Study to investigate menstrual blood-derived stem cells as potential stroke therapy

Source: University of South Florida
Date: September 30, 2010

Summary:

The potential for stem cells derived from menstrual blood to benefit stroke sufferers will be jointly investigated by researchers at the University of South Florida, Cryo-Cell International, Inc. a global stem cell company based in Oldsmar, FL,, and Saneron CCEL Therapeutics, Inc., a Tampa-based biotechnology company.

In previous animals studies using transplanted stem cells from menstrual blood, Dr. Borlongan and his research team found that the cells were safe and, unlike embryonic stem cells, did not run the risk of creating tumors. In their next stage of study under the new grant, the researchers will transplant menstrual blood-derived stem cells(alone as well as conditioned and treated in a variety of ways) to determine the molecular and cellular components involved in repairing damage following stroke induced chemically in laboratory mice. Menstrual blood is a novel and plentiful source of stem cells with great potential for differentiation into a variety of cell types, according to the researchers.

Researchers achieve major breakthrough in cell reprogramming

Source: Harvard University
Date: September 30, 2010

Summary:

A group of Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers has made so significant a leap forward in reprogramming human adult cells that HSCI co-director Doug Melton, who did not participate in the work, said the Institute will immediately begin using the new method to make patient and disease-specific induced pluripotent stem cells, know as iPS cells. The findings today were given advance on-line publication by Cell Stem Cell.

Researchers at the Immune Disease Institute at Children's Hospital Boston used synthetic mRNA to reprogram adult human skin cells, fibroblasts, turning them into cells that are apparently identical to human embryonic stem cells, the initial building blocks of all the organs of the body. They have then used other mRNA to program the new cells, which they are calling RiPS (RNA-iPS), cells to develop into specific cells types – in the current study they created muscle cells. Because the mRNA carries genetic instructions, but does not enter the DNA of the target cells, the resulting tailored cells should be safe to use in treating patients, Rossi said, unlike the iPS cells now being created around the world.

RESEARCHER DISCOVERS GROWTH FACTOR ESSENTIAL TO EPICARDIAL CELL FUNCTION AND BLOOD VESSEL FORMATION

Source: Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
Date: September 29, 2010

Summary:

In research that one day may lead to the discovery of how to regenerate tissue damaged by heart disease, investigators at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles have identified PDGF as a key factor in the proliferation and transformation of epicardial cells, one type of cell that surrounds heart muscle and contributes to vessels. The study was published online September 21 in advance of the publication of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Ching-Ling (Ellen) Lien, PhD, led a team of researchers at the Developmental Biology and Regenerative Medicine Program and Heart Institute that included Jieun Kim, PhD, Qiong Wu, MS, Yolanda Zhang, MD, Katie M. Wiens, PhD, Ying Huang, MS, Nicole Rubin, BS. The research was supported by Vaughn A. Starnes, MD director of the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles Heart Institute, and joined by Hiroyuki Shimada, MD, Tai-lan Tuan, PhD, of The Saban Research Institute of Childrens Hospital.

Researchers Use Stem Cells to Create Disease Models

Source: University of Connecticut
Date: September 29, 2010

Summary:

University of Connecticut researchers have used skin cells from patients with the genetic disorders Angelman Syndrome (AS) and Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) to generate induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Like human embryonic stem (hES) cells, iPS cells can become any cell type in the human body, including brain cells, also known as neurons. Since both of these syndromes have brain abnormalities, neurons were produced from the iPS cells for each of the two diseases so that the root causes could be understood and new therapies developed. This study is published in the September 27 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Technique to Reattach Teeth Using Stem Cells Developed

Source: University of Illinois at Chicago
Date: September 29, 2010

Summary:

A new approach to anchor teeth back in the jaw using stem cells has been developed and successfully tested in the laboratory for the first time by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The new strategy represents a potential major advance in the battle against gum disease, a serious infection that eventually leads to tooth loss. About 80 percent of U.S. adults suffer from gum disease, according to the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.

Researchers in UIC's Brodie Laboratory for Craniofacial Genetics used stem cells obtained from the periodontal ligament of molars extracted from mice, expanded them in an incubator, and then seeded them on barren rat molars. The stem cell-treated molars were reinserted into the tooth sockets of rats. After two and four months, the stem cells aligned and formed new fibrous attachments between the tooth and bone, firmly attaching the replanted tooth into the animal's mouth, said Smit Dangaria, a bioengineering doctoral candidate who conducted the research. Tissue sections showed that the replanted tooth was surrounded by newly formed, functional periodontal ligament fibers and new cementum, the essential ingredients of a healthy tooth attachment.

In contrast, tooth molars that were replanted without new stem/progenitor cells were either lost or loosely attached and were resorbed, Dangaria said. The study, published in an online issue of the journal Tissue Engineering, was funded through a grant by the National Institutes of Health.

Sodium Plays Key Role in Tissue Regeneration

Source: Tufts University
Date: September 28, 2010

Summary:

Sodium gets a bad rap for contributing to hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Now biologists at Tufts University's School of Arts and Sciences have discovered that sodium also plays a key role in initiating a regenerative response after severe injury. The Tufts scientists have found a way to regenerate injured spinal cord and muscle by using small molecule drugs to trigger an influx of sodium ions into injured cells.

The approach breaks new ground in the field of biomedicine because it requires no gene therapy; can be administered after an injury has occurred and even after the wound has healed over; and is bioelectric, rather than chemically based. In a paper appearing as the cover story of the September 29, 2010, issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, the Tufts team reported that a localized increase in sodium ions was necessary for young Xenopus laevis tadpoles to regenerate their tails – complex appendages containing spinal cord, muscle and other tissue.

'Firefly' Stem Cells May Repair Damaged Hearts

Source: University of Central Florida
Date: September 28, 2010

Summary:

Stem cells that glow like fireflies could someday help doctors heal damaged hearts without cutting into patients' chests. In his University of Central Florida lab, Steven Ebert engineered stem cells with the same enzyme that makes fireflies glow. The "firefly" stem cells glow brighter and brighter as they develop into healthy heart muscle, allowing doctors to track whether and where the stem cells are working.

If doctors can figure out exactly how the cells repair and regenerate cardiac tissue, stem cell therapies could offer hope to more than 17.6 million Americans who suffer from coronary disease. The glow of the enzyme also means therapies would no longer require cutting into patients' chest cavities to monitor the healing. The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association, is a featured cover story in this month's highly ranked Stem Cells and Development Journal.

Scientists discover gene that controls stem cells in central nervous system

Source: Medical Research Council
Date: 27 September 2010

Summary:

Scientists at the Medical Research Council (MRC) have discovered that a gene called Sox9 plays a critical role in how stem cells behave and is crucial in the development of the central nervous system. These results could potentially help researchers manipulate stem cells in the brain and develop new regenerative treatments for stroke, Alzheimer’s disease or brain tumours. This study shows for the first time in mice is that the gene Sox9 is required for the neuroepithelial cells to turn into these stem cells, and that it continues to be required throughout development and stem cells in the adult brain to retain their properties, such as the ability to self-renew and differentiate. The study is published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

Reuters also published a news story on this study.

Northwestern first site open for spinal cord stem cell trial

Source: Northwestern University
Date: September 22, 2010

Summary:

CHICAGO --- Northwestern Medicine is the first site open for enrollment in a national clinical research trial of a human embryonic stem cell-based therapy for participants with a subacute thoracic spinal cord injury. Following the procedure, participants will receive rehabilitation treatment at The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC). Northwestern also is the lead site of the trial, sponsored by Geron Corporation (Nasdaq: GERN). The trial eventually will include up to six other sites and enroll up to 10 participants nationally.

Researchers engineer adult stem cells that do not age

Source: University at Buffalo
Date: September 22, 2010

Summary:

Biomedical researchers at the University at Buffalo have engineered adult stem cells that scientists can grow continuously in culture, a discovery that could speed development of cost-effective treatments for diseases including heart disease, diabetes, immune disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. UB scientists created the new cell lines - named "MSC Universal" - by genetically altering mesenchymal stem cells, which are found in bone marrow and can differentiate into cell types including bone, cartilage, muscle, fat, and beta-pancreatic islet cells. The researchers say the breakthrough overcomes a frustrating barrier to progress in the field of regenerative medicine: The difficulty of growing adult stem cells for clinical applications.

Discovery of key pathway interaction may lead to therapies that aid brain growth and repair in children and adults

Source: Children's National Medical Center
Date: September 15, 2010

Summary:

WASHINGTON, DC—Researchers at the Center for Neuroscience Research at Children’s National Medical Center have discovered that the two major types of signaling pathways activated during brain cell development—the epidermal growth factor receptor pathway and the Notch pathway—operate together to determine how many and which types of brain cells are created during growth and repair in developing and adult brains. This knowledge may help scientists design new ways to induce the brain to repair itself when these signals are interrupted, and indicate a need for further research to determine whether disruptions of these pathways in early brain development could lead to common neurodevelopmental disorders such as epilepsy, cerebral palsy, autism, Down syndrome, ADHD, and intellectual disabilities. These findings will be published in the September issue of Nature.

First US Trial of Bone-Marrow Stem Cells for Heart Attack Patients Appears Safe

Source: Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation
Date: September 14, 2010

Summary:

The first randomized, placebo-controlled U.S. clinical trial to assess the use of bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells (BMC) in patients after a ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI; severe heart attack) demonstrated a strong safety profile for this cell therapy, based on phase 1 results published in the September issue of the American Heart Journal.

In the single-center trial, researchers at the Minneapolis Heart Institute® at Abbott Northwestern Hospital enrolled 40 patients with STEMI, randomizing them in a 3:1 ratio to 100 million autologous BMCs versus placebo, administered three to ten days following successful primary angioplasty and stenting of the left anterior descending coronary artery. Importantly, the researchers elected to deliver cells by an intracoronary infusion as opposed to the stop-flow technique that had been used in all preceding trials and all patients received an identical number of cells. Administration of BMC was safely performed in all patients with minimal major adverse clinical event rates, and all patients remain alive to date, the researchers reported.

Neuralstem Stem Cells Survive and Differentiate Into Neurons in Rats With Stroke

Source: Neuralstem, Inc.
Date: September 14, 2010

Summary:

Neuralstem, Inc. announced that its spinal cord stem cells survived in rat brains affected by stroke and differentiated predominantly into neurons. The transplanted animals showed significant improvement in some motor skill and strength measurements. The study entitled, "Intracerebral Implantation of Adherent Human Neural Stem Cells To Reverse Motor Deficits in Chronic Stroke Rats," was presented earlier today by senior study author, Dr. Shinn-Zong Lin, M.D., Ph.D., at the Stem Cells USA & Regenerative Medicine Conference in Philadelphia, PA.

Single Gene Regulates Motor Neurons in Spinal Cord

Source: NYU Langone Medical Center / New York University School of Medicine
Date: September 8, 2010

Summary:

Scientists at NYU Langone Medical Center have found that a single type of gene acts as a master organizer of motor neurons in the spinal cord. The finding, published in the September 9, 2010 issue of Neuron, could help scientists develop new treatments for diseases such as Lou Gehrig's disease or spinal cord injury.

INVESTIGATORS DISCOVER A NEW HOT SPOT FOR THE GENESIS OF SIGNALING NEURONS IN THE ADULT BRAIN

Source: University of California - Davis
Date: September 8, 2010

Summary:

In an unanticipated finding, researchers at the UC Davis School of Medicine have discovered that, during early adulthood, the brain produces new excitatory neurons, and that these neurons arise from non-neuronal support cells in an area of the brain that processes smell. The study, conducted in mice, is the first to demonstrate that pyramidal neurons in the mature brain stem are generated by precursors of glial cells — non-neuronal support cells — and that these new neurons likely are capable of transmitting information to widespread regions of the brain, said David Pleasure, a professor of neurology and pediatrics at the UC Davis School of Medicine and the study's author. "Pyramidal Neurons are Generated from Oligodendroglial Progenitor Cells in Adult Piriform Cortex," is published online this week in the Journal of Neuroscience.

KEEPING STEM CELLS FROM CHANGING FATES

Source: Johns Hopkins Medicine
Date: September 8, 2010

Summary:

Johns Hopkins researchers have determined why certain stem cells are able to stay stem cells. The report in the June 4 issue of Cell Stem Cell reveals that an enzyme that changes the way DNA is packaged in cells allows specific genes to be turned on and off, thereby preventing a stem cell from becoming another cell type.

Induced pluripotent stem cells retain an inactive X chromosome, study finds

Source: University of California - Los Angeles
Date: September 8, 2010

Summary:

University of California - Los Angeles stem cell researchers have found that human skin cells reprogrammed into female induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells — which have the embryonic-like potential to become any cell in the body — retain an inactive X chromosome.

The finding could have implications for studying X chromosome–linked diseases such as Rett syndrome, a nervous system disorder caused by mutations in a gene located on the chromosome. The current finding differs from that seen in mouse skin cells that have been reprogrammed into iPS cells, in which the inactive X chromosome reactivates, said Kathrin Plath, senior author of the study and a scientist with the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA. The study is published in the Sept. 3 issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell.

Researchers at UC Riverside Find Solution to Cell Death Problem Vexing Stem Cell Research

University of California - Riverside
Date: September 7, 2010

Summary:

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Human pluripotent stem (hPS) cells can generate any given cell type in the adult human body, which is why they are of interest to stem cell scientists working on finding therapies for spinal cord injuries, Parkinson's disease, burns, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and other ailments. Before hPS cell technologies can be translated into clinical applications, however, some obstacles must first be overcome.

One such obstacle frustrating stem cell researchers is “cell death” that the major types of hPS cells, including human embryonic stem cells and human induced pluripotent stem cells, mysteriously undergo when cultured as single cells, rendering them less suitable for research.

Researchers at the University of California, Riverside now show that a molecular motor, called “nonmuscle myosin II” (NMII), which exists naturally inside each hPS cell and controls various cellular functions, triggers the death of hPS cells when they are broken down to single cells.

While many details of how exactly NMII works remain unknown, a wide consensus among researchers is that NMII induces a contraction of the main internal components of the cells, eventually resulting in cell death. To stop this cell death, the researchers treated hPS cells with a chemically synthesized compound, blebbistatin, and found that it substantially enhanced the survival of the cells by chemically inhibiting NMII. (Blebbistatin is commercially available from several companies that sell biologically active chemical compounds.)

Study results appear online, Sept. 7, in Nature Communications.

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Retain an Inactivated X Chromosome, Study Finds

Source: University of California - Los Angeles
Date: September 6, 2010

Summary:

Female induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, reprogrammed from human skin cells into cells that have the embryonic-like potential to become any cell in the body, retain an inactive X chromosome, stem cell researchers at University of California Los Angeles have found. The finding, reported in the journal Cell Stem Cell, could have implications for studying X chromosome-linked diseases such as Rett syndrome, caused by mutations in a gene located on the X chromosome.

Study finds that cancer-causing gene crucial in stem cell development

Source: University of Georgia
Date: September 2, 2010

Summary:

Stem cells might be thought of as trunks in the tree of life. All multi-cellular organisms have them, and they can turn into a dazzling variety other cells—kidney, brain, heart or skin, for example. One class, pluripotent stem cells, has the capacity to turn into virtually any cell type in the body, making them a focal point in the development of cell therapies, the conquering of age-old diseases or even regrowing defective body parts.

Now, a research team at the University of Georgia has shown for the first time that a gene called Myc (pronounced "mick") may be far more important in the development and persistence of stem cells than was known before. Myc is traditionally thought of as a cancer-causing gene, or oncogene, but recent studies from the UGA team have established critical roles for it in stem cell biology. The discovery has important implications for the basic understanding of developmental processes and how stem cells can be used for therapeutic purposes. The research was published today in the journal Cell Stem Cell..

Functional motor neuron subtypes generated from embryonic stem cells

Source: Cell Press
Date: September 2, 2010

Summary:

Scientists have devised a method for coaxing mouse embryonic stem cells into forming a highly specific motor neuron subtype. The research, published by Cell Press in the September 3rd issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell, provides new insight into motor neuron differentiation and may prove useful for devising and testing future therapies for motor neuron diseases.

...In the current study, the scientists showed that removing a key differentiation factor allowed cultured embryonic stem cells to form motor neurons with molecular characteristics corresponding to a limb innervating subtype, without the need for genetic manipulation or added factors. Importantly, when this stem cell-derived subtype was transplanted into embryonic chick spinal cords, the motor neurons settled in the expected columnar position within the cord and had projections that mimicked the trajectory of limb innervating motor neurons.

Biologists find way to reduce stem cell loss during cancer treatment

Source: University of California - San Diego
Date: September 5, 2010

Summary:

Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have discovered that a gene critical for programmed cell death is also important in the loss of adult stem cells, a finding that could help to improve the health and well-being of patients undergoing cancer treatment. The findings are published in this week's advance online issue of the journal Nature Cell Biology.

Scientists have long known that when normal cells accumulate significant amount of DNA damage, such as during cancer therapy, the tumor suppressor p53 is activated, which leads cells to stop dividing, go into hibernation and undergo a programmed cell death called apoptosis. They've also known that a gene called Puma, an acronym for "p53-unregulated modulator of apoptosis," is critical for p53 to initiate the cell death of DNA-damaged cells.

Using genetically modified mice with persistently activated p53, Xu and his colleagues discovered that, once activated, p53 depletes various adult stem cells, including the ones that are responsible for generating new blood and intestine cells. In addition, Puma is critical for this p53-dependent depletion of various adult stem cells.