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Dermelect cosmeceuticals stem cells to reconstruct, regenerate ...

Researchers have developed a new way to study bone disorders and bone growth, using stem cells from patients afflicted with a rare, genetic bone disease. The approach, based on Nobel-Prize winning techniques, could illuminate the illness, in which muscles and tendons progressively turn into bone, and addresses the similar destructive process that afflicts a growing number of veterans who have suffered blast injuries including traumatic amputations or injuries to the brain and nervous system. This insidious hardening of tissues also grips some patients following joint replacement or severe bone injuries.

The disease model, described in a new study by a UC San Francisco-led team, involves taking skin cells from patients with the bone disease, reprogramming them in a lab dish to their embryonic state, and deriving stem cells from them.

Edward Hsiao, MD, PhD

Once the team derived the stem cells, they identified a cellular mechanism that drives abnormal bone growth in the thus-far untreatable bone disease, calledfibrodysplasiaossificansprogressiva(FOP). Furthermore, they found that certain chemicals could slow abnormal bone growth in the stem cells, a discovery that might help guide future drug development.

Clinically, the genetic and trauma-caused conditions are very similar, with bone formation in muscle leading to pain and restricted movement, according to the leader of the new study, Edward Hsiao, MD, PhD, an endocrinologist who cares for patients with rare and unusual bone diseases at the UCSF Metabolic Bone Clinic in the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism.

The human cell-based disease model is expected to lead to a better understanding of these disorders and other illnesses, Hsiao said.

The new FOP model already has shed light on the disease process in FOP by showing that the mutated gene can affect different steps of bone formation, Hsiao said. These different stages represent potential targets for limiting or stopping the progression of the disease, and may also be useful for blocking abnormal bone formation in other conditions besides FOP. The human stem-cell lines we developed will be useful for identifying drugs that target the bone-formation process in humans."

The teams development of, and experimentation with, the human stem-cell disease model for FOP, published in the December issue of theOrphanetJournal of Rare Diseases, is a realization of the promise of research using stem cells of the type known as induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, immortal cells of nearly limitless potential, derived not from embryos, but from adult tissues.

Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD, a UCSF professor of anatomy and a senior investigator with the UCSF-affiliated Gladstone Institutes, as well as the director of the Center foriPSCell Research and Application (CiRA) and a principal investigator at Kyoto University, shared the Nobel Prize in 2012 for discovering how to makeiPScells from skin cells using a handful of protein factors. These factors guide a reprogramming process that reverts the cells to an embryonic state, in which they have the potential to become virtually any type of cell.

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Stem Cells Used to Model Disease that Causes Abnormal Bone Growth

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

7-Jan-2014

Contact: David McKeon DMckeon@nyscf.org 212-365-7440 New York Stem Cell Foundation

NEW YORK, NY (January 7, 2014) Scientists at The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute, working in collaboration with scientists from Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC), for the first time generated induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells lines from non-cryoprotected brain tissue of patients with Alzheimer's disease.

These new stem cell lines will allow researchers to "turn back the clock" and observe how Alzheimer's develops in the brain, potentially revealing the onset of the disease at a cellular level long before any symptoms associated with Alzheimer's are displayed. These reconstituted Alzheimer's cells will also provide a platform for drug testing on cells from patients that were definitively diagnosed with the disease. Until now, the only available method to definitively diagnose Alzheimer's disease that has been available to researchers is examining the brain of deceased patients. This discovery will permit scientists for the first time to compare "live" brain cells from Alzheimer's patients to the brain cells of other non-Alzheimer's patients.

NYSCF scientists successfully produced the iPS cells from frozen tissue samples stored for up to eleven years at the New York Brain Bank at Columbia University.

This advance, published today in Acta Neuropathologica Communications , shows that disease-specific iPS cells can be generated from readily available biobanked tissue that has not been cryoprotected, even after they have been frozen for many years. This allows for the generation of iPS cells from brains with confirmed disease pathology as well as allows access to rare patient variants that have been banked. In addition, findings made using iPS cellular models can be cross-validated in the original brain tissue used to generate the cells. The stem cell lines generated for this study included samples from patients with confirmed Alzheimer's disease and four other neurodegenerative diseases.

This important advance opens up critical new avenues of research to study cells affected by disease from patients with definitive diagnoses. This success will leverage existing biobanks to support research in a powerful new way.

iPS cells are typically generated from a skin or blood sample of a patient by turning back the clock of adult cells into pluripotent stem cells, cells that can become any cell type in the body. While valuable, iPS cells are often generated from patients without a clear diagnosis of disease and many neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, often lack specific and robust disease classification and severity grading. These diseases and their extent can only be definitively diagnosed by post-mortem brain examinations. For the first time we will now be able to compare cells from living people to cells of patients with definitive diagnoses generated from their banked brain tissue.

Brain bank networks, which combined contain tens of thousands of samples, provide a large and immediate source of tissue including rare disease samples and a conclusive spectrum of disease severity among samples. The challenge to this approach is that the majority of biobanked brain tissue was not meant for growing live cells, and thus was not frozen in the presence of cryoprotectants normally used to protect cells while frozen. NYSCF scientists in collaboration with CUMC scientists have shown that these thousands of samples can now be used to make living human cells for use in disease studies and to develop new drugs or preventative treatments for future patients.

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NYSCF scientists make living brain cells from Alzheimer's patients biobanked brain tissue

Despite some ethical concerns, most patients are now broadly endorsing stem cell research.

In the case of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which are stem cells made from skin or other tissues, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University found patients were largely in favour of participating in iPSC research even if personal benefit was unlikely.

The patients, however, raised concerns about consent, privacy and transparency.

"Bioethicists as well as stem cell researchers and policy-makers have discussed ethical issues at length but till date, we didn't have any systematic information about what patients think about these issues," said Jeremy Sugarman, the Harvey M. Meyerhoff professor of bioethics and medicine at Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics.

Unlike human embryonic stem cells, iPSCs are derived without destroying a human embryo. Research with human iPSCs is valuable for developing new drugs, studying disease, and perhaps developing medical treatments, said the study published in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

According to the study, consent was highly important for patients. Some patients even suggested that proper informed consent could compensate for other concerns they had about privacy, the "immortalisation" of cells and the commercialisation of stem cells.

There was a "strong desire among participants to have full disclosure of the anticipated uses, with some participants wanting to be able to veto certain uses of their cells", the study added.

"The idea that donated cells would potentially live forever was unnerving to some participants," the report stated.

"This study is a first step in getting crucial information about what values are factored into a decision to participate in iPSC research, and what those participants expect from the experience," said Sugarman.

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Patients endorse key stem cell research

MADISON--After Susan Derse Phillips had chemotherapy for leukemia, she received a stem cell transplant, getting blood-forming cells from a donor to restore her immune system and attack any remaining leukemia cells.

The procedure apparently cured her leukemia, a type of blood cancer. But her skin turned red, her mouth and eyes became dry and she developed diarrhea, fatigue, bronchitis and pneumonia.

She had graft-versus-host disease, or GVHD, a life-threatening complication of the transplant. Her donors cells the graft werent attacking just her leukemia. They were attacking her skin, her gut, her lungs and other organs essentially, her body, the host.

It got pretty scary pretty quickly, said Phillips, 66, of Madison, who continues to struggle with the condition two years after the transplant.

More than half of patients who get donor stem cell transplants develop GVHD, and at least 20 percent of them die from it, said Dr. Mark Juckett, a hematologist at UW Health. But the complication, which likely is under-reported, receives relatively little attention.

Phillips, former president and CEO of Agrace HospiceCare in Fitchburg, set out to change that in Wisconsin. With $500,000 from two donors as seed money, she persuaded UW Health to launch a program to focus on the condition.

UW Carbone Cancer Centers new GVHD program aims to provide better treatment for the 250 or so UW Health patients with the condition and up to 1,000 such patients in Wisconsin and parts of neighboring states, said Juckett, one of the programs two leaders. The program will also study ways to prevent GVHD.

Too often, when doctors give donor stem cell transplants, were trading one disease for another, said Juckett, Phillips doctor. Theres been a lot of focus on how best to do the transplant ... but theres never been a real recognition of dealing with GHVD as a real problem.

Nationwide, about 18,500 stem cell or bone marrow transplants were performed in 2011, according to the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research in Milwaukee.

At UW Hospital, about 150 patients receive the transplants each year. Roughly 100 of them get infusions of their own stem cells, after high-dose chemotherapy or radiation, for conditions such as multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkins lymphoma. They are not at risk for GVHD.

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Stem cell transplant complication gains attention at UW Health

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The breakthrough could also provide the key to skin generation for burn victims and skin cancer sufferers, according to a team at the University of Southern California

Bald men could have a full head of hair after the discovery of the gene that promotes hair growth.

The breakthrough could also provide the key to skin generation for burn victims and skin cancer sufferers.

A team at the University of Southern California investigated stem cells found in follicles which can regenerate hair and skin.

Stem cell specialist Dr Krzysztof Kobielak said: Collectively, these new discoveries advance basic science and, more importantly, might translate into novel therapeutics for various human diseases.

Since BMP signaling has a key regulatory role in maintaining the stability of different types of adult stem cell populations, the implication for future therapies might be potentially much broader than baldness - and could include skin regeneration for burn patients and skin cancer.

The papers were published in the journals Stem Cells and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

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Bald Celebrities

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Cure for baldness could be near after discovery of gene that promotes hair growth

MELBOURNE: Doctors may soon be able to draw new bone, skin and muscle on to patients, after scientists created a pen-like device that can apply human cells directly on to seriously injured people.

The device contains stem cells and growth factors and will give surgeons greater control over where the materials are deposited.

It will also reduce the time the patient is in surgery by delivering live cells and growth factors directly to the site of injury, accelerating the regeneration of functional bone and cartilage, scientists said.

The device developed at the University of Wollongong (UOW) will eliminate the need to harvest cartilage and grow it for weeks in a lab.

The Bio Pen works similar to 3D printing methods by delivering cell material inside a bio-polymer such as alginate, a seaweed extract, protected by a second, outer layer of gel material.

The two layers of gel are combined in the pen head as it is extruded onto the bone surface and the surgeon draws with the ink to fill in the damaged bone section.

A low powered ultra-violet light source is fixed to the device that solidifies the inks during dispensing, providing protection for the embedded cells while they are built up layer-by-layer to construct a 3D scaffold in the wound site.

Once the cells are drawn onto the surgery site they will multiply, become differentiated into nerve cells, muscle cells or bone cells and will eventually turn from individual cells into a thriving community of cells in the form of a functioning a tissue, such as nerves, or a muscle.

The device can also be seeded with growth factors or other drugs to assist regrowth and recovery, while the hand-held design allows for precision in theatre and ease of transportation.

The BioPen prototype was designed and built using the 3D printing equipment in the labs at Wollongong and was handed over to clinical partners at St Vincents Hospital Melbourne, led by Professor Peter Choong, who will work on optimising the cell material for use in clinical trials.

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New pen-like device to repair broken bone

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December 20, 2013

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports Your Universe Online

Regenerative medicine research conducted throughout this year at the University of Southern California (USC) could lead to new ways to counter baldness and receding hairlines using stem cells.

USC Assistant Professor of Pathology Dr. Krzysztof Kobielak and his colleagues have published a trio of papers in the journals Stem Cells and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) describing some of the biological factors responsible for when hair starts growing, when it stops, and when it falls out.

According to USC, the three studies focused on stem cells that are located in adult hair follicles. Those cells, known as hfSCs, can regenerate both hair follicles and skin, and are governed by bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) and the Wnt signaling pathways groups of molecules that work together in order to control the cycles of hair growth and other cellular functions.

The most recent paper, published in the journal Stem Cells in November 2013, focuses on how the gene Wnt7b activates hair growth. Without Wnt7b, hair is much shorter, the team said. Kobielaks team originally proposed Wnt7bs role in a study published this January in PNAS. That paper identified a complex network of genes, including the Wnt and BMP signaling pathways, which controls the cycles of hair growth.

Reduced BMP signaling and increased Wnt signaling activate hair growth, while increased BMP signaling and decreased Wnt signaling keeps the hfSCs in a resting state, the researchers explained. The third paper, published in Stem Cells in September, sheds new light on the BMP signaling pathway. It looked at the function of the proteins Smad1 and Smad 5, which send and receive signals that regulate hair-related stem cells during growth periods.

Collectively, these new discoveries advance basic science and, more importantly, might translate into novel therapeutics for various human diseases, Kobielak explained. Since BMP signaling has a key regulatory role in maintaining the stability of different types of adult stem cell populations, the implication for future therapies might be potentially much broader than baldness and could include skin regeneration for burn patients and skin cancer.

Other USC researchers involved in the studies include postdoctoral fellow Eve Kandyba, Yvonne Leung, Yi-Bu Chen, Randall Widelitz, Cheng-Ming Chuong, Virginia M. Hazen, Agnieszka Kobielak, and Samantha J. Butler. Funding for the research was provided by the Donald E. and Delia B. Baxter Foundation Award and National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online

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Stem Cell Research Could Lead To A Cure For Baldness, And More

Dec. 18, 2013 Regenerative medicine may offer ways to banish baldness that don't involve toupees. The lab of USC scientist Krzysztof Kobielak, MD, PhD has published a trio of papers in the journals Stem Cells and The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) that describe some of the factors that determine when hair grows, when it stops growing and when it falls out.

Authored by Kobielak, postdoctoral fellow Eve Kandyba, PhD, and their colleagues, the three publications focus on stem cells located in hair follicles (hfSCs), which can regenerate hair follicles as well as skin. These hfSCs are governed by the signaling pathways BMP and Wnt -- which are groups of molecules that work together to control cell functions, including the cycles of hair growth.

The most recent paper, published in the journal Stem Cells in November 2013, focuses on how the gene Wnt7b activates hair growth. Without Wnt7b, hair is much shorter.

The Kobielak lab first proposed Wnt7b's role in a January 2013 PNAS publication. The paper identified a complex network of genes -- including the Wnt and BMP signaling pathways -- controlling the cycles of hair growth. Reduced BMP signaling and increased Wnt signaling activate hair growth. The inverse -- increased BMP signaling and decreased Wnt signaling -- keeps the hfSCs in a resting state.

Both papers earned the recommendation of the Faculty of 1000, which rates top articles by leading experts in biology and medicine.

A third paper published in Stem Cells in September 2013 further clarified the workings of the BMP signaling pathway by examining the function of two key proteins, called Smad1 and Smad5. These proteins transmit the signals necessary for regulating hair stem cells during new growth.

"Collectively, these new discoveries advance basic science and, more importantly, might translate into novel therapeutics for various human diseases," said Kobielak. "Since BMP signaling has a key regulatory role in maintaining the stability of different types of adult stem cell populations, the implication for future therapies might be potentially much broader than baldness -- and could include skin regeneration for burn patients and skin cancer."

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Stem cells offer clues to reversing receding hairlines

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Highlights Investigators have discovered a cocktail of chemicals which, when added to stem cells in a precise order, turns on genes found in kidney cells in the same order that they turn on during embryonic kidney development. The kidney cells continued to behave like kidney cells when transplanted into adult or embryonic mouse kidneys.

Newswise Washington, DC (December 19, 2013) Researchers have successfully coaxed stem cells to become kidney tubular cells, a significant advance toward one day using regenerative medicine, rather than dialysis and transplantation, to treat kidney failure. The findings are published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).

Chronic kidney disease is a major global public health problem, and when patients progress to kidney failure, their treatment options are limited to dialysis and kidney transplantation. Regenerative medicinewhich involves rebuilding or repairing tissues and organsmay offer a promising alternative.

Albert Lam, MD, Benjamin Freedman, PhD, Ryuji Morizane, MD, PhD (Brigham and Womens Hospital), and their colleagues have been working for the past five years to develop strategies to coax human pluripotent stem cellsparticularly human embryonic stem (ES) cells and human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cellinto kidney cells for the purposes of kidney regeneration.

Our goal was to develop a simple, efficient, and reproducible method of differentiating human pluripotent stem cells into cells of the intermediate mesoderm, the earliest tissue in the developing embryo that is fated to give rise to the kidneys, said Dr. Lam. He noted that these cells would be the starting blocks for deriving more specific kidney cells.

The researchers discovered a cocktail of chemicals which, when added to stem cells in a precise order, causes them to turn off genes found in ES cells and turn on genes found in kidney cells, in the same order that they turn on during embryonic kidney development. The investigators were able to differentiate both human ES cells and human iPS cells into cells expressing PAX2 and LHX1, two key markers of the intermediate mesoderm. The iPS cells were derived by transforming fibroblasts obtained from adult skin biopsies to pluripotent cells, making the techniques applicable to personalized approaches where the starting cells can be derived from skin cells of a patient. The differentiated cells expressed multiple genes expressed in intermediate mesoderm and could spontaneously give rise to tubular structures that expressed markers of mature kidney tubules. The researchers could then differentiate them further into cells expressing SIX2, SALL1, and WT1, important markers of the metanephric cap mesenchyme, a critical stage of kidney differentiation. In kidney development, the metanephric cap mesenchyme contains a population of progenitor cells that give rise to nearly all of the epithelial cells of the kidney.

The cells also continued to behave like kidney cells when transplanted into adult or embryonic mouse kidneys, giving hope that investigators might one day be able to create kidney tissues that could function in a patient and would be 100% immunocompatible.

We believe that the successful derivation of kidney progenitor cells or functional kidney cells from human pluripotent stem cells will have an enormous impact on a variety of clinical and translational applications, including kidney tissue bioengineering, renal assist devices to treat acute and chronic kidney injury, drug toxicity screening, screening for novel therapeutics, and human kidney disease modeling, said Dr. Lam.

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Researchers Generate Kidney Tubular Cells From Stem Cells

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The breakthrough marks a major advance in treating kidney disease and more avenues in bioengineering human organs. Researchers published their findings in the journal Nature Cell Biology, following their success in making human skin cells form a functioning "mini-kidney" with a width of only a few millimeters.

During self-organization, different types of cells arrange themselves with respect to each other to create the complex structures that exist within an organ, in this case, the kidney, Professor Melissa Little of University of Queenslands Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), who led the study, said in a statement. The fact that such stem cell populations can undergo self-organization in the laboratory bodes well for the future of tissue bioengineering to replace damaged and diseased organs and tissues.

While it may be a while until the process can be used in human trials, Little says it could be a major development in treating chronic kidney disease.

One in three Australians is at risk of developing chronic kidney disease, and the only therapies currently available are kidney transplant and dialysis, Little said. Only one in four patients will receive a donated organ, and dialysis is an ongoing and restrictive treatment regime.

The engineered kidney is a first for science.

"This is the first time anybody has managed to direct stem cells into the functional units of a kidney," Professor Brandon Wainwright, from the University of Queensland, told The Telegraph. "It is an amazing process it is like a Lego building that puts itself together."

Scientists were able to make the kidney by identifying genes that remained active and inactive during kidney development. They were then able to alter the genes into embryonic cells that allowed them to self-organize into the human organ.

"The [researchers] spent years looking at what happens if you turn this gene off and this one on," Wainwright said. "You can eventually coax these stem cells through a journey they [the cells] go through various stages and then think about being a kidney cell and eventually pop together to form a little piece of kidney."

Little predicts the stem cell kidneys could one day be used to make human kidney transplants, or a cluster of mini kidneys used to boost renal function in patients.

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Kidney Grown From Stem Cells For The First Time, Australian Scientists Call Breakthrough ‘An Amazing Process’

November 22, 2013

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

Scientists from the University of Granada in Spain have announced the development of artificial skin, grown from umbilical cord stem cells. The development could be a massive step forward for the treatment of burn victims or other patients who have suffered severe skin damage.

According to a report, published in the journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine, the research team wrote that they were able to use stem cells derived from the umbilical cord, also known as Wharton stem cells, to generate oral-mucosa or epithelia, two types of tissues needed to treat skin injuries.

The researchers said their novel technique is an improvement on conventional methods that can take weeks to generate artificial skin. To grow the artificial tissue, the study team used a biomaterial made of fibrin and agarose that they had previously designed and developed.

Creating this new type of skin using stem cells, which can be stored in tissue banks, means that it can be used instantly when injuries are caused, and which would bring the application of artificial skin forward many weeks, said study author Antonio Campos, professor of Histology at the University of Granada.

The development builds on previous work by the same team, which was heralded at the World Congress on Tissue Engineering held a few months ago in Seoul, South Korea. The celebrated work pointed to the potential for Wharton stem cells to be turned into epithelia cells.

Last month, a team of Italian scientists announced they had developed a similar method but in reverse. According to their paper in the journal Nature Communications, the team took skin cells from a mouse and reverse programmed them back into stem cells. These stem cells were then used to reduce damages to the nervous system of lab mice.

Our discovery opens new therapeutic possibilities for multiple sclerosis patients because it might target the damage to myelin and nerves itself, said study author Gianvito Martino, from the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan, Italy.

This is an important step for stem cell therapeutics, said Dr. Timothy Coetzee, a lead researcher at the National MS Society who was not directly involved in the research. The hope is that skin or other cells from individuals with MS could one day be used as a source for reparative stem cells, which could then be transplanted back into the patient without the complications of graft rejection.

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Artificial Skin Grown In Lab Using Stem Cells - Science News ...

Scientists are hoping to increase the size of future kidneys and believe the resulting organs will boost research and allow cheaper, faster testing of drugs. Within the next three to five years, the artificial organs could be used to allow doctors to repair damaged kidneys within the body, rather than letting diseases develop before proceeding with a transplant.

The engineered kidney was developed by a team of Australian scientists led by the University of Queensland's Institute for Molecular Bioscience.

Professor Wainwright said the process for developing the kidney was "like a scientific approach to cooking". The scientists methodically examined which genes were switched on and off during kidney development and then manipulated the skin cells into embryonic stem cells which could "self-organise" and form complex human structures.

"The [researchers] spent years looking at what happens if you turn this gene off and this one on," he said. "You can eventually coax these stem cells through a journey they [the cells] go through various stages and then think about being a kidney cell and eventually pop together to form a little piece of kidney."

The research could eventually help address the demand for transplant organs and improve medical testing of new drugs for patients with kidney disease.

Human kidneys are particularly susceptible to damage during trials, which makes finding effective medicines costly and time-consuming.

Professor Melissa Little, from the University of Queensland, said scientists could try to grow full-grown kidneys for transplants or even "clusters of mini kidneys" that could be transplanted to boost patients' renal functions. But she told The Australian she believed such developments were still more than a decade away.

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Kidney grown from stem cells by Australian scientists

London, Dec.12 : Scientists at King's College London have, for the first time, identified the unique properties of two different types of cells, known as fibroblasts, in the skin - one required for hair growth and the other responsible for repairing skin wounds.

The research could pave the way for treatments aimed at repairing injured skin and reducing the impact of ageing on skin function.

Fibroblasts are a type of cell found in the connective tissue of the body's organs, where they produce proteins such as collagen. It is widely believed that all fibroblasts are the same cell type.

However, a study on mice by researchers at King's, published today in Nature, indicates that there are at least two distinct types of fibroblasts in the skin: those in the upper layer of connective tissue, which are required for the formation of hair follicles and those in the lower layer, which are responsible for making most of the skin's collagen fibres and for the initial wave of repair of damaged skin.

The study found that the quantity of these fibroblasts can be increased by signals from the overlying epidermis and that an increase in fibroblasts in the upper layer of the skin results in hair follicles forming during wound healing. This could potentially lead to treatments aimed at reducing scarring.

Professor Fiona Watt, lead author and Director of the Centre for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine at King's College London, said: 'Changes to the thickness and compostion of the skin as we age mean that older skin is more prone to injury and takes longer to heal. It is possible that this reflects a loss of upper dermal fibroblasts and therefore it may be possible to restore the skin's elasticity by finding ways to stimulate those cells to grow. Such an approach might also stimulate hair growth and reduce scarring.'

'Although an early study, our research sheds further light on the complex architecture of the skin and the mechanisms triggered in response to skin wounds. The potential to enhance the skin's response to injury and ageing is hugely exciting. However, clinical trials are required to examine the effectiveness of injecting different types of fibroblasts into the skin of humans.'

Dr Paul Colville-Nash, Programme Manager for Regenerative Medicine at the MRC, said: 'These findings are an important step in our understanding of how the skin repairs itself following injury and how that process becomes less efficient as we age. The insights gleaned from this work will have wide-reaching implications in the area of tissue regeneration and have the potential to transform the lives patients who have suffered major burns and trauma.'

This research was funded by the Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council and both Guy's and St Thomas' Charity and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London.

--ANI (Posted on 13-12-2013)

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Skin's own cells offer hope for new ways to repair wounds, reduce impact of ageing

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

11-Dec-2013

Contact: Katya Nasim katya.nasim@kcl.ac.uk 44-207-848-3840 King's College London

Scientists at King's College London have, for the first time, identified the unique properties of two different types of cells, known as fibroblasts, in the skin one required for hair growth and the other responsible for repairing skin wounds. The research could pave the way for treatments aimed at repairing injured skin and reducing the impact of ageing on skin function.

Fibroblasts are a type of cell found in the connective tissue of the body's organs, where they produce proteins such as collagen. It is widely believed that all fibroblasts are the same cell type. However, a study on mice by researchers at King's, published today in Nature, indicates that there are at least two distinct types of fibroblasts in the skin: those in the upper layer of connective tissue, which are required for the formation of hair follicles and those in the lower layer, which are responsible for making most of the skin's collagen fibres and for the initial wave of repair of damaged skin.

The study found that the quantity of these fibroblasts can be increased by signals from the overlying epidermis and that an increase in fibroblasts in the upper layer of the skin results in hair follicles forming during wound healing. This could potentially lead to treatments aimed at reducing scarring.

Professor Fiona Watt, lead author and Director of the Centre for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine at King's College London, said: 'Changes to the thickness and compostion of the skin as we age mean that older skin is more prone to injury and takes longer to heal. It is possible that this reflects a loss of upper dermal fibroblasts and therefore it may be possible to restore the skin's elasticity by finding ways to stimulate those cells to grow. Such an approach might also stimulate hair growth and reduce scarring.

'Although an early study, our research sheds further light on the complex architecture of the skin and the mechanisms triggered in response to skin wounds. The potential to enhance the skin's response to injury and ageing is hugely exciting. However, clinical trials are required to examine the effectiveness of injecting different types of fibroblasts into the skin of humans.'

Dr Paul Colville-Nash, Programme Manager for Regenerative Medicine at the MRC, said: 'These findings are an important step in our understanding of how the skin repairs itself following injury and how that process becomes less efficient as we age. The insights gleaned from this work will have wide-reaching implications in the area of tissue regeneration and have the potential to transform the lives patients who have suffered major burns and trauma.'

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Skin's own cells offer hope for new ways to repair wounds and reduce impact of aging on the skin

As we age, the reduced turnover of our cells means we can lose control over how our skin ages. Epidermal stem cells needed to create healthy new skin are significantly reduced and function less efficiently. A discovery based on promising plant stem cell research may allow you to regain control.

Scientists have found that a novel extract derived from the stem cells of a rare apple tree cultivated for its extraordinary longevity shows tremendous ability to rejuvenate aging skin. By stimulating aging skin stem cells, this plant extract has been shown to lessen the appearance of unsightly wrinkles. Clinical trials show that this unique formulation increases the longevity of skin cells, resulting in skin that has a more youthful and radiant appearance.

Cells in our bodies are programmed for specific functions. A skin cell, a brain cell, and a liver cell all contain the same DNA, or set of genes. However, each cells fate is determined by a set of epigenetic (able to change gene expression patterns) signals that come from inside it and from the surrounding cells as well. These signals are like command tags attached to the DNA that switch certain genes on or off.

This selective coding creates all of the different kinds of cells in our bodies, which are collectively known as differentiated (specialized) cells.

Although differentiated cells vary widely in purpose and appearance, they all have one thing in common: they all come with a built-in operational limit. After so many divisions, they lose their ability to divide and must be replaced. This is where stem cells come in.

Your body also produces other cells that contain no specific programming. These stem cells are blank, so your body can essentially format them any way it pleases. Two universal aspects shared by this type of cell are: (1) the ability to replenish itself through a process of self-renewal and (2) the capacity to produce a differentiated cell.

In animals and humans, two basic kinds of stem cells exist: embryonic and adult stem cells. Embryonic stem cells have the power to change into any differentiated cell type found anywhere in your body. Adult stem cells, on the other hand, are generally more limited. They can only evolve into the specific type of cell found in the tissue where they are located. The primary function of these adult stem cells is maintenance and repair.

But certain adult stem cells found in nature retain the unlimited developmental potential that embryonic stem cells possess. These cells have become the main focus for an exciting new wave of regenerative medicine (repairing damaged or diseased tissues and organs using advanced techniques like stem cell therapy and tissue engineering).

The basal (innermost) layer of the skins epidermis comprises two basic types of cells: (1) the slowly dividing epidermal stem cells (that represent about 2-7% of the basal cell population) and (2) their rapidly dividing offspring that supply new cells to replace those that are lost or dying.1-3

The slow self-renewal process of epidermal stem cells, however, creates a problem. Because each epidermal stem cell only lasts for a certain number of divisions, and because each division runs the risk of lethal DNA mutation, the epidermal stem cell population can become depleted. When this happens, lost or dying skin cells begin to outnumber their replacements and the skins health and appearance start to decline.

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Apple Stem Cells Offer Hope for Aging and Damaged Skin - Life ...

Maintaining more luminous skin is dependent upon your bodys unique ability to replace dead skin cells. This vital process of continuous self-renewal depends on the activity of epidermal stem cells.

The epidermis (upper skin layer) has been shown to replace itself in just 20 days in young adults, compared to 30 days in middle-aged adults.1 Unfortunately, this rate of renewal dramatically declines after age 50.

The exciting news is that the decline in the skins capacity to renew itself may be safely slowed or even reversed.

Researchers have found that when applied to the skin, a novel, patent-pending preparation of cultured stem cells derived from the Alpine rose may stimulate epidermal stem cell activity.2

In this article, epidermal stem cells role in skin beauty is detailed, along with supportive data on Alpine rose stem cells ability to activate the skins innate power of self-renewal.

The Alpine rose (Rhododendron ferrugineum) thrives in the Swiss Alps and the Pyrenees where it endures high altitudes, extreme cold, dry air, and high levels of ultra violet radiation.

This plants ability to withstand harsh environmental stress factors such as freezing temperatures, drought, and scorching UV rays prompted researchers to investigate the Alpine rose as a source of protection for human skin cells. Like the Alpine rose, human skin cells must resist a host of environmental stressors and lock in essential fluids. Skin that performs this barrier function well is more resilient and less likely to develop fine lines and wrinkles or show other signs of aging.

The skin functions as an essential barrier to protect the body from microbial invaders, toxins, the ravages of weather, dehydration, and mechanical trauma. This protective function is governed by stem cells. There are two broad classes of stem cells: pluripotent embryonic stem cells, which have the capacity to develop into any cell type, and adult stem cells, which can differentiate to become some or all of the specialized cell types present in a specific tissue or organ. The adult stem cells in the skin reside in the deepest layer of the epidermis, close to hair follicles.

Epidermal stem cells help to facilitate the turnover of all skin cells, replenishing their supply and maintaining a continuous equilibrium of skin cells in all stages of their life cycles. Epidermal stem cells have relatively slow turnover compared to other skin cell types, but it is their tremendous reproducing potential that gives the skin the remarkable capacity to renew itself completely.3 These types of stem cells also are vitally important for repairing the skin after injury and enabling wound healing.4

The researchers found that applying selected plant stem cell extracts to the skin, specifically those cultured from the Alpine rose, offers protection to the epidermal stem cells, prolonging their lives, increasing their colony-forming efficiency and enhancing their function. These potent plant stem cells from the Alpine rose appear to stimulate the skins own epidermal stem cell activity, revitalizing it and boosting its capacity for repair and self-renewal.

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Activate Self-Renewing Skin Stem Cells - Life Extension