Archive for the ‘Bone Marrow Stem Cells’ Category

More people in the capital have signed up to donate their stem cells than residents in any other part of Britain - d espite Londoners having an unfriendly reputation .

Blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan has mapped its bone marrow register for the first time, showing the proportion of people in each region who are signed up to the bone marrow register.

The charity said that more than 80,000 people in the capital are now signed up to the register - 0.97% of London's population.

A spokeswoman said that other "selfless hotspots" are the East Midlands, where 0.91% of the population has signed up, Scotland where 0.89% of people are on the register and in the south east where 0.87% of people have pledged to donate their stem cells.

Places with the lowest rates of sign-ups are the West Midlands and the south west, where just 0.66% and 0.65% of people, respectively, have signed up to the register.

The register was set up 40 years ago to help find lifesaving matches for people with blood cancer who desperately need a stem cell, or bone marrow, transplant.

Ann O'Leary, head of register development at Anthony Nolan, said: "Donating stem cells to save the life of a stranger is a remarkably selfless act so it's great to see so many Londoners challenging the city's stereotype and signing up to our register.

"Two thirds of patients will not find a matching donor from within their families; instead they turn to Anthony Nolan to find them an unrelated donor.

"Even though London has the highest proportion of donors of any region, it's still less than one per cent of the overall population of London, which shows us that we urgently need to recruit donors from all over the UK so we can give people with blood cancer the best possible hope of a cure."

Ms O'Leary added: "Mapping the register in this way will help us to target our efforts in order to grow the register and save more lives.

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UK & World

The company which has an annual turnover of 4m, pulls in 32pc of its revenue from the domestic market, 30pc from southern Europe, 28pc from the Middle East and Gulf and 10pc from Hong Kong.

As most NHS hospitals will not allow midwives to collect cord blood on the request of the parents, Smart Cells sends a phlebotomist to the labour ward to drain tissue after the baby is born, as the placenta comes away, and a courier then transports it back to the Smart Cells laboratory, via a temperature-controlled kit, where it is then frozen for up to 25 years. The process costs 2,500 per child.

When we first started there was a lot of controversy surrounding stem cell storage people felt it was a waste of time and we were scaremongering but 30,000 transplants have now been completed worldwide, he says.

Stored stem cells have been used in transplants to treat more than 70 different diseases including lymphoma, sickle-cell disease, and some metabolic disorders. Unlike marrow, which is obtained through a painful medical procedure and replenished by the body, this method of collection is simple and not directly from the child.

But access to this service can come down to one individual despite the mothers wishes. Most of the reasons why we are not allowed to collect full stop is based on the views of the head of department. For example at Princess Alexandra the head of midwifery was against cord blood collectiond via a private company, she moved to Queens Hospital in Romford and changed their policy too.

In certain hospitals, there is a stem cell collection procedure and public bank for ill children but this doesnt give the parents the choice to store for their own family.

In many cases such as leukaemia the stem cells of one healthy child can help save the life of his or her sibling. The health alert last week over babies who were poisoned in neonatal care units via nutritional drips, used to feed premature newborns, could also trigger a concern around external services and procurement. The contaminated batch killed one baby in Londons St Thomass.

In this case there was no liability on the part of the hospital and such a situation could have regretfully also occurred with something like outside catering, said Ahmed. But given the way the NHS do behave and at times get into panic, it may have a further impact on other companies being allowed in.

Smart Cells, which once stored blood for Darcey Bussell, the ballerina and Strictly Come Dancing judge, encountererd its fair share of setbacks with the global economic downturn.The science was popular in southern Europe until the eurozone crisis put in a dent in demand for its service.

The rise of the internet also bred more competition, with a series of digital-only services springing up. A handful of cowboy outfits sprang up but have fallen by the wayside, said Ahmed. And of course reputable organisations have set up in competition as well, such as Virgins Health Bank.

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A baby's gift that keeps giving

Ryan White, CTV Calgary Published Saturday, June 7, 2014 4:38PM MDT Last Updated Saturday, June 7, 2014 6:30PM MDT

Dozens of men stepped forward to offer their cheek cells for testing in the hope of assisting patients in need of stem cell or bone marrow transplants.

On Saturday, the Village Brewery offered beer tastings and tours to those who took part in the swab-a-thon.

The event was created by Steve Carpenter, the operator of a local micro-brewery, whose brother Al was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia in November. Al, married and the father of two, was in desperate need of stem cell treatment and Canadian Blood Services was unable to locate a suitable match through its stem cell and bone marrow donor program.

Steve and his friends organized a swab-a-thon in the hopes of locating a suitable donor, and Jim Button, a childhood friend of Als and the owner of Village Brewery, offered the use of his brewery.

Miraculously, in the days before the swab-a-thon was to be held, a suitable stem cell match was located for Al and he underwent treatment in an Ottawa hospital. Doctors say Al is responding well to the treatment.

Despite the fact a donor had been located for his brother, Steve made the decision to continue with his plans for Saturdays event.

We are here to tell people it is a very easy program, said Steve. We really appreciate anybody coming out to sign up on registry, be it for my brother or any other people in need.

Mike Carron was the first volunteer to step up to register and offer up a saliva sample. He says he wanted to help the cause after stem cell treatment extended the life of a close family member.

I thought it would be good to pay it forward, explains Carron. I had an uncle who needed stem cell treatment three years ago and it gave him an extra three years.

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It takes a Village; local brewery hosts swab-a-thon

Human embryonic stem cells the bodys powerful master cells might be useful for treating multiple sclerosis, researchers reported Thursday.

A team has used cells taken from frozen human embryos and transformed them into a type of cell that scientists have hoped might help treat patients with MS, a debilitating nerve disease.

Mice with an induced version of MS that paralyzed them were able to walk freely after the treatment, the teams at Advanced Cell Technology and ImStem Biotechnology in Farmington, Connecticut, reported.

The cells appeared to travel to the damaged tissues in the mice, toning down the mistaken immune system response that strips the fatty protective layer off of nerve calls. Its that damage that causes symptoms ranging from tremors and loss of balance to blurry vision and paralysis.

These embryonic stem cells were carefully nurtured to make them form a type of immature cell called a mesenchymal stem cell. These cells worked better to treat the mice than naturally developed mesenchymal stem cells taken directly from bone marrow, the team wrote in the journal Stem Cell Reports, published by the International Society for Stem Cell Research.

The top mouse is paralyzed, while the mouse on the bottom was treated with human embryonic stem cells and is able to run around.

The company released a video to show the benefits. Untreated mice were suffering. They are paralyzed. They on their backs. They are dragging their limbs. They are in really sad shape, ACTs chief scientific officer, Dr. Bob Lanza, told NBC News.

Treated animals, they are walking and jumping around just like normal mice.

Lanza says human trials are many months away, but he thinks it will not be necessary to use controversial cloning technology to make perfectly matched human embryonic stem cells to treat patients.

We can use an off-the-shelf source and itll work for everyone, he said. So you can use them and not worry about rejection.

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Stem cells work on MS in mice

REXBURG One Rexburg teen is uniting both the local community and university campus in the search for a bone marrow donor.

In February, 13-year-old Britton Pugh was diagnosed with rare primary T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma. Britton is the only known pediatric case of this type of cancer in the country.

Brittons cancer, like leukemia, takes the form of a liquid, said Mark Pugh, Brittons father and faculty member of the chemistry department at Brigham Young University-Idaho.

Doctors believe the disease attacks the central nervous system in Brittons brain and spine.

Since February, Britton has undergone chemotherapy, which doctors believe has decreased the cancer and sent it into remission. Britton is also receiving radiation for the next couple weeks.

But to provide the best hope of a cure, doctors have suggested a bone marrow transplant.

The source could be coming from the bone marrow, thats why we need the transplant. Pugh said. For the highest percent of a cure, they want to do a bone marrow transplant to make sure (the cancer) doesnt come back.

Around the end of April, Pugh said the family first looked toward Brittons siblings for a possible match.

Pugh told the Standard Journal Friday that siblings have a 25 percent chance of being the right DNA match. Pugh had his sons tested through the routine cheek swab test, including a son serving an LDS mission in Spain.

A DNA match is determined by a simple test done by swabbing the inside of a donors cheek.

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No One Fights Alone

Human embryonic stem cells the bodys powerful master cells might be useful for treating multiple sclerosis, researchers reported Thursday.

A team has used cells taken from frozen human embryos and transformed them into a type of cell that scientists have hoped might help treat patients with MS, a debilitating nerve disease.

Mice with an induced version of MS that paralyzed them were able to walk freely after the treatment, the teams at Advanced Cell Technology and ImStem Biotechnology in Farmington, Connecticut, reported.

The cells appeared to travel to the damaged tissues in the mice, toning down the mistaken immune system response that strips the fatty protective layer off of nerve calls. Its that damage that causes symptoms ranging from tremors and loss of balance to blurry vision and paralysis.

These embryonic stem cells were carefully nurtured to make them form a type of immature cell called a mesenchymal stem cell. These cells worked better to treat the mice than naturally developed mesenchymal stem cells taken directly from bone marrow, the team wrote in the journal Stem Cell Reports, published by the International Society for Stem Cell Research.

The top mouse is paralyzed, while the mouse on the bottom was treated with human embryonic stem cells and is able to run around.

The company released a video to show the benefits. Untreated mice were suffering. They are paralyzed. They on their backs. They are dragging their limbs. They are in really sad shape, ACTs chief scientific officer, Dr. Bob Lanza, told NBC News.

Treated animals, they are walking and jumping around just like normal mice.

Lanza says human trials are many months away, but he thinks it will not be necessary to use controversial cloning technology to make perfectly matched human embryonic stem cells to treat patients.

We can use an off-the-shelf source and itll work for everyone, he said. So you can use them and not worry about rejection.

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Stem Cells Treat Multiple Sclerosis in Mice

A pre-clinical biotech startup that was awarded more than $1 million in state money last year said it has demonstrated that a certain type of abundant stem cells significantly reduce the severity of multiple sclerosis in mice.

Farmington's ImStem Biotechnology Inc., which is a member of UConn's technology incubator, said it worked with UConn Health Center scientists and Massachusetts company Advanced Cell Technology Inc. to determine that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from human embryonic stem cells are more effective at treating MS in mice than MSCs from the bone marrow of adult donors.

In fact, the researchers said they found unexpectedly that the use of adult bone marrow stem cells to treat MS is highly variable and may carry a previously unrecognized risk of poor outcome.

The work is published in the June 5 online edition of Stem Cell Reports.

ImStem is seeking approvals and investment for Phase 1 clinical trials.

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Farmington startup treats MS in mice with stem cells

COLLEGE STATION - There are more than 18,000 people waiting for a bone marrow or stem cell transplant, something that could save their lives.

Despite the fact that there are 11-million people on the registry as available donors, only 40% of those in need will find a match.

That's because it's extremely difficult to match someone perfectly, and since it's done by DNA markers, the best chances come from someone in your same race and ethnicity group.

So while the odds are slim to begin with, the chance of finding a match for a minority is even smaller. Fewer minorities are signed up to be potential donors.

Lindsey Crawford, a local recruiter for the "Be the Match" foundation says, " African Americans make up about 10 percent of our registry, Hispanics about 6 percent and multi-racial only about 4 percent."

Most of the time, you won't have to actually donate bone marrow, it'll just be stem cells, which is a painless process similar to giving plasma. 20% of the time, actual bone marrow is needed, and that does require surgery, but you're given an anesthetic to ease the pain.

If you'd like to sign up to be a potential bone marrow or stem cell donor, you can visit http://www.bethematch.org.

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Critical Need for Bone Marrow Donors

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

5-Jun-2014

Contact: Robert Miranda cogcomm@aol.com Cell Transplantation Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair

Putnam Valley, NY. (June 5, 2014) Scientists in Taiwan have found that intravenous injections of stem cells derived from human exfoliated deciduous tooth pulp (SHED) have a protective effect against brain damage from heat stroke in mice. Their finding was safe and effective and so may be a candidate for successfully treating human patients by preventing the neurological damage caused by heat stroke.

The study is published in a future issue of Cell Transplantation and is currently freely available on-line as an unedited early e-pub at: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct/pre-prints/content-CT1100Tseng.

"Heat stroke deaths are increasing worldwide and heat stroke-induced brain injury is the third largest cause of mortality after cardiovascular disease and traumatic brain injury," said study lead author Dr. Ying-Chu Lin of the Kaohsiung Medical University School of Dentistry, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. "Heat stroke is characterized by hyperthermia, systemic inflammatory response, multiple organ failure and brain dysfunction."

To investigate the beneficial and potentially therapeutic effects afforded by the protective activities of self-renewing stem cells derived from human exfoliated deciduous teeth, the scientists transplanted SHED into mice that had suffered experimental heat stroke.

According to the research team, these cells have "significantly higher proliferation rates" than stem cells from bone marrow and have the added advantages of being easy to harvest and express several growth factors, including vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and they can promote the migration and differentiation of neuronal progenitor cells (NPCs).

"We observed that the intravenous administration of SHED immediately post-heat stroke exhibited several therapeutic benefits," said Dr. Lin. "These included the inhibition of neurological deficits and a reduction in oxidative damage to the brain. We suspect that the protective effect of SHED may be related to a decreased inflammatory response, decreased oxidative stress and an increase in hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical axis activity following the heat stroke injury."

There are currently some drawbacks to the experimental therapy, said the researchers. First, there is a limited supply of SHED. Also, SHED transplantation has been associated with cancer and immune rejection.

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Future heat stroke treatment found in dental pulp stem cells

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

5-Jun-2014

Contact: Robert Miranda cogcomm@aol.com Cell Transplantation Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair

Putnam Valley, NY. (June 5, 2014) A study by a Korean team of neuroscientists has concluded that when mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs; multipotent structural stem cells capable of differentiation into a variety of cell types) are transplanted into the brains of mice modeled with Alzheimer's disease (AD), the cells stimulate neural cell growth and repair in the hippocampus, a key brain area damaged by AD. The finding could lead to improved AD therapies.

The study will be published in a future issue of Cell Transplantation and is currently freely available on-line as an unedited early e-pub at: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct/pre-prints/content-CT1059Oh.

Neuroscientists know that Alzheimer's disease is caused by the presence of amyloid-B (AB) "plaques" and "tangles" in the brain's network of neurons. Recently, a protein signaling pathway called "Wnt" (Wingless-type mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) related integration site family) which plays a role in embryonic development as well as the development of some diseases, such as cancer, has been linked to Alzheimer's disease. Researchers speculate that an interruption in the Wnt pathway signaling process caused by the AB plaque buildup may have an impact on potential brain cell renewal processes, called neurogenesis. Evidence has indicated that the Wnt signaling pathway plays an important role in the pathogenesis of AD.

This study was carried out to determine if MSCs benefitted neurogenesis in the hippocampus by "modulating" the Wnt pathway in such a way that that the MSCs are able to differentiate into neuronal progenitor cells (NPCs) that could help rebuild the affected areas of the brain.

"Recent studies have shown that MSCs express various proteins related to the Wnt pathway," said study co-author Dr. Phil Hyu Lee, Department of Neurology, Yonsei University College of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea. "It has also been determined that MSCs derived from bone marrow produce biologically active Wnt proteins that may counteract the negative influence of AB on neuronic activity."

The authors report that MSC treatment of AD in cellular and animal models significantly increased hippocampal neurogenesis and enhanced neuronal differentiation of NPCs.

"Our data suggest that the modulation of adult neurogenesis and neuronal differentiation to repair the damaged AD brain using MSCs could have a significant impact on future strategies for AD treatment," the researchers concluded.

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Stem cells found to play restorative role when affecting brain signaling process

A NEW method of helping bone marrow stem cells "mature" is pushing science closer to being able to treat brain injuries by creating specific cells capable of repairing damaged areas.

By modifying the surface of these cells and ensuring the proper environment, these otherwise easy-to-obtain marrow cells could drive brain regeneration.

Although this is only a small step forward, the hope is that these techniques could one day help treat those who have suffered brain damage, including those resulting from a stroke.

Nationally, there are 420,000 Australians living with the effects of stroke in Australia.

There are about 50,000 new and recurrent strokes each year, about 29,000 of those in Queensland and New South Wales.

National Stroke Foundation spokeswoman Professor Richard Linley said the research had the potential to help stroke patients, but was clearly in the very early stages of development.

Queensland University of Technology researcher Rachel Okolicsanyi said while the capability of these marrow stem cells has been understood for some time, this research into influencing how they mature could create techniques to convert them into brain or neural cells.

Ms Okolicsanyi, with supervisors Dr Larisa Haupt and Professor Lyn Griffiths , will now attempt to nail down a technique that will deliver routine results.

Ms Okolicsanyi's work was published in the journal Developmental Biology.

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New stem cell methods may help brain injuries

GOLTRY, Okla. Armed with stem cells, a Goltry area woman will be heading to Milwaukee next week to join in her brothers cancer fight.

Jeni Sumner was the only match among family members tested to donate stem cells to her younger brother, Ed Dee.

To me, Ive been given a gift. I know everybodys congratulating me and saying its a wonderful thing, and not taking it away from that, but I think Ive been given just a tremendous gift, Sumner said.

Along with helping her brother, Sumner is trying to encourage others to join the bone marrow donor registry.

I think a lot of people are afraid to join because they might get called, because they dont know what its like to be a donor, she said. I want more people to become aware of what its actually like to be a donor.

Sumner set up a Facebook page It Doesnt Hurt - To Save a Life to chronicle everything she will go through, as a donor, during the procedure.

Its an unknown for me, but its nothing compared to what my brothers going through, she said. I know the feeling that I got when I got the call from the doctor saying that I was his donor. The relief and the joy that I felt that our family doesnt have to look anymore. If anything happens, were covered because we have a donor, we have a match. The feeling that I got was incredible, she said.

Dee, of Milwaukee, Wis., was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia last year. Sumner said he went into remission last October.

Unfortunately, the cancer came back. This type of leukemia is a very dangerous and aggressive form. He, every couple of weeks, would go in for a blood test and this March he was informed that his leukemia had come back, she said. His doctors feel that a stem cell transplant would be the best for him, at this time.

Following the return of the cancer, Dee went through five days of rigorous chemotherapy to put him back into remission. He recently finished a lower dose session of chemo, Sumner said.

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Using stem cells, woman joins brothers cancer fight

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

3-Jun-2014

Contact: Sandra Hutchinson s3.hutchinson@qut.edu.au 61-731-389-449 Queensland University of Technology

A QUT scientist is hoping to unlock the potential of stem cells as a way of repairing neural damage to the brain.

Rachel Okolicsanyi, from the Genomics Research Centre at QUT's Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, said unlike other cells in the body which were able to divide and replicate, once most types of brain cells died, the damage was deemed irreversible.

Ms Okolicsanyi is manipulating adult stem cells from bone marrow to produce a population of cells that can be used to treat brain damage.

"My research is a step in proving that stem cells taken from the bone marrow can be manipulated into neural cells, or precursor cells that have the potential to replace, repair or treat brain damage," she said.

Ms Okolicsanyi's research has been published in Developmental Biology journal, and outlines the potential stem cells have for brain damage repair.

"What I am looking at is whether or not stem cells from the bone marrow have the potential to differentiate or mature into neural cells," she said.

"Neural cells are those cells from the brain that make everything from the structure of the brain itself, to all the connections that make movement, voice, hearing and sight possible."

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Unlocking the potential of stem cells to repair brain damage

Hundreds join bone marrow register at ACLT in memory of Kevin Kararwa

12:15pm Tuesday 3rd June 2014 in News By Louisa Clarence-Smith, Reporter

Hundreds of people have come forward to join the bone marrow register following the death of leukaemia patient Kevin Kararwa.

The 24-year-old business student launched the #KillLeukaemia4Kevin campaign to save others from the life-threatening cancer after doctors gave him two weeks to live.

ACLT co-founder Beverley De-Gale OBE explains how to join the bone marrow register

His final wishes were to raise 24,000 for the African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT) and inspire 2,400 people to join the bone marrow register - 100 for every year he lived.

Speaking from his hospital bed four days before his death, Mr Kararwa said: "Most people are not aware that ethnic minorities struggle to find bone marrow transplants.

"I would like to be the catalyst in creating awareness like never before."

To show solidarity to the campaign The Wimbledon Guardian's Nick Hitchens and Louisa Clarence-Smith visited the ACLT centre in Garnett Road, Croydon, to join the register.

Signing up simply involves filling out a form with personal details and taking a cheek swab sample.

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VIDEO: Hundreds join bone marrow register in memory of Kevin Kararwa

Scientists Grow Human Cartlilage Using Stem Cells

By: https://www.youtube.com/user/ReutersVideo Please like PigMine #39;s FaceBook page here: http://www.facebook.com/PigMineNews Subscribe to http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=PigMi...

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Scientists Grow Human Cartlilage Using Stem Cells - Video

A Littlestown resident went through a five-day procedure to give bone marrow stem cells to a man living in France

By Adam Michael

amichael@GameTimePA.com

@goodoletwonames on Twitter

John Sibirtzeff will never meet the man who used his stem cells to heal. He'll never know exactly what his affliction was, and he's OK with that.

A month ago, Sibirtzeff spent five days in Washington D.C. donating bone marrow stem cells that would be used to heal a 69-year-old man living in France.

"I'll never know who the recipient was," he said. "I'll never know if he was American or French, military or non."

When Sibirtzeff, of Littlestown, was in Navy boot camp in 2007, he opted into the C.W. Bill Young Department of Defense Marrow Donor Program. Naval doctors drew a vial of his blood and stored it after identifying his type. In 2011, Sibirtzeff finished his tour of duty, but his name remained on the donor list.

This past January, the program contacted Sibirtzeff requesting that he return for testing, as he was a potential match for a 69-year-old man living in France.

According to the program's website, salutetolife.org, 70 percent of patients are unable to find a match within their families. Sibirtzeff's receiver was among them.

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Everyday hero: Littlestown man donates bone marrow stem cells to stranger

Perched on the end of the scientists green glove, the tiny oblong-shaped object looks like a small jewel. It is in fact artificially-grown human cartilage, developed from human stem cells in the laboratory for the first time.

Cartilage, which protects the bone ends in joints, does not have blood vessels or nerves and does not heal over time if damaged.

Scientists at Columbia University in New York took cells from adult bone marrow and developed them into cartilage as robust as the natural human tissue.

We do have technology. We do understand underlying principles. But we are not ready to go into patients. There is a lot of pre-clinical work that will need to be done to make this happen, said Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University, who led the study.

Until now, scientists have made cartilage from young animal cells but the resulting tissue was often weak.

In the new study stem cells were condensed via a process that imitates how the body produces the tissue naturally.

The research team now plans to test the cartilage grown from stem cells to examine its long-term effects.

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Columbia University team grows human cartilage from stem cells

As a new therapeutic approach, Janus kinases are currently in the limelight of cancer research. The focus of interest is the protein JAK2. By inhibiting this protein one tries to cure chronic bone marrow diseases, such as myelofibrosis and chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).

Loss of JAK2 is advantageous for leukemia cells

Scientists working with Veronika Sexl at the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology may initiate a transformation of thought in regard of JAK2 inhibition. To simulate the human disease as accurately as possible, the scientists used a mouse leukemia model. In an experiment, mice received blood cancer cells as well as healthy hematopoietic stem cells in which JAK2 had been removed. "In mice, the absence of JAK2 accelerated the course of leukemia drastically," the scientists concluded.

The loss of JAK2 caused healthy hematopoietic stem cells to disappear in mice. "Leukemic cells, on the other hand, remained entirely unaffected; they do not need JAK2. This led to an imbalance in which the number of leukemia cells was very predominant, and eventually caused the acceleration of leukemia," says Eva Grundschober, one of the lead authors.

"The oncogene BCR-ABL, which was present in mice with leukemia, does not appear to require JAK2 for its activity. However, JAK2 is essential for healthy cells," explains Andrea Hlbl-Kovacic, the other lead author.

JAK2 is important for survival of hematopoietic stem cells

A closer investigation of healthy stem cells supports this hypothesis. In the absence of JAK2, healthy stem cells cannot survive and reproduce blood cells. As the next step, the following question will be raised in Sexl's laboratory: how does JAK2 mediate its life-sustaining effect on healthy stem cells? What portions of the JAK2 protein are required for this purpose and are these affected by current therapies?

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by Veterinrmedizinische Universitt Wien. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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One cell's meat is another cell's poison: How the loss of a cell protein favors cancer cells while harming healthy cells

Miami, FL (PRWEB) May 31, 2014

Global Stem Cells Group, its subsidiary Stem Cell Training, Inc. and Bioheart, Inc. have announced plans to conduct a two-day, hands-on intensive stem cell training course at the Servet CordnVida Clinic Sept. 27 and 28 in Santiago, Chile. The Adipose Derived Harvesting, Isolation and Re-integration Training Course, will follow the Global Stem Cells Group First International Symposium on Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine at the Santiago InterContinental Hotel Sept. 26, 2014.

Global Stem Cells Group and the Servet CordnVida Stem Cell Bank Clinic of Chile are co-organizing the symposium, designed to initiate a dialogue between researchers and practitioners and share the expertise of some of the worlds leading experts on stem cell research and therapies.

Servet CordnVida is a private umbilical cord blood bank that harvests and stores the hematopoietic-rich blood stem cells found in all newborns umbilical cords after birth. The hematopoietic tissue is responsible for the renewal of all components of the blood (hematopoiesis) and has the ability to regenerate bone marrow and restore depressed immune systems.

Umbilical (UCB) stem cells offer a wealth of therapeutic potential because they are up to 10 times more concentrated than bone marrow stem cells. In addition, UCB cells have a generous proliferative capacity with therapeutic potential that is very similar to embryonic stem cells, without the ethical debate associated with embryonic stem cell research and use.

UCB cells are the purest adult stem cells available, coming from newborns who have not been exposed to disease or external damage. Many parents today are utilizing cord banks like Servet CordnVida to store their newborns UCB cells safely for future medicinal use if the need arises.

Global Stem Cells Group and Servet CordnVida represent a growing global community of committed stem cell researchers, practitioners and investors whose enthusiasm is a direct result of the hundreds of diseases and injuries that stem cell therapies are curing every day. Global Stem Cell Groups First International Symposium on Stem Cell Research and Regenerative Medicine will host experts from the U.S., Mexico, Greece, Hong Kong and other regions around the globe who will speak on the future of regenerative medicine and share experiences in their field of specialty. The Global Stem Cells Group is hoping the symposium will open lines of communication and cooperation, explore new and exciting techniques in stem cell therapies, and create an environment of education and learning.

For more information on the symposium and the lineup of guests and speakers already confirmed, visit the First International Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine website, email bnovas(at)regenestem(dot)com, or call 305-224-1858.

To learn more Global Stem Cells Group, visit http://www.stemcellsgroup.com, email bnovas(at)regenestem(dot)com, or call 305-224-1858.

About Global Stem Cells Group:

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Global Stem Cells Group to Hold Intensive, Two-day Training Course on Stem Cell Harvesting, Isolation and Re ...

Miami (PRWEB) May 31, 2014

Global Stem Cells Group and the Servet CordnVida Stem Cell Bank Clinic of Chile will be teaming up to organize the First International Symposium on Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine in Santiago, Chile Sept. 26, 27 and 28. The three-day symposium will be followed by an intensive hands-on training course at the Servet Clinic for medical practitioners interested in learning techniques for harvesting stem cells for in-office medical therapies.

Symposium organizers plan to initiate a dialogue between researchers and practitioners to bridge the gap between bench scienceresearch science that is exclusively conducted in a lab settingand stem cell therapies delivered in the physicians office.

The first-of-its-kind conference will host some of the worlds leading experts on stem cell research and therapies. Servet CordnVida General Manager Mauricio Cortes, Ph.D. says that Santiago is the perfect launching pad for the event, as awareness and increasing demand for stem cell services has swept the South American countrys healthcare market over the past decade.

The use of human stem cells in medical therapies has attracted major scientific and public attention because stem cells are pluripotent, meaning they have the ability to differentiate into all body tissues, Cortes says. Knowing this, the possibilities for regenerating damaged or diseased tissue where no effective treatments existed before opens a new world of possibilities to patients and healthcare providers.

Were very excited to participate in this important conference.

Servet CordnVida is a private umbilical cord blood bank that harvests and stores the hematopoietic-rich blood stem cells found in all newborns umbilical cords after birth. The hematopoietic tissue is responsible for the renewal of all components of the blood (hematopoiesis) and has the ability to regenerate bone marrow and restore depressed immune systems.

Umbilical (UCB) stem cells offer a wealth of therapeutic potential because they are up to 10 times more concentrated than bone marrow stem cells. In addition, UCB cells have a generous proliferative capacity with therapeutic potential that is very similar to embryonic stem cells, without the ethical debate associated with embryonic stem cell research and use.

Perhaps most significant is the fact that UCB cells are the purest adult stem cells available, coming from newborns who have not been exposed to disease or external damage. Many parents today are utilizing cord banks like Servet CordnVida to store their newborns UCB cells safely for future medicinal use if the need arises.

Thanks to advances in stem cell science, we can preserve an infants stem cells at birth and store them safely for his or her future, says CordnVida Director Javier Sez. Hopefully, this symposium will be the first of many like it in the future of regenerative medicine, because the more we discuss what we know about the power of stem cells to heal, the closer we get to sparing our patients from needless suffering when the cure is right before us.

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Global Stem Cells Group Teams With CordnVida Servet Stem Cell Bank and Clinic to Organize the First International ...

By: Stephanie Guadian EL PASO, Texas - Inaki Arruti is an El Paso boy battling leukemia and a shortage of blood and bone marrow donations from the Hispanic community. I recently shared his story with KFOX 14 viewers.

The story hit home for Janet Chavarria. She is an employee at Western Technical College and Inaki's cousin.

After being inspired by our story to take action, she and the school organized a two-day Be the Match blood and bone marrow drive. Those who agreed to register simply swabbed their cheeks. The DNA will be compared to patients for a possible match.

It's not just Inaki. There are more children out there you know that have this. There are more people that have this. So, if we are not helping out Inaki, there might be someone else. But hopefully, there will be a match, said Janet Chavarria.

According to Be the Match, a national marrow donor program, Hispanics have only a 72 percent chance of finding a donor, compared with 93 percent for white patients. Anita Gonzales is a Be the Match employee working in El Paso.

We are blessed with another country right next to us. But everything they blow into the air. Unfortunately, it comes into El Paso and we breathe it. It's in the particles in the air, the ground that we walk on, the food that we eat. So, anyone can get leukemia. It's not inherited, said Gonzales.

Today -- the most common way of collecting stem cells is done by filtering them from a person's blood. The procedure is considered painless and similar to donating blood. The donation could one day save of the life of someone like Inaki.

Nearly 300 people signed up to be potential matches at the two day blood and bone marrow drive at Western Technical College. If you would like to find out how you can sign up to be a donor, check outbethematch.org

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Drive held to save El Paso boy and other children in need of donations

Beverly Hills, California (PRWEB) May 29, 2014

The Beverly Hills Orthopedic Institute is now providing several types of stem cell procedures for healing ligament injuries and meniscal tears of the knee. The stem cell therapies are often able to repair the injuries, provide pain relief and help patients avoid the need for surgery. For more information and scheduling, call (310) 438-5343.

Injuries to the knee may occur from sports injuries, auto accidents or result from degenerative arthritis. Conventional treatments typically work well for pain relief, however, they do not repair the damaged soft tissue. Therefore, conventional treatments result in healing that is incomplete and may still lead to the need for the surgery.

At Beverly Hills Orthopedic Institute, Double Board Certified Los Angeles Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Raj has been a pioneer in stem cell procedures for the knee. He is an expert in several types of stem cell therapies for knee injuries including amniotic derived or bone marrow derived stem cell injections.

The regenerative medicine procedures are performed as an outpatient and maintain exceptionally low risk. The amniotic-derived stem cell material is processed at an FDA regulated lab, while the bone marrow-derived stem cell therapy involves a short harvesting procedure from the patient himself. Both types of procedures have been shown in small studies to have excellent clinical results for knee conditions.

Along with treating all types of knee injuries with stem cell therapy, Beverly Hills orthopedic surgeon Dr. Raj also treats shoulder, hip ankle and spinal conditions with regenerative medicine as well. Treatments are provided for amateur and professional athletes, weekend warriors, executives, grandparents, students and more.

For those who desire to explore stem cell procedures for helping repair knee injuries and avoiding surgery, call the Beverly Hills Orthopedic Institute at (310) 438-5343.

Link:
Beverly Hills Orthopedic Institute Now Offering Stem Cell Procedures for Meniscal Tears and Ligament Injuries of the ...

30.05.2014 - (idw) Veterinrmedizinische Universitt Wien

Janus kinases (JAKs) are proteins that can promote the growth of cancer cells. The protein JAK2 is of special therapeutic significance: its inactivation is believed to destroy cancer cells. However, the effect of JAK2 inhibition on healthy blood stem cells is so far unknown. Scientists at the Vetmeduni Vienna show that the loss of JAK2 in the mouse causes healthy blood stem cells to disappear while cancer cells preserve their growth potential. Future studies will address the question as to whether these data can be passed on to treatment in humans. The results were published in the journal Leukemia. As a new therapeutic approach, Janus kinases are currently in the limelight of cancer research. The focus of interest is the protein JAK2. By inhibiting this protein one tries to cure chronic bone marrow diseases, such as myelofibrosis and chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).

Loss of JAK2 is advantageous for leukemia cells

Scientists working with Veronika Sexl at the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology may initiate a transformation of thought in regard of JAK2 inhibition. To simulate the human disease as accurately as possible, the scientists used a mouse leukemia model. In an experiment, mice received blood cancer cells as well as healthy hematopoietic stem cells in which JAK2 had been removed. "In mice, the absence of JAK2 accelerated the course of leukemia drastically," the scientists concluded.

The loss of JAK2 caused healthy hematopoietic stem cells to disappear in mice. "Leukemic cells, on the other hand, remained entirely unaffected; they do not need JAK2. This led to an imbalance in which the number of leukemia cells was very predominant, and eventually caused the acceleration of leukemia," says Eva Grundschober, one of the lead authors.

"The oncogene BCR-ABL, which was present in mice with leukemia, does not appear to require JAK2 for its activity. However, JAK2 is essential for healthy cells," explains Andrea Hlbl-Kovacic, the other lead author.

A closer investigation of healthy stem cells supports this hypothesis. In the absence of JAK2, healthy stem cells cannot survive and reproduce blood cells. As the next step, the following question will be raised in Sexl's laboratory: how does JAK2 mediate its life-sustaining effect on healthy stem cells? What portions of the JAK2 protein are required for this purpose and are these affected by current therapies?

The article Acceleration of Bcr-Abl+ leukemia induced by deletion of JAK2, by Eva Grundschober, Andrea Hlb-Kovacic, Neha Bhagwat, Boris Kovacic, Ruth Scheicher, Eva Eckelhart, Karoline Kollmann, Matthew Keller, Florian Grebien, Kay-Uwe Wagner, Ross L. Levine and Veronika Sexl was published today in the journal Leukemia. doi:10.1038/leu.2014.152 http://www.nature.com/leu/journal/vaop/naam/abs/leu2014152a.html

About the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna The University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna in Austria is one of the leading academic and research institutions in the field of Veterinary Sciences in Europe. About 1,200 employees and 2,300 students work on the campus in the north of Vienna which also houses five university clinics and various research sites. Outside of Vienna the university operates Teaching and Research Farms. http://www.vetmeduni.ac.at

Scientific Contact: Prof. Veronika Sexl

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One cell's meat is another cell's poison

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

28-May-2014

Contact: Robert Miranda cogcomm@aol.com Cell Transplantation Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair

Tampa, Fla. (May 28, 2014) To be suitable for medical transplantation, one idea is that human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) need to remain "undifferentiated" i.e. they are not changing into other cell types. In determining the best way to culture hESCs so that they remain undifferentiated and also grow, proliferate and survive, researchers have used blood cell "feeder-layer" cultures using animal-derived feeder cells, often from mice (mouse embryonic fibroblasts [MEFs]). This approach has, however, been associated with a variety of contamination problems, including pathogen and viral transmission.

To avoid contamination problems, a Brazilian research team has investigated the use of human menstrual blood-derived mesenchymal cells (MBMCs) as feeder layers and found that "MBMCs can replace animal-derived feeder systems in human embryonic stem cell culture systems and support their growth in an undifferentiated stage."

The study will be published in a future issue of Cell Medicine, but is currently freely available on-line as an unedited early e-pub at: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/cm/pre-prints/content-CM1019silvadosSantos.

"Human embryonic stem cells present a continuous proliferation in an undifferentiated state, resulting in an unlimited amount of cells with the potential to differentiate toward any type of cell in the human body," said study corresponding author Dr. Regina Coeli dos Santos Goldenberg of the Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. "These characteristics make hESCs good candidates for cell based therapies."

Feeder-layers for hESCs comprised of MEFs have been efficiently used for decades but, because of the clinical drawbacks, the authors subsequently experimented with human menstrual blood cells as a potential replacement for animal-derived feeder-layers, not only for negating the contamination issues, but also because human menstrual blood is so accessible. MBMCs are without ethical encumbrances and shortages, nor are they difficult to access - a problem with other human cells, such as umbilical cord blood cells, adult bone marrow cells or placenta cells.

"Menstrual blood is derived from uterine tissues," explained the researchers. "These cells are widely available 12 times a year from women of child-bearing age. The cells are easily obtained, possess the capability of long-term proliferation and are clinically compatible with hESCs-derived cells."

The researchers found that their culture system using MBMCs as a feeder-layer for hESCs are the "closest and more suitable alternative to animal-free conditions for growing hESCs" and a "good candidate for large-expansion of cells for clinical application." They also found no difference in growth factor expression when comparing the use of growth factors in both the standard feeder system using animal cells and the feeder system they tested using hESCs.

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Brazilian researchers find human menstrual blood-derived cells 'feed' embryonic stem cells

Discredited stem-cell treatment loses in Strasbourg

(ANSA) - Strasbourg, May 28 - The European Court of Human Rights on Wednesday ruled that an Italian ban on a controversial stem-cell therapy was legitimate. The case centered around a woman suffering from a degenerative brain disease since birth who argued her rights had been violated by the State denying her Stamina treatment. The process involves extracting bone-marrow stem cells from a patient, turning them into neurons by exposing them to retinoic acid for two hours, and injecting them back into the patient. But its credibility has long been suspect, and last fall the health ministry ruled that the Stamina Foundation would no longer be allowed to test the treatment on humans. The foundation was also stripped of its non-profit status after a study found its treatment was "ignorant of stem-cell biology". Recent investigations have shown risks of the treatment range from nausea to cancer, and as many as one quarter of all patients treated have experienced "adverse effects". The head of the foundation, Davide Vannoni, may face indictment.

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European rights court says Stamina ban legit