WEDNESDAY, March 7 (HealthDay News) -- The genetic makeup of cancer cells differs significantly from region to region within a single tumor, according to new research that raises questions about the true potential of personalized cancer medicine. With this treatment approach, doctors study a tumor's genetic makeup to determine which drugs would work best in a particular patient. But if the genetic mutations driving the cancer cells vary widely, a single tissue sample won't necessarily give the full picture. This "targeted therapy" involves "sticking a needle into the primary tumor site and taking a small sliver of a tumor, doing a gene analysis, and creating a genetic profile of the tumor to predict how the tumor will behave," explained Dr. Dan Longo, an oncologist and deputy editor at the New England Journal of Medicine. "What this paper tells us is that is an oversimplification of the complexity of tumors and their heterogeneity," he said. "If you look at different sites of the very same tumor and the very same person, one site might tell you a gene profile associated with a good prognosis and the other site will tell you a gene profile associated with a bad prognosis." Longo wrote … 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 →

Donating a kidney may save a person's life - but only if the conditions are precise. Kidney donors must be related and immunologically matched to their donors and even then, the recipient must take a lifetime of anti-rejection medications, which dont guarantee the organ won't be rejected. But a new clinical trial from Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Ill. has shown how stem cells can be used to trick a recipients immune system into believing the new organ has been part of that persons body all along. The breakthrough has the potential to eliminate both the risks associated with kidney transplantation and the need for anti-rejection medications within one year after surgery. Its the holy grail of transplantation, said lead author Dr. Joseph Leventhal, transplant surgeon at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and associate professor of surgery and director of kidney and pancreas transplantation at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Ill. This notion of being able to achieve tolerance through donor derived cells has been around for more than 50 years, but its translation to the clinic has been quite elusive. This article details the first successful attempt of this in mismatched and unrelated kidney recipients. The research was … 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 →

ROCKVILLE, Md., March 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Neuralstem, Inc. (NYSE Amex: CUR) announced that the second patient to receive stem cells in the cervical (upper back) region of the spine was dosed on February 29th in the ongoing Phase I trial of its spinal cord neural stem cells in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease). Patient 14 is also the first woman to be treated in the trial. Stem cell transplantation into the cervical region of the spinal cord couldsupport breathing, a key function that is lost as ALS progresses. The first twelve patients in the trial received stem cell transplants in the lumbar (lower back) region of the spinal cord only. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20061221/DCTH007LOGO ) "This cohort of patients represents another first for our trial, as we transplant cells directly into the gray matter of the spinal cord in the cervical region," said Karl Johe, PhD, Neuralstem's Chairman and Chief Scientific Officer. "We are delighted that the surgeries are progressing in a region that could have a significant impact on the quality of life for ALS patients. With the safe transplantation of our 14th patient, we are well are on our way to demonstrating the safety of our … Continue reading →

Durham, NC (PRWEB) March 07, 2012 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. 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 →