Archive for March, 2012

New Research Shows Personalized Treatment for Cancer Not So Simple

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March 8, 2012 -- A small study that shows a surprising complexity of genetic changes within a single tumor has far-reaching implications for the march toward personalized cancer therapy, according to researchers.

A single biopsy from a tumor might not be sufficient to give a full picture of its genetic landscape, a team from the United Kingdom reports.

When the researchers examined 10 biopsies taken from a single kidney cancer tumor, they found "an extraordinary amount of diversity" in the genetic changes that had taken place in different parts of the tumor.

"There were more differences between biopsies from the same tumor at the genetic level than there were similarities," said researcher Charles Swanton, MD, PhD, from the Cancer Research UK, London Institute, and the University College London, United Kingdom.

The findings, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, were highlighted at a London news conference organized by Cancer Research UK, which funded the study.

The team also found differences in genetic changes between the primary tumor and places in the body where the cancer spread. Similar findings have been documented by other research groups.

But it is the extent of the genetic changes that is surprising, the researchers note.

The findings have far-reaching implications for the efforts currently being directed toward personalized cancer therapy, in which therapy is targeted at genetic changes identified in tumor tissue. Swanton cautioned that "if you take only one biopsy, you could be misled clinically."

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Genetic Makeup of Tumors More Complex Than Thought

06-03-2012 17:28 Baylie, Mason, and Sid on Gene Therapy

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Mr. Ludwig's Gene Therapy Project - Video

Lindsay Porter's kidneys weighed 16 pounds before her transplant.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- By the time Lindsay Porter had her kidneys removed two years ago, they were bulging -- covered in cysts -- and together weighed 16 pounds.

Her abdominal area was so distended, "I looked nine months pregnant, and people regularly asked when I was due," Porter said.

As she prepared for a transplant to address her polycystic kidney disease, Porter, 47, had mixed feelings -- relief to have found a donor, tinged with resignation. She was looking forward to both a new kidney, and a lifetime on immune system-suppressing drugs.

"You get this brand new shiny kidney, and then they give you drugs that eventually destroy it," said Porter.

But that scenario may eventually change, if results of a new pilot study are replicated in a larger group of patients. The study, published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine, describes eight kidney transplant patients, including Porter, who received a stem cell therapy that allowed donor and recipient immune cells to coexist in the same body.

The effect, in a handful of those patients, was to trick the recipient's immune system into recognizing the donated kidney as its own.

When it works, patients become a sort of medical rarity called a chimera.

"Chimerism is a condition wherein two different genetic cell populations are present in the body, and both cell types are tolerated," said Dr. Anthony Atala, director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, who was not involved in the study, via e-mail.

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Kidney transplant without a lifetime of drugs?

SILVER SPRING, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Nuvilex, Inc. (OTCQB:NVLX), an emerging biotechnology provider of cell and gene therapy solutions, today discussed the potential use of the companys cell encapsulation technology with modified stem cells to treat late stage cancers.

Stem cell therapy is not new to physicians dealing with blood and bone cancers, with stem cell transplants being an important treatment for growing new bone marrow since the 1970s. Recent studies have indicated the potential for using stem cells across a much broader range of cancers is becoming a reality, mostly a result of advances in cell and molecular biology techniques.

Traditional chemotherapy works by targeting the fast-growing cells common to cancer tumors. Unfortunately, chemotherapeutics dont differentiate between healthy and cancerous cells. Patients suffering from metastatic cancers, where tumors have spread to multiple areas of the body, often have substantial difficulties with the chemotherapy needed to treat their disease.

In one case, researchers at City of Hope and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital may have found a way to treat cancers that have spread throughout the body more effectively. They used genetically modified stem cells to activate chemotherapeutic drugs at the tumor sites, so that normal tissue surrounding the tumor and throughout the body remain relatively unharmed. The stem cells were designed to produce a specific enzyme that converts the nontoxic prodrug into the chemotherapeutic agent. This method also targets the brain tumor treatment to remain localized within the brain, similar to the pancreatic cancer clinical trial carried out by SG Austria, providing for high dosage chemotherapy without affecting surrounding tissues and avoiding the severe side effects normally associated with cancer therapy.

Nuvilex believes that incorporating Cell-in-a-Box encapsulation with this type of genetically modified stem cell, along with the proprietary cancer treatment being acquired, could significantly aid and improve patient outcomes.

Dr. Robert Ryan, Chief Executive Officer of Nuvilex, commented, We are hopeful for the day when late stage cancers can be routinely and safely treated using genetically modified cells like those used in the pancreatic cancer trial, increasing the ability of clinicians to avoid inducing side effects that typically accompany aggressive chemotherapy and/or radiation. Our cell encapsulation technology will enable practitioners to target tumors while preserving the health of the surrounding tissues. We continue to look for leading stem cell and oncology researchers to partner with us as we bring this technology to market.

About Nuvilex

Nuvilex, Inc. (OTCQB:NVLX) is an emerging international biotechnology provider of clinically useful therapeutic live encapsulated cells and services for encapsulating live cells for the research and medical communities. Through our effort, all aspects of our corporate activities alone, and especially in concert with SG Austria, are rapidly moving toward completion, including closing our agreement. One of our planned offerings will include cancer treatments using the companys industry-leading live-cell encapsulation technology.

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Nuvilex Points Toward Cell Encapsulation Technology Future to Expand Stem Cell Use for Late Stage Cancer Treatments

By David Fitzpatrick and Drew Griffin, Special Investigations Unit

updated 1:34 PM EST, Thu March 8, 2012

Dr. Zannos Grekos, seen here in 2009, could have his license suspended.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- A Florida cardiologist could have his medical license revoked by state authorities who have accused him of performing illegal stem cell therapy treatment on an elderly patient who died during the procedure.

Florida's Department of Health ordered the emergency suspension of Dr. Zannos Grekos' medical license Wednesday, accusing the Bonita Springs doctor of violating an emergency order against using stem cell treatments in Florida and allegedly causing the death of an unnamed elderly patient. Grekos can appeal the order.

According to the license suspension order, Grekos performed a stem cell treatment earlier this month on the patient, who was suffering from pulmonary hypertension and pulmonary fibrosis. Both diseases restrict blood flow to the heart.

"During said stem cell treatment, patient R.P. suffered a cardiac arrest and died," the suspension order said.

CNN first investigated Grekos's activities in 2009 and, at that time, he said he was using stem cell therapy for a company he called Regenocyte Therapeutic. His profile, listed on the company's website, describes Grekos as having "extensive experience in the field of stem cell therapy" and says he "was recently appointed to the Science Advisory Board of the United States' Repair Stem Cell Institute."

At the time of CNN's interview, Grekos said he extracted stem cells from patients and then sent the blood to Israel for laboratory processing. That processing, he said, resulted in "regenocytes," which he claimed would help heal crippling diseases, mostly associated with lung problems.

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Florida suspends doctor accused of illegal stem cell therapy

Pamela Bousejean has Hodgkin's Lymphoma and needs a stem cell transplant. Picture: Alison Wynd Source: News Limited

PAMELA Bou Sejean is fighting for her life.

After 16 months battling an aggressive form of Hodgkin's Lymphoma, the 26-year-old has turned to Facebook in a last ditch bid to find the stem cell donor to keep her alive.

TheVictorian woman in Belmont does not match with any registered bone marrow donor in the world so is now pleading for the public to come forward to be blood tested for a possible match.

"I don't know how much time I have, I get too afraid to ask," Ms Bou Sejean told the Geelong Advertiser.

"I want to focus on what we're doing now.

"The waiting process is hard."

With her life in the balance, Ms Bou Sejean's brother Matt a week ago set up the Facebook page How You Can Help Cure Pamela.

There, Facebook users are told about her fight and how to be blood tested for a possible stem cell match.

Mr Bou Sejean who, like the rest of the family, does not match with his sister said "the cure for Pamela is in the body of hundreds of people out there."

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BE THE CHANGE: Stem cells are Pamela's last hope - can you help?

MADISON, Wis., March 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Cellular Dynamics International, Inc. (CDI), the world's largest commercial producer of human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell lines and tissue cells for drug discovery and safety, today announced several customer presentations of studies employing the company's iCell products at the Society of Toxicology (SOT) Annual Meeting on March 11 to 15 in San Francisco. A number of these studies demonstrate the superior predictivity of CDI's human iPS cell-derived products compared to other cell models, such as animal models and immortalized cell lines, which are historically used in pharmaceutical drug discovery and toxicity testing.

Customers will present 11 abstracts employing CDI's human cells in their research during the SOT meeting. Several of these compare the superior ability of CDI's iCell Cardiomyocytes and iCell Hepatocytes to predict toxic responses to currently available cell models. Among them:

Puppala, D et al. (Abstract 420 Poster Board -642; Pfizer, Inc.) compared the ability of iCell Cardiomyocytes to a rat cardiac-derived cell line (H9C2) to predict the toxicity of 10 known in vivo cardiac toxins that were not flagged by the company's current in vitro assay systems. They found that iCell Cardiomyocytes showed increases in several toxicity signals and were more accurate in detecting cardiotoxicity than the rat cell line.

Guo, L et al. (Abstract 1168 Poster Board -433; Hoffman-La Roche) utilized sets of reference and internal compounds to determine the accuracy with which iCell Cardiomyocytes can predict arrhythmic effects. Based on drug-induced changes in beating pattern, iCell Cardiomyocytes correctly identified 17 of 19 reference compounds known to cause abnormal ECG patterns in humans and 17 of 17 internal compounds known to cause arrhythmia in non-rodent animals. These results demonstrate the predictive value of utilizing iCell Cardiomyocytes to identify proarrhythmic compounds.

Hong, S et al. (Abstract 1149 Poster Board -414; Bristol-Myers Squibb) evaluated the effects of three drug compounds using both iCell Cardiomyocytes and fetal rat cardiomyocytes utilizing multi-electrode array (MEA) assays. For all three compounds, iCell Cardiomyocytes were better suited than the fetal rat cardiomyocytes at predicting adverse in vivo effects, including those effects that were not discovered until small-scale clinical trials.

Kameoka, S et al. (Abstract 519 Poster Board -237; Hoffman-La Roche) compared the toxicity of three drug candidates previously tested on dog hepatocytes to iCell Hepatocytes and primary human hepatocytes. In dogs, two of the three compounds caused liver toxicity. The profiles of the two toxic compounds were almost identically recapitulated in vitro for both the primary human hepatocytes and iCell Hepatocytes. This study demonstrated that iCell Hepatocytes may be a valuable human model to predict hepatic toxicity in vitro.

Additional SOT presentations employing CDI's iCell products can be found on the SOT Annual Meeting website or at http://www.cellulardynamics.com/sot2012/posters.html.

"These studies are important contributors to the collective understanding that human in vitro cellular model systems are superior to animal models and immortalized cell lines when studying questions of human biology," said Chris Parker, chief commercial officer of CDI. "We recognize that iPS cell-derived tissues are a relatively new model for drug discovery and toxicity testing and must be validated and shown to be superior. It is gratifying that our pharmaceutical customers are presenting data validating the performance characteristics of our heart and liver cells in such an open scientific forum as the Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting. Third-party validation of iCell product performance coupled with CDI's proven ability to deliver human cells in the quantity, quality and purity required for pharmaceutical, biomedical and basic research positions us well for supplying customers with the human cells they need to improve healthcare."

About Cellular Dynamics International, Inc.Cellular Dynamics International, Inc. (CDI) is a leading developer of next-generation stem cell technologies for drug development, cell therapy, tissue engineering and organ regeneration. CDI harnesses its unique manufacturing technology to produce differentiated tissue cells from any individual's stem cell line in industrial quality, quantity and purity. CDI is accelerating the adoption of pluripotent stem cell technology, adapting its methods to fit into standard clinical practice by the creation of individual stem cell lines from a standard blood draw. CDI was founded in 2004 by Dr. James Thomson, a pioneer in human pluripotent stem cell research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. CDI's facilities are located in Madison, Wisconsin. See http://www.cellulardynamics.com.

MEDIA CONTACTS:Joleen Rau Senior Director, Marketing & Communications Cellular Dynamics International, Inc. 608 310-5142 jrau@cellulardynamics.com

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Presentations at the Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting Demonstrate Superior Predictivity of Cellular Dynamics ...

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Nuvilex Points Toward Cell Encapsulation Technology Future to Expand Stem Cell Use for Late Stage Cancer Treatments

Taking a sample or biopsy from just one part of a tumor might not give a full picture of its genetic diversity and may explain why doctors, despite using genetically targeted drugs, are often unable to save patients whose cancer has spread, scientists said.

A study by British researchers found there are more genetic differences than similarities between biopsies taken from separate areas of the same tumor, and yet further gene differences in samples taken from secondary tumors.

That might help explain why, despite recent development of a wave of highly targeted drugs designed to tackle cancers of specific genetic types, the prognosis remains poor for many patients with so-called solid-tumor disease like breast, lung, or kidney cancer that has spread to others parts of the body.

But the researchers, whose study was partly funded by charity Cancer Research UK and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, said it also pointed to a way forward.

The team carried out the first ever genome-wide analysis of the genetic changes or faults in different regions of the same tumor.

They looked at four patients with cancer in their kidneys, taking samples from different regions of the primary tumor and also from other organs where the tumor had spread.

They found that the majority of gene faults, around two-thirds, were not the same in one sample as in another, even when the biopsies were taken from the same tumor.

Samples taken from secondary tumors - which are a result of the disease spreading to other parts of the body - had yet more different genetic faults, suggesting that basing treatment decisions on just one primary tumor sample is not sufficient.

"We've known for some time that tumors are a patchwork of faults, but this is the first time we've been able to use cutting-edge genome sequencing technology to map out the genetic landscape of a tumor in such exquisite detail," said Charles Swanton, of University College London's cancer institute, who led the study and presented its results at a briefing in London on Tuesday.

He said they had uncovered "an extraordinary amount of diversity" at a genetic level both within tumors and within a single patient, with more differences between biopsies from the same tumor than similarities.

Original post:
Cancer gene mutation more complex than previously thought

SHANGHAI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

With the launch of Chinas 12th Five-year Plan for the biomedical industry, Chinas antibody drugs development will usher in a golden era. According to prediction of askci.com, by 2015, Chinas antibody drugs industry will record a total revenue of over RMB 40 billion, among which monoclonal antibody drugs will contribute over RMB 18 billion.

Under policy supports, Chinas antibodies R&D technology is constantly improving, with cancer and immune diseases as its main subjects, while therapeutic monoclonal antibodies also gained much progress. In addition, the enterprises have attached long-term importance to improving the protein expression in pilot trial and elevating the level of industrialization.

The 2nd Antibody Engineering Summit 2012 will discuss the policies, market, and R&D technologies, as well as arrange a GMP training session to interpret the latest standards and a factory tour to learn about the current technologies.

TOPICS:

PAST CHAIRMAN:

Ya-Jun Guo, Director of PLA General Hospital Cancer Center, Director of Cancer Research Institute of the Second Military Medical University and Chairman of National Engineering Research Center of Antibody Medicine and National Key Laboratory of Antibody Therapeutics.

PAST SPEAKERS/ATTENDEES:

ABOUT CBI

The medical conference team at CBI has long been committed to tracking the development and trend of medical industry, by adhering to the CBI principle of conducting in-depth study into the industry and keeping in close contact with industry players. The team takes a third-party perspective and regularly organizes summits on industrial hot issues. The ultimate goal is to serve professionals in the medical community by enhancing mutual understanding among domestic and overseas players, and by facilitating communication among research institutes, manufacturing enterprises and government institutions.

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2nd Antibody Engineering Summit 2012 to Open in Beijing This June

Despite the evolutionary split with gorillas around 10 million years ago, we still share a remarkable number of genes with the great ape. Photo: AFP

HUMANS and gorillas last shared a common ancestor 10 million years ago, according to an analysis of the first full sequence of the gorilla genome. The gorilla is the last of the living great apes - humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans - to have its complete genetic code catalogued.

Scientists, led by researchers from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute near Cambridge, England, and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, also found that 15 per cent of the gorilla's genetic code is closer between humans and gorillas than it is between humans and chimpanzees, our closest animal relative. The genomes of all three species are, in any case, highly similar: humans and chimpanzees share more than 98 per cent of their genes, while humans and gorillas share more than 96 per cent.

The genetic sequence was taken from a female western lowland gorilla named Kamilah and published in the science journal Nature.

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''Gorillas are an interesting animal in their right but the main reason they are of particular interest is because of their evolutionary closeness to us,'' said Aylwyn Scally, an author of the research from the institute. ''They're our second-closest evolutionary cousins after chimpanzees and knowing the content of the gorilla genome enables us to say quite a lot about an important period in human evolution when we were diverging from chimpanzees.''

Studying the gorilla genome suggests that the divergence of gorillas from the common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees happened around 10 million years ago. Humans and chimpanzees last shared a common ancestor around 6 million years ago. Eastern and western gorillas split some time in the last million years.

One curious find was the evolution of genes associated with hearing, which seem very similar between humans and gorillas. ''Scientists had suggested that the rapid evolution of human hearing genes was linked to the evolution of language,'' said Chris Tyler-Smith, senior author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. ''Our results cast doubt on this, as hearing genes have evolved in gorillas at a similar rate to those in humans.''

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Scientists unlock genetic code for gorillas - and show the human link

Featured Article Academic Journal Main Category: Cancer / Oncology Also Included In: Genetics;Urology / Nephrology Article Date: 08 Mar 2012 - 2:00 PST

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Professor Peter Johnson, chief clinician at Cancer Research UK said in a statement that the study highlights "important differences that exist within tumours and suggest a way to improve the success rate of personalised cancer medicines".

The lead author of the study is Professor Charles Swanton, who works at Cancer Research UK's London Research Institute and the UCL Cancer Institute. He and his colleagues analyzed the genetic variation among different regions of the same cancer tumor, using samples donated by patients with advanced kidney cancer.

This is the first time genome-wide analysis has been used for this.

Swanton told the press that scientists have known for a while that a tumor is a "patchwork" of faults, but this is the first time, thanks to cutting edge genomic sequencing technology, scientists have been able to map the genetic landscape of a tumor in such "exquisite detail".

For the study, he and his colleagues compared the genetic variations in samples taken from different regions of four separate kidney tumors. They also took samples from other organs the cancer had spread to.

They found that about two thirds of the genetic faults in a tumor were not repeated across other biopsy samples from the same tumor.

Originally posted here:
Tumor's Genetic Identity Not Revealed By Single Biopsy

by Maggie Ruper

WHAS11.com

Posted on March 7, 2012 at 11:50 PM

Updated yesterday at 12:01 AM

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) -- New research published Wed. in the journal Science Translation Medicine, shows organ transplant recipients may not require anti-rejection medication after surgery.

The study, authored by University of Louisville professor Suzanne Ildstad, M.D., suggests bone marrow stem cells are able to trick the recipients immune system into thinking the donated organ is part of the patients natural self. It therefore eliminates the need for patients to take dozens of daily anti-rejection drugs.

Normally, if I have to transplant a kidney into a patient they have to take immunosuppression drugs for their lifetime and that's about 15 to 25 pills a day, said Ildstad.

Louisville native and father of four, Rob Waddell underwent the procedure in 2009 at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. He suffered from Polycystic Kidney Disease since he was 11 years old. His new kidney and the stem cells were donated to him by his next door neighbor.

It was a match and the rest is history. He's what I call my guardian angel," said Wadell.

The results were considered important because the technique worked for patients who did not have well-matched or related donors.

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UofL Professor’s study: Stem cells eliminate need for anti-rejection drugs

OXFORD, England, March 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Circassia Ltd, a specialty biopharmaceutical company focused on allergy, today announced that its ragweed allergy therapy has achieved positive results in a key phase II clinical trial. In the study, patients with more severe symptoms achieved a significantly greater improvement following treatment with the ToleroMune T-cell vaccine than those on placebo (p0.05). The results were presented at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology*.

"The results of this key phase II study are highly encouraging, because they show our ToleroMune ragweed allergy vaccine can reduce patients' symptoms after just a short course of treatment and, most importantly, offers the greatest improvement to those who can benefit most," said Steve Harris, Circassia's CEO. "We have now achieved successful phase II results with four of our allergy T-cell vaccines, which validate our scientific approach and give us the confidence to progress our lead programmes into the final phase of development."

Circassia's latest phase II study was designed to assess the T-cell vaccine's efficacy and tolerability and to identify the optimal treatment regime. The trial was conducted in Canada in 275 ragweed allergy patients. During the randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, volunteers received one of four regimens of ToleroMune treatment over a three-month period. Patients were exposed to ragweed allergens in a validated exposure chamber, and investigators compared their nasal and ocular symptoms against the pre-treatment baseline. The results show that the T-cell vaccine's optimal regimen substantially reduced patients' symptoms, achieving a 97% greater reduction than placebo (p0.05) in subjects who had a moderate level of symptoms at baseline. The treatment was safe and well tolerated in all groups.

About Circassia's allergy T-cell vaccines

Circassia is developing a range of allergy treatments based on its proprietary ToleroMune technology, which utilises small sections of allergens (epitopes) to generate regulatory T cells that suppress allergic immune responses, and thereby desensitise patients. The company has successfully completed a number of phase II studies with its cat, house dust mite, ragweed and grass allergy therapies. Clinical results show that short treatment regimes with Circassia's T-cell vaccines can greatly reduce patients' allergic responses, without the need for adjuvants or other immune stimulators, while proving extremely well tolerated. As a result, the treatments offer major potential clinical benefits compared with existing therapies, and have significant market opportunities. More than 150 million people suffer from allergic rhinitis in the US and Europe, and over 25% of the population of the United States and a growing number of Europeans are sensitive to ragweed pollen. As a result, the current allergy treatment market is valued at approximately $12 billion per year.

About Circassia

Circassia was founded in 2006 by a team of highly experienced biotechnology scientists and entrepreneurs, and is chaired by the former Chairman of GlaxoSmithKline, Sir Richard Sykes. The company is based in the UK on the Oxford Science Park, and in Hamilton, Canada, where its joint venture Adiga Life Sciences is located. Its ToleroMune technology was developed originally by scientists at Imperial College, London. Having successfully completed four fundraising rounds, Circassia has raised approximately 93 million ($159 million) and is backed by a syndicate of world-class institutional investors, including Imperial Innovations and Invesco Perpetual.

* Hafner R et al. Validation of peptide immunotherapy as a new approach in the treatment of allergic rhinoconjunctivitis: The clinical benefits of treatment with Amb a 1 derived T cell epitopes.

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Circassia's Ragweed Allergy Therapy Achieves Positive Phase II Clinical Results

07-03-2012 03:35 jumpmanual.howtojumphigher.us There are lots of people out there that struggle with obesity, depression and the lack of athletic ability. Most, if not all, of these people blame their genes for these difficult times. While genes can play a role in making our lives more difficult, personal trainers, coaches and other health specialist are learning that genes do not determine the outcome of our lives. Genetic testing has come a very long way. Geneticists are getting closer every year to completing the gene mapping system for the human body. Recently researchers have found out that the ACTN3 gene, or the ""sprinting gene"" is common in Olympic athletes, giving them the conclusion that this gene (or variants of it) is what causes some athletes to be faster than others. They have also found that determining factors of your endurance such as your VO2max and Muscle Fiber Composition are directly related to your genes as well. Findings like these are giving people false confirmation that you are what you are because of your genes. But more and more people are finding that having the mental desire to be a better athlete, or to be better at anything, is the first step in overcoming gene challenges. Yet, people are starting to ask is athleticism (the desire to be an athlete) and personality inherited genetics? In other words, is the determination, drive, and will to overcome genetic traits, actually a genetic trait in of itself? Possibly. Geneticists are still learning about humans ...

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Can Genes Keep You From Learning How to Jump Higher | Jump workout - Video

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- In Silicon Valley, the line between computing and biology has begun to blur in a way that could have enormous consequences for human longevity.

Bill Banyai, an optical physicist at Complete Genomics, has helped make that happen. When he began developing a gene sequencing machine, he relied heavily on his background at two computer networking start-up companies. His digital expertise was essential in designing a factory that automated and greatly lowered the cost of mapping the three billion base pairs that form the human genome.

The promise is that low-cost gene sequencing will lead to a new era of personalized medicine, yielding new approaches for treating cancers and other serious diseases. The arrival of such cures has been glacial, however, although the human genome was originally sequenced more than a decade ago.

Now that is changing, in large part because of the same semiconductor industry manufacturing trends that opened up consumer devices like the PC and the smartphone: exponential increases in processing power and transistor density are accompanied by costs that fall at an accelerating rate.

As a result, both new understanding and new medicines will arrive at a quickening pace, according to the biologists and computer scientists.

"For all of human history, humans have not had the readout of the software that makes them alive," said Larry Smarr, director of the California Institute of Telecommunications and Information Technology, a research center that is jointly operated by the University of California, San Diego, and the University of California, Irvine, who is a member of the Complete Genomics scientific advisory board. "Once you make the transition from a data poor to data rich environment, everything changes."

Complete Genomics, based in Mountain View, is one of more than three dozen firms hastening to push the cost of sequencing an entire human genome below $1,000. The challenge is part biology, part chemistry, part computing, and in Complete Genomics' case, part computer networking.

Complete Genomics is a classic Silicon Valley start-up story. Even the gene sequencing machines, which are housed in a 4,000-square-foot room bathed in an eerie blue light, appear more like a traditional data center than a biology lab.

In 2005 ,when Clifford Reid, a successful Silicon Valley software entrepreneur, began to assemble his team, he approached Dr. Banyai and asked if he was interested in joining a gene sequencing start-up. Dr. Reid, who was also trained in physics and math, had spent a year as an entrepreneur-in-residence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he had become a convert to bioinformatics, the application of computer science and information technologies to biology and medicine.

Dr. Banyai had even less experience in biology.

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Cost of Gene Sequencing Falls, Raising Hopes for Medical Advances

BOSTON Scientists are reporting what could be very bad news for efforts to customize cancer treatment based on each persons genes.

They have discovered big differences from place to place in the same tumor as to which genes are active or mutated. They also found differences in the genetics of the main tumor and places where the cancer has spread.

This means that the single biopsies on which doctors rely to choose drugs are probably not giving a true view of the cancers biology. It also means that treating cancer wont be as simple as many had hoped.

By analyzing tumors in unprecedented detail, Were finding that the deeper you go, the more you find, said one study leader, Dr. Charles Swanton of the London Research Institutes Cancer Research UK. Its like going from a black-and-white television with four pixels to a color television with thousands of pixels.

Yet the result is a fuzzier picture of how to treat the disease.

The study is reported in Thursdays New England Journal of Medicine.

It is a reality check for overoptimism in the field devoted to conquering cancer with new gene-targeting drugs, Dr. Dan L. Longo, a deputy editor at the journal, wrote in an editorial.

About 15 of these medicines are on the market now and hundreds more are in testing, but they have had only limited success. And the new study may help explain why.

The scientists used gene sequencing to a degree that has not been done before to study primary tumors and places where they spread in four patients with advanced kidney cancer. They found that two-thirds of gene mutations they detected were not present in all areas of the same tumor. They also were stunned to see different mutations in the same gene from one part of a tumor to another.

That means a single biopsy would reveal only a minority of mutations. Still, its not clear whether doing more biopsies would improve accuracy, or how many or how often they should be done.

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Gene-based cancer research suffers setback, scientists say

Nature | Health

Bone-marrow transfers prior to organ transplants could end the need for lifelong immunosuppression

March 7, 2012

By Elie Dolgin of Nature magazine

Graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) is a common and often deadly complication of bone-marrow transplantation that occurs when immune cells from an unrelated donor attack the transplant recipient's tissue. Now, researchers have for the first time managed to completely replace people's bone-marrow-derived stem cells with those from unrelated donors without causing GvHD. And because of this, the recipients could also accept kidneys from the same donors without the need for drugs that suppress the immune system.

"The outcome has been amazing," says Lindsay Porter, a 47-year-old Chicago resident with polycystic kidney disease who was one of the study subjects. She has been off immunosuppressive drugs for seven months. "I feel so normal, it feels like it's not a big deal."

But according to experts in the field, the findings, published today in Science Translational Medicine, are a huge deal. "It's kind of difficult to believe," says Tatsuo Kawai, a transplant surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, who wrote a commentary to accompany the paper. "It's almost common sense to have GvHD in mismatched individuals."

Facilitating tolerance

The latest study builds off of work Kawai and his colleagues began fourteen years ago, when they launched the first clinical trial that attempted to use bone marrow to induce immune tolerance for kidney recipients, to avoid the sometimes dangerous side effects of life-long immosuppressive therapy.

Working first in people with perfectly immune-matched siblings and then with partially mismatched donor-recipient pairs, the researchers showed that the majority of individuals could achieve stable kidney function and successfully wean off of their immunosuppressants with few problems -- in one case for up to nine years. But the study subjects only maintained noticeable levels of the foreign bone marrow for a few weeks, and the protocol didn't work for everybody. Some researchers speculated that maintaining higher levels of donor immune cells for longer could help to improve the success rate.

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Treatment Allows Drug-Free Transplant Patients to Elude Graft-versus-Host Disease

By Tamara Cohen

Last updated at 12:49 AM on 8th March 2012

Scientists believe they have found the macho gene which makes men behave more aggressively than women under stress.

They say this one gene could explain why men have a fight or flight response while women are more likely to try and defuse the situation, a response known as tend and befriend.

Australian researchers have studied the chemicals secreted by men when they react to stress and how this influences their behaviour.

Rage against the machine: Anger in men is the fault of the SRY gene, say researchers (file picture)

And they propose that the SRY gene only found on the Y chromosome and the proteins it activates in the body, are the key.

This gene was previously thought just to be involved in the development of male characteristics in the womb.

Good spread: The SRY proteins were found all over the body

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The 'macho' gene that makes men aggressive has been found

By Fiona Macrae

Last updated at 11:55 PM on 7th March 2012

British scientists have begun to unlock one of cancers most deadly secrets.

In a breakthrough likened to going from watching TV in black and white to colour, theyve discovered that a single cancer can be dramatically different within one person.

Different parts of a single tumour can have different genes. And a tumour that has spread to the chest can be genetically very different to the original tumour in the kidney.

Difference: Scientists have found that different parts of a single cancer tumour have different genes, possibly explaining why cancer can be so difficult to treat

The finding is important because cancer has traditionally been thought of as a disease in which a single cell starts dividing out of control, creating a tumour in which every cell is the same.

Now it is clear that the disease is much more complex.

The genetic changes could help explain why cancer causes so many deaths, despite huge advances in medicine, and why a drug that has helped initially suddenly stops working.

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Complicated cancer: New research shows how genetic changes make the disease so deadly

Nature | Health

Bone-marrow transfers prior to organ transplants could end the need for lifelong immunosuppression

March 7, 2012

By Elie Dolgin of Nature magazine

Graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) is a common and often deadly complication of bone-marrow transplantation that occurs when immune cells from an unrelated donor attack the transplant recipient's tissue. Now, researchers have for the first time managed to completely replace people's bone-marrow-derived stem cells with those from unrelated donors without causing GvHD. And because of this, the recipients could also accept kidneys from the same donors without the need for drugs that suppress the immune system.

"The outcome has been amazing," says Lindsay Porter, a 47-year-old Chicago resident with polycystic kidney disease who was one of the study subjects. She has been off immunosuppressive drugs for seven months. "I feel so normal, it feels like it's not a big deal."

But according to experts in the field, the findings, published today in Science Translational Medicine, are a huge deal. "It's kind of difficult to believe," says Tatsuo Kawai, a transplant surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, who wrote a commentary to accompany the paper. "It's almost common sense to have GvHD in mismatched individuals."

Facilitating tolerance

The latest study builds off of work Kawai and his colleagues began fourteen years ago, when they launched the first clinical trial that attempted to use bone marrow to induce immune tolerance for kidney recipients, to avoid the sometimes dangerous side effects of life-long immosuppressive therapy.

Working first in people with perfectly immune-matched siblings and then with partially mismatched donor-recipient pairs, the researchers showed that the majority of individuals could achieve stable kidney function and successfully wean off of their immunosuppressants with few problems -- in one case for up to nine years. But the study subjects only maintained noticeable levels of the foreign bone marrow for a few weeks, and the protocol didn't work for everybody. Some researchers speculated that maintaining higher levels of donor immune cells for longer could help to improve the success rate.

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Treatment Allows Drug-Free Transplant Patients to Elude Graft-versus-Host Disease

CARLSBAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

International Stem Cell Corporation (OTCBB:ISCO.OB - News) today announced that Co-Chairman Kenneth Aldrich and President and Chief Operating Officer Kurt May will be presenting at the 24th Annual Roth Conference on Wednesday, March 14, 2012 at 1:00 p.m. Pacific time. The conference is being held March 11-14 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Dana Point, California.

About International Stem Cell Corporation

International Stem Cell Corporation is focused on the therapeutic applications of human parthenogenetic stem cells (hpSCs) and the development and commercialization of cell-based research and cosmetic products. ISCO's core technology, parthenogenesis, results in the creation of pluripotent human stem cells from unfertilized oocytes (eggs). hpSCs avoid ethical issues associated with the use or destruction of viable human embryos. ISCO scientists have created the first parthenogenic, homozygous stem cell line that can be a source of therapeutic cells for hundreds of millions of individuals of differing genders, ages and racial background with minimal immune rejection after transplantation. hpSCs offer the potential to create the first true stem cell bank, UniStemCell. ISCO also produces and markets specialized cells and growth media for therapeutic research worldwide through its subsidiary Lifeline Cell Technology, and cell-based skin care products through its subsidiary Lifeline Skin Care. More information is available at http://www.internationalstemcell.com.

To subscribe to receive ongoing corporate communications, please click on the following link: http://www.b2i.us/irpass.asp?BzID=1468&to=ea&s=0.

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International Stem Cell Corporation to Present at the Roth Conference on March 14

PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

The upcoming annual symposium of the Worldwide Innovative Networking Consortium on personalized cancer medicine (WIN 2012), to be held in Paris, June 28-29, 2012, has received endorsements from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and also the French national cancer institute (INCa).

"The value of the symposium scientific program for the oncology community is reinforced by these recently granted endorsements" said Dr. John Mendelsohn, Chairman of the WIN Consortium.

"These endorsements acknowledge this unique forum for open discussion in which the expertise and input from all stakeholders in targeted cancer drug development are crucial" said Alexander Eggermont, General Director of Cancer Institute Gustave Roussy.

High-ranking speakers from academia, industry and regulatory agencies worldwide will address ways to improve the efficacy of cancer therapeutics at the level of the individual patient in plenary sessions on contemporary themes in personalized medicine. Speakers include: James Doroshow, National Cancer Institute; Ronald DePinho, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; William Dalton, Lee Moffitt Cancer Center; Edison Liu, Human Genome Organisation HUGO and Jackson Laboratory; Christopher A. Viehbacher, Sanofi; Leroy Hood, Institute for Systems Biology; Stephen Friend, Sage Bionetworks; John Quackenbush, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Waun Ki Hong, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; Nick Botwood, AstraZeneca; Steven Averbuch, Bristol-Myers Squibb; Richard Gaynor, Eli Lilly and Company; Paolo Paoletti, GlaxoSmithKline Oncology; Josep Tabernero, Val dHebron.

The scientific program of WIN2012 is offered as accredited learning for medical oncologists, valid for 17 ESMO MORA cat. 1 points. To further enhance the scientific value of WIN 2012, all abstracts of presentations (oral and poster) will be published in a major international oncology journal. Abstract submission remains open until April 1.

Delegates considering participating in WIN 2012 are encouraged to register as soon as possible to take advantage of the significantly reduced early registration fees and the special hotel offer the WIN 2012 organizers have managed to secure.

Extensive symposium information, including the complete program with all speakers names, is available on the website of WIN Consortium: http://www.winconsortium.org.

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WIN2012 Symposium on Personalized Cancer Medicine Receives Endorsements from ASCO, ESMO, UICC and INCa

This post is sponsored by BioNJ.

BioNJ, the trade association for New Jerseys biotechnology industry, will host its biggest and most interactive event to date for companies involved in diagnostics and personalized medicine on March 14 at Princeton University. The BioNJ Diagnostics & Personalized Medicine Innovation Summit and Funding Roundtable, part of BioNJs ongoing Diagnostics & Personalized Medicine Initiative, will bring together leaders from major global biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, diagnostics companies and emerging innovator companies for a half-day, interactive summit meeting.

The focus of this half-day summit is to help participants identify opportunities for partnership, funding and growth while updating them on the latest trends, developments and challenges in the evolution and adoption of personalized medicine. All companies and individuals with an interest in diagnostics and personalized medicine are welcome to attend. The Summit will include company presentations and opportunities for one-on-one communication and interaction between leading global pharmaceutical companies, emerging diagnostics companies, funding organizations and life sciences company business development professionals.

This event promises to be truly unique for those who attend, said Debbie Hart, President of BioNJ. Not only have we confirmed first-class speakers from all key constituencies involved with diagnostics and personalized medicine, we will also create opportunities for global life science leaders, smaller innovators and members of the investment community to network and establish partnerships that will advance the development and utilization of personalized medicine worldwide.

Speaking at the Summit will be leaders from the global investment community, global life sciences companies and academia:

The BioNJ Diagnostics and Personalized Medicine Committee, which created the event, is planning additional events focusing on diagnostics and personalized medicine, and will announce details for future events on its website.

The increasing interest in diagnostics and personalized medicine, and its potential to transform medicine, is clear from the participation in the events that the BioNJ Diagnostics and Personalized Medicine Committee has offered so far, said Steve Carchedi, Committee Co-Chair, Chief Marketing Officer, Medical Diagnostics, GE Healthcare. The BioNJ Diagnostics & Personalized Medicine Innovation Summit and Funding Roundtable will be our biggest event ever, and I encourage anyone with an interest in diagnostics and personalized medicine to join us on March 14th at Princeton University, he added.

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BioNJ Diagnostics & Personalized Medicine Innovation Summit is March 14

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire -03/07/12)- Led by tissue tests to aid drug therapy decisions, the personalized medicine testing (PMx) market exceeded $28 billion in 2011, according to Kalorama Information. The healthcare market research publisher includes in its analysis all tests that are used to determine the appropriate therapeutic on an individual patient. This broad scope includes new molecular tests based on proven biomarkers, as well as routine glucose and microbial identification tests. The dynamic part of the market is the new tests, and according to Kalorama's report, World Market for Personalized Medicine Diagnostics, the tests that have turned personalized medicine from concept to reality are tissue tests that determine therapy for cancer. These will experience better than average IVD industry revenue growth rates in the next five years.

"Tissue-based diagnostic testing continues to serve as one of the gold standards for cancer diagnosis," said Shara Rosen, lead diagnostic analyst for Kalorama Information and author of the report. "There is no other technology that can capture the biological context of the disease and the critical parameters that factor into patient outcomes."

From a biopsy, a pathologist can determine the type of cancer, the stage, and the degree to which the cancer has invaded healthy tissue. Personalized tissue-based tests using immunohistochemical stains (IHC) and in situ hybridization (ISH) allow pathologists and researchers to view specific protein and molecular structures in fixed tissues, body fluids, and cells. To improve patient survival rates, therapies in the oncology marketplace are being combined with predictive biomarkers to help select patients who will respond to specific drugs. The report finds that tissue diagnostics will be in high demand and produce a robust market with many high growth opportunities.

Kalorama reports that the market leaders in what is often called pharmacodiagnostic histology are Dako, Abbott Diagnostics and Roche/Ventana Medical. China Medical is dedicated to making locally produced pharmacodiagnostic histology available.

The report notes that the application of pharmacodiagnostic histology is becoming more sophisticated. Many of these tests are used as companion tests for targeted drugs and also in test services. In addition to the standard IHC and ISH staining procedures, DNA and RNA extracted from tissue samples are further analyzed using mass spectroscopy, PCR and sequencing. As more is understood about radiation therapy, tests have also been developed to assess radiosensitivity of tumors.

Kalorama Information's report, World Market for Personalized Medicine Diagnostics, covers these tests and many others, while defining the current opportunity and realistic future potential of personalized medicine in clinical testing.

About Kalorama InformationKalorama Information, a division of MarketResearch.com, supplies the latest in independent medical market research in diagnostics, biotech, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and healthcare; as well as a full range of custom research services. We routinely assist the media with healthcare topics. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and our blog.

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Tissue Diagnostics Leads Personalized Medicine: Kalorama