First Bedside Genetic Test Could Prevent Heart Complications A genotyping test from a Canadian biotech company enables timely personalized drug treatment. For some cardiac patients, recovery from a common heart procedure can be complicated by a single gene responsible for drug processing. The risk could be lowered with the first bedside genetic test of its kind. The test shows promise for quickly and easily identifying patients who need a different medication. Quick test: This shoebox-sized device from Spartan Bioscience supports the first bedside genetic test. Spartan Bioscience After a patient receives a heart stenta small scaffold that props open an arteryhis or her doctor will prescribe a blood thinner to prevent platelets from building up inside the device. However, for some 70 percent of patients with Asian ancestry and 30 percent of patients with African or European ancestry, a single genetic variant will prevent one of the most commonly prescribed blood thinners from working. Alternatives exist, but they are more expensive, so hospitals could use an easy way to identify who does and does not need the more expensive drug. Canada's Spartan Biosciencehas developed a near "plug-and-play" genotyping device that allows nurses and others to quickly screen patients at the … Continue reading →

Public release date: 4-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: David Eve Celltransplantation@gmail.com Cell Transplantation Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair Tampa, Fla. (June 4, 2012) When autologous (self-donated) lung-derived mensenchymal stem cells (LMSCs) were transplanted endoscopically into 13 adult female sheep modeled with emphysema, post-transplant evaluation showed evidence of tissue regeneration with increased blood perfusion and extra cellular matrix content. Researchers concluded that their approach could represent a practical alternative to conventional stem cell-based therapy for treating emphysema. The study is published in Cell Transplantation (21:1), now freely available on-line at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct/. "Mensenchymal stem cells are considered for transplantation because they are readily available, highly proliferative and display multi-lineage potential," said study corresponding author Dr. Edward P. Ingenito of the Brigham and Women's Hospital Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. "Although MSCs have been isolated from various adult tissues - including fat, liver and lung tissues - cells derived from bone marrow (BM) have therapeutic utility and may be useful in treating advanced lung diseases, such as emphysema." However, according to the authors, previous transplantation studies, many of which used an intravenous delivery method, have shown that BM-MSCs have been only marginally successful in treating … Continue reading →

Public release date: 4-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: David Eve celltransplantation@gmail.com Cell Transplantation Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair Tampa, Fla. (June 4, 2012) After carrying out a study comparing the repopulation efficiency of immature hepatic stem/progenitor cells and mature hepatocytes transplanted into liver-injured rats, a research team from Sapporo, Japan concluded that mature hepatocytes offered better repopulation efficiency than stem/progenitor cells. Until day 14 post-transplantation, the growth of the stem/progenitor cells was faster than the mature hepatocytes, but after two weeks most of the stem/progenitor cells had died. However, the mature hepatocytes continued to survive and proliferate one year after their implantation. The study is published in Cell Transplantation (21:1), now freely available on-line at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct/. "Cell-based therapies as an alternative to liver transplantation to treat liver disease have shown promise," said study corresponding author Dr. Toshihiro Mitaka of the Cancer Research Institute of the Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan. "However, the repopulation efficiency of two candidate cell sources - hepatic progenitor/stem cells and mature hepatocytes - had not been comprehensively assessed and questions concerning the efficiency of each needed to be resolved." The researchers noted that the shortage of cell … Continue reading →

ScienceDaily (June 4, 2012) As the field of nanomedicine matures, an emerging point of contention has been what shape nanoparticles should be to deliver their drug or DNA payloads most effectively. A pair of new papers by scientists at The Methodist Hospital Research Institute (TMHRI) and six other institutions suggests these microscopic workhorses ought to be disc-shaped, not spherical or rod-shaped, when targeting cancers at or near blood vessels. "The vast majority -- maybe 99 percent -- of the work being done right now is using nanoparticles that are spherical," said TMHRI biomedical engineer Paolo Decuzzi, Ph.D., principal investigator for both projects. "But evidence is showing there may be better ways to get chemotherapy drugs to the site of a vascularizing cancer." Despite their popularity, there are problems with sphere-shaped nanoparticles. They're small, and can't deliver a lot of drugs when they finally reach their targets. And they're also more likely to get pushed downstream by blood's powerful flow. "The small surface exposed by spherical nanoparticles to the blood vessel walls -- theoretically a single point -- in the tumor tissue cannot support stable, firm adhesion and they are easily washed away. And this hampers their effective accumulation within the … Continue reading →