Most nights, Marcia Dunlap attaches seven or eight leeches around her husband John's eyes as part of an effort to restore some of his vision. Tom Bailey/The Commercial Appeal

With the help of his wife Marcia, John Dunlap receives his nightly leech treatment at his home in East Memphis. Marcia places several leeches on his face in an effort to increase pressure in his left eye. In conjunction with stem cell treatment, the Dunlaps hope that one day John may be a viable candidate for a procedure that could return some of his vision.(Photo: Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal)

At home most evenings, Memphis, Tennessee, attorney John Dunlap, 80, unbuttons and removes his white dress shirt and counting his steps and remembering which way to turn carefullywalks with a tall white canefrom the living room to the dining table, where his wife Marcia has a plastic container of leeches.

Twenty-six months ago,the couple's schizophrenic sonAndrewattacked them in theirhome. The injuries blinded Dunlap. He's in total darkness.

After drapinga large, peach-colored towel around John's neck, Marcia reaches into the water for the skinniest leeches. Those are the hungriest and most likely to latchonto John's face.

One at a time, she gently presses four leeches to the skin around John's left eye and three around the right. She waits patiently wait for eachto bite and stay connected to John's skin.

"You can feel a bite,'' he says. "A little, stinging bite... And then after awhile you don't feel anything.''

The Dunlaps have carried out this unusualroutine60 or so times since December. It's a type of therapy prescribed by a Los Angeles doctor who offers experimental stem cell therapy designed to regenerate tissue.

"In the beginning he made it very clear he's not anophthalmologist and not an eye surgeon but he had had some success with stem cells in treating blindness. It's experimental,'' Dunlap said.

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The doctor prescribed the leech therapy as a preliminary step because, Dunlap said, the leech enzymesenhance the blood supply to the eye and nourishthe eye tissue.

The left eye had atrophied, or withered. The idea wasto restore health to the eyebefore the stem cell treatment. There is no right eye, but the hope is that the leech enzymes will help revive that optic nerve in case a transplant is ever possible.

Since the leech therapy,the pressure in the right eye has improved significantly, Dunlapsaid, referring to follow-upexams. The retina, which had folded into an ice-cream cone shape after the trauma, has begun returning to its normal shape, he said.

Even though he still cannot see out of the left eye and the optic nerve remains severed from the retina, Dunlap said, "I now have a live eye.''

The Dunlaps decline to identify the California doctor, describing him as a"humble'' person whodoes not seek the publicity.

With the help of his wife Marcia, John Dunlap receives his nightly leech treatment at his home in East Memphis. Marcia places several leeches on his face in an effort to increase pressure in his left eye. In conjunction with stem cell treatment, the Dunlaps hope that one day John may be a viable candidate for a procedure that could return some of his vision.(Photo: Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal)

Andrew, the Dunlaps' mentally ill son, is charged with attempted murder and domestic assault, and remains in jail awaiting trial. Thecouplehave told authorities that they mainly want Andrew to receive mental health treatment.

The Dunlapshave experienced tragedy long before the 2015 assault.

Their son Jeff, one of four children, was a St. Jude Children's Research Hospital patient who died of cancer at age 10, in September 1974.

Dunlap recalls a return car tripfrom Knoxville, where he and Marcia had been visiting grandchildren shortly after he was released from rehab.

"As we were driving back I started thinking of all the things I won't get to do again. In my mind, I was going down the list,'' he said.

It would be a long list, including some leisure activities he loves. An avid Cubs fan, heenjoyed attending spring training games in Arizona. A passionate golfer, he enjoyedwatching how the ball flew when he struck it well.

But Dunlap stopped himself from completing the list of losses, telling himself, " 'You don't want to dwell on that'. . . It's as if the Lord sent me a message that hit me across my forehead, saying, 'John, get over it. It could be a whole lot worse.'

"Anytime I want to start thinking about the things I'm missing or not doing what I used to do, I think 'Get over it. Move on'.''

Sudden blindness is such a change in lifestyle. "I guess some people may feel the world has ended for them, but it hasn't,'' he said.

Marcia Dunlap gets special leeches for her husband John's nightly treatment from the laundry room where she keeps it out of sight. Marcia places several leeches on his face in an effort to increase pressure in his left eye. In conjunction with stem cell treatment, the Dunlaps hope that one day John may be a viable candidate for a procedure that could return some of his vision.(Photo: Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal)

The stem cell and leech therapy is expensive and not covered by health insurance. Some have expressed their skepticism about the legitimacy of the experimental treatments.

"You have some people who are concerned for you, that your approach is not going to be effective,'' Dunlap said.

"Yet, several folks up herehave said, 'John, I'd take a shot at it. It is expensive but you're the one with the white cane and the one who is blind and has to live with it. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose.'''

While some might be concerned about the unusual treatments, many others are inspired by the Dunlaps,saidBlanche Tosh, a fellow church member and friend since high school.

"I have told them so many times, 'You just can't begin to know the lives you have affected,'' Tosh said.

"I know so many people who look at the way they are dealing with multiple things. How could anybody endure that and just go on and be pleasant and make it from day to day with the consistent attitude that the world sees.

"You are not going to find many people whoever see one of them without a smile,'' Tosh said.

She was inspired to start a gofundme account (gofundme.com/johndunlapvision) to help coverthe Dunlaps' expenses. As of midweek, $8,795 of the $100,000 goal had been raised.

Memphis lawyer John Dunlap and his wife Marcia continue to search for some medical procedure to restore at least partial vision after John was blinded a few years ago when their mentally ill son attacked him. (Photo: Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal)

Since December, Dunlap has undergone two-and-a-half rounds of leech therapy and two series ofstem cell treatments. The couple traveled to California in June for the most recent stem cell procedures, and returned home with stem-cell eye drops and injections.

Nowthey are in the middle of the leech therapy they resumed this summer.

John has a follow-up exam next week, when he will learn if there's been continued progress from the stem cell and leech therapies.

The California doctor "indicated it would take two to three months to see if we were getting any results from stem cell therapy out there,'' Dunlap said. That time could come sometime this month or in September.

If the stem cell therapy has not worked by then, he said,"We'll just have to see what any third plan looks like, and the cost involved.''

Late in life, Dunlap has been forced to learn to type, work a computer, navigate with a cane, count the steps and memorize the turns from one spot to another, communicate with Siri, and smile as blood-sucking leeches dangle from his cheeks.

Asked about his sources of inner-strength, he responded, "I don't know I'd call it inner-strength.

"I can tell you I certainly believe in the Lord. We pray daily. I appreciate the prayers of others. I think it certainly is a faithissue.''

He also credits his late mother, Cora, a single parentwho managed a grocery. "She was a very optimistic, loving person,'' he recalled.

"And I've had Marcia's support. Marcia wasn't going to let me give up, just sit down and do nothing.''

The Dunlaps are starting to consider resuming their annual trips to Cubs spring training in Arizona. Maybe next spring.

"You may have your vision by then,'' Marcia told John.

"I might,'' he responded."We'll see.''

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Will putting leeches on his face help this blind man see? - USA TODAY

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The way to the Red Planet and other mysterious worlds is being inspired by the villainous Khan from the blockbuster films, according to new research.

The use of stem cell technology may mean the difference between life and death on any attempt to travel beyond Earth into the wilderness of space.

So the first person to walk on Mars is likely to be selected from the growing group of people whose parents took the step to store their child's stem cells at birth.

Stem cells are 'blank' cells that can be reprogrammed to turn into any other cell in the body, enabling the replacement of damaged cells.

More and more British parents, including TV presenter Natalie Pinkham and dancer Darcey Bussell, are paying more than 2,000 to freeze samples from their babies' umbilical cords at birth.

Stem cells are also found in bone marrow and some body tissue, but the procedure to harvest them from umbilical cords is less risky.

Adventurous Mars pioneers will have to be especially prepared for the dangerous trip, which could expose them to cancer and other diseases, through carefully researched gene therapy.

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We wince at the thought of genetically engineered humans

Mark Hall

Mark Hall, spokesperson for the UK's leading stem cell storage and diagnostics company StemProtect, said: "We wince at the thought of genetically engineered humans.

"And we are not going to create a Khan from Star Trek specifically to get to another planet. Getting humans to Mars and beyond will be both expensive and dangerous.

"But the scientific by-products - such as huge leaps in stem cell medicine - will benefit humanity for centuries to come."

Genetic engineering has featured in two Star Trek movies, and a number of TV episodes.

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This still image strikes an uncanny resemblance to a figure of a woman

Khan, who appeared in Space Seed and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, was modified to make him stronger and to give him greater stamina and intellectual capacity than a regular human.

Mr Hall said: "The first human to walk on Mars may not even be born yet - but that's an advantage."

StemProtect believes advanced medical techniques will be required to cope with the rigours of interplanetary space.

While a trip to Mars may appear "just around the corner" in galactic terms, it is highly possible exposure to radiation along the way could lead to the astronauts developing leukaemia and other cancers even before they arrived.

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This means future travellers will have to be 'immunised' before they leave Earth.

Mr Hall said: "There was an article in The Times suggesting elephants would make ideal Martian travellers because they'd be largely immune to the radiation.

"But those laughing at the ridiculous sounding headline completely missed the point - the fact is scientists are already working on ways of getting humans there and back alive."

Recent research has shown radiation in deep space increase the risk of leukaemia while long term exposure to micro gravity may leave astronauts open to infection.

The three year round trip to Mars would affect humans at the stem cell level, leaving them with a drastically lowered immune system, NASA funded scientists say.

And NASA's own findings say stem cells may be crucial to the future of space travel, particularly how they respond in a low gravity environment.

One study showed stem cells flown in space and then cultured back on Earth had greater ability to self renew and generate any cell type, changing more easily into specialised heart muscle cells, for instance.

Mr Hall said an astronaut will have to be prepared for the journey "quite literally at the stem cell level."

He explained: "That means working with the best and most effective stem cells available to the patient - those harvested from the umbilical cord at birth."

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The therapies required to 'immunise' humans to space travel are still being researched.

And with most space based science, it can only mean huge benefits to mankind back down on Earth when it comes to fighting otherwise deadly conditions and diseases.

Stem cells have the ability to treat a potentially infinite range of illnesses and diseases.

Stem cell therapy is already being used all over the world to treat some cancers and stroke victims - and there is fast progress being made in many other areas, including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease.

The rest is here:
SUPERHUMANS: Mars 'will be colonised by genetically engineered Star Trek-style beings' - Express.co.uk

Distinct growth factors promote the survival of specific types of motor neurons in the spinal cord, according to a study led by Georg Haase, of Aix-Marseille University in Marseille, France. The results suggest that these factors may work together to provide trophic support to motor neurons in the CNS and therefore, a combination of them may be needed to protect motor neurons damaged by disease.

Growth factors have always been tantalizingly attractive in ALS, said Nicholas Boulis of Emory University Medical School, who was not involved in the study. But the problem is, there has been a failure of growth factors to perform [in the clinic]. This study provides tangible evidence that you may be able to get a bigger effect by combining growth factors.

The study appeared on March 16 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Neurotrophic Factors in ALS: The power of two+

Sorting out ALS. George Haases team at Aix-Marseille University in France used a FACS-based method to identify NTFs needed to protect distinct classes of motor neurons in the developing lumbar spinal cord. Now, the researchers are adapting this method to determine which of these substances may be needed to protect adult motor neurons, including those affected by ALS. The results may help clinicians develop neuroprotective treatment strategies tailored for the disease. [Courtesy of Schaller et al., 2017, PNAS]

Researchers first turned to neurotrophic factors (NTFs) in the early 1990s as a potential therapy for ALS in hopes to promote the survival of motor neurons damaged by the disease. But initial therapies proved ineffective in part due to delivery challenges (see Rogers, 2014).

In more recent years, neuroscientists discovered that many of these growth factors may work together to provide trophic support for motor neurons and promote their survival at least in the developing spinal cord (see Gould and Enomoto, 2009). But how these substances orchestrate this process remains an open question.

A growing number of researchers suspect that there may be distinct classes of motor neurons that are protected by distinct NTFs during development. To test this hypothesis, Haases team at Aix-Marseille University in France isolated motor neurons from the developing lumbar spinal cord in the mouse and determined which growth factors supported them.

To carry out this analysis, first author Sbastien Schaller and colleagues dissected out lumbar spinal cords at day E12 and suspended the tissue. Then, they used fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) to isolate the motor neurons, cultured them and exposed them to combinations of neurotrophic substances.

The technique enabled motor neurons to be specifically captured from embryos by using Hb9:GFP mice, originally developed by Columbia Universitys Thomas Jessell in New York, which express GFP in motor neurons in the developing central nervous system.

100% of the cells expressed the motor neuronal markers ChAT and SMI 32, and none expressed interneuronal markers, indicating the exquisite purity of the isolated cells, said Haase. That, combined with the methods speed and degree of automation, make FACS-derived motor neurons a promising platform for future studies, he said, including screening for potential ALS therapies.

A combinatorial approach? Beginning in the early 1990s, researchers developed potential neuroprotective therapies for ALS that delivered single neurotrophic substances. But according to a new study, multiple NTFs may be needed to promote the survival of motor neurons affected by the disease. [Courtesy of Schaller et al., 2017, PNAS]

Next, the team exposed motor neurons to 12 different neurotrophic factors (BDNF, NT3, GDNF, neurturin, artemin, persephin, CNTF, CT1, LIF, HGF, IGF1, and VEGF), alone or in combination. Individually, all NTFs promoted neuronal survival after 3 days in culture, with GDNF being the most effective (43%). HGF, however, protected only about 20% of motor neurons in culture. But when HGF, CNTF and artemin were combined, motor neuron survival reached nearly 50%.

The effects were additive, explained Haase. That suggested to us that each [of these growth factors] were supporting a subset of motor neurons.

To test that hypothesis, the researchers used subtype cell surface-specific antibodies to label three major subsets of motor neurons from the lumbar spinal cordthe medial motor column, which innervate axial muscles, the lateral motor column, which innervate limb muscles, and preganglionic, which synapse with downstream neurons of the autonomic motor system. They then used FACS to separate each subtype, and exposed them to HGF, CNTF or artemin.

They found that each of these NTFs promoted the survival of distinct classes of motor neurons in the lumbar spinal cord. For example, HGF preferentially supported survival of motor neurons in the lateral motor column neurons, key motor neurons affected by ALS.

The effects were mediated by distinct neurotrophic factor receptors decorating the surface of each type of motor neuron, explained Haase. When we blocked the HGF receptor, we completely blocked the survival effect of HGF. That means these motor neurons depend on this particular factor for their survival.

Additional analysis indicated that CNTF and artemin protected other types of motor neurons located elsewhere in the spinal cord.

Lateral thinking. HGF promotes the survival of motor neurons that innervate the limbs through a c-Met-mediated mechanism at least in the developing spinal cord (Schaller et al., 2017). The neurotrophic substance is the basis of Viromeds VM202, a gene therapy-based strategy now being evaluated at the phase 1/2 stage (Sufit et al., 2017). [Image: Emw, Wikimedia Commons.]

Together, the findings suggest that these substances provide trophic support and promote the survival of specific types of motor neurons in the developing spinal cord.

This is a very high-quality paper that helps clarify the field, said Clive Svendsen of Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, California. Until now, it was not clear that distinct subsets of motor neurons may respond to their own subsets of growth factors.

Motor neurons that could potentially include those that descend from the brainstem, and those involved in breathing, also affected by the disease.

The results suggest that combining growth factors may offer more therapeutic benefit than single factors in ALS according to Nicholas Boulis.

Svendsen agreed. This is suggesting that for therapies, if you want to protect motor neurons, you may have to expand to include multiple growth factors, Svendsen said. However, he noted, and as confirmed in this study, GDNF by itself is still perhaps the most powerful all-around survival factor for motor neurons.

Svendsen is now developing a potential therapy for ALS that uses genetically engineered neural stem cells to deliver GDNF to the spinal cord. The Phase 1 clinical trial is soon to be launched (see October 2016 news).

Neuroprotective therapies: the next generation?

The next big question, which this paper leaves open, according to Svendsen is whether the growth factors identified in this study protect motor neurons in the adult nervous system.

Haase agreed. This is a critical question, and we are adapting our method to look at this now.

A stem cell-based approach? Haases team previously developed a FACS-based technique to isolate reprogrammed motor neurons generated from human iPS cells (Toli et al., 2015). The approach could be used to identify key neurotrophic substances that promote the survival of patient-derived motor neurons. [Image: Reprogrammed sALS motor neuron, Alves et al., 2015. CC BY 4.0].

Some neural circuits change drastically during adulthood, while others stay pretty much the same, so weve got to do the experiments to find out, explained Svendsen. But I will probably be trying HGF soon in my own experiments.

In the meantime, said Haase, it is important to keep in mind that the growth factors found to be less effective in this study should not be ruled out as potential therapies. They may act sequentially during development, or may require co-factors to exert their effect which were not present in our growth medium, he said.

It is also important to keep in mind that this study did not evaluate the ability of any of these substances to regenerate axons, a key goal in terms of developing therapies for ALS and other motor neuron diseases including SMA.

The challenges of delivery, which have stymied the field to date, remain paramount, Haase also noted. Gene delivery approaches with adeno-associated vectors have been studied for single growth factors, but if several are needed, a larger-capacity vector, such as lentivirus, may be required, according to Boulis. Multiple rounds of ex vivo gene therapy to equip stem cells with multiple growth factor genes, would be another option, followed by surgical implantation of the modified cells.

Further exploration in in vivo models and patient-derived iPS cells are an important next step to determine which combination of these substances could be of the most benefit, added Boulis.

But despite these challenges, Boulis agrees this approach is worth considering. As a surgeon who does translational work on the application of growth factors to ALS, this may be an Aha! moment.

Reference

Schaller S, Buttigieg D, Alory A, Jacquier A, Barad M, Merchant M, Gentien D, de la Grange P, Haase G. Novel combinatorial screening identifies neurotrophic factors for selective classes of motor neurons. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 Mar 21;114(12):E2486-E2493. [PubMed].

Toli D, Buttigieg D, Blanchard S, Lemonnier T, Lamotte dIncamps B, Bellouze S, Baillat G, Bohl D, Haase G.Modeling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in pure human iPSc-derived motor neurons isolated by a novel FACS double selection technique. Neurobiol Dis. 2015 Oct;82:269-80. [PubMed].

Further Reading

Rogers, ML. Neurotrophic Therapy for ALS/MND. New York: Springer New York; c2014. p. 1755-85. (Kostrzewa RM, editor. Handbook of Neurotoxicity.)

Gould TW, Enomoto H. Neurotrophic modulation of motor neuron development. Neuroscientist. 2009 Feb;15(1):105-16. [PubMed].

disease-als gdnf HGF neuroprotection neurotrophic factor topic-clinical topic-randd VEGF

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Neurotrophic factors in ALS: a winning combination? - ALS Research Forum

Sickle cell disease. Image: Flickr

Sickle cell disease is a slow, vicious killer. Most people diagnosed with the red blood cell disorder in the US live to be between 40 and 60. But those years are a lifetime of pain, as abnormal, crescent-shaped hemoglobin stops up blood flow and deprives tissues of oxygen, causing frequent bouts of agony, along with more severe consequences like organ damage. Now, after decades of searching for a cure, researchers are announcing that, in at least one patient, they seem to have found a very promising treatment.

Two years ago, a French teen with sickle cell disease underwent a gene therapy treatment intended to help his red blood cells from sickling. In a paper published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers revealed that today, half of his red blood cells have normal-shaped hemoglobin. He has not needed a blood transfusion, which many sickle cell patients receive to reduce complications from the disease, since three months after his treatment. He is also off all medicines.

To reiterate, the paper is a case study of just one patient. Bluebird Bio, the Massachusetts biotech company that sponsored the clinical trial, has treated at least six other trials underway in the US and France, but those results have not yet been fully reported. The gene therapy has not worked quite as well in some of those other patients; researchers say they are adjusting the therapy accordingly. It is also possible that the boy may eventually experience some blood flow blockages again in the future.

The results, though early, are encouraging. They represent the promise of new genetics technologies to address a disease that has long been neglected and tinged with racism. Sickle cell disease affects about 100,000 people in the US, most of whom are black. It is an inherited genetic disease caused by a mutation of a single letter in a persons genetic code.

This single-letter mutation makes it a promising candidate for cutting edge technologies, like the gene-editing technique CRISPR-Cas9, and other gene therapies. Recently, a rush of new research has sought to address it. Two other gene therapy studies for sickle cell are underway in the US one at UCLA and another at Cincinnati Childrens Hospital. Yet another is about to start in a collaboration between Harvard and Boston Childrens Hospital. Last fall, researchers all demonstrated the ability to correct the mutation in human cells using CRISPR, though that strategy will yet have to surpass significant scientific and political hurdles before reaching clinical trials.

In the new study, researchers took bone marrow stem cells from the boy and fed them corrected versions of a gene that codes for beta-globin, a protein that helps produce normal hemoglobin. The hope was that those altered stem cells would interfere with the boys faulty proteins and allow his red blood cells to function normally. They continued the transfusions until the transplanted cells began to produce normal-shaped hemoglobin. In the following months, the numbers of those cells continued to increase until in December 2016, they accounted for more than half the red blood cells in his body. In other words, so far so good.

Currently, the only long-term treatment for sickle cell disease is a bone marrow transplant, a high-risk, difficult procedure which many patients are not even eligible for. Pain and other side-effects are treated with blood transfusions for temporary relief. New technologies offer the hope of a solution that could provide long-term relief and allow patients to live some semblance of a normal life.

For decades, gene therapies have been touted as a cure for everything. But so far, successes have been infrequent, and often for very rare diseases. But early success in treating sickle cell disease means that soon, if were lucky, the benefits of this technology may reach hundreds of thousands of people.

[New England Journal of Medicine]

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Will Sickle Cell Be the Next Disease Genetic Engineering Cures? - Gizmodo

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Challenges in identifying the best source of stem cells ...

A team led by scientists from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has found a simple method to convert human skin cells into the specialized neurons that detect pain, itch, touch and other bodily sensations. These neurons are also affected by spinal cord injury and involved in Friedreich's ataxia, a devastating and currently incurable neurodegenerative disease that largely strikes children.

The discovery allows this broad class of human neurons and their sensory mechanisms to be studied relatively easily in the laboratory. The "induced sensory neurons" generated by this method should also be useful in the testing of potential new therapies for pain, itch and related conditions.

"Following on the work of TSRI Professor Ardem Patapoutian, who has identified many of the genes that endow these neurons with selective responses to temperature, pain and pressure, we have found a way to produce induced sensory neurons from humans where these genes can be expressed in their 'normal' cellular environment," said Associate Professor Kristin K. Baldwin, an investigator in TSRI's Dorris Neuroscience Center. "This method is rapid, robust and scalable. Therefore we hope that these induced sensory neurons will allow our group and others to identify new compounds that block pain and itch and to better understand and treat neurodegenerative disease and spinal cord injury."

The report by Baldwin's team appears as an advance online publication in Nature Neuroscience on November 24, 2014.

In Search of a Better Model

The neurons that can be made with the new technique normally reside in clusters called dorsal root ganglia (DRG) along the outer spine. DRG sensory neurons extend their nerve fibers into the skin, muscle and joints all over the body, where they variously detect gentle touch, painful touch, heat, cold, wounds and inflammation, itch-inducing substances, chemical irritants, vibrations, the fullness of the bladder and colon, and even information about how the body and its limbs are positioned. Recently these neurons have also been linked to aging and to autoimmune disease.

Because of the difficulties involved in harvesting and culturing adult human neurons, most research on DRG neurons has been done in mice. But mice are of limited use in understanding the human version of this broad "somatosensory" system.

"Mouse models don't represent the full diversity of the human response," said Joel W. Blanchard, a PhD candidate in the Baldwin laboratory who was co-lead author of the study with Research Associate Kevin T. Eade.

A New Identity

For the new study, the team used a cell-reprogramming technique (similar to those used to reprogram skin cells into stem cells) to generate human DRG-type sensory neurons from ordinary skin cells called fibroblasts.

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Pain and itch in a dish: Scientists convert human skin cells into sensory neurons

SAN FRANCISCO – A move to tighten
budget controls on grants from the $3 billion California stem cell
agency stalled Monday, but it appears that the plan is headed for
ultimate approval.

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Stanley, Kan. — It’s a special Valentine’s Day gift for Jake the dog.  His family gave him a stem cell treatment that they hope will extend his life.

Jake is an 11-year-old yellow lab.  He’s been part of the LeBlanc family since he was a puppy.  Jake’s owner, Elizabeth LeBlanc, calls him her “first baby.”  But then Mia and Aidan were born and at ages eight and five years old, they love to play with Jake.

When the LeBlanc’s noticed Jake was having trouble getting around they wanted to help.  They tried medication, but say it didn’t work for very long.  Then Mia saw a segment about a stem cell treatment for dogs on t.v. and asked if they could get it for Jake.  The LeBlanc’s called their veterinarian and found out the Stanley Veterinary Clinic in Stanley, Kansas is the only place in the metro where they can do the entire procedure in house.

Dr. Les Pelfrey, D.V.M. explained the procedure.

“We’re going to collect about 20 grams of fat surgically and then we’re going to process it in our lab here in house then we’re going to reintroduce those stem cells after we activate them back into the affected joints,” said Dr. Les Pelfrey.

The procedure can cost $3000. The dog’s fatty tissue has to be sent off to a lab for the stem cells to be extracted.  But at the Stanley Veterinary Clinic they can process the stem cells in their own lab, cutting the cost to $1800.00.

Jake’s arthritis is affecting his hips, knees, one elbow and one shoulder.  Dr. Pelfrey made an incision and removed the fatty tissue from Jake.  Then veterinary technician Stephanie Pierce took it to the lab to break it down, cook it and then spin it.  The final product?  Stem cells that were then re-injected into Jake’s joints to help him grow cartilage.  Pierce says Jake will “act like a puppy again as far as moving around.”

The LeBlancs can’t wait to see the results.

“For 12 years he’s given us love and joy so we just want to give him a better quality of life,” LeBlanc said.

Jake will spend the night at the Stanley Veterinary Clinic.  He should be able to head home tomorrow.  Jake and the LeBlancs should notice results in the next few weeks.

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Dog Receives First-Ever Stem Cell Therapy in Kansas City