Archive for March, 2012

13-03-2012 16:42 Hear Dr. Bowen talk about the exciting field of Regenerative Medicine. The type of regenerative medicine Dr. Bowen practices uses our own adult stem cells to achieve desired results.

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Cosmetic Regenerative Medicine - Video

Public release date: 15-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Diane Schrick diane.schrick@gladstone.ucsf.edu 415-734-2538 Gladstone Institutes

SAN FRANCISCO, CAMarch 15, 2012Gladstone Institutes Senior Investigator Deepak Srivastava, MD has won the prestigious 2012 Abraham White Scientific Achievement Award from The George Washington University. Dr. Srivastava, who directs cardiac and stem cell research at Gladstone will share the award with Dr. Luigina Romani, professor of microbiology at the University of Perugia.

Dr. Srivastava is being recognized for his findings concerning how the protein thymosin beta 4 is vital to protect and repair cells that become damaged in a heart attackpointing the way to its potential use in treating cardiac disease. His research has shown that thymosin beta 4 is not only critical to the development of a heart, but that it also prevents heart cells from dyingwhile stimulating new blood vessels to form.

"Dr. Srivastava's pioneering studies and scientific contributions have significantly advanced our understanding of the role of thymosin beta 4 in the development and function of the human heart," said Allan Goldstein, PhD, professor and emeritus chairman of The George Washington University. "His studies have provided the scientific foundation for the potential use of thymosin beta 4 to treat heart attacks and other heart diseases."

Dr. Srivastava, who joined Gladstone in 2005, uses modern genetic and stem cell technologies to identify the molecular events that instruct progenitor cells to become cardiac cellsand subsequently fashion a functioning heart. In addition to his research with thymosin beta 4, Dr. Srivastava and his lab have successfully reprogrammed connective tissue in the heart directly into beating heart cellsa process that may help regenerate damaged heart muscle.

"Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and basic research in this field is vital to identifying and understanding the causes of human heart disease," said Dr. Srivastava, who is also a professor of pediatrics, biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), with which Gladstone is affiliated. "I am honored to receive this award and hope our efforts ultimately lead to important new treatments for patients with heart conditions."

George Washington University presents the Abraham White Scientific Achievement Award annually to honor individuals who have made unique contributions to science and medicine. Notable past recipients include Nobel laureates Bengt Samuelsson, MD, Julius Axelrod, MD, Michael Brown, MD, Joseph Goldstein, MD and Tim Hunt, PhD in addition to a number of other distinguished scientists. The award will be presented today at a special ceremony in Washington D.C.

"We are delighted that George Washington University has acknowledged Dr. Srivastava's exceptional achievements in the field of cardiovascular research," said Gladstone President R. Sanders Williams, MD. "He richly deserves this recognition due to the creativity and innovation evident in his workand because of its potential to benefit the millions of individuals suffering from cardiac disorders."

Before joining Gladstone, Dr. Srivastava was a professor in the department of pediatrics and molecular biology at the University of Texas Southwestern (UTSW) Medical Center in Dallas. He has received numerous honors and awards, including endowed chairs at UTSW and UCSF, as well as election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Society for Pediatric Research, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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Gladstone director receives 2012 Abraham White Scientific Achievement Award

The same species that submitted itself to experimentation for treatments to human cancers is now getting a cure with N.C. State's first canine bone marrow transplant.

In 2008, Dr. Steven Suter, assistant professor of oncology, began performing bone marrow transplants, BMT, on dogs. N.C. State is the only university in the world that offers this treatment. While private practices do exist, mainly on the west coast, they have treated few dogs. People have traveled from across the country to utilize these services.

Once I became an oncologist, I realized that this could probably be done now in a clinical setting if the appropriate machines could be found, apheresis machines. Once I got a hold of some of these machines, I started collecting peripheral blood progenitor cells from a few research colony dogs. After I showed we could do that, we moved on to start transplanting client-owned dogs. We opened our canine BMT unit in October 2008, Suter said.

Until recently, the transplants used stem cells from the dogs' own blood, so only those who had a disease in remission could be treated. The treatment was typically used on dogs with lymphoma.

The cure rate of dogs with lymphoma treated with chemotherapy is less than 5 percent, so I felt we could do better on that front with BMT, Suter said. We have modified the protocol extensively since the first 24 dogs, so we are hoping it will now be better.

However this all changed with two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, Chip and Zeke, earlier this year. Zeke was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia in December 2011. This disease could only be treated by use of donor bone marrow. Chip, a littermate, was the prime choice.

We do require a donor, since we can not harvest progenitor cells from the patient. Leukemia patients have too many cancer cells floating around in their blood, so the machine would harvest them also. So, we find a matched donor who does not have cancer obviously, and harvest the cells from them, Suter said. We don't use this procedure regularly to treat dogs with leukemia ... we've treated two dogs with leukemia. We use it mainly to treat dogs with lymphoma, which is a very different disease."

The owners of the dogs met for the first time at N.C. State for the procedure to take place.

Jason Hefner, a fourth year in veterinary medicine, worked with Zeke while he was here.

To our knowledge, only one previous case has been treated with a donor. Zeke had a great disposition, and I looked forward to visiting him each morning for his treatments. Zeke is now in New York and looking forward to a happy and healthy life, Hefner said.

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University gives dog a bone marrow transplant

By Yoon Min-sik The Korea Herald/Asia News Network Thursday, Mar 15, 2012

US scientists have succeeded in making early retina structures by using stem cells from blood, marking a breakthrough toward treating eye diseases, Science Daily reported Tuesday.

The new findings can help study degenerative retinal disorder such as retinitis pigmentosa, a prominent cause of blindness in children and young adults, according to a statement by the University of Wisconsin- Madison research team.

Last year, the group led by Doctor David Gamm was able to create the most primitive structure of a retina with photoreceptors by using embryonic stem cells and stem cells from human skin.

But the structures lacked the organization of a more mature retina.

This time, Gamm's team used induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) derived from blood gathered from donors.

Induced pluripotent stem cell refer to a cell which can develop into any fetal or adult cell type but is free from ethnic debate because it does not require human ovum to produce.

Scientists extracted a type of blood cell called a T-lymphocyte, which is related to immunity, and reprogrammed the cells into iPS cells. Then they grew retina-like tissues from the iPS cells.

About 16 per cent of the initial retinal structures developed distinct layers, which is a significant advance, as retina forms layer in normal human development.

The arrangement of layers was similar to what is found in the back of the eye.

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Scientists produce retina structure from blood-derived cells

Public release date: 14-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Alicia Reale alicia.reale@uhhospitals.org 216-844-5158 University Hospitals Case Medical Center

CLEVELAND -- New research published in the March 15 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (embargoed 5 pm ET March 14) identifies gene mutations associated with improved overall survival with higher doses of chemotherapy for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

According to one of the authors, Hillard M. Lazarus, MD, Director of Novel Cell Therapy at Seidman Cancer Center at University Hospitals Case Medical Center and Professor of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, the findings explain why some AML patients are more likely to benefit from higher does of the chemotherapy drug daunorubicin.

"This is yet another advance in the era of 'individualizing' a patient's care," said Dr. Lazarus. "These significant findings will provide an important new tool to predict patients' response to cancer-fighting therapies and will help physicians avoid over-treating some patients and under-treating others."

The new study performed an analysis of mutations in 18 genes in 398 patients younger than 60 years of age with AML who were randomly assigned to receive therapy with high-dose or standard dose daunorubicin. Researchers validated their prognostic findings in an independent set of 104 patients.

The researchers found that mutations in two genes (DNMT3A and NPM1) and translocations (movement of part of one gene to another gene, the MLL gene) were associated with improved patient outcomes with the higher doses of daunorubicin chemotherapy in AML patients.

"Information of this type could be used by a clinician for treatment planning at diagnosis and the start of therapy," said Dr. Lazarus. "That is, if the patient has the mutation in question, the clinician can go ahead and give the higher chemotherapy dose. If the patient does not have the mutation, a higher dose may not be of benefit."

The multi-site study is an analysis of genetic factors from patients who participated in a landmark 2009 study which changed the routine treatment practice for AML. That study, also published in the New England Journal of Medicine, demonstrated for the first time that a more intense initial regimen using higher doses of daunorubicin significantly improved remission rate (70.6% vs. 57.3% with a standard dose) and improved overall survival (median, 23.7 vs. 15.7 months). More patients achieved remission with only one cycle of therapy, rather than two cycles, more patients proceeded to transplant, and overall outcome was significantly improved.

Dr. Lazarus said, "These findings show how genetic information can be used to 'tailor' therapy for patients. Now the challenge before us is to find a way to provide this genetic information in a timely and affordable way to influence treatment decisions for patients. Hopefully we can answer additional important questions such as these by continuing to enroll patients onto clinical trials"

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Study finds genes improving survival with higher chemo doses in leukemia

Newswise NEW YORK, MARCH 14, 2012 Researchers have identified a set of genetic abnormalities in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) that doctors can use to more accurately predict patients prognoses and select treatments that are most likely to benefit them. The study, led by investigators at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, will be published in the March 22 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Our study shows that genetic profiling makes it possible to more precisely categorize which patients are most likely to have their leukemia return after treatment, says the studys lead author Ross Levine, MD, a member of Memorial Sloan-Ketterings Human Oncology Pathogenesis Program. We also want to use existing therapies more intelligently. It helps a great deal to know which subset of patients will actually benefit from intensive therapies, such as a higher dose of chemotherapy or a bone marrow transplant, adds Dr. Levine, who is also a medical oncologist on the Leukemia Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering.

At present, clinicians rely on only a handful of known genetic biomarkers (early markers of disease) to predict outcome in leukemia patients, and these biomarkers provide useful information for only a subset of patients. For most people diagnosed with AML, it is difficult to predict the chance for a cure.

The method used in the study incorporates information from an array of genes and allows nearly two-thirds of patients to be categorized into clearly defined prognostic groups. Our goal was not to ask whether a certain gene or two raised or lowered risk, but to determine whether a combination of characteristics from a set of genes made it possible to precisely stratify patients according to risk, Dr. Levine says.

The researchers analyzed blood or bone marrow samples from 502 patients with AML who were participating in a clinical trial. Such samples are routinely taken for research purposes during trials with patient consent. The trial, led by Martin S. Tallman, MD, Chief of Memorial Sloan-Ketterings Leukemia Service, explored whether increasing the standard dose of chemotherapy in AML patients under age 60 would improve survival.

The team that performed the genetic analysis, which included investigators from Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Weill Cornell Medical College, and other institutions, analyzed the samples for abnormalities, or mutations, within 18 genes known to have alterations in people with AML. The researchers noted the relationship between the mutations present in each patient and how that patient ultimately fared with the disease receiving either the standard or increased chemotherapy dose.

Our findings have important clinical implications for patients with AML, demonstrating that genetic profiling can improve current prognostic models and help guide therapeutic decisions so patients have an optimal result, says Dr. Tallman, who is a co-author of the new study. Moving forward, the challenge will be to provide this genetic information in a timely and affordable way to influence treatment decisions prospectively, he adds.

The analysis allowed the researchers to determine specific risk levels for a variety of gene-mutation combinations. They also were able to establish that the higher chemotherapy dose used in the trial benefited only some of the patients. The investigators took into account variables such as patient age and gender and validated the results in a separate group of patients to ensure that the profiling approach will be generally applicable beyond the current trial.

Dr. Levine and his Memorial Sloan-Kettering colleagues are working to translate the results from the study into clinical use. Weve already developed genetic tests, which can be used to test for this set of mutations in patients, and were in the process of making sure they work well in practice, he says. We have preliminary evidence that they perform well, and were hoping to have a pilot study soon as a step toward getting it into the clinic. We want to show this approach can be used not just at Memorial Sloan-Kettering but throughout the leukemia community.

The American Cancer Society estimates that 13,780 people in the United States will be diagnosed with AML in 2012 and that more than 10,000 people will die from the disease.

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Genetic Profiling Can Help Doctors More Accurately Predict Prognosis and Guide Treatment Decisions for Leukemia Patients

Newswise The diagnosis of myelodysplastic syndrome, a blood cancer, often causes confusion. While some patients can be treated with repeated blood transfusions, others require chemotherapy, leaving some uncertainty about whether the syndromes actually are cancer.

Now, using the latest DNA sequencing technology, scientists at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that the blood disease is an early form of cancer with characteristics that are very similar to the fatal leukemia to which it often progresses. And by mapping the genetic evolution of cancer cells in seven patients with myelodysplastic syndromes who later died of leukemia, they have found clues to suggest that targeted cancer drugs should be aimed at mutations that develop early in the disease.

The research, by a large team of Washington University researchers at the Siteman Cancer Center, appears online March 14 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The scientists sequenced all the DNA the genome of tumor cells from the patients over time. While some cancer cells in each patient acquired new mutations as they evolved, they always retained the original cluster of mutations that made the cells cancerous in the first place.

This discovery, which must be confirmed in larger studies, suggests that drugs targeted to cancer mutations might be more effective if they are directed toward genetic changes in the original cluster of cancer cells called the founding clone. Drugs that target mutations found exclusively in later-evolving cancer cells may kill those cells but likely wouldnt damage founding clones that do not carry the later mutations.

Its probably not enough to know that a particular mutation exists in cancer cells, says senior author Timothy Graubert, MD, associate professor of medicine at the School of Medicine who also treats patients at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. We likely will need to dig deeper to find out whether a mutation is in the founding clone that initiated the cancer or in a later-evolving clone.

In other words, think of this cancer as a tree, Graubert says.

To kill a tree, you have to pull out the roots, he says. If you only cut off a limb, it will just grow back. Were saying that to be effective, targeted cancer drugs probably need to attack mutations at the root of this disease.

About 28,000 Americans are diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndromes each year, most over age 60. They occur when blood cells produced in the bone marrow dont fully develop and immature cells crowd out healthy ones. In about one-third of patients, the disease progresses to a fatal form of leukemia.

As part of the new research, Graubert and his colleagues teamed with researchers at Washington Universitys Genome Institute who sequenced the genomes of cancer cells after the patients developed acute myeloid leukemia. Then, they determined whether the mutations they found were present when the same patients were first diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndromes.

Excerpt from:
Scientists Map Genetic Evolution of Leukemia

ANN ARBOR, Mich., March 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Everist Genomics (EGI), a rapidly-growing personalized medicine company, today announced the launch of the world's first comprehensive companion diagnostics and prognostics portfolio to improve early diagnosis, management and treatment of patients with colorectal cancer.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120314/NY69822 )

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110110/NY26865LOGO )

The portfolio of four individual tests provides innovative gene expression profiling and analysis of molecular markers to help physicians track tumor development and responsiveness to therapy, enabling personalized treatment across all stages of colorectal cancer.

The tests will be available to U.S. customers starting at the end of March, which is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month.

"Advances in molecular diagnostics and genomics have revealed that colorectal cancer is not a single disease with just a single risk factor," said Peter Lenehan, M.D., Ph.D. EGI's Chief Medical Officer. "In fact, it presents a high degree of variance at the molecular level that can significantly determine a patient's individual prognosis."

The company's portfolio is comprised of four unique companion diagnostics:

The human body is genetically equipped to ensure proper replication and repair of DNA, however the process can be imperfect, especially in patients with cancer. A mutation in the body's mismatch repair (MMR) system that normally helps correct improper DNA copying, can cause microsatellite instability (MSI), a condition in which replicated strands of DNA accumulate errors and become longer and shorter than they should be. People with MSI are more likely to suffer from errors in the repair and copying of their DNA.

MSI is an important consideration when determining which chemotherapy method will work best for a particular patient. Independent research shows that colon cancer patients with MSI may not benefit from, and might actually be harmed by, 5-FU therapy.These patients may be more responsive to irinotecan.On the other hand, colon cancer patients with correctly functioning microsatellites are likely to respond to and tolerate 5-FU therapy.

Research also suggests that patients with Lynch syndrome have defective DNA MMR systems. Physicians recommend that, given their increased risk for cancer, patients with the condition should be actively screened and often modify their lifestyles to prevent cancer. Doctors estimate that three out of every 100 colon cancers are caused by Lynch syndrome. Because Lynch syndrome is hereditary, active screening of family members of people who have the condition may also lead to early diagnosis and improved treatment planning.

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Everist Genomics Develops World's First Comprehensive Companion Diagnostics and Prognostics Portfolio for Early ...

13-03-2012 13:39 This video was produced by Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network. For more information, visit http://www.GoodShepherdRehab.org.

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Spinal Cord Injury: Self Dressing - Video

BY BILL BIRD wbird@stmedianetwork.com March 14, 2012 7:42PM

Utah State runner Brittany Fisher, No. 476, runs a cross country race. Photo courtesy~Fisher family

storyidforme: 27381588 tmspicid: 9890634 fileheaderid: 4551173

Updated: March 14, 2012 7:49PM

She slammed into the unforgiving earth from a height of five stories while rappelling down the side of a cliff, some 30 minutes from civilization and a good two hours before the sun would begin its rise in the Utah desert. She sustained a serious spinal cord injury and broke both of her legs.

But her parents, brother and sister are relieved and grateful Naperville Central High School alumnus Brittany Fisher suffered neither brain damage nor paralysis, and is likely to completely recover from her harrowing fall.

We video-chatted, and she was conscious, and had no trouble talking at all, said Braden Fisher, Brittanys older brother, from the driveway of the familys home in the Heritage Knolls area of Napervilles far southeast side.

Its amazing. She had no head injuries of any sort.

The siblings attend Utah State University in Logan, where he is majoring in finance and she in elementary education. Parents Bryan and Kaaren Fisher live here with their youngest child, Laura Fisher, a senior at Naperville Central.

Brittany Fisher was listed late Wednesday in serious condition at University Medical Center of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, to which she was flown via rescue helicopter following her fall. A hospital spokeswoman, citing federal privacy laws, declined to discuss her injuries.

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Naperville woman seriously hurt in fall while rappelling in Utah

To: HEALTH, MEDICAL AND NATIONAL EDITORS

SHORT HILLS, N.J., March 14, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, the nation's leading nonprofit providing care to those living with paralysis and advancing research into treatments and cures for spinal cord injury, today unveiled "Reverse," a public service announcement (PSA). The PSA is designed to spread awareness and bolster support of research to find cures for spinal cord injury. The advertisement is available for viewing at ChristopherReeve.org.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100511/REEVELOGO)

The PSA, developed by the Reeve Foundation's advertising partner BBDO New York, and directed by Greg Ramsey, features Rob Summers, a former college baseball pitcher, who was completely paralyzed from the chest down in 2006 after being struck by a vehicle in a hit-and-run accident. Today, Summers is able to stand and step with assistance on a treadmill and move his legs voluntarily. These unprecedented outcomes are the result of his participation in a landmark scientific study of a novel experimental therapy that combines continual direct epidural stimulation of his lower spinal cord with intense locomotor training (assisted stepping on a treadmill). The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Reeve Foundation.

Summers was the first-ever human participant in this groundbreaking research, which was published in the medical journal The Lancet in May 2011.

The creative visual imagery, includes the use of falling dominoes to represent a spinal cord injury's devastating effects--which are physical, as well as emotional and societal.

John Osborn, president of BBDO New York and Chair of the Reeve Foundation's Communications Committee, stated, "Rob's story is extraordinarily compelling. His bigger-than-life personality and drive are an inspiration that we felt compelled to share. We want to invite the world to learn more and to feel what we feel--that this is a huge breakthrough and proof positive of progress being made in this field."

Peter T. Wilderotter, president and CEO of the Reeve Foundation, said, "The reverse effect of the dominoes evokes Rob's journey, and invites others to rise with him, as we do. We are so grateful to our friends at BBDO New York, who, once again, selflessly devoted their talents and hours of their time to help us further our mission and provide a call to action to support the paralysis community."

"I am the first person in the world to ever participate in the epidural stimulation project, and to have achieved this recovery is life-changing," said Rob Summers. "Although my Major League Baseball dreams were dashed that night in 2006, I think this is much more impactful than anything I could have ever done before my injury."

Nearly 5.6 million Americans live with some form of paralysis, defined as a central nervous system disorder resulting in difficulty or an inability to move the upper or lower extremities. Of those, 1.275 million paralyzed due to a spinal cord injury.

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Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation Unveils Public Service Announcement Message Features Promising Experimental Spinal ...

Paralyzed by a spinal cord injury in 1986, real estate developer Rogers Severson sought out a leading rehabilitation facility after doctors told the former college athlete he'd never walk again.

Six months later, he walked out of Casa Colina Center for Rehabilitation in Pomona with the aid of a cane and the realization that he possessed what most patients there did not: excellent insurance and the personal means to pay for top-flight care. He vowed to help change that.

Almost a year to the day after he was thrown from a mule, breaking two vertebrae, Severson stood before those gathered at a fundraising luncheon to benefit the charity he'd founded, the Spinal Cord Injury Special Fund. More than $200,000 was initially raised, including $50,000 from Severson's own pocket.

Over the next 25 years, the organization helped more than a thousand people with spinal cord injuries extend their therapy or pay for equipment aimed at helping them gain greater independence, according to the fund.

Severson died Monday at his Newport Beach home of complications related to cancer, said his daughter, Laura Russell. He was 72.

Before the accident, his life "couldn't have been going better," Severson told The Times in 1987.

Born Nov. 1, 1939, in Pensacola, Fla., to a career Marine Corps aviator and his wife, Severson led the University of Redlands tennis team to championships and majored in business and finance, according to the 2007 book "You've Gotta Fight Back!" He earned his bachelor's degree in 1962.

By 1969, he was developing industrial business parks for Dunn Properties and was named chairman of its board in 1974. Four years later, he co-founded Saddleback Associates in Orange County and continued building business parks in the west.

With his business and family flourishing, Severson later said, "I remember thinking that things were so good I needed some additional challenges in my life somewhere."

Everything changed in November 1986 during the annual Portola Ride, an exclusive horseback-riding event for businessmen in Orange County. He often rode a mule, partly because he enjoyed its plodding gait. When the mule threw him, Severson landed on his head and neck.

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Rogers Severson dies at 72; creator of spinal cord injury fund

SAN CARLOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

BioCardia, a leading provider of cardiovascular catheter systems designed to deliver biologic therapies for cardiac regeneration and Juventas Therapeutics, a clinical-stage regenerative medicine company developing novel therapies for cardiovascular disease, announced today that they will continue to work together to execute Juventas Phase II trial of JVS-100 for the treatment of heart failure.

The Phase II safety and efficacy study has been allowed by the Food and Drug Administration and enrollment is targeted to start in Q2 2012. The previous Phase I trial enrolled 17 NYHA Class III heart failure patients and showed promising safety and signals of clinical benefit to the patients treated.

"JVS-100 provides the potential for an off the shelf regenerative medicine therapeutic, with the potential to significantly enhance patients lives, states Peter Altman, Ph.D., BioCardias President & CEO. We are pleased to have the opportunity to continue to work with the Juventas team.

BioCardias Helical catheter performed well in our Phase I clinical trial and is an attractive delivery system for our targeted patient population, states Rahul Aras, Juventass President and CEO. It is a catheter system that is simple to use with a proven safety profile and we are excited to be working with it in our upcoming Phase II trial.

About BioCardia

BioCardia, Inc., headquartered in San Carlos, CA is a privately-held commercial medical technology company that has developed percutaneous delivery systems for biologics to treat cardiovascular disease. The company's initial products are intended to provide a new therapeutic option for patients with heart failure and chronic myocardial ischemia.

About the Helical Infusion System

The Helical Infusion System is a CE Marked steerable two catheter system that enables delivery of biologic therapies to the heart muscle from within the chamber of the heart. It requires no external capital equipment and has an excellent clinical safety profile. The Helical Infusion System is commercially available in the European Union and is under Investigation in the United States in ongoing clinical trials.

About Juventas Therapeutics

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BioCardia and Juventas Announce Phase II Development Program of JVS-100 Delivered With the Helical Infusion System to ...

MARLBOROUGH, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. (ACT; OTCBB: ACTC), a leader in the field of regenerative medicine, announced today that on Monday, March 12 it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission a proxy statement containing a shareholder proposal for a reverse split of its common stock.

The annual meeting of stockholders will be held on Thursday, April 26, at the Hyatt Regency Suites, Palm Springs, 285 N. Palm Canyon Dr.,Palm Springs,Calif.,92262, on Thursday,April 26,2012, at 9 a.m. PDT, to consider the following proposals: election of five directors, ratifying the appointment of the companys public accounting firm, and a proposal to effect a reverse stock split of the companys common stock, at a ratio between one-for-twenty and one-for-eighty, and to reduce the number of authorized shares of the companys common stock in the same proportion as the reverse split, with the exact ratio to be determined by the board of directors.

This reverse stock split, which should better align the companys capital structure with its stage of development, and an accompanying Nasdaq listing application, will represent a significant step toward creating long-term shareholder value and building ACT into a world-class player in the regenerative medicine space, said Gary Rabin, chairman and CEO of ACT. I hope that our stockholders understand how important it is to vote For the reverse stock split. A Nasdaq listing will enable us to significantly broaden our shareholder base and attract institutional ownership, a process that can build on itself to position the company on very firm financial footing over the long term.

Stockholders who have questions on how to vote or need assistance voting their shares should contact the companys proxy solicitor InvestorCom, Inc. toll-free at(877) 972-0090.

Further Information ACT has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) and will furnish to stockholders of record on the record date for the annual meeting a definitive proxy statement in connection with the reverse stock split and other matters to be acted upon at the annual meeting. The company, Mr. Rabin and certain of its directors, executive officers and other members of management may, under SEC rules, be deemed participants in the solicitation of proxies from the companys stockholders with respect to the reverse stock split and the other matters to be acted upon at the annual meeting. INVESTORS AND STOCKHOLDERS ARE ADVISED TO READ THE DEFINITIVE PROXY STATEMENT AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE SEC WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THOSE DOCUMENTS WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED REVERSE STOCK SPLIT AND OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION INCLUDING THOSE PERSONS WHO MAY BE DEEMED PARTICIPANTS IN THE SOLICITATION. Investors and stockholders may obtain a free copy of the definitive proxy statement, and other documents filed by us with the SEC, including the preliminary proxy statement, at the SECs web site at http://www.sec.gov. Free copies of the definitive proxy statement, and the Companys other filings with the SEC may also be obtained from the Company by directing a request to Advanced Cell Technology, Inc., 33 Locke Drive, Marlborough, Massachusetts 01752, Attention: Secretary.

About Advanced Cell Technology, Inc.

Advanced Cell Technology, Inc., is a biotechnology company applying cellular technology in the field of regenerative medicine. For more information, visit http://www.advancedcell.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this news release regarding future financial and operating results, future growth in research and development programs, potential applications of our technology, opportunities for the company and any other statements about the future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans, or prospects expressed by management constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements that are not statements of historical fact (including statements containing the words will, believes, plans, anticipates, expects, estimates, and similar expressions) should also be considered to be forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements, including: limited operating history, need for future capital, risks inherent in the development and commercialization of potential products, protection of our intellectual property, and economic conditions generally. Additional information on potential factors that could affect our results and other risks and uncertainties are detailed from time to time in the companys periodic reports, including the report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, opinions, and expectations of the companys management at the time they are made, and the company does not assume any obligation to update its forward-looking statements if those beliefs, opinions, expectations, or other circumstances should change. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, opinions, and expectations of the companys management at the time they are made, and the company does not assume any obligation to update its forward-looking statements if those beliefs, opinions, expectations, or other circumstances should change. There can be no assurance that the Companys clinical trials will be successful.

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ACT Announces Filing of Definitive Proxy

14 March 2012 Last updated at 09:00 ET By Jane O'Brien BBC News, Maine

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One of Doreen Flynn's daughters, 13-year-old Jordan, says the whole transplant process scares her

A mother in the US is desperate to find bone marrow donors to save the lives of her three daughters who are critically ill from a rare blood disorder. Now, she is challenging a federal law barring her from compensating prospective donors.

Thousands of Americans who need transplants die every year because they cannot find a suitable donor, advocates say.

They propose a controversial way to encourage more people to come forward: Pay them.

"It is widening the donor pool. A lot of times employers don't pay for the time off that these donors take from work," says Doreen Flynn of Lewiston, Maine.

"So I think in those instances those people can say, 'you know I can do that,' knowing that there will be a support system for them at the end."

Ms Flynn's three daughters have a rare genetic blood disorder called Fanconi Anaemia. Their bone marrow does not make enough blood cells to keep them healthy and their only hope for survival is a transplant.

It is against US law to sell body parts - including bone marrow. But last year, Ms Flynn won a court ruling in favour of compensating donors whose blood stem cells are collected using a process called aphaeresis.

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Should it be legal to pay for bone marrow donations?

ScienceDaily (Mar. 14, 2012) A research team has identified epigenetic signatures, markers on DNA that control transient changes in gene expression, within reprogrammed skin cells. These signatures can predict the expression of a wound-healing protein in reprogrammed skin cells or induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), cells that take on embryonic stem cell properties. Understanding how the expression of the protein is controlled brings us one step closer to developing personalized tissue regeneration strategies using stem cells from a patient, instead of using human embryonic stem cells.

The study was published in the Journal of Cell Science.

When skin cells are reprogrammed, many of their cellular properties are recalibrated as they aquire stem cell properties and then are induced to become skin cells again. In order for these "induced" stem cells to be viable in treatment for humans (tissue regeneration, personalized wound healing therapies, etc.), researchers need to understand how they retain or even improve their characteristics after they are reprogrammed.

Since the initial discovery of reprogramming, scientists have struggled with the unpredictability of the cells due to the many changes that occur during the reprogramming process. Classifying specific epigenetic signatures, as this study did, allows researchers to anticipate ways to produce cell types with optimal properties for tissue repair while minimizing unintended cellular abnormalities.

The researchers used reprogrammed cells to generate three-dimensional connective tissue that mimics an in vivo wound repair environment. To verify the role of the protein (PDGFRbeta) in tissue regeneration and maintenance, the team blocked its cellular expression, which impaired the cells' ability to build tissue.

"We determined that successful tissue generation is associated with the expression of PDGFRbeta. Theoretically, by identifying the epigenetic signatures that indicate its expression, we can determine the reprogrammed cells' potential for maintaining normal cellular characteristics throughout development," said first author Kyle Hewitt, PhD, a graduate of the cell, molecular & developmental biology program at the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences, and postdoctoral associate in the Garlick laboratory at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine (TUSDM).

"The ability to generate patient-specific cells from the reprogrammed skin cells may allow for improved, individualized, cell-based therapies for wound healing. Potentially, these reprogrammed cells could be used as a tool for drug development, modeling of disease, and transplantation medicine without the ethical issues associated with embryonic stem cells," said senior author Jonathan Garlick, DDS, PhD, a professor in the department of oral and maxillofacial pathology and director of the division of tissue engineering and cancer biology at TUSDM.

Jonathan Garlick is also a member of the cell, molecular & developmental biology program faculty at the Sackler School and the director of the Center for Integrated Tissue Engineering (CITE) at TUSDM.

Additional authors of the study are Yulia Shamis, MSc, a PhD candidate in the cell, molecular, and developmental biology program at the Sackler School; Elana Knight, BSc, and Avi Smith, BA, both research technicians in the Garlick laboratory; Anna Maione, a PhD student in the cell, molecular & developmental biology program at the Sackler School, and Addy Alt-Holland, PhD, MSc, assistant professor at TUSDM.

This work was supported by grant # DE017413 to Dr. Garlick from the National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research, part of the National Institutes of Health.

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Epigenetic signatures direct the repair potential of reprogrammed cells

Starting with the first-ever production of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) in 2006, cell reprogramming - the genetic conversion of cells from one type to another - has revolutionized stem cell research and opened the door to countless new medical applications. Inducing such reprogramming, however, is difficult, inefficient and time-consuming, involving a largely hit-or-miss process of selecting candidate genes.

In the current study, the OSC research team explored an alternative to iPS cells based on the use of transcriptional regulatory networks (TRNs), networks of transcription factors and the genes they regulate. Previous research by the team characterized the dynamic regulatory activities of such transcription factors during cellular differentiation from immature cell (monoblast) to developed (monocyte-like) cell using human acute monocytic leukemia cell lines (THP-1). Their findings led them to hypothesize that functional characteristics of the cell-type are maintained by its specific TRN.

Their new paper builds on this hypothesis, establishing a series of new methods for identifying transcription factors (TFs) for the monocyte network, which play a key role in inducing cell-specific functions. Four core TF genes of the monocyte TRN, identified using this approach, were introduced into human fibroblast cells, expression of which activated monocytic functions including phagocytosis, inflammatory response and chemotaxis. Genome-wide gene expression analysis of this reprogrammed cell showed monocyte-like gene expression profile, demonstrating that reconstruction of a functional TRN can be achieved by introducing core TRN elements into unrelated cell types.

Published in the journal PLoS ONE, the newly-developed methods open the door to a new form of direct cell reprogramming for clinical use which avoids the pitfalls of embryonic stem (ES) and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, charting a course toward novel applications in regenerative medicine and drug discovery.

Provided by RIKEN (news : web)

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Study demonstrates cells can acquire new functions through transcriptional regulatory network

EDMONDS, Wash., March 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Washington Center for Pain Management is participating in a nationwide FDA-cleared adult stem cell study testing novel treatment for chronic low back pain and has enrolled its first patient. The study will test the use of Mesenchymal Precursor Cells (MPCs) adult stem cells derived from bone marrow that will be directly injected into the lumbar disc. The minimally invasive procedure may offer an alternative to back surgery for eligible patients with chronic pain from degenerative discs.

An estimated 30 million people in the United States suffer from back pain. Degenerative disc disease is the most common cause of low-back pain, which develops with the gradual loss of a material called proteoglycan, which cushions the bones of the spine and enables normal motion.

Most patients with low-back pain respond to physical therapy and medications, but in advanced cases, artificial disc replacement or spinal fusion -- removal of the degenerated discs and the fusion of the bones of the spine -- is necessary. However, these surgeries often are not entirely effective.

"Millions of Americans are debilitated by chronic low back pain," says Dr Hyun Joong Hong MD, the lead investigator at The Washington Center for Pain Management. "This promising therapy is at the cutting edge of medical science and has the potential to create a paradigm shift in our approach to minimally invasive solutions to this disease."

Researchers will enroll approximately 100 study participants. About fifteen participants will be enrolled at The Washington Center for Pain Management and the rest at 11 other medical centers throughout the United States. The trial is scheduled to last for three years.

Washington Center for Pain Management is enrolling study participants suffering from moderate low-back pain for a minimum of six months and whose condition has not responded to other, conventional treatments.

Once enrolled, patients are randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups:

Patients will receive a single injection of their assigned test agent directly into the center of the target discs within their spine and will be monitored for safety. Patients will also be monitored using imaging to identify any changes in their disease condition or disease progression. Use of pain medications, self-reports of pain, subsequent surgical interventions and assessments of disability, quality of life, productivity and activity will be evaluated. Repair of the disc and reduction of chronic back pain will be assessed in each patient.

Promising results have been observed in prior research using animal models when stem cells were investigated for the repair of damaged spine discs. The cells were well tolerated in these study animals.

This study is sponsored by Mesoblast Limited, a world leader in the development of biologic products for the broad field of regenerative medicine. Mesoblast has the worldwide exclusive rights to a series of patents and technologies developed over more than 10 years relating to the identification, extraction, culture and uses of adult Mesenchymal Precursor Cells (MPCs). The MPCs are derived from young adult donors' bone marrow and are immune tolerant.

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Washington Center for Pain Management Begins Enrollment in United States Stem Cell Therapy Study in Subjects With ...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has received a complaint alleging the Houston company involved in Gov. Rick Perry's unregulated adult stem-cell operation is a potential danger to patients and not in compliance with federal law.

In an eight-page letter sent last month, University of Minnesota bioethicist Leigh Turner called on the FDA to investigate Celltex Therapeutics Corp., which banks people's stem cells for future reinjection in the event of disease or injury. Perry was the company's first customer last year.

"It appears their business plan involves injecting or infusing on a for-profit, commercial basis non-FDA-approved adult stem cells into paying customers," Turner wrote in the Feb. 21 letter. "This plan conflicts with FDA regulations governing human stem cells."

An FDA spokeswoman declined comment, but Turner said an agency official told him the matter has been assigned to an investigator and is being taken seriously.

Celltex co-founder David Eller said Tuesday night he is confident the company will "meet all FDA specifications." He emphasized that Celltex doesn't administer stem cells, but stores and processes them at the behest of doctors who later reinject them into patients.

Dr. Stanley Jones, a Houston orthopedic surgeon, injected Perry's stem cells during his back surgery in July.

The plan by Celltex and Perry to make Texas a leader in the therapy have been controversial since details about the governor's procedure became known last summer. The therapy, drawing on the ability of adult stem cells to replenish dying cells, is promising but thought by most medical researchers to need much more clinical study before it is commercialized.

Stem cells are a kind of medicine known as biologics, therapy involving living cells rather than chemicals. Most medical experts say that adult stem-cell therapy involves more than the "minimal manipulation" the agency allows without its oversight because the cells are isolated, cultured in a laboratory and stored for some period of time before being reinjected.

The FDA has recently stepped up enforcement of unregulated adult stem cell activity, though legal experts interviewed last fall by the Chronicle said it was unclear whether the agency would look into Perry's procedure because he seemed fully informed and unharmed by it.

The Texas Medical Board is currently considering a policy that would require providers of stem cells and other experimental drugs to use them only with the permission of independent review committees that assess trials for patient safety. The policy comes up for final approval in April.

Link:
Perry's stem-cell firm draws FDA scrutiny

To: MEDICAL, NATIONAL AND SCIENCE EDITORS

--Anti-Inflammatory Drugs May Offer Novel Treatment for Heart Disease, Say Gene Researchers in Large Study--

PHILADELPHIA, March 14, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A large international study indicates that anti-inflammatory drugs may become a new tool for preventing and treating coronary heart disease (CHD), the leading global cause of death. In investigating a specific gene variant linked to inflammation and heart disease, the researchers used the Cardiochip, a gene analysis tool designed by Brendan J. Keating, Ph.D., a researcher in the Center for Applied Genomics at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and co-author of the study.

Scientists already knew that inflammation is associated with atherosclerosis, the buildup of fatty deposits on artery walls that causes CHD, but until now, no one had identified an inflammatory agent causing the disease. Likewise, it was unknown whether a drug targeted at reducing inflammation might treat CHD.

The current study focused on the interleukin-6 receptor (IL6R), a signaling protein found in the blood that increases inflammatory responses. "This study provides robust evidence that IL6R is implicated in coronary heart disease," said Keating. "Furthermore, our analysis showed that an existing anti-inflammatory drug, acting on this receptor, may offer a new potential approach for preventing CHD."

The study, which appeared online today in The Lancet, was performed by the IL6R Mendelian Randomisation Analysis Consortium, an international research team led by Dr. Juan Pablo Casas, Professor Aroon D. Hingorani, and Dr. Daniel I. Swerdlow, all of University College London in the U.K. The study was a meta-analysis of data from 40 existing studies that included nearly 133,500 participants from the U.S. and Europe. Mendelian randomization is a research method that uses knowledge of genes and biological mechanisms to predict likely effects of a new drug before conducting a clinical trial, with its high cost and potential risk of side effects.

A companion study in the same issue of The Lancet, by the IL6R Genetics Consortium and Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration, found that a genetic variant in the IL6R gene, which carries the code for the IL6R protein, dials down inflammation and thus lowers the risk of heart disease.

The study in which Keating participated focused on SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) single-base changes in the IL6R gene that codes for the IL6R protein.

Among the research team's tools was a DNA array, the IBC Human CVD BeadChip, also called the Cardiochip, created by Keating in 2006 and since used in many large gene studies. That chip contains DNA markers for 2000 gene variants implicated in cardiovascular disease. When brought into contact with test samples of DNA from research participants, the chip detects specific SNPs in the sample --gene variants that may affect biological functions and risks of heart disease among the participants.

They found that one SNP, the gene variant rs8192284, altered several biological markers associated with inflammation. Those results were similar to those found in trials of tocilizumab, an anti-inflammatory drug currently used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. By inhibiting the action of IL6R, this drug reduces the painful inflammation common in rheumatoid arthritis.

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Gene Chip, Invented by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Scientist, Pinpoints New Target to Prevent Heart Disease

--Anti-Inflammatory Drugs May Offer Novel Treatment for Heart Disease, Say Gene Researchers in Large Study--

Newswise Philadelphia, March 14, 2012 A large international study indicates that anti-inflammatory drugs may become a new tool for preventing and treating coronary heart disease (CHD), the leading global cause of death. In investigating a specific gene variant linked to inflammation and heart disease, the researchers used the Cardiochip, a gene analysis tool designed by Brendan J. Keating, Ph.D., a researcher in the Center for Applied Genomics at The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, and co-author of the study.

Scientists already knew that inflammation is associated with atherosclerosis, the buildup of fatty deposits on artery walls that causes CHD, but until now, no one had identified an inflammatory agent causing the disease. Likewise, it was unknown whether a drug targeted at reducing inflammation might treat CHD.

The current study focused on the interleukin-6 receptor (IL6R), a signaling protein found in the blood that increases inflammatory responses. This study provides robust evidence that IL6R is implicated in coronary heart disease, said Keating. Furthermore, our analysis showed that an existing anti-inflammatory drug, acting on this receptor, may offer a new potential approach for preventing CHD.

The study, which appeared online today in The Lancet, was performed by the IL6R Mendelian Randomisation Analysis Consortium, an international research team led by Dr. Juan Pablo Casas, Professor Aroon D. Hingorani, and Dr. Daniel I. Swerdlow, all of University College London in the U.K. The study was a meta-analysis of data from 40 existing studies that included nearly 133, 500 participants from the U.S. and Europe. Mendelian randomization is a research method that uses knowledge of genes and biological mechanisms to predict likely effects of a new drug before conducting a clinical trial, with its high cost and potential risk of side effects.

A companion study in the same issue of The Lancet, by the IL6R Genetics Consortium and Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration, found that a genetic variant in the IL6R gene, which carries the code for the IL6R protein, dials down inflammation and thus lowers the risk of heart disease.

The study in which Keating participated focused on SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) single-base changes in the IL6R gene that codes for the IL6R protein.

Among the research teams tools was a DNA array, the IBC Human CVD BeadChip, also called the Cardiochip, created by Keating in 2006 and since used in many large gene studies. That chip contains DNA markers for 2000 gene variants implicated in cardiovascular disease. When brought into contact with test samples of DNA from research participants, the chip detects specific SNPs in the sample gene variants that may affect biological functions and risks of heart disease among the participants.

They found that one SNP, the gene variant rs8192284, altered several biological markers associated with inflammation. Those results were similar to those found in trials of tocilizumab, an anti-inflammatory drug currently used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. By inhibiting the action of IL6R, this drug reduces the painful inflammation common in rheumatoid arthritis.

Further analysis of data from CHD patients and controls showed that subjects carrying the gene variant had a lower risk of CHD. What this tells us is that IL6R blockers such as tocilizumab mimic the benefits of having this gene variant, said Keating. A next step will be for cardiology researchers to design and carry out clinical trials to determine whether tocilizumab or similar anti-inflammatory drugs will prevent heart disease.

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Gene Chip Invented by CHOP Scientist Pinpoints New Target to Prevent Heart Disease

WEDNESDAY, March 14 (HealthDay News) -- By analyzing gene mutations in patients with acute myeloid leukemia, researchers were able to more accurately predict which ones had the best chances of going into remission, and which ones would respond well to standard treatments or needed more aggressive treatment.

Doctors from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City analyzed 18 genes from about 500 patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). AML is a cancer of the bone marrow, or the soft tissue that forms blood cells.

The patients had previously taken part in a clinical trial for a chemotherapy drug, daunorubicin, and researchers knew how everyone had fared in that study.

In the new analysis, the scientists used the latest gene-sequencing technology to determine what mutations were present in the cancer cells of the patients, and whether the presence of those mutations predicted how well people did.

They found that certain combinations of mutations were associated with both better or worse chances of survival, and that those genetic predictors could be used to determine whether patients would respond to the standard dose of daunorubicin or whether they should receive a higher, more aggressive dose of the drug.

Currently, some cancer hospitals already do a limited genetic analysis in leukemia patients to look for three mutations that are associated with a low or high risk of relapse, experts explained.

But about 60 percent of people fall into the intermediate category, said senior study author Dr. Ross Levine, an associate member in the Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program at Sloan-Kettering. That leaves oncologists with a lot of uncertainty about how aggressively to treat those patients and what to tell them about their prognosis.

"If you know patients have a high chance of cure, you would pursue a standard therapeutic route," Levine said. "If you have a patient with a low chance of cure, you might consider more aggressive or investigational therapies."

Using the information from the more extensive analysis, about half of the patients who were in the intermediate risk could be put into a low- or high-risk category, Levine said.

"What we found was by studying the DNA of patients with leukemia and classifying all 500 patients, you could identify a set of mutations, which allows us to more accurately separate those at high risk of relapse, at intermediate risk of relapse and at low risk of relapse," Levine said. "Specifically, risk stratification with more extensive mutational profiling better predicts outcome than current classification schema."

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Detailed Gene Scan Might Help Guide Leukemia Treatment

Green revolution:Fast-track breeding is beginning to develop crops that can produce more and healthier food without controversial genetic engineering.

In Zambia during the current planting season, a corn crop will go into the fields that begins the process of rapidly boosting vitamin A content by as much ten-fold helping to address a nutritional deficiency that causes 250,000-500,000 children to go blind annually, most of them in Africa and Asia. In China, Kenya, and Madagascar, also this planting season, farmers will put out a crop of Artemisia annua that yields 20 to 30 percent more of the chemical compound artemisinin, the basis for what is now the worlds standard treatment for malaria.

Both improvements are happening because of fast-track breeding technology that promises to produce a 21st-century green revolution. It is already putting more food on tables though its unclear whether it can add enough food to keep pace as the worlds human population booms to 9 billion people by 2050.

Fast-track breeding is also giving agronomists a remarkable tool for quickly adapting crops to climate change and the increasing challenges of drought, flooding, emerging diseases, and shifting agricultural zones. And it can help save lives: In the absence of prevention, half those victims of vitamin A deficiency now die shortly after going blind, according to the World Health Organization; and in 2010, lack of adequate treatment meaning artemisinin contributed to the deaths of 655,000 children from malaria.

The fast-track technology, called marker-assisted selection (MAS), or molecular breeding, takes advantage of rapid improvements in genetic sequencing, but avoids all the regulatory and political baggage of genetic engineering. Bill Freese, a science policy analyst with the Center for Food Safety, a nonprofit advocacy group, calls it a perfectly acceptable tool. I dont see any food safety issue. It can be a very useful technique if its used by breeders who are working in the public interest.

Molecular breeding isnt genetic engineering, a technology that has long alarmed critics on two counts. Its methods seem outlandish taking genes from spiders and putting them in goats, or borrowing insect resistance from soil bacteria and transferring it into corn and it has also seemed to benefit a handful of agribusiness giants armed with patents, at the expense of public interest.

By contrast, molecular breeding is merely a much faster and more efficient way of doing what nature and farmers have always done, by natural selection and artificial selection respectively: It takes existing genes that happen to be advantageous in a given situation and increases their frequency in a population.

In the past, farmers and breeders did it by walking around their fields and looking at individual plants or animals that seemed to have desirable traits, like greater productivity, or resistance to a particular disease. Then they went to work cross-breeding to see if they could tease out that trait and get it to appear reliably in subsequent generations. It could take decades, and success at breeding in one trait often meant bringing along some deleterious fellow traveler, or inadvertently breeding out some other essential trait.

Excerpt from:
Fast-track breeding could bring a second Green Revolution

SAN MARINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Viral Genetics (Pinksheets: VRAL.PK - News) today published its March 2012 Letter to Shareholders. Providing updates on the companys progress, the letter discusses the recent Pre-IND filing for its Lyme Disease drug candidate, notes other drugs in the pipeline that have developed out of the companys Metabolic Disruption Technology Platform, and talks about progress in proving the efficacy of the yield enhancement in the companys algal biofuels subsidiary, VG Energy.

The letter is available on the companys website at http://www.viralgenetics.com/shareholder-letters/Letter-to-Shareholders-Mar-12.PDF.

About Viral Genetics, Inc.

San Marino, California-based Viral Genetics discovers drug therapies from two platform technologies based on over 60 patents: Metabolic Disruption (MDT) and Targeted Peptides (TPT). Founded in 1994, the biotech company is researching treatments for HIV/AIDS, Lyme Disease, Strep, Staph and drug resistant cancer. A majority-owned subsidiary, VG Energy (www.vgenergy.net), is dedicated to exploring biofuel and agricultural applications for the MDT platform. For more information, visit http://www.viralgenetics.com.

About VG Energy

VG Energy Inc. is an alternative energy and agricultural biotech company that is a majority-owned subsidiary of Viral Genetics Inc. Using its Metabolic Disruption Technology (MDT), Viral Genetics' cancer research led to discoveries with major consequences in a wide variety of other industries, including production of biofuel and vegetable oils. VG Energy holds the exclusive worldwide license to the MDT patent rights for use in the increase of production of various plant-derived oils from algae and seeds. Application of MDT technology to the biofuel industry could potentially allow it to overcome its major obstacle in the area of production efficiency: namely, an increase in production yields leading to feasible economic returns on investment, allowing renewable biodiesel to be competitive with fossil fuels. For more information, please visit http://www.vgenergy.net.

SAFE HARBOR FOR FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties associated with financial projections, budgets, milestone timelines, clinical trials, regulatory approvals, and other risks described by Viral Genetics, Inc. from time to time in its periodic reports, including statements about its VG Energy, Inc. subsidiary. None of Viral Genetics' drug compounds are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration or by any comparable regulatory agencies elsewhere in the world, nor are any non-pharmaceutical products of VG Energy, Inc. commercialized. While Viral Genetics believes that the forward-looking statements and underlying assumptions are reasonable, any of the assumptions could be inaccurate, including, but not limited to, the ability of Viral Genetics to establish the efficacy of any of its drug therapies in the treatment of any disease or health condition, the development of studies and strategies leading to commercialization of those drug compounds in the United States, the obtaining of funding required to carry out the development plan, the completion of studies and tests including clinical trials on time or at all, the successful outcome of such studies or tests, or the successful commercialization of VG Energy, Inc.s non-pharmaceutical products. Therefore, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements included in this release will prove to be accurate. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward-looking statements included herein, the forward-looking statements should not be regarded as a representation by Viral Genetics or any other person that the objectives and plans of Viral Genetics will be achieved.

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Viral Genetics Publishes March 2012 Monthly Letter to Shareholders

(Reuters) - Advances in genetic profiling are paving the way for more precise, and effective, treatment of the aggressive bone marrow cancer known as acute mylogenous leukemia, or AML, according to new research.

Two studies, published in the latest edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, show that genetic testing can guide doctors in how best to use current therapies as well as identify new drug targets.

"As lots of studies identify new alterations in genes in leukemia and other cancers, we need to begin to understand how these alterations in DNA can predict outcomes and determine differences in treatment," said Dr. Ross Levine of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, the lead author of one of the studies.

Such personalized therapy is considered the new frontier for medical practice, and hopes for its success underpin a $5.7 billion hostile bid by drugmaker Roche Holding for gene sequencing company Illumina.

The second study, from Washington University in St. Louis, found that 85 percent of bone marrow cells in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome, a blood-related disorder that can precede AML, were linked to mutations in progressive cancer.

The Sloan-Kettering study analyzed bone marrow samples from 502 AML patients for mutations in 18 genes associated with the disease. The researchers were able to categorize two-thirds of the patients into groups clearly defined by their survival chances.

The study found that high-dose chemotherapy improved the rate of survival for patients with three specific genetic mutations, compared with standard-dose chemo.

It also showed that genetic profiling makes it possible to more precisely determine which patients are most likely to have their leukemia return after treatment.

AML is typically cured in about 40 percent of adults between the ages of 18 and 60, according to Levine.

"We were able to identify a very large subset of patients who need new therapies," he said. "Another set was found to do incredibly well with existing therapies, and that is very informative."

Link:
Leukemia gene mutations linked to survival odds