New Stem Cell Gene Therapy Gives Hope to Prevent Inherited Neurological Disease

Source: University of Manchester
Date: 25 July 2013

Summary:

Scientists from The University of Manchester have used stem cell gene therapy to treat a fatal genetic brain disease in mice for the first time.  The method was used to treat Sanfilippo – a fatal inherited condition which causes progressive dementia in children – but could also benefit several neurological, genetic diseases.  Researchers behind the study, published in the journal Molecular Therapy this month, are now hoping to bring a treatment to trial in patients within two years.

A New Weapon Against Stroke: Stem Cell Study Uncovers the Brain-protective Powers of Astrocytes

Source: University of California - Davis

Date: July 23, 2013

Summary:

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — One of regenerative medicine’s greatest goals is to develop new treatments for stroke. So far, stem cell research for the disease has focused on developing therapeutic neurons — the primary movers of electrical impulses in the brain — to repair tissue damaged when oxygen to the brain is limited by a blood clot or break in a vessel. New UC Davis research, however, shows that other cells may be better suited for the task.  Published today in the journal Nature Communications, the large, collaborative study found that astrocytes — neural cells that transport key nutrients and form the blood-brain barrier — can protect brain tissue and reduce disability due to stroke and other ischemic brain disorders.

Scientists Successfully Generate 'Artificial Bones' from Umbilical Cord Stem Cells

Source: University of Granada


Date: 18 July 2013

Summary:

 Granada-based researchers patent a new biomaterial based on an activated carbon cloth support that acts as scaffolding for the construction of cells capable of bone regeneration. Although their results were obtained ‘ex vivo’, in the future they could help manufacture medicines to treat neoplastic, traumatic or degenerative bone pathologies. After obtaining artificial bone in the laboratory, the next step is to implant the biomaterial in animals to see if it can regenerate bone in them.

Scientists in Granada, Spain, have patented a new biomaterial that facilitates generating bone tissue—artificial bones in other words—from umbilical cord stem cells . The material, consisting of an activated carbon cloth support for cells that differentiate giving rise to a product that can promote bone growth, has recently been presented at a press conference at the Biomedical Research Centre, Granada.

Although the method has not yet been applied with ‘in vivo’ models, laboratory results are highly promising. In the future, they could help manufacture medicines for the repair of bone or osteochondrial, tumour or traumatic lesions and to replace lost cartilage in limbs. After obtaining artificial bones in the laboratory, the researchers' next step is to implant this biomaterial in experimental animal models—like rats or rabbits—to see if it can regenerate bone in them.

HIV Positive Men Show No Signs of HIV after Bone Marrow Transplant and Discontinuation of Anti-Retroviral Therapy

Source: Brigham and Women's Hospital

Date: July 3, 2013

Summary:

Boston, MA - Two Brigham and Women's Hospital patients with longstanding HIV infections who underwent bone marrow transplants have stopped anti-retroviral therapy and have no detectable HIV in their blood cells.  One patient stopped anti-retroviral therapy 15 weeks ago, the other stopped 7 weeks ago.  These new findings will be presented on July 3, 2013 at the International AIDS Society Conference (IAS 2013) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia by Timothy Henrich, MD and Daniel Kuritzkes, MD, physician-researchers in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Brigham and Women's Hospital.