A new type of stem cell-seeded patch has shown promising results in promoting healing after a heart attack, according to a study released today in the journal STEM CELLS Translational Medicine. Durham, NC (PRWEB) March 07, 2012 Ischemic heart disease, caused by vessel blockage, is a leading cause of death in many western countries. Studies have shown the potential of stem cells in regenerating heart tissue damaged during an attack. But even as the list of candidate cells for cardiac regeneration has expanded, none has emerged as the obvious choice, possibly because several cell types are needed to regenerate both the hearts muscles and its vascular components. Aside from the choice of the right cell source for tissue regeneration, the best way to deliver the stem cells is up for debate, too, as intravenous delivery and injections can be inefficient and possibly harmful. While embryonic stem cells have shown great promise for heart repairs due to their ability to differentiate into virtually any cell type, less than 10 percent of injected cells typically survive the engraftment and of that number generally only 2 percent actually colonize the heart. In order for this type of treatment is to be clinically effective, … Continue reading →

MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Stephen D. Nimer, M.D., one of the worlds premier leukemia and stem cell transplant researchers and clinicians, has been named the new director of the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. Nimer, the Alfred P. Sloan Chair in Cancer Research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, will assume the key University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and UHealth-University of Miami Health System post this spring, bringing 30 years of pioneering research and clinical experience and an unquenchable passion for improving the lives of patients with cancer, and their families. The focus will not be solely on taking care of the cancer, it will be on taking care of the patient, said Nimer, whose patient-centered philosophy has won him as much acclaim as his clinical and laboratory accomplishments. That means trying to understand as fully as possible each patients cancer the biology driving the cancer, and the impact of the cancer on the patients life in order to develop a personalized therapeutic approach suited to each individual. Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D., Senior Vice President for Medical Affairs and Dean of the Miller School, and CEO of UHealth, said Nimer, who headed the Division of Hematologic Oncology at Sloan-Kettering for a dozen … Continue reading →

Lindsay Porter's kidneys weighed 16 pounds before her transplant. STORY HIGHLIGHTS (CNN) -- By the time Lindsay Porter had her kidneys removed two years ago, they were bulging -- covered in cysts -- and together weighed 16 pounds. Her abdominal area was so distended, "I looked nine months pregnant, and people regularly asked when I was due," Porter said. As she prepared for a transplant to address her polycystic kidney disease, Porter, 47, had mixed feelings -- relief to have found a donor, tinged with resignation. She was looking forward to both a new kidney, and a lifetime on immune system-suppressing drugs. "You get this brand new shiny kidney, and then they give you drugs that eventually destroy it," said Porter. But that scenario may eventually change, if results of a new pilot study are replicated in a larger group of patients. The study, published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine, describes eight kidney transplant patients, including Porter, who received a stem cell therapy that allowed donor and recipient immune cells to coexist in the same body. The effect, in a handful of those patients, was to trick the recipient's immune system into recognizing the donated kidney as its … Continue reading →