ScienceDaily (Oct. 11, 2012) Early results of a Phase II intra-arterial stem cell trial for ischemic stroke showed no adverse events associated with the first 10 patients, allowing investigators to expand the study to a targeted total of 100 patients. The results were presented October 11 by Sean Savitz, M.D., professor of neurology and director of the Stroke Program at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), at the 8th World Stroke Congress in Brasilia, Brazil. The trial is the only randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled intra-arterial clinical trial in the world for ischemic stroke. It is studying the safety and efficacy of a regenerative therapy developed by Aldagen Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cytomedix, Inc., that uses a patient's own bone marrow stem cells, which can be administered between 13 and 19 days post-stroke. The therapy, called ALD-401, consists of stem cells that are identified using Aldagen's proprietary technology to isolate cells that express high levels of an enzyme that serves as a marker of stem cells. Pre-clinical studies found that these cells enhance recovery after stroke in mice. The cells are administered into the carotid artery. Patients are followed for 12 months to monitor safety and to … Continue reading →

Public release date: 11-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: David McKeon dmckeon@nyscf.org 212-365-7440 New York Stem Cell Foundation NEW YORK, NY (October 11, 2012) For the second day, The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Seventh Annual Translational Stem Cell Research Conference hosts the world's most preeminent stem cell scientists to present their findings on how advances in stem cell science lead to better treatments and cures for disease and injury. The conference is held at The Rockefeller University in Manhattan on October 10-11. Today, in disease-specific sessions, scientists will share their latest finds in moving stem cell research to treatments in the following areas: cancer and blood disease; diabetes and autoimmunity; heart and muscles; neurodegeneration and spinal cord injury. In Cancer and Blood Disease, Elaine Fuchs, PhD, The Rockefeller University, will share findings on identification of skin cancer stem cells, which have implications in understanding other cancers as well as stem cells. Joanne Kurtzberg, MD, Duke University, will discuss her work developing therapies for disease with autologous cord blood transplants. Ravi Majeti, PhD, Stanford University, will describe his recent insights into acute myeloid leukemia and how stem cell technologies can lead to new cancer treatments. Dieter Egli, … Continue reading →

The Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was announced on Monday. The award this year went to Sir John B. Gurdon and Dr. Shinya Yamanaka. The two men were awarded the Nobel Prize jointly, for their individual work in cloning and stem cell research. Monday's recognition marked the awarding of the first Nobel Prize for 2012. The rest of the Nobel Prize recipients will be announced throughout the next two weeks. Here is some of the key information regarding Gurdon and Yamanaka's work and Monday's Nobel Prize announcement. * Yamanaka and Gurdon did not work together or present shared research, even though they both concentrate their studies on a similar area of research. * Gurdon is actually being honored for work he did back in 1962. According to a New York Times report, he was the first person to clone an animal, a frog, opening the door to further research into stem cells and cloning. * Gurdon was able to produce live tadpoles from the adult cells of a frog, by removing the nucleus of a frog's egg and putting the adult cells in its place. * This "reprogramming" by Gurdon laid the groundwork for Yamanaka's work four decades later. … Continue reading →

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - Oct 11, 2012) - Immunovative, Inc. ("IMUN" or the "Company") ( OTCBB : IMUN ) has today announced that Immunovative Therapies, Ltd. ("ITL") has been granted a U.S. Patent entitled "METHOD FOR ALLOGENEIC CELL THERAPY," which was issued September 25, 2012, under Patent No. 8,273,377. Foreign versions of this patent are pending around the world. This patent covers the proprietary method that utilizes immune cells from a normal donor to elicit an anti-tumor mechanism that mimics the Graft vs. Tumor (GVT) effect of non-myeloablative allogeneic stem cell transplants ("Mini-Transplant") without the toxicity of Graft vs. Host Disease (GVHD). Harnessing the power of the immune system to treat cancer and infectious disease has long been the goal of physicians and scientists. Unfortunately, cancer vaccines and cell immunotherapy methods have had difficulties in translating the promise of immune control into effect treatments. The most effective anti-cancer mechanism ever discovered is the GVT immune response that occurs after Mini-Transplant procedures. This mechanism can completely destroy chemotherapy-resistant metastatic cancers. Unfortunately, the clinical use of the GVT effect is severely limited due to extreme toxicity of an intimately related GVHD effect. Mini-Transplants are thus only widely used in advanced cases of … Continue reading →

Stem cell transfusions may someday replace the need for transplants in patients who suffer from liver failure caused by hepatitis B, according to a new study coming out of Beijing. . The results are published in the October issue of STEM CELLS Translational Medicine. Worldwide more than 500,000 people die each year from this condition. Durham, NC (PRWEB) October 11, 2012 In China, hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection accounts for the highest proportion of liver failure cases. While liver transplantation is considered the standard treatment, it has several drawbacks including a limited number of donors, long waiting lists, high cost and multiple complications. Our study shows that mesenchymal stem cell (MSCs) transfusions might be a good, safe alternative, said Fu-Sheng Wang, Ph.D., M.D., the studys lead author and director of the Research Center for Biological Therapy (RCBT) in Beijing. Wang along with RCBT colleague, Drs. Ming Shi and Zheng Zhang of the Research Center for Biological Therapy, The Institute of Translational Hepatology led the group of physician-scientists from the centers and Beijing 302 Hospital who conducted the study. MSC transfusions had already been shown to improve liver function in patients with end-stage liver diseases. This time, the researchers wanted to … Continue reading →