we noticed that their kidneys looked small."
Past work from his own lab and others suggested that FGF9, a close chemical cousin of FGF20, might also participate in kidney development. FGF20 and FGF9 are members of a family of proteins known as fibroblast growth factors. In general, members of this family are known to play important and broad roles in embryonic development, tissue maintenance, and wound healing. Mice lacking FGF9 have defects in development of the male urogenital tract and die after birth due to defects in lung development.
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Clues found to way embryonic kidney maintains its fleeting stem cells
Experimental Stem Cell Treatment Tested for Type 1 Diabetes
By raymumme
In Early Study, Procedure Helps Teens Halt Insulin Injections
June 11, 2012 (Philadelphia) -- In an early study, an experimental stem cell procedure helped 15 teens with type 1 diabetes stay off of insulin injections for about 1.5 years, on average.
The study was very small, and the procedure is not ready for widespread use. "We now have a unique approach with some positive findings, but it's still early. We need to better understand the biology behind the treatment and follow patients for long-term side effects," Robert E. Ratner, MD, chief scientific and medical officer of the American Diabetes Association, tells WebMD.
This is the latest of several stem cell studies to show promising results for the treatment of type 1 diabetes, Ratner notes.
In the new study, 15 of 28 teens with type 1 diabetes who got an experimental treatment using their own stem cells went into remission and did not need insulin injections for an average of about 1.5 years.
The "cocktail treatment" combines stem cell therapy with drugs that suppress the body's immune system. In type 1 diabetes, the immune system attacks and destroys insulin-producing cells within the pancreas.
The experimental treatment is called autologous nonmyeloablative hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). It aims to kill the destructive immune system cells and replace them with immature stem cells not programmed to destroy insulin-producing cells.
First, patients are given drugs to stimulate production of blood stem cells. The blood stem cells are then removed from the body and frozen. Then, patients are hospitalized and given drugs to kill the destructive immune system cells. The harvested blood stem cells are then put back into the patient.
Eight teens who took part in the study have remained insulin-free for two years, on average. One patient has gone without insulin injections for 3.5 years.
"All our patients considered the [treatment] to be worthwhile and beneficial, though some patients experienced side effects," study head Weiqiong Gu, MD, of Ruijin Hospital in Shanghai, tells WebMD.
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Experimental Stem Cell Treatment Tested for Type 1 Diabetes
Bone Marrow Transplant Milestone
By raymumme
7 June 2012
Bone Marrow Transplant Milestone
Today is a big day for the Waikato Hospital Haematology Department and equally big for consultant haematologist Dr Humphrey Pullon who established the transplant service there 20 years ago.
The first autologous bone marrow transplant was carried out at Waikato Hospital on 25 June 1992 and was today celebrated with a patient afternoon tea, which about 120 transplant recipients attended.
By the end of the month we will have performed 317 transplants in 301 patients over the past 20 years, said Dr Pullon.
The first patient went down to Wellington to have her stem cells collected and they were then driven back up to be stored here She is still alive, but was unable to attend today.
We did the stem cell collection of the second patient, who is sadly no longer alive, and our third patient was cured of Lymphoma as a result of his transplant.
The third patient was Lloyd Given of Tauranga who attended todays afternoon tea.
I would like to extend my thanks to Waikato Hospital, Humphrey and the oncologist at the time, Grant Trotter, he said.
The autologous bone marrow transplant process is a long and involved one.The cancer patient is treated and goes into remission or gets to a point where the cancer is well controlled.
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Bone Marrow Transplant Milestone
Biostem U.S., Corporation Engages Acropolis Agency to Assist in Implementing Its International Marketing Plan
By raymumme
CLEARWATER, FL--(Marketwire -06/08/12)- Biostem U.S., Corporation, (HAIR) (HAIR) (Biostem, the Company), a fully reporting public company in the stem cell regenerative medicine sciences sector, today reported that it has engaged Acropolis Inc. http://www.acropolisinc.com, a full-service advertising agency located in Orlando, Florida, to lend their expertise in brand building, marketing, and advertising development and placement.
Biostem Chief Executive Officer Dwight Brunoehler stated, "After several months of interviewing prospective agencies, we have come to the conclusion that Acropolis is the one to assist us in executing our plans. Their notable work in multiple media areas is impressive, to say the least. Their client list including The University of Florida, Arby's Restaurants, and the City of Orlando, speaks for itself."
Acropolis Principal, Scott Major, said, "This is a great fit for Acropolis. Our entire team loves the Biostem business approach in the incredible field of regenerative medicine. The hair re-growth field in which we will be marketing the Biostem technology is enormous. We are pleased to be a part of Biostem's expansion."
About Biostem U.S. CorporationBiostem U.S., Corporation is a fully reporting Nevada corporation with offices in Clearwater, Florida. Biostem is a technology licensing company with proprietary technology centered on providing hair re-growth using human stem cells. The company also intends to train and license selected physicians to provide Regenerative Cellular Therapy treatments to assist the body's natural approach to healing tendons, ligaments, joints and muscle injuries by using the patient's own stem cells. Biostem U.S., Corporation is seeking to expand its operations worldwide through licensing of its proprietary technology and acquisition of existing stem cell related facilities. The company's goal is to operate in the international biotech market, focusing on the rapidly growing regenerative medicine field, using ethically sourced adult stem cells to improve the quality and longevity of life for all mankind.
For further information, contact Fox Communications Group at 310-974-6821, or view the Biostem website at http://www.biostemus.com.
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Biostem U.S., Corporation Engages Acropolis Agency to Assist in Implementing Its International Marketing Plan