Category Archives: Stem Cell Human Trials

The history of cancer treatment includes a long list of quack diets claiming patients can eat their way back to good health, but one approach, which involves eating less and minimizing carbohydrates, appears to produce genuine benefits. For the past decade, Dr. Valter Longo, director of the Longevity Institute of the University of Southern California, has been studying the effects of calorie restriction on diseases associated with aging, including cancer. In a paper recently published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, Longo and his colleagues report that periodic fasting in mice helped reduce the immune system decline caused by chemotherapy and aging. The researchers also analyzed data from a clinical trial involving human cancer patients and found that those who fasted for 72 hours when receiving chemotherapy showed normal numbers of the white blood cells needed to maintain robust functioning of the immune system. Three clinical trials are being done at USC's Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center to test the effect of periodic fasting. In one trial, cancer patients are divided into groups and follow various fasting regimens. Some patients, for example, fast for two days before chemo, and one day after, while others fast for four days but are allowed … Continue reading →

Paul Laikind, CEO of ViaCyte, which is making a treatment for diabetes from human embryonic stem cells. In an historic announcement for the stem cell field, San Diego's ViaCyte said Thursday it has applied to start human clinical trials of its treatment for Type 1 diabetes. ViaCyte grows replacement insulin-producing cells from human embryonic stem cells. The cells are packaged while maturing in a semi-permeable device and implanted. In animal trials, the cells produce insulin, relieving diabetes. Now the company proposes to take what could be a cure for diabetes into people. ViaCyte has asked to begin a Phase 1/2 clinical trial, which would assess both safety and efficacy of its product. ViaCyte is targeting Type 1 diabetes, in which the insulin-producing cells are destroyed. Patients require multiple injections of insulin daily to survive. The announcement is good news for California's stem cell agency, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. The agency has awarded nearly $39 million to ViaCyte to ready its device for human use. Paul Laikind, ViaCytes chief executive, said if all goes smoothly, the first patients will be treated in August or September. Based on animal studies, it will take a few months to see results, and … Continue reading →

Poway, CA (PRWEB) July 10, 2014 Robert Harman, DVM, Founder and CEO of Vet-Stem, Inc., the leading Regenerative Veterinary Medicine company, is proud to announce the relaunch of his highly informative blog, now named Stem Cells for Pets, launching with a new series called What are Stem Cells? Dr. Harmans purpose for blogging is to give an honest and straightforward foundation in the basics of stem cell therapy so that pet owners can make an educated decision on the right type of treatment when considering regenerative medicine. A veterinarian by trade, Dr. Harman is in his third decade of biotechnology entrepreneurial-ship, has overseen the completion of more than a thousand contract research projects in veterinary and human products, and has led a handful of companies to licensing and sale. Harmans current company, Vet-Stem, was the first to provide an adipose-derived stem cell service to veterinarians for their patients. As a pioneer in the field, Vet-Stem now holds exclusive licenses to over 50 patents, and continues blazing the trail for clinical trials and scientific studies. Dr. Harman leverages this experience and Vet-Stems over 10,000 horse, dog, cat, and exotic animal cases in the last decade to present supporting data, not only … Continue reading →

By Marcus Johnson Researchers at Brown University have found that adipose-derived human stem cells (ASCs) might be highly resistant to methotrexate (MTX), a common chemotherapy drug. ASCs can ultimately become bone and other vital tissues throughout the body, which could be key for researchers looking to protect bone tissue from the damage caused by MTX treatment. MTX, which is used to treat a number of different cancers including acute lymphoblastic leukemia, causes the loss of bone density and has an adverse effect on bone marrow derived stem cells. Kids undergo chemotherapy at such an important time when they should be growing, but instead they are introduced to this very harsh environment where bone cells are damaged with these drugs, said Olivia Beane, a Brown University graduate student in the Center for Biomedical Engineering and lead author of the study. That leads to major long-term side effects including osteoporosis and bone defects. If we found a stem cell that was resistant to the chemotherapeutic agent and could promote bone growth by becoming bone itself, then maybe they wouldnt have these issues. Beane examined how MTX affects stem cells and certain tissues in the body and said that the resistance of certain … Continue reading →

SAN FRANCISCO, July 8, 2014 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Cyto Wave Technologies Inc. (the "Company") (OTCQB: CWAV) announced today that it entered into an exclusive letter of intent ("LOI") with the University of California, San Francisco ("UCSF") in regards to the exclusive global licensing of a medical stereotactic device (the "UCSF Device") which the Company believes has the potential to revolutionize the delivery of stem cells into the human brain and enhance the efficacy of a wide range of stem cell therapeutics. As part of the Company's strategy to develop and commercialize innovative medical device applications, beyond stem cells, the platform technology of the UCSF Device can also enable the delivery of cellular therapeutics, gene therapies, and traditional drug infusions into the human brain. The Stem Cell industry is one of the fastest growing and most compelling areas in medicine with numerous companies and research institutions spending hundreds of millions of dollars per year on the development of new therapies and devices. The Company believes that the UCSF Device could become the preferred tool for the deployment of stem cells into the human brain for any company or clinician conducting clinical trials and providing experimental treatment in this field. Therefore, the use … Continue reading →

NEW YORK, July 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. (OTCQB: ACTC) is a biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing human pluripotent stem cell technology in the field of regenerative medicine. The company is currently conducting clinical trials for treating dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and Stargardt's macular degeneration (SMD), as well as several clinical and preclinical programs for other ocular therapies. Outside of ophthalmology, ACTC also has a preclinical development pipeline focused on autoimmune diseases, inflammatory diseases and wound healing. The company's intellectual property portfolio includes pluripotent human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and other cell therapy research programs. As the worldwide population has continued to age, so too has the need for regenerative medicine. In fact, by 2050, the number of people in the world over the age of 65 is expected to rise to 1.5 billion nearly triple the amount today. Unsurprisingly, as this demographic shift occurs over the next 35 years, health care expenditures are projected to increase rapidly as well. For example, in the US, the share of GDP devoted to healthcare is estimated to reach 34% by 2040 from about 18% just a few years ago. Considering the majority … Continue reading →

July 3, 2014 Rebekah Eliason for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online In an exciting new study, researchers have discovered a way to collect cells for the regeneration of corneal tissue the clear membrane covering the pupil that directs light into the back of the eye. The research team from Boston reported that purified human stem cells were used to improve long-term vision in mice. Currently, the team is waiting for FDA-approval to begin patient clinical trials. This collaborative research effort was led by Natasha Frank, MD, and Markus Frank, MD, using work done at Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Schepens Eye Research Institute, Boston Childrens Hospital, Brigham and Womens Hospital, and the US Department of Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System. In some people blood vessels grow onto the cornea, vision clouding known as corneal blindness results. This condition is caused when limbus stem cells, located behind the cornea, are destroyed by injury, infection or autoimmune disease. Outcomes are inconsistent, but limbal stem cell transplants from an uninjured eye or deceased organ donor have had promising results. Previously published work on limbal epithelial cell grafts showed that when more than three percent of transplanted cells were stem cells, transplants were successfulless than three percent … Continue reading →

On a brilliant day in April, tens of thousands of baseball fans stream past Jonathan Thomas's office towards AT&T Park for the first home game of the San Francisco Giants 2014 season. Thomas's standing desk faces away from the window, but the cheering throngs are never far from his mind. Thomas chairs the board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the US$3-billion agency hailed by scientists around the world for setting a benchmark for stem-cell research funding. But scientists will not be the ones who decide what becomes of CIRM when the cash runs out in 2017. Instead, it will be the orange-and-black-clad masses walking past Thomas's window. And to win their support, Thomas knows that the agency needs to prove that their collective investment has been worthwhile. We need to drive as many projects to the patient as soon as possible, he says. Californians voted CIRM into existence in 2004, making it the largest funder of stem-cell work in the world. The money the proceeds of bond sales that must be repaid with $3 billion in interest by taxpayers helped to bring 130 scientists to the state, and created several thousand jobs there. It has funded research … Continue reading →

Scientists have converted human gut cells into insulin producers by turning off a single gene in an experiment that suggests a new way forward in treating diabetes. Using a miniature model of the human intestine, only a few millimeters in size and made from stem cells, the scientists deactivated a gene in the cells tied to metabolic regulation called FOXO1. Once disabled, the cells began producing insulin. The method, described today in the journal Nature Communications, raises the possibility of replacing insulin-making pancreatic beta cells lost in diabetics by using a drug to retrain patients existing cells. While progress has been made in generating beta cells from stem cells, the method hasnt yet produced ones with all the needed functions, said Domenico Accili, the studys lead author. Plus, such cells would require transplantation. We provided a proof of principle that we can do this in human tissues and are also very excited that there is a single identifiable target to trigger this process, Accili, professor of medicine at Columbia Universitys Naomi Berrie Diabetes Research Center in New York, said in an interview. This is what the pharmaceutical industry is interested in -- make a chemical and do what we did … Continue reading →

Durham, NC (PRWEB) June 27, 2014 A new study released today in STEM CELLS Translational Medicine suggests a new way to produce endothelial progenitor cells in quantities large enough to be feasible for use in developing new cancer treatments. Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are rare stem cells that circulate in the blood with the ability to differentiate into the cells that make up the lining of blood vessels. With an intrinsic ability to home to tumors, researchers have focused on them as a way to deliver gene therapy straight to the cancer. However, the challenge has been to collect enough EPCs for this use. This new study, by researchers at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, National University of Singapore and Zhejiang University led by Shu Wang, Ph.D., explored whether human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) could provide the answer. iPSCs, generated from adult cells, can propagate indefinitely and give rise to every other cell type in the body, much like human embryonic stem cells, which are considered the gold standard for stem cell therapy. However, human iPS cells can be generated relatively easily through reprogramming, a procedure that circumvents the bioethical controversies associated with deriving embryonic stem cells from … Continue reading →