Category Archives: Stem Cell Human Trials

IMAGE:This is Carla Kim, PhD, of the Boston Children's Hospital Stem Cell Research Program. view more Credit: Boston Children's Hospital BOSTON (January 28, 2015) -- An existing drug may help some patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors have become resistant to chemotherapy, finds a study from Boston Children's Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI). The findings, in human cancer cells and in mice, suggest a window of vulnerability in NSCLC, the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide.1 The work was published online today by the journal Nature. NSCLC is a highly genetically complex cancer with many different subtypes, each bearing different mutations. In two common subtypes that do not respond to standard chemotherapy--tumors with BRG1 or EGFR mutations--the researchers increased the effectiveness of etoposide, a common chemotherapy agent, by adding an epigenetic therapy already in clinical testing. Conversely, when the same epigenetic therapy (inhibition of an enzyme known as EZH2) was added to certain tumors without BRG1 and EGFR mutations, the tumors become more resistant to chemotherapy. Together, the findings advance the idea of individualized, "precision medicine" in cancer, incorporating epigenetic therapy guided by tumor genetic testing. The study also suggests that genetic tumor testing should screen … Continue reading →

Bethesda, MD - The FASEB Science Research Conference titled "Histone Deacetylases and Sirtuns in Biology, Disease and Aging" will be held in August 16-21, 2015 in Hamburg, Germany. Recent progress in this area of research has truly been explosive, from ground-breaking discoveries in basic research to rapid advancements in the clinic. The impressive roster of speakers who are at the forefront of this rapid advancing field will be presenting their latest studies at the meeting. Histone deacetylases (HDACs) and acetyl transferases (HATs) are vital regulators of fundamental cellular events, including cell cycle progression, stem cell functions, cell fate determination, cell differentiation, many diseases and even aging. New technologies are being rapidly developed to identify and quantify these post-translational modifications. Importantly, small molecule HDAC inhibitors and activators are currently in clinical trials for the treatment of leukemia and lymphoma, solid tumors, neuromuscular disorders, and metabolic disorders. One exciting group of deacetylases covered by the conference is the Sirtuins, which delay more than a dozen different diseases, to reverse aspects of aging, and extend lifespan in rodents. For example resveratrol, a sirtuin activator and one of the components in red wine that has been linked to increased health and lifespan in humans. … Continue reading →

Later this month, Torontos University Health Network is planning to enroll a dozen patients with arthritis-wracked knees in a clinical trial of a stem-cell treatment that researchers hope could one day make artificial joint replacements obsolete. The trial, a Canadian first, wont be cheap, despite the small number of recruits. To cover the estimated $500,000 cost, the researchers turned to an unconventional source of funding: 10 orthopedic surgeons at UHNs Toronto Western site who donated a total of $1.25-million of their own money beginning five years ago to kick-start the networks research into a cure for arthritis. The orthopedic surgeons decision to raid their own bank accounts to help pay for research is a rare but not unheard-of move in Canada, one that was driven in part by how much harder it has become to score publicly funded medical research grants in this country. We felt very strongly that in order to go to anybody and say, Would you please give me support for this idea? we had to have our own commitment beyond just the time and effort we would all have to put in, said Nizar Mahomed, director of the UNH arthritis program and one of the surgeons … Continue reading →

The numbness entered Kathleen Jaynes' body 19 years ago, and during the intervening years the multiple sclerosis symptom has spread from her toes to her chest. Nothing really changes the numbness, or helps. Which is why, despite her sister's misgivings and her own lingering questions, Jaynes paid $20,000 to receive an experimental stem cell procedure in India through Regenetek, a company led by a now-discredited Winnipeg researcher who fudged his credentials and misled patients. It's not like there are many other sources of hope out there for patients such as Jaynes, 59, who lives in southeast Arizona. "You're a no-option patient," Jaynes said. "You have no other options. I justified it in every way that I could, despite my family saying this guy is not for real. Unless you're in my numb body, you can't know how desperate you feel to not feel that way." In exchange for that money, Jaynes and roughly 70 other patients received what one of Canada's top MS researchers calls an "impossible" promise. In December, Dr. Mark Freedman looked over Regenetek's study protocols, after a reporter drew his attention to the company's claims. Freedman, who is the director of Ottawa Hospital's MS research unit, has … Continue reading →

Researchers working at Duke Universitys Pratt School of Engineering claim to have produced a laboratory first by having grown human muscle tissue that contracts and reacts to stimuli. Electrical pulses, biochemical signals and pharmaceuticals have all been used to produce reactions in the tissue that show it behaves in the same way that natural human muscles does. As a result, laboratory grown tissue may soon provide researchers with the ability to study diseases and assess drugs without invasive procedures on human subjects. In a study headed by Nenad Bursac, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Duke University, and Lauran Madden, a postdoctoral researcher in Bursacs laboratory, the team began by using a sample of human cells that had already been grown beyond the stem cell stage, but had not yet formed into muscle tissue. These "myogenic precursors" (that is, cells that will become muscle tissue) were then stretched by the researchers over a supportive scaffolding designed to promote their growth in 3D and to increase their area to more 1,000 times their original size. Molded from PDMS (silicone), the entire structure was filled with a growth medium that allowed the cells to develop while the structure itself helped to form … Continue reading →

January 14, 2015 Microscopic view of lab-grown human muscle bundles stained to show patterns made by basic muscle units and their associated proteins (red), which are a hallmark of human muscle. (Credit: Nenad Bursac, Duke University) Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online Researchers may soon test new drugs and study diseases in functioning human muscles thanks to Duke University, where biomedical engineers have, for the first time, grown contracting human muscles in a laboratory. The researchers explain in a statement that the lab-grown muscles respond to external stimuli such as electrical pulses, biochemical signals, and pharmaceuticals just like native tissue. The findings of the study have been published in the Tuesday edition of the open-access journal, eLife. The beauty of this work is that it can serve as a test bed for clinical trials in a dish, explained study author and associate professor of biomedical engineering, Nenad Bursac. We are working to test drugs efficacy and safety without jeopardizing a patients health and also to reproduce the functional and biochemical signals of diseases especially rare ones and those that make taking muscle biopsies difficult. Bursac, along with postdoctoral researcher Lauran Madden, started with a small sample of human cells … Continue reading →

The study was led by biomedical engineers at Duke University They used cells that were beyond stem cells, but not yet muscle tissue These cells were put into a form of 3D scaffolding filled with a gel This gel helped the fibres to form and align like typical muscle fibres During tests, the fibres contracted in response to electrical stimuli They were also found to have functional signalling pathways in the nerves This is the first time lab-grown muscles have reacted in this way By Victoria Woollaston for MailOnline Published: 11:36 EST, 14 January 2015 | Updated: 09:05 EST, 15 January 2015 For the first time, researchers have grown a muscle that moves and works just like fibres found in a living human body. Made from human cells, the lab-grown artificial muscle tissue responded to electrical pulses during tests, and reacted to drug treatments in the same way a hospital patient would. Experts now hope the tissue could be used to develop personalised treatments and drugs for patients suffering from muscular disorders. Scroll down for video For the first time, researchers have grown a muscle that moves and works just like fibres found in the human the body. Made from … Continue reading →

Researchers at Duke University have grown the first ever human muscle in a lab that contracts just like naturally grown tissue. A microscopic view of the lab-grown muscles. Duke University The new kind of lab-grown muscle will allow the study of disease and testing new medications in a safe setting outside the human body, said the team, led by Nenad Bursac, Duke University associate professor of biomedical engineering, and postdoctoral researcher Lauran Madden. "The beauty of this work is that it can serve as a test bed for clinical trials in a dish," Bursac said. "We are working to test drugs' efficacy and safety without jeopardising a patient's health." The contracting muscles were grown from what is called myogenic precursor cells -- cells that have progressed beyond the early stem cell phase, but hadn't quite yet grown into full muscle tissue. These cells were increased 1,000-fold, seeded into a 3D scaffold and nourished with a culture gel full of nutrients to encourage growth. Although growing animal muscles in a lab had already been achieved -- we have seen lab-grown meat -- optimising the process to successfully grow human muscle took the team a year. The resulting muscle tissue was then … Continue reading →

Researchers at Duke University report the first lab-grown, contracting human muscle, which could revolutionize drug discovery and personalized medicine VIDEO:Duke engineers have engineered the first ever contracting lab-grown human muscles. This video shows forceful contraction of the human muscle bundles in response to electrical stimulation followed by a genetically... view more DURHAM, N.C. -- In a laboratory first, Duke researchers have grown human skeletal muscle that contracts and responds just like native tissue to external stimuli such as electrical pulses, biochemical signals and pharmaceuticals. The lab-grown tissue should soon allow researchers to test new drugs and study diseases in functioning human muscle outside of the human body. The study was led by Nenad Bursac, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Duke University, and Lauran Madden, a postdoctoral researcher in Bursac's laboratory. It appears January 13 in the open-access journal eLife "The beauty of this work is that it can serve as a test bed for clinical trials in a dish," said Bursac. "We are working to test drugs' efficacy and safety without jeopardizing a patient's health and also to reproduce the functional and biochemical signals of diseases -- especially rare ones and those that make taking muscle biopsies difficult." Bursac … Continue reading →

Endocrine cells develop in human islet-like structures following transplantation in an animal model. These cells produce insulin in response to glucose, effectively replacing the insulin that is lost in people with Type 1 diabetes. Insulin is depicted in blue; somatostatin in red, glucagon in green. The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine said Friday it is now accepting grant applications for funding under its overhauled system. CIRM 2.0, as it's called, is designed to sharpen the focus on quickly translating research to therapies. The state agency says the overhaul reduces the time from application to funding from 22 months to about four months, or 120 days. C. Randal Mills, CIRM's president and CEO, advocated the changes to make the agency more responsive to patient needs. The agency is also changing its way of dealing with applicants, according to a CIRM press release. It will act "not as a passive funding source, but instead as an active investor," the agency said. It will use its own internal resources and outside experts to help advance its selected projects. In December CIRM's governing oversight board approved $50 million for clinical trials and late-state preclinical work for the first six months of the new program. … Continue reading →