Category Archives: Stem Cell Human Trials

Targeting gene expression, researchers have developed a method for extracting a wide variety of potential bone-producing cells from human fat. Within our fat live a variety of cells which have the potential to become bones. The adipose tissue, in theory, is a readily available reservoir for regenerative therapies such as bone healing if doctors can get enough of those cells and compel them to produce bone. The method produced over twice the yield of potential bone-makers (nine percent) compared to their best application of another method: sorting cells based on surface proteins presumed to indicate that a cell is a stem cell (four percent), the researchers noted. "Approaches like this allow us to isolate all the cells that are capable of doing what we want, whether they fit the archetype of what a stem cell is or not," said lead author Hetal Marble from Brown University in the US. The scientists developed a fluorescent tag that could find and identify cells expressing a gene called ALPL. Expression of the gene is an indicator of bone-making potential. If the tag hits the target, it glows. A machine that detects the fluorescing light then separates out the ALPL-expressing cells. The ALPL-expressing cells … Continue reading →

Contact Information Available for logged-in reporters only Newswise NIBIB-funded researchers report in a recent study that they were able to use human stem cells to grow brand new nerves in a rat model of spinal cord injury. The neurons grew tens of thousands of axons that extended the entire length of the spinal cord, out from the area of injury. The procedure employs induced pluripotent stem cells or iPSCs, which are stem cells that can be driven to become a specific cell type -- in this case nerve cells-- to repair an experimentally damaged spinal cord. The iPSCs were made using the skin cells of an 86 year old male, demonstrating that even in an individual of advanced age, the ability of the cells to be turned into a different cell type (pluripotency) remained. Lead author Paul Lu, Ph.D., and senior author Mark Tuszynski, MD, PhD, and their team at the University of California - San Diego Center for Neural Repair, performed the experiment building on earlier work using human embryonic stem cells in a similar rat spinal cord injury model.1 The current work, described in the August 20 edition of Neuron, was performed to determine whether iPSCs could be … Continue reading →

And researchers were amazed to find that the cells even existed in the eyes of a 97-year-old, opening up the possibility that the treatment could work for the elderly. These cells are readily accessible, and they have surprising plasticity, which makes them an attractive cell resource for future therapies, said Professor Andrew Lotery, of the University of Southampton and a Consultant Ophthalmologist at Southampton General Hospital led the study. This would help avoid complications with rejection or contamination because the cells taken from the eye would be returned to the same patient. More research is now needed to develop this approach before these cells are used in patients. The loss of photoreceptors cells causes irreversible blindness. Age related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in the developed world which affects around one in three people in the UK by age 75. Around 513,000 people are in the late stage of AMD and that figure is set to rise by one-third over the next decade, totalling nearly 700,000 cases by 2020. Almost two million people in the UK are living with sight loss, approximately one person in 30. It is predicted that by 2020 the number of people with … Continue reading →

Stem cells are getting serious. Two decades after they were discovered, human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are being tested as a treatment for two major diseases: heart failure and type 1 diabetes. Treatments based on hESCs have been slow coming because of controversy over their source and fears that they could turn into tumours once implanted. They have enormous potential because hESCs can be grown into any of the body's 200 tissue types, unlike the stems cells isolated from adult tissues that have mostly been used in treatments until now. In the most rigorous test of embryonic stems cells' potential yet, six people with heart failure will be treated in France with a patch of immature heart cells made from hESCs, and 40 people with diabetes in the US will receive pouches containing immature pancreatic cells made from hESCs. The hope is that the heart patch will help to regenerate heart muscle destroyed by heart attacks. Trials in monkeys showed that the patch could regenerate up to 20 per cent of the lost muscle within two months. The pancreatic cells are supposed to mature into beta cells, which produce the hormone insulin. These would act as a substitute for the … Continue reading →

Health News of Sunday, 28 September 2014 Source: BBC A spice commonly found in curries may boost the brains ability to heal itself, according to a report in the journal Stem Cell Research and Therapy. The German study suggests a compound found in turmeric could encourage the growth of nerve cells thought to be part of the brains repair kit. Scientists say this work, based in rats, may pave the way for future drugs for strokes and Alzheimers disease. But they say more trials are needed to see whether this applies to humans. Researchers from the Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine in Julich, Germany, studied the effects of aromatic-turmerone a compound found naturally in turmeric. Rats were injected with the compound and their brains were then scanned. Particular parts of the brain, known to be involved in nerve cell growth, were seen to be more active after the aromatic-turmerone infusion. Scientists say the compound may encourage a proliferation of brain cells. Read this article: Curry spice helps brain self- heal … Continue reading →

A spice commonly found in curries may boost the brain's ability to heal itself, according to a report in the journal Stem Cell Research and Therapy. The German study suggests a compound found in turmeric could encourage the growth of nerve cells thought to be part of the brain's repair kit. Scientists say this work, based in rats, may pave the way for future drugs for strokes and Alzheimer's disease. But they say more trials are needed to see whether this applies to humans. Spice injection Researchers from the Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine in Julich, Germany, studied the effects of aromatic-turmerone - a compound found naturally in turmeric. Rats were injected with the compound and their brains were then scanned. Particular parts of the brain, known to be involved in nerve cell growth, were seen to be more active after the aromatic-turmerone infusion. Scientists say the compound may encourage a proliferation of brain cells. In a separate part of the trial, researchers bathed rodent neural stem cells (NSCs) in different concentrations of aromatic-tumerone extract. Follow this link: Brain Repair 'May Be Boosted By Curry Spice' … Continue reading →

Stem cells are a special form of human life: they are alive and contain human DNA. They have a unique feature in that they can be coaxed into developing into some or all of the 220 cell types found in the human body. Eventually, stem cells may be routinely used by doctors to generate new organs or new replacement body parts for people: They might become a new pancreas to cure a person with diabetes, or new nerve cells to cure a paralized person, etc. There are three types of stem cells: "...reprogrammed a dozen cell types, including those from the brain, skin, lung and liver, hinting that the method will work with most, if not all, cell types. On average, she says, 25% of the cells survive the stress and 30% of those convert to pluripotent cells already a higher proportion than the roughly 1% conversion rate of iPS cells." 1 Sponsored link. The National Institutes of Health web site states: "To realize the promise of novel cell-based therapies for such pervasive and debilitating diseases, scientists must be able to manipulate stem cells so that they possess the necessary characteristics for successful differentiation, transplantation, and engraftment. The following is … Continue reading →

October 21, 2010 06:00 Human embryonic stem cell therapy is being tried on a human for the first time in a new clinical trial. This is the first clinical trial of its kind in the world. The trial is designed to test the safety of the treatment, not how well it works. Nonetheless, this is a huge step for regenerative medicine, embryonic stem cell research and science in general! Working in a handful of medical centers around the country, the biotech firm Geron is treating eight to 10 recent paraplegics. The patients will receive an injection of neurons to the site of the damage, followed by a short treatment of anti-rejection drugs. The first patient is reported as a patient in an Atlanta spinal cord and brain injury rehabilitation hospital. To take part in the study, the patient had to have suffered a spinal or brain injury that resulted in paralysis from the chest down. This patient was injected with cells derived from human embryonic stem cells obtained from a fertility clinic. Researchers are optimistic that this human embryonic stem cell therapy will not only help alleviate the symptoms of the injury, but permanently repair the damage that caused the … Continue reading →

Contact Information Available for logged-in reporters only Newswise A protein implicated in several cancers appears to play a pivotal role in keeping stem cells in an immature pluripotent state, according to a new study by NYU Langone Medical Center scientists. The study is published online today in Cell Reports. Stem cells are the perpetual adolescents of the cellular world, uncommitted to any cell fate. In principle, they can be programmed to differentiate into any mature cell type, holding the promise of regenerating tissues and organs. A fuller understanding of their biology, however, is needed. Our finding provides a better understanding of the complexity of how the stem cell state is regulated, says Eva M. Hernando-Monge, PhD, associate professor of pathology and a member of the Helen L. and Martin S. Kimmel Center for Stem Cell Biology at NYU Langone Medical Center. The newly identified stem cell factor is BRD4, a protein associated with several cancers and the target of prospective therapies currently in clinical trials. In 2013, Dr. Hernando-Monge and colleagues found that BRD4 is overexpressed in melanoma cells and helps sustain their proliferation, whereas inhibiting BRD4 greatly slows their growth. The protein appeared to drive cancer in part by … Continue reading →

Boston, Massachusetts (PRWEB) September 25, 2014 The ASCTCs (website) Director James L. Sherleys first BioPharm America (conference website) experience got off to a remarkable beginning on Day 1 of the conference. After an impromptu decision to participate in the events Perfect Pitch competition, which involved about 40 company contestants, ASCTC tied for second place. As one of a few companies in the stem cell and regenerative medicine space at the conference, this success led to some attendees referring to Sherley as that stem cell guy. Sherley smiled, I take it as a fun compliment. I do think it was the unique presence of ASCTC as one of a few stem cell companies present in a sea of drug development companies that contributed to our success. However, the ASCTCs pitch to a panel of Pharma investors was in fact more about drugs than stem cells. Sherley pitched the companys partnership venture with AlphaSTAR Corporation (ASC; website) located in Long Beach, California. ASC develops computer simulation analyses to predict the integrity failure of complex composite materials used to build aircraft, racing cars, and other high stress vehicles like the space shuttle. The two companies have integrated their respective expertise to produce a … Continue reading →