Future Gene Therapy for Cancer Future Gene Therapy for Cancer. Video streamed by http://www.AllthingsScience.com. By: Davies Robinson … Continue reading →

By Cyndi Root The Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute of Florida (VGTI), a non-profit research institute, and TapImmune have formed a partnership to develop TapImmunes cancer vaccines. The companies announced the collaboration in a press release stating that they will move experimental vaccines for breast and ovarian cancers into Phase 2 clinical trials. Keith Knutson, PhD, VGTIs Director of Cancer Vaccines and Immune Therapies Program, explained the need for vaccines, All it takes is a few malignant cells to continue to circulate in the body until they eventually anchor and metastasize. Because these cancer cells already survived primary therapy, they are typically drug-resistant and much more difficult to treat. VGTI and TapImmune Agreement VGTI and TapImmune have agreed to coordinate efforts on cancer vaccines, including study design and trial site selection. VGTI will work with TapImmune to recruit clinical advisors, select manufacturers, and procure outsourced resources as necessary. The two will also work together in executing the clinical trials. Upon successful regulatory approvals, TapImmune holds the exclusive commercialization rights for the vaccines. Cancer Vaccine Candidates Investigators from VGTI and TapImmune hope to vaccinate women who have achieved remission in their breast or ovarian cancer in order to prevent cancer recurrence. … Continue reading →

SOUTH BEND, Ind.--- Little Hunter Miller's motor is always running. Like most toddlers he's sometimes one step away from trouble, but for Hunter being rough and tumble can have serious side effects. Hunter has severe hemophilia. Twenty-thousand Americans live with hemophilia; it's a condition preventing the blood from clotting easily after a cut or injury. Patients are also more susceptible to internal bleeding, which can damage joints, organs and tissue. Three days after Hunter was born a routine circumcision caused a major scare. "You know a baby gets up in the morning and their diapers are just full, said Tina Miller, Hunters grandmother. Well his was full, but it was full of blood." Doctors diagnosed Hunter with hemophilia a, which means his blood is missing a protein known as clotting factor eight. When he gets hurt doctors need to inject the clotting factor to stop the bleeding. He's had eight emergency room visits in 19 months. "Him falling, bumping his head too hard; just little cuts, said Heather Frederick, Hunters mother. He cut the roof of his mouth with a tortilla chip and that was a hospital trip." Original post: Doctors working on gene therapy to help patients with hemophilia … Continue reading →

Delivering stem cell factor directly into damaged heart muscle after a heart attack may help repair and regenerate injured tissue, according to a study led by researchers from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai presented November 18 at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2014 in Chicago, IL. "Our discoveries offer insight into the power of stem cells to regenerate damaged muscle after a heart attack," says lead study author Kenneth Fish, PhD, Director of the Cardiology Laboratory for Translational Research, Cardiovascular Research Center, Mount Sinai Heart, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. In the study, Mount Sinai researchers administered stem cell factor (SCF) by gene transfer shortly after inducing heart attacks in pre-clinical models directly into damaged heart tissue to test its regenerative repair response. A novel SCF gene transfer delivery system induced the recruitment and expansion of adult c-Kit positive (cKit+) cardiac stem cells to injury sites that reversed heart attack damage. In addition, the gene therapy improved cardiac function, decreased heart muscle cell death, increased regeneration of heart tissue blood vessels, and reduced the formation of heart tissue scarring. "It is clear that the expression of the stem cell factor gene results in the generation … Continue reading →