Category Archives: Stem Cell Human Trials

Editor's Choice Main Category: Cancer / Oncology Article Date: 25 May 2012 - 13:00 PDT Current ratings for: 'New Drug For Destroying Human Cancer Stem Cells' 5 (1 votes) 5 (1 votes) Mick Bhatia, lead researcher of the study and scientific director of McMaster's Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute in the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, said: "The unusual aspect of our finding is the way this human-ready drug actually kills cancer stem cells; by changing them into cells that are non-cancerous." Findings from the study could pave the way for the development of anticancer drugs in the treatment of various cancers. In addition to thioridazine, the team have identified another 12 drugs that also have good potential for the same response. The study is published in the journal CELL. Cancer stem cells were first identified in certain types of leukemia by Canadian researchers over a decade ago. Since then they have been identified in ovarian, prostate, lung, brain, breast, blood, and gastrointestinal cancer. The researchers developed an automated robotic system in order to identify different compounds of several drugs, including thioridazine. Bhatia explained: "Now we can test thousands of compounds, eventually defining a candidate drug that has … Continue reading →

Public release date: 24-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Veronica McGuire vmcguir@mcmaster.ca 90-552-591-402-2169 McMaster University Hamilton, ON (May 24, 2012) -- A team of scientists at McMaster University has discovered a drug, thioridazine, successfully kills cancer stem cells in the human while avoiding the toxic side-effects of conventional cancer treatments. "The unusual aspect of our finding is the way this human-ready drug actually kills cancer stem cells; by changing them into cells that are non-cancerous," said Mick Bhatia, the principal investigator for the study and scientific director of McMaster's Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute in the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine. Unlike chemotherapy and radiation, thioridazine appears to have no effect on normal stem cells. The research, published today in the science journal CELL, holds the promise of a new strategy and discovery pipeline for the development of anticancer drugs in the treatment of various cancers. The research team has identified another dozen drugs that have good potential for the same response. For 15 years, some researchers have believed stem cells are the source of many cancers. In 1997, Canadian researchers first identified cancer stem cells in certain types of leukemia. Cancer stem cells have since … Continue reading →

Released: 5/16/2012 2:15 PM EDT Embargo expired: 5/24/2012 12:00 PM EDT Source: McMaster University Newswise Hamilton, ON (May 24, 2012) -- A team of scientists at McMaster University has discovered a drug, thioridazine, successfully kills cancer stem cells in the human while avoiding the toxic side-effects of conventional cancer treatments. The unusual aspect of our finding is the way this human-ready drug actually kills cancer stem cells; by changing them into cells that are non-cancerous, said Mick Bhatia, the principal investigator for the study and scientific director of McMasters Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute in the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine. Unlike chemotherapy and radiation, thioridazine appears to have no effect on normal stem cells. The research, published today in the science journal CELL, holds the promise of a new strategy and discovery pipeline for the development of anticancer drugs in the treatment of various cancers. The research team has identified another dozen drugs that have good potential for the same response. For 15 years, some researchers have believed stem cells are the source of many cancers. In 1997, Canadian researchers first identified cancer stem cells in certain types of leukemia. Cancer stem cells have since been identified … Continue reading →

Featured Article Academic Journal Main Category: Stem Cell Research Also Included In: Cardiovascular / Cardiology;Biology / Biochemistry Article Date: 23 May 2012 - 2:00 PDT Current ratings for: 'New Heart Muscle Cells Grow From Patients' Skin' 5 (1 votes) However, the researchers caution there are still many hurdles to overcome before such a method is available for patients, and estimate it may take five to ten years before clinical trials can begin. The lead researcher of the study is Lior Gepstein, Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) and Physiology at the Sohnis Research Laboratory for Cardiac Electrophysiology and Regenerative Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, Israel. Advances in stem cell biology and tissue engineering bring ever closer the prospect of repairing damage heart muscle with new cells, but considerable challenges remain, not least how to source a good supply of new, healthy human heart cells without the immune system rejecting them. Gepstein and colleagues took skin cells from elderly heart failure patients and reprogrammed into human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), a type of stem cell that has the potential to become almost any type of cell in the body. They then showed that the hiPSCs could differentiate … Continue reading →

A growth factor isolated from human stem cells shows promising results in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis. Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) have become a popular potential therapy for numerous autoimmune and neurological disorders. But while these bone marrow-derived stem cells have been studied in great detail in the dish, scientists know little about how they modulate the immune system and promote tissue repair in living organisms. Now, one research team has uncovered a molecular mechanism by which hMSCs promote recovery in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS). According to research, published online Sunday (May 20) in Nature Neuroscience, a growth factor produced by hMSCs fights MS in two ways: blocking a destructive autoimmune response and repairing neuronal damage. The finding could help advance ongoing clinical trials testing hMSCs as a therapy for MS. The researchers have identified a unique factor that has surprisingly potent activity mediating neuron repair, said Jacques Galipeau, a cell therapy researcher at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, who was not involved in the research. The magnitude of the effect on a mouse model of MS is a big deal. MS is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks myelin sheaths that … Continue reading →

Scientists on Wednesday reported that they have for the first time taken skin cells from heart attacks patients and turned them into healthy heart tissue that could hopefully be used to one day repair damaged heart muscle. The healthy, beating heart tissue was grown successfully in the lab from human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), and while scientists said they were not safe enough to put back into human patients, they appeared to work well with other cells when implanted into rats. HiPSCs are a recently discovered source far less controversial than use of embryonic stem cells. And, because the transplanted hiPSCs come from the individual, it could resolve the problems seen with tissue and organ rejection. While the technique has shown promise in rats, the scientists say there are numerous obstacles to overcome and it could take up to ten years or longer before clinical trials could be available for humans. Even so, it is a significant advance in the quest for replacement cell therapy for heart failure patients. More people are surviving following a heart attack than ever before and therefore the number of people living with a damaged heart and heart failure is increasing, Nicholas Mills, a consultant … Continue reading →

24.05.2012 - (idw) Schwedischer Forschungsrat - The Swedish Research Council A new technique that converts stem cells into brain cells has been developed by researchers at Lund University. The method is simpler, quicker and safer than previous research has shown and opens the doors to a shorter route to clinical cell transplants. By adding two different molecules, the researchers have discovered a surprisingly simple way of starting the stem cells journey to become finished brain cells. The process mimics the brains natural development by releasing signals that are part of the normal development process. Experiments in animal models have shown that the cells quickly adapt in the brain and behave like normal brain cells. This technique allows us to fine-tune our steering of stem cells to different types of brain cells. Previous studies have not always used the signals that are activated during the brains normal development. This has caused the transplanted cells to develop tumours or function poorly in the brain, says Agnete Kirkeby, one of the authors of the study. Since the method effectively imitates the brains own processes, it reduces the risk of tumour formation, one of the most common obstacles in stem cell research. The quick, … Continue reading →

Indian clinic's stem cell therapy real? STORY HIGHLIGHTS For more of CNN correspondent Drew Griffin's investigation of India's experimental embryonic stem cell therapy, watch "CNN Presents: Selling a Miracle," at 8 and 11 p.m. ET Sunday on CNN. New Delhi (CNN) -- Cash Burnaman, a 6-year-old South Carolina boy, has traveled with his parents to India seeking treatment for a rare genetic condition that has left him developmentally disabled. You might think this was a hopeful mission until you learn that an overwhelming number of medical experts insist the treatment will have zero effect. Cash is mute. He walks with the aid of braces. To battle his incurable condition, which is so rare it doesn't have a name, Cash has had to take an artificial growth hormone for most of his life. His divorced parents, Josh Burnaman and Stephanie Krolick, are so driven by their hope and desperation to help Cash they've journeyed to the other side of the globe and paid tens of thousands of dollars to have Cash undergo experimental injections of human embryonic stem cells. The family is among a growing number of Americans seeking the treatment in India -- some at a clinic in the heart … Continue reading →

Cell surface protein blows potent cells cover; targeted drug works in preclinical tests Newswise HOUSTON Breast cancer stem cells wear a cell surface protein that is part nametag and part bulls eye, identifying them as potent tumor-generating cells and flagging their vulnerability to a drug, researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report online in Journal of Clinical Investigation. Weve discovered a single marker for breast cancer stem cells and also found that its targetable with a small molecule drug that inhibits an enzyme crucial to its synthesis, said co-senior author Michael Andreeff, M.D., Ph.D., professor in MD Andersons Departments of Leukemia and Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy. Andreeff and colleagues are refining the drug as a potential targeted therapy for breast cancer stem cells, which are thought to be crucial to therapy resistance, disease progression and spread to other organs. Its been difficult to identify cancer stem cells in solid tumors, Andreeff said. And nobody has managed to target these cells very well. The marker is the cell surface protein ganglioside GD2. The drug is triptolide, an experimental drug that Andreeff has used in preclinical leukemia research. The team found triptolide blocks expression of GD3 … Continue reading →

SAN CARLOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Cellerant Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company developing novel hematopoietic stem cell-based cellular and antibody therapies for blood disorders and cancer, announced the publication of a radiation countermeasure study demonstrating that cryopreserved, allogeneic mouse myeloid progenitor cells significantly improved survival in mice irradiated with lethal doses of radiation. The study, published on May 4, 2012 in the scientific journal, Radiation Research, represents the first report of an effective radiation countermeasure for Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS) across a broad range of lethal radiation doses when administered as late as seven (7) days after irradiation. These results show that myeloid progenitor cells are one of the most promising radiation countermeasures among all therapeutics currently under development with respect to efficacy, timing and practicality of administration. The work was carried out in collaboration with scientists at the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute (AFRRI) and is entitled Myeloid Progenitors: A Radiation Countermeasure that is Effective when Initiated Days after Irradiation which appears online ahead of print on the website http://www.rrjournal.org/doi/abs/10.1667/RR2894.1?journalCode=rare. The publication describes the use of Cellerants cryopreserved, allogeneic myeloid progenitor cells developed in mice to elucidate its potential as a radiomitigator against lethal doses of ionizing radiation in various strains … Continue reading →