Source: University of California - Davis
Date: June 30, 2010
Summary:
Wounded soldiers may one day be treated with stem cells from their own fat using a method under development at UC Davis. The method employs a gel-like material to encourage stem cells from fat to regenerate damaged bone. The stem cells have been shown to stimulate the growth of small blood vessels in developing bone, encouraging healing. The gel keeps the stem cells at the injury site; as the bone heals, the gel breaks down.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Melanoma-Initiating Cell Identified
Source: Stanford University School of Medicine
Date: June 30, 2010
Summary:
Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have identified a cancer-initiating cell in human melanomas. The finding is significant because the existence of such a cell in the aggressive skin cancer has been a source of debate. It may also explain why current immunotherapies are largely unsuccessful in preventing disease recurrence in human patients. The research will be published in the July 1 issue of Nature.
Date: June 30, 2010
Summary:
Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have identified a cancer-initiating cell in human melanomas. The finding is significant because the existence of such a cell in the aggressive skin cancer has been a source of debate. It may also explain why current immunotherapies are largely unsuccessful in preventing disease recurrence in human patients. The research will be published in the July 1 issue of Nature.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Turning back the cellular clock: Method developed for tracking adult stem cells as they regress
Source: American Friends of Tel Aviv University
Date: June 29, 2010
Summary:
Scientists at Tel Aviv University in collaboration with researchers at Harvard University have succeeded in tracking the progression of reprogrammed stem cells through live imaging to learn more about how they are reprogrammed, and how the new cells evolve over time. This will allow researchers to develop techniques and choose the right cells for replacement therapy and give invaluable insight into how these cells will eventually react in the human body.
Dr. Iftach Nachman of TAU's Department of Biochemistry says that this represents a huge stride forward. It will not only allow researchers to develop techniques and choose the right cells for replacement therapy, increasing the efficiency of cell reprogramming, but will give invaluable insight into how these cells will eventually react in the human body. Results from the research project were recently published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.
Date: June 29, 2010
Summary:
Scientists at Tel Aviv University in collaboration with researchers at Harvard University have succeeded in tracking the progression of reprogrammed stem cells through live imaging to learn more about how they are reprogrammed, and how the new cells evolve over time. This will allow researchers to develop techniques and choose the right cells for replacement therapy and give invaluable insight into how these cells will eventually react in the human body.
Dr. Iftach Nachman of TAU's Department of Biochemistry says that this represents a huge stride forward. It will not only allow researchers to develop techniques and choose the right cells for replacement therapy, increasing the efficiency of cell reprogramming, but will give invaluable insight into how these cells will eventually react in the human body. Results from the research project were recently published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Embryonic cell and adult pig islet transplants cure diabetes in rats
Source: Washington University School of Medicine
Date: June 28, 2010
Summary:
In a step toward curing diabetes in humans, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have alleviated the disease in rats using transplants from both embryonic and adult pigs. The rats adopted the pig transplants as their own and produced enough insulin to control their blood sugar – all without the need for anti-rejection drugs. The researchers report their findings online in the American Journal of Pathology.
Using a two-step approach, the researchers first transplanted a cluster of embryonic pig pancreatic cells into diabetic rats. These cells grow to become the pancreas, which houses the islet cells that produce insulin. The embryonic cells primed the rats’ immune system to accept a second implant of islets from adult pigs several weeks later.
The new research – the first long-term, successful cross-species transplant of pig islets without immune suppression – raises the prospect that it may one day be possible to cure diabetes in humans using a similar strategy. Pig cells could overcome the shortage of human islets available from deceased donors and the need for transplant patients to take anti-rejection drugs for life.
Date: June 28, 2010
Summary:
In a step toward curing diabetes in humans, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have alleviated the disease in rats using transplants from both embryonic and adult pigs. The rats adopted the pig transplants as their own and produced enough insulin to control their blood sugar – all without the need for anti-rejection drugs. The researchers report their findings online in the American Journal of Pathology.
Using a two-step approach, the researchers first transplanted a cluster of embryonic pig pancreatic cells into diabetic rats. These cells grow to become the pancreas, which houses the islet cells that produce insulin. The embryonic cells primed the rats’ immune system to accept a second implant of islets from adult pigs several weeks later.
The new research – the first long-term, successful cross-species transplant of pig islets without immune suppression – raises the prospect that it may one day be possible to cure diabetes in humans using a similar strategy. Pig cells could overcome the shortage of human islets available from deceased donors and the need for transplant patients to take anti-rejection drugs for life.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Ronin recruits protein allies to sustain embryonic stem cell growth
Source: Baylor College of Medicine
Date: June 25, 2010
Summary:
Ronin, crucial to the self-renewal of embryonic stem cells, and a co-regulator called Hcf-1, binds to a small strand of DNA called a hyperconserved enhancer element to control a gene "program" that stimulates growth of the stem cells and may even play a role in cancer, said a group of researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine in a current report in the journal Genes and Development.
Date: June 25, 2010
Summary:
Ronin, crucial to the self-renewal of embryonic stem cells, and a co-regulator called Hcf-1, binds to a small strand of DNA called a hyperconserved enhancer element to control a gene "program" that stimulates growth of the stem cells and may even play a role in cancer, said a group of researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine in a current report in the journal Genes and Development.
Mechanism that may trigger degenerative disease identified
Source: Penn State University
Date: June 25, 2010
Summary:
A mechanism that regulates stem-cell differentiation in mice testes suggests a similar process that may trigger degenerative disease in humans, according to researchers at Penn State University. Research involved manipulating a protein called STAT3 that signals stem cells to decide whether to differentiate into a specialized type of cell or self-renew and remain stem cells. By manipulating STAT3, researchers identified a key regulator of spermatogonial stem cell self-renewal. Every time a stem cell divides, it produces two new cells. The findings were published in the June online issue of Biology of Reproduction.
Date: June 25, 2010
Summary:
A mechanism that regulates stem-cell differentiation in mice testes suggests a similar process that may trigger degenerative disease in humans, according to researchers at Penn State University. Research involved manipulating a protein called STAT3 that signals stem cells to decide whether to differentiate into a specialized type of cell or self-renew and remain stem cells. By manipulating STAT3, researchers identified a key regulator of spermatogonial stem cell self-renewal. Every time a stem cell divides, it produces two new cells. The findings were published in the June online issue of Biology of Reproduction.
Researchers create breathing lungs in lab
Source: University of Minnesota
Date: June 25, 2010
Summary:
Scientists with the University of Minnesota’s Masonic Cancer Center and Medical School have achieved another research first – creating breathing lungs in the laboratory. This innovation comes two years after another group of University of Minnesota researchers used a similar technique to create a beating heart in the laboratory. Lead scientist Angela Panoskaltsis-Mortari, Ph.D., and assistant scientist Andrew Price used a process called whole organ decellularization to remove cells from the lungs of dead adult mice and implant healthy stem cells derived from unborn mice into the decellularized matrix, the natural framework of the lungs. After about seven days in an incubator, the infused cells attached themselves to the matrix while breathing with the aid of a tiny, make-shift ventilator. The scientists’ work is in the online version of the journal Tissue Engineering (hard copy to be released August 6, 2010).
Date: June 25, 2010
Summary:
Scientists with the University of Minnesota’s Masonic Cancer Center and Medical School have achieved another research first – creating breathing lungs in the laboratory. This innovation comes two years after another group of University of Minnesota researchers used a similar technique to create a beating heart in the laboratory. Lead scientist Angela Panoskaltsis-Mortari, Ph.D., and assistant scientist Andrew Price used a process called whole organ decellularization to remove cells from the lungs of dead adult mice and implant healthy stem cells derived from unborn mice into the decellularized matrix, the natural framework of the lungs. After about seven days in an incubator, the infused cells attached themselves to the matrix while breathing with the aid of a tiny, make-shift ventilator. The scientists’ work is in the online version of the journal Tissue Engineering (hard copy to be released August 6, 2010).
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Scientists Implant Regenerated Lung Tissue in Rats
Source: Yale University
Date: June 24, 2010
Summary:
A Yale University-led team of scientists reports that it has achieved an important first step in regenerating fully functional lung tissue that can exchange gas, which is the key role of the lungs. Their paper appears in the June 24 issue of Science Express.
The Yale team's goal was to see if it was possible to successfully implant tissue-engineered lungs, cultured in vitro, that could serve the lung's primary function of exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide. They took adult rat lungs and first removed their existing cellular components, preserving the extracellular matrix and hierarchical branching structures of the airways and vascular system to use later as scaffolds for the growth of new lung cells.
They then cultured a combination of lung-specific cells on the extracellular matrix, using a novel bioreactor designed to mimic some aspects of the fetal lung environment. Under the fetal-like conditions of the bioreactor, the cells repopulated the decellularized matrix with functional lung cells. When implanted into rats for short intervals of time (45-120 minutes), the engineered lungs exchanged oxygen and carbon dioxide similarly to natural lungs.
The team found that the mechanical characteristics of the engineered lungs were similar to those of native tissues and, when implanted, were capable of participating in gas exchange.
Date: June 24, 2010
Summary:
A Yale University-led team of scientists reports that it has achieved an important first step in regenerating fully functional lung tissue that can exchange gas, which is the key role of the lungs. Their paper appears in the June 24 issue of Science Express.
The Yale team's goal was to see if it was possible to successfully implant tissue-engineered lungs, cultured in vitro, that could serve the lung's primary function of exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide. They took adult rat lungs and first removed their existing cellular components, preserving the extracellular matrix and hierarchical branching structures of the airways and vascular system to use later as scaffolds for the growth of new lung cells.
They then cultured a combination of lung-specific cells on the extracellular matrix, using a novel bioreactor designed to mimic some aspects of the fetal lung environment. Under the fetal-like conditions of the bioreactor, the cells repopulated the decellularized matrix with functional lung cells. When implanted into rats for short intervals of time (45-120 minutes), the engineered lungs exchanged oxygen and carbon dioxide similarly to natural lungs.
The team found that the mechanical characteristics of the engineered lungs were similar to those of native tissues and, when implanted, were capable of participating in gas exchange.
Scientists grow new lungs using 'skeletons' of old ones
Source: University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
Date: June 24, 2010
Summary:
Tissue engineers' progress toward growing new lungs for transplantation or research has long been frustrated by the problem of coaxing stem cells to develop into the varied cell types that populate different locations in the lung Now, researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have demonstrated a potentially revolutionary solution to this problem. As they describe in an article published electronically ahead of print by the journal Tissue Engineering Part A, they seeded mouse embryonic stem cells into "acellular" rat lungs — organs whose original cells had been destroyed by repeated cycles of freezing and thawing and exposure to detergent. The result: empty lung-shaped scaffolds of structural proteins on which the mouse stem cells thrived and differentiated into new cells appropriate to their specific locations.
Date: June 24, 2010
Summary:
Tissue engineers' progress toward growing new lungs for transplantation or research has long been frustrated by the problem of coaxing stem cells to develop into the varied cell types that populate different locations in the lung Now, researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have demonstrated a potentially revolutionary solution to this problem. As they describe in an article published electronically ahead of print by the journal Tissue Engineering Part A, they seeded mouse embryonic stem cells into "acellular" rat lungs — organs whose original cells had been destroyed by repeated cycles of freezing and thawing and exposure to detergent. The result: empty lung-shaped scaffolds of structural proteins on which the mouse stem cells thrived and differentiated into new cells appropriate to their specific locations.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Stem cells made without new genes
Source: Nature
Date: 21 June 2010
Summary:
Researchers have transformed human skin cells into stem cells similar to those in an embryo without using any reprogramming genes, just the viral vector normally used to deliver them. The findings, reported last week at the International Society for Stem Cell Research annual meeting in San Francisco, California, challenge the conventional wisdom about what it takes to produce stem cells that are compatible with a specific patient.
Date: 21 June 2010
Summary:
Researchers have transformed human skin cells into stem cells similar to those in an embryo without using any reprogramming genes, just the viral vector normally used to deliver them. The findings, reported last week at the International Society for Stem Cell Research annual meeting in San Francisco, California, challenge the conventional wisdom about what it takes to produce stem cells that are compatible with a specific patient.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Researchers find that bone marrow transplantation combined with islet cell transplantation shows promise for treating late-stage type 1 diabetes
Source: City of Hope
Date: June 18, 2010
Summary:
City of Hope researchers have found that bone marrow transplantation with islet cell transplantation shows promise as a treatment for late-stage type 1 diabetes. This combination may enable patients to make their own insulin again. Results from laboratory research led by Defu Zeng, MD, associate professor in the departments of Diabetes Research and Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation at City of Hope, were published online this month in the journal Diabetes.
Date: June 18, 2010
Summary:
City of Hope researchers have found that bone marrow transplantation with islet cell transplantation shows promise as a treatment for late-stage type 1 diabetes. This combination may enable patients to make their own insulin again. Results from laboratory research led by Defu Zeng, MD, associate professor in the departments of Diabetes Research and Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation at City of Hope, were published online this month in the journal Diabetes.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Human Embryonic-Like Extracellular Matrix Significantly Inhibits Tumor Growth and Cancer Cell Proliferation
Source: Histogen, Inc.
Date: June 17, 2010
Summary:
Histogen, Inc., a regenerative medicine company developing solutions based on the products of newborn cells grown under embryonic conditions, will present findings tomorrow at the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) Annual Meeting. Studies of the human extracellular matrix (hECM) produced under proprietary conditions of hypoxia and suspension have demonstrated its ability to diminish or eliminate tumor load in melanoma, breast cancer, colon cancer and glioma, both in vitro and in vivo.
Tumor growth was significantly inhibited across these cancer cell lines, with a 50-80% reduction in tumor weight seen in the tumor chorioallantoic membrane (tumcam) model (p<0.05) and a 70-90% reduction seen in subcutaneous mouse xenograft experiments (p<0.02). In studies of a carcinomatosis model established with a human colon carcinoma line, treatment with the hECM resulted in reduced tumor number and size, reduction of ascites, and, to date, a doubling in lifespan, as compared to untreated and cisplatin-treated mice.
Date: June 17, 2010
Summary:
Histogen, Inc., a regenerative medicine company developing solutions based on the products of newborn cells grown under embryonic conditions, will present findings tomorrow at the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) Annual Meeting. Studies of the human extracellular matrix (hECM) produced under proprietary conditions of hypoxia and suspension have demonstrated its ability to diminish or eliminate tumor load in melanoma, breast cancer, colon cancer and glioma, both in vitro and in vivo.
Tumor growth was significantly inhibited across these cancer cell lines, with a 50-80% reduction in tumor weight seen in the tumor chorioallantoic membrane (tumcam) model (p<0.05) and a 70-90% reduction seen in subcutaneous mouse xenograft experiments (p<0.02). In studies of a carcinomatosis model established with a human colon carcinoma line, treatment with the hECM resulted in reduced tumor number and size, reduction of ascites, and, to date, a doubling in lifespan, as compared to untreated and cisplatin-treated mice.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Clinical trial of gene therapy for AIDS-related lymphoma shows promising results against cancer and HIV infection
Source: City of Hope
Date: June 16, 2010
Summary:
City of Hope researchers demonstrated the first successful long-term persistence of anti-HIV genes in patients with AIDS-related lymphoma. In the investigational therapy, patients underwent autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) in which their own blood stem cells were harvested and genetically engineered with three anti-HIV ribonucleic acids (RNAs) that block HIV from infecting new cells. The study appears online June 16 in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
The gene therapy was developed by City of Hope’s John Rossi, Ph.D., Lidow Family Research Chair and chair and professor, molecular and cellular biology, with technology that uses ribozymes and short strands of RNA, also known as small interfering RNA (siRNA), to selectively silence specific genes against HIV infection. The ribozyme molecule prevents the patient’s white blood cells from producing a protein called CCR5, which HIV needs to enter a cell. The new CCR5-deficient immune cells the patient produces are effectively resistant to HIV infection. Additionally, the siRNA inactivates the virus directly, and a third component, called a TAR decoy sequesters the HIV regulatory Tat protein from the virus. The goal of the therapy is to reboot the immune system to once again identify HIV and mount a response to the infection by lowering the viral load.
Date: June 16, 2010
Summary:
City of Hope researchers demonstrated the first successful long-term persistence of anti-HIV genes in patients with AIDS-related lymphoma. In the investigational therapy, patients underwent autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) in which their own blood stem cells were harvested and genetically engineered with three anti-HIV ribonucleic acids (RNAs) that block HIV from infecting new cells. The study appears online June 16 in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
The gene therapy was developed by City of Hope’s John Rossi, Ph.D., Lidow Family Research Chair and chair and professor, molecular and cellular biology, with technology that uses ribozymes and short strands of RNA, also known as small interfering RNA (siRNA), to selectively silence specific genes against HIV infection. The ribozyme molecule prevents the patient’s white blood cells from producing a protein called CCR5, which HIV needs to enter a cell. The new CCR5-deficient immune cells the patient produces are effectively resistant to HIV infection. Additionally, the siRNA inactivates the virus directly, and a third component, called a TAR decoy sequesters the HIV regulatory Tat protein from the virus. The goal of the therapy is to reboot the immune system to once again identify HIV and mount a response to the infection by lowering the viral load.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Researchers develop functional, transplantable rat liver grafts
Source: Massachusetts General Hospital
Date: June 13, 2010
Summary:
A team led by researchers from the Center for Engineering in Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has developed a technique that someday may allow growth of transplantable replacement livers. In their report that will be published in Nature Medicine and is receiving early online release, the investigators describe using the structural tissue of rat livers as scaffolding for the growth of tissue regenerated from liver cells introduced through a novel reseeding process.
Date: June 13, 2010
Summary:
A team led by researchers from the Center for Engineering in Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has developed a technique that someday may allow growth of transplantable replacement livers. In their report that will be published in Nature Medicine and is receiving early online release, the investigators describe using the structural tissue of rat livers as scaffolding for the growth of tissue regenerated from liver cells introduced through a novel reseeding process.
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Stem cells for first time used to create abnormal heart cells for study of cardiomyopathy
Source: The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Date: June 9, 2010
Summary:
Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have for the first time differentiated human stem cells to become heart cells with cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the heart muscle cells are abnormal. The discovery will allow scientists to learn how those heart cells become diseased and from there, they can begin developing drug therapies to stop the disease from occurring or progressing. The study is published in the June 9th issue of Nature.
The Mount Sinai team used skin cells from two patients with a genetic disorder known by the acronym LEOPARD syndrome. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or thickening of the heart muscle, is experienced by 80 percent of patients with LEOPARD syndrome and is the most life-threatening aspect of the disorder. The Mount Sinai team took patient skin cells and reprogrammed them to become pluripotent stem cells. Such cells can then develop into almost any type of cell in the human body. The researchers then created heart cells that had characteristics of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Date: June 9, 2010
Summary:
Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have for the first time differentiated human stem cells to become heart cells with cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the heart muscle cells are abnormal. The discovery will allow scientists to learn how those heart cells become diseased and from there, they can begin developing drug therapies to stop the disease from occurring or progressing. The study is published in the June 9th issue of Nature.
The Mount Sinai team used skin cells from two patients with a genetic disorder known by the acronym LEOPARD syndrome. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or thickening of the heart muscle, is experienced by 80 percent of patients with LEOPARD syndrome and is the most life-threatening aspect of the disorder. The Mount Sinai team took patient skin cells and reprogrammed them to become pluripotent stem cells. Such cells can then develop into almost any type of cell in the human body. The researchers then created heart cells that had characteristics of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Researchers Convert Stem Cells into Cartilage
Source: University of Connecticut
Date: June 8, 2010
Summary:
For the millions of aging Americans who suffer from joint pain, stem cells may be riding to the rescue. Scientists at the University of Connecticut Health Center have recently developed a technique that reliably converts stem cells into cartilage cells. Someday, that might allow doctors to grow replacement cartilage in a laboratory for the surgical repair of joints lost to injury or impaired by degenerative diseases such as arthritis.
Stem cells have an unlimited capacity for self-renewal, as well as the ability to become any type of cell in the human body, so they are ideal for generating replacement cartilage tissue to repair damaged cartilage. Developmental biologists, like Dr. Caroline Dealy, an associate professor at UConn’s Center for Regenerative Medicine and Skeletal Development, are attempting to understand the signals and conditions that regulate how stem cells differentiate into articular chondrocytes – which make up the unique type of cartilage present at the surface of joints.
Research published in the Journal of Cellular Physiology in April details how Dealy and her colleague, Dr. Robert Kosher, a former professor at the Health Center, successfully developed a methodology to direct “substantially uniform and progressive in vitro differentiation of human embryonic stem cells (hESC) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) into the chondrogenic lineage.”
Date: June 8, 2010
Summary:
For the millions of aging Americans who suffer from joint pain, stem cells may be riding to the rescue. Scientists at the University of Connecticut Health Center have recently developed a technique that reliably converts stem cells into cartilage cells. Someday, that might allow doctors to grow replacement cartilage in a laboratory for the surgical repair of joints lost to injury or impaired by degenerative diseases such as arthritis.
Stem cells have an unlimited capacity for self-renewal, as well as the ability to become any type of cell in the human body, so they are ideal for generating replacement cartilage tissue to repair damaged cartilage. Developmental biologists, like Dr. Caroline Dealy, an associate professor at UConn’s Center for Regenerative Medicine and Skeletal Development, are attempting to understand the signals and conditions that regulate how stem cells differentiate into articular chondrocytes – which make up the unique type of cartilage present at the surface of joints.
Research published in the Journal of Cellular Physiology in April details how Dealy and her colleague, Dr. Robert Kosher, a former professor at the Health Center, successfully developed a methodology to direct “substantially uniform and progressive in vitro differentiation of human embryonic stem cells (hESC) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) into the chondrogenic lineage.”
New type of human stem cell may be more easy to manipulate
Source: Massachusetts General Hospital
Date: June 8, 2010
Summary:
Researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Regenerative Medicine (MGH-CRM) and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute have a developed a new type of human pluripotent stem cell that can be manipulated more readily than currently available stem cells. As described in the June 4 Cell Stem Cell, these new cells could be used to create better cellular models of disease processes and eventually may permit repair of disease-associated gene mutations.
Date: June 8, 2010
Summary:
Researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Regenerative Medicine (MGH-CRM) and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute have a developed a new type of human pluripotent stem cell that can be manipulated more readily than currently available stem cells. As described in the June 4 Cell Stem Cell, these new cells could be used to create better cellular models of disease processes and eventually may permit repair of disease-associated gene mutations.
TAU research is inventing a tool to control the risk of "runaway" stem cells
Source: American Friends of Tel Aviv University
Date: June 8, 2010
Summary:
Stem cell research holds promise for improving the quality of human life -- especially embryonic stem cells, which can potentially develop into any tissue in the human body. Basic scientific problems still remain unresolved -- but Tel Aviv University researchers are leading the way to inventive solutions. The implications of this research can provide the basis for a new kind of research tool, one that biologists around the world could use to define and grow the specific kinds of neural stem cells they require.
Date: June 8, 2010
Summary:
Stem cell research holds promise for improving the quality of human life -- especially embryonic stem cells, which can potentially develop into any tissue in the human body. Basic scientific problems still remain unresolved -- but Tel Aviv University researchers are leading the way to inventive solutions. The implications of this research can provide the basis for a new kind of research tool, one that biologists around the world could use to define and grow the specific kinds of neural stem cells they require.
Friday, June 04, 2010
Gene Related To Aging Plays Role In Stem Cell Differentiation
Source: Thomas Jefferson University
Date: June 4, 2010
Summary:
A gene shown to play a role in the aging process appears to play a role in the regulation of the differentiation of embryonic stem cells, according to researchers from the Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine and the Department of Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University. In the study, published online in the journal Aging Cell, the researchers identified a protein interaction that controls the silencing of Oct4, a key transcription factor that is critical to ensuring that embryonic stem cells remain pluripotent. The protein, WRNp, is the product of a gene associated with Werner syndrome, an autosomal recessive disorder hallmarked by premature aging. The gene expression in Werner syndrome closely resembles that of normal aging, and as a result, Werner syndrome is an accepted model of aging.
Date: June 4, 2010
Summary:
A gene shown to play a role in the aging process appears to play a role in the regulation of the differentiation of embryonic stem cells, according to researchers from the Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine and the Department of Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University. In the study, published online in the journal Aging Cell, the researchers identified a protein interaction that controls the silencing of Oct4, a key transcription factor that is critical to ensuring that embryonic stem cells remain pluripotent. The protein, WRNp, is the product of a gene associated with Werner syndrome, an autosomal recessive disorder hallmarked by premature aging. The gene expression in Werner syndrome closely resembles that of normal aging, and as a result, Werner syndrome is an accepted model of aging.
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Synthetic peptide may regenerate brain tissue in stroke victims
Source: Henry Ford Hospital
Date: June 2, 2010
Summary:
A synthetic version of a naturally occurring peptide promoted the creation of new blood vessels and repaired damaged nerve cells in lab animals, according to researchers at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. In the latest study, adult rats were dosed with Thymosin beta 4 one day after they were subjected to a blockage in the cerebral artery, then given four more doses, once every three days. Rats treated only with saline were used as a control group.
After eight weeks, the Thymosin beta 4 group showed significant overall improvement compared to the control group. The researchers concluded that the peptide improved blood vessel density as well as promoted a certain type of immature brain cells called oligodendrocyte progenitor cells to differentiate into mature oligodendrocytes, which produces myelin to protect axons in nerve cells. These experiments conclude that the peptide repairs and regenerates stroke-injured brain tissue.
Date: June 2, 2010
Summary:
A synthetic version of a naturally occurring peptide promoted the creation of new blood vessels and repaired damaged nerve cells in lab animals, according to researchers at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. In the latest study, adult rats were dosed with Thymosin beta 4 one day after they were subjected to a blockage in the cerebral artery, then given four more doses, once every three days. Rats treated only with saline were used as a control group.
After eight weeks, the Thymosin beta 4 group showed significant overall improvement compared to the control group. The researchers concluded that the peptide improved blood vessel density as well as promoted a certain type of immature brain cells called oligodendrocyte progenitor cells to differentiate into mature oligodendrocytes, which produces myelin to protect axons in nerve cells. These experiments conclude that the peptide repairs and regenerates stroke-injured brain tissue.
City of Hope receives FDA approval for first human neural stem cell clinical trial to treat brain tumors
Source: City of Hope National Medical Center
Date: June 2, 2010
Summary:
DUARTE, Calif., — City of Hope researchers received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct the first-in-human study of a neural stem cell-based therapy targeting recurrent high-grade gliomas, the most aggressive type of brain tumor.
Date: June 2, 2010
Summary:
DUARTE, Calif., — City of Hope researchers received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct the first-in-human study of a neural stem cell-based therapy targeting recurrent high-grade gliomas, the most aggressive type of brain tumor.
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
Immune system helps transplanted stem cells navigate in central nervous system
Source: University of California - Irvine
Date: June 1, 2010
Summary:
— Irvine, Calif., — By discovering how adult neural stem cells navigate to injury sites in the central nervous system, UC Irvine researchers have helped solve a puzzle in the creation of stem cell-based treatments: How do these cells know where to go?
Tom Lane and Kevin Carbajal of the Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center found the answer with the body’s immune system.
Their study not only identifies an important targeting mechanism in transplanted stem cells but also provides a blueprint for engineering stem cell-based therapies for multiple sclerosis and other chronic neurological diseases in which inflammation occurs. Results appear in this week’s early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Date: June 1, 2010
Summary:
— Irvine, Calif., — By discovering how adult neural stem cells navigate to injury sites in the central nervous system, UC Irvine researchers have helped solve a puzzle in the creation of stem cell-based treatments: How do these cells know where to go?
Tom Lane and Kevin Carbajal of the Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center found the answer with the body’s immune system.
Their study not only identifies an important targeting mechanism in transplanted stem cells but also provides a blueprint for engineering stem cell-based therapies for multiple sclerosis and other chronic neurological diseases in which inflammation occurs. Results appear in this week’s early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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