Archive for the ‘Bone Marrow Stem Cells’ Category

A 10-year-old boy has been infused with stem cells harvested from the bone marrow of his brother to treat him for thalassaemia a disorder caused by destruction of red blood cells. Called allogeneic transplantation of stem cells, this was done at Kovai Medical Center and Hospital.

D. Dhanush may not have to undergo expensive and excruciating blood transfusion anymore if his body accepts the donor cells. But his condition will have to be evaluated very minutely for the next two years to confirm that the cells donated by his brother have been received well and adapted him.

Presenting the boy before media persons, Clinical Haematologist and Head of the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit T. Rajasekar explained that transplantation was of two types autologous and allogeneic.

The autologous procedure involves harvesting of stem cells from the patients themselves (those suffering from thalassaemia or leukaemia). The extracted cells are frozen and stored for high dose treatment.

After being treated, these are infused into the patient through a vein. This procedure was done for one person suffering from myeloma (cancer of plasma cells or white blood cells that produce anti-bodies that help fight infections/diseases) and another with a relapsed lymphoma (cancer of the lymphocytes cells that are part of immune system).

Under the allogeneic procedure, matching stem cells from a donor are used. Mostly, these cells are from siblings or a close relative as they need to pass the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) matching test. HLA matching is required, or the cells will be rejected by the recipient. Ideally, it is sibling whose cells will match because he or she will have the HLA from both parents. It is the combination of HLAs from both parents that are found in the children.

The cells can be harvested from the marrow or from the blood. In the case presented on Tuesday, Dr. Rajasekar said the cells were brought out of the bone marrow in Dhanushs brother and into his blood, from where these were harvested.

Chairman of the hospital Nalla G. Palaniswami said the tough procedure was performed by the new Comprehensive Cancer Centre, which was gradually bringing in specialists of all sub-specialities of cancer care. Only then can this be called a comprehensive centre, he said.

The hospital would form a KMCH Foundation, which would use funds from donors to treat poor children suffering from cancer and some other disorders that required expensive treatment.

The stem cell transplantation that Dhanush, the son of a police head constable, underwent cost Rs.12 lakh. Of this, Rs.9 lakh was provided by a donor, Dr. Palaniswami said. Dean of the hospital V. Kumaran and Head of Department of Interventional Radiology Mathew Cherian spoke on how the cancer centre was established and how developments were being made.

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Stem cell transplantation for boy with thalassaemia

Researchers have discovered a cell that is the "missing link" between bone marrow stem cells and all the cells of the human immune system, according to a release from the University of California, Los Angeles. This finding promises to lead to a more profound understanding of how a healthy immune system is created and as well as how disease can cause poor immune function.

The study's senior author, Dr. Gay Crooks, was quoted as saying, " We felt it was especially important to do these studies using human bone marrow, as most research into the development of the immune system has used mouse bone marrow.The few studies with human tissue have mostly used umbilical cord blood, which does not reflect the immune system of post-natal life."

Understanding the process of normal blood formation in human adults is a crucial step in shedding light on what goes wrong during the process that results in leukemias, cancers of the blood. The findings were published online in the journal Nature Immunology.

"The identification of a progenitor in human bone marrow primed for full lymphoid differentiation will now permit delineation of the molecular regulation of the first stages of lymphoid commitment in human hematopoiesis," the authors wrote. "It will also allow understanding of how these processes are affected during aberrant hematopoiesis in disease states."

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Stem Cells & Immune System: "Missing Link" Found

LOS ANGELES UCLA researchers have discovered a type of cell that is the "missing link" between bone marrow stem cells and all the cells of the human immune system, a finding that will lead to a greater understanding of how a healthy immune system is produced and how disease can lead to poor immune function.

The research was done using human bone marrow, which contains all the stem cells that produce blood during post-natal life.

"We felt it was especially important to do these studies using human bone marrow, as most research into the development of the immune system has used mouse bone marrow," said the study's senior author, Dr. Gay Crooks, co-director of UCLA's Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research and a co-director of the cancer and stem-cell biology program at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. "The few studies with human tissue have mostly used umbilical cord blood, which does not reflect the immune system of post-natal life."

The research team was "intrigued to find this particular bone marrow cell, because it opens up a lot of new possibilities in terms of understanding how human immunity is produced from stem cells throughout life," said Crooks, a professor of pathology and pediatrics.

Understanding the process of normal blood formation in human adults is a crucial step in shedding light on what goes wrong during the process that results in leukemias, cancers of the blood.

The findings appeared Sept. 2 in the early online edition of the journal Nature Immunology.

Before this study, researchers had a fairly good idea of how to find and study the blood stem cells of the bone marrow. The stem cells live forever, reproduce themselves and give rise to all the cells of the blood. In the process, the stem cells divide and produce cells in intermediate stages of development called progenitors, which make various blood lineages, like red blood cells or platelets.

Crooks was most interested in the creation of the progenitors that form the entire immune system, which consists of many different cells called lymphocytes, each with a specialized function to fight infection.

"Like the stem cells, the progenitor cells are also very rare, so before we can study them, we needed to find the needle in the haystack," said Lisa Kohn, a member of the UCLA Medical Scientist Training Program and first author of the study.

Previous work had found a fairly mature type of lymphocyte progenitor with a limited ability to differentiate, but the new work describes a more primitive type of progenitor primed to produce the entire immune system, Kohn said.

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'Missing link' ties blood stem cells, immune system

ScienceDaily (Aug. 31, 2012) UCLA researchers have discovered a type of cell that is the "missing link" between bone marrow stem cells and all the cells of the human immune system, a finding that will lead to a greater understanding of how a healthy immune system is produced and how disease can lead to poor immune function.

The studies were done using human bone marrow, which contains all the stem cells that produce blood during postnatal life.

"We felt it was especially important to do these studies using human bone marrow as most research into the development of the immune system has used mouse bone marrow," said study senior author Dr. Gay Crooks, co-director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and a co-director of the Cancer and Stem Cell Biology program at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. "The few studies with human tissue have mostly used umbilical cord blood, which does not reflect the immune system of postnatal life."

The research team was "intrigued to find this particular bone marrow cell because it opens up a lot of new possibilities in terms of understanding how human immunity is produced from stem cells throughout life," said Crooks, a professor of pathology and pediatrics.

Understanding the process of normal blood formation in human adults is a crucial step in shedding light on what goes wrong during the process that results in leukemias, or cancers of the blood.

The study appears Sept. 2 in the early online edition of Nature Immunology.

Before this study, researchers had a fairly good idea of how to find and study the blood stem cells of the bone marrow. The stem cells live forever, reproduce themselves and give rise to all the cells of the blood. In the process, the stem cells divide and produce intermediate stages of development called progenitors, which make various blood lineages like red blood cells or platelets. Crooks was most interested in the creation of the progenitors that form the entire immune system, which consists of many different cells called lymphocytes, each with a specialized function to fight infection.

"Like the stem cells, the progenitor cells are also very rare, so before we can study them we needed to find the needle in the haystack." said Lisa Kohn, a member of the UCLA Medical Scientist Training Program and first author in the paper.

Previous work had found a fairly mature type of lymphocyte progenitor with a limited ability to differentiate, but the new work describes a more primitive type of progenitor primed to produce the entire immune system, Kohn said

Once the lymphoid primed progenitor had been identified, Crooks and her team studied how gene expression changed during the earliest stages of its production from stem cells.

Originally posted here:
'Missing link' between stem cells and the immune system

Public release date: 2-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Kim Irwin kirwin@mednet.ucla.edu 310-206-2805 University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences

UCLA researchers have discovered a type of cell that is the "missing link" between bone marrow stem cells and all the cells of the human immune system, a finding that will lead to a greater understanding of how a healthy immune system is produced and how disease can lead to poor immune function.

The studies were done using human bone marrow, which contains all the stem cells that produce blood during postnatal life.

"We felt it was especially important to do these studies using human bone marrow as most research into the development of the immune system has used mouse bone marrow," said study senior author Dr. Gay Crooks, co-director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and a co-director of the Cancer and Stem Cell Biology program at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. "The few studies with human tissue have mostly used umbilical cord blood, which does not reflect the immune system of postnatal life."

The research team was "intrigued to find this particular bone marrow cell because it opens up a lot of new possibilities in terms of understanding how human immunity is produced from stem cells throughout life," said Crooks, a professor of pathology and pediatrics.

Understanding the process of normal blood formation in human adults is a crucial step in shedding light on what goes wrong during the process that results in leukemias, or cancers of the blood.

The study appears Sept. 2 in the early online edition of Nature Immunology.

Before this study, researchers had a fairly good idea of how to find and study the blood stem cells of the bone marrow. The stem cells live forever, reproduce themselves and give rise to all the cells of the blood. In the process, the stem cells divide and produce intermediate stages of development called progenitors, which make various blood lineages like red blood cells or platelets. Crooks was most interested in the creation of the progenitors that form the entire immune system, which consists of many different cells called lymphocytes, each with a specialized function to fight infection.

"Like the stem cells, the progenitor cells are also very rare, so before we can study them we needed to find the needle in the haystack." said Lisa Kohn, a member of the UCLA Medical Scientist Training Program and first author in the paper.

See the rest here:
UCLA researchers discover missing link between stem cells and immune system

Newswise UCLA researchers have discovered a type of cell that is the missing link between bone marrow stem cells and all the cells of the human immune system, a finding that will lead to a greater understanding of how a healthy immune system is produced and how disease can lead to poor immune function.

The studies were done using human bone marrow, which contains all the stem cells that produce blood during postnatal life.

We felt it was especially important to do these studies using human bone marrow as most research into the development of the immune system has used mouse bone marrow, said study senior author Dr. Gay Crooks, co-director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and a co-director of the Cancer and Stem Cell Biology program at UCLAs Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. The few studies with human tissue have mostly used umbilical cord blood, which does not reflect the immune system of postnatal life.

The research team was intrigued to find this particular bone marrow cell because it opens up a lot of new possibilities in terms of understanding how human immunity is produced from stem cells throughout life, said Crooks, a professor of pathology and pediatrics.

Understanding the process of normal blood formation in human adults is a crucial step in shedding light on what goes wrong during the process that results in leukemias, or cancers of the blood.

The study appears Sept. 2 in the early online edition of Nature Immunology.

Before this study, researchers had a fairly good idea of how to find and study the blood stem cells of the bone marrow. The stem cells live forever, reproduce themselves and give rise to all the cells of the blood. In the process, the stem cells divide and produce intermediate stages of development called progenitors, which make various blood lineages like red blood cells or platelets. Crooks was most interested in the creation of the progenitors that form the entire immune system, which consists of many different cells called lymphocytes, each with a specialized function to fight infection.

Like the stem cells, the progenitor cells are also very rare, so before we can study them we needed to find the needle in the haystack. said Lisa Kohn, a member of the UCLA Medical Scientist Training Program and first author in the paper.

Previous work had found a fairly mature type of lymphocyte progenitor with a limited ability to differentiate, but the new work describes a more primitive type of progenitor primed to produce the entire immune system, Kohn said

Once the lymphoid primed progenitor had been identified, Crooks and her team studied how gene expression changed during the earliest stages of its production from stem cells.

Read this article:
UCLA Researchers Discover "Missing Link" Between Stem Cells and the Immune System

Featured Article Academic Journal Main Category: Bones / Orthopedics Also Included In: Stem Cell Research Article Date: 24 Aug 2012 - 0:00 PDT

Current ratings for: Osteoporosis Clue Found In Stem Cell Signalling Protein

3 (2 votes)

These are the implications of a new study led by Harvard Medical School (HMS) that was published online in The Journal of Clinical Investigation on 13 August.

Senior author Bjorn Olsen, Hersey Professor of Cell Biology at HMS, told the press about what they found:

"It shifts the thinking about what controls the differentiation of stem cells to bone cells instead of fat cells, and how to make sure this mechanism stays active with aging."

Bone is not a dead material: it is living tissue that is changing all the time, as it is continuously formed and reabsorbed.

Osteoporosis is a common bone disease where bone tissue becomes progressively thinner, resulting in higher risk of fracture. It affects about 1 in 5 American women and is thought to be caused by stem cells that normally differentiate into bone-forming cells becoming fat cells instead over time.

For the study, Olsen, who is professor of developmental biology and dean for research at Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and colleagues, decided to investigate the role of vascular endothelial growth factor, or VEGF, a common signalling protein that plays a key role in the development of blood vessels that are important in early bone growth and skeletal maintenance in mammals. The protein works by activating receptors on the surface of cells.

Soon after they were born, the mice's skeletons began to show osteoporosis-like qualities, such as reduced bone tissue and a build up of fat in the bone marrow.

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Osteoporosis Clue Found In Stem Cell Signalling Protein

Normanby family organises stem cell donor recruitment day at Middlesbrough FC

9:00am Wednesday 4th July 2012 in News By Graeme Hetherington

THE family of an eight-month-old baby is calling on young people to step up to the challenge in an attempt to save his life.

Danny Bryan, who needs a blood stem cell often known as bone marrow transplant to stay alive, was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition, Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, which means he cannot fight infection.

Doctors have told his mother, Claire Bryan, 26, that he will not survive childhood without a transplant, but the speed of his deterioration has come as a shock to the family.

His mother said: We knew that it would hit him one day, but we had no idea it would be so quick.

Wiskott-Aldrich usually starts to affect children when they are one or two years old, but the doctors have told us Danny is a particularly severe case.

Hes in hospital at the moment as hes had a virus which his immune system just cant fight off and is having specialist treatment to try to get things under control.

We know that the quicker he has a transplant the better for him and, thankfully, a couple of possible matches have come up with the Anthony Nolan charity. Were just praying that one of these comes off.

The family, of Keats Road, Normanby, is holding a donor recruitment day with the charity, which matches people with donors willing to donate their blood stem cells for transplant, at an event at Middlesbrough Football Club on Tuesday, July 10.

Link:
Bone marrow plea to save eight-month-old Danny Bryan

Some worry that a ruling giving donors the ability to sell their bone-marrow tissue will encourage legal sale of other body parts.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(Time.com) -- How much would it take for you to consider selling your bone marrow? A U.S. appeals court puts the price at about $3,000 in a ruling that now makes it legal to pay donors for their bone-marrow tissue.

The court's decision may well help thousands of sick patients who need bone-marrow transplants to survive, but it also begs the question, What other body parts might next be up for sale?

The ruling came about at the end of 2011, in a decision to an October 2009 lawsuit brought by a group of cancer patients, parents and bone-marrow-donation advocates against the government over the federal law banning the buying and selling of bodily organs. The plaintiffs were led by Doreen Flynn, who has three daughters who suffer from Fanconi anemia, a blood disorder that requires bone-marrow transplants to treat.

Flynn and the other plaintiffs said that too many such patients die waiting for transplants and argued that we should be allowed to pay people to donate their marrow as a way of ensuring a more reliable supply. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit agreed.

Time.com: Facebook now lets organ donors tell their friends

At the core of the plaintiffs' argument was the National Organ Transplantation Act (NOTA), which since 1984 has forbid the buying and selling of human organs, including bone marrow. But new developments in bone-marrow extraction have made marrow donation not much different from donating blood.

Traditionally, bone-marrow donation required anesthesia and long needles to extract the marrow from the hip bones of donors. Now, a technique called peripheral apheresis allows doctors to extract blood stem cells directly from the blood, instead of the bone -- patients first take a drug that pulls stem cells from the bone and into the blood -- meaning that the marrow cells should be considered a fluid like blood, rather than an organ, the plaintiffs argued. NOTA doesn't prohibit payments for blood or other fluids, such as plasma or semen.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder decided not to ask the Supreme Court to review the appellate court's decision, which would have been the next step in overturning it. That means the ruling stands -- and that people can now be paid up to $3,000 for their marrow, as long as it is collected by apheresis. In a concession to the spirit of NOTA, however, the compensation can't be in cash; it needs to be in the form of a voucher that can be applied to things such as scholarships, education, housing or a donation to a charity.

See original here:
Should people be allowed to sell their organs?

North Vancouver mother Erica Harris needs a bone-marrow transplant to survive, and her family is urging people to become donors to try to save her life, as well as the lives of other patients desperately seeking a match.

Harley Harris hopes his plea to join the Canadian Blood Services (CBS) online donation registry will resonate across B.C. and beyond.

The message is the importance of how getting on this registry can save lives. Can save Ericas life. Can save friends, family, loved ones, said Harris, who has two young sons with his wife, Erica.

Every one can save a mothers life, can bring a mother home to her children. Our boys are two and five. They need their mama.

Erica Harris is one of 211 B.C. residents waiting for stem cell and bone marrow donations; there are 977 waiting across Canada.

Harris, a chiropractor, was diagnosed less than a month ago with acute myeloid leukemia. Her first chemotherapy treatment didnt work and she is now pegged as high risk. She is undergoing more aggressive chemotherapy, which must be followed by an urgent bone marrow transplant, Harley Harris said.

His wifes brother was not a match, and so far, a search of the 11 million names on all the international bone marrow donor registries has not found a suitable candidate.

Canadians can register online with CBSs OneMatch registry at onematch.ca.

In the majority of cases, there is no pain or long-term recovery for the donors, said Dr. John Shepherd, director of the Leukemia/Bone Marrow Transplant Program of BC, located at Vancouver General Hospital.

Last year, donations were collected from more than 200 people in B.C. using a minimally invasive procedure to collect stem cells from the blood with a needle.

View original post here:
North Vancouver family urges people to become bone marrow donors

Some worry that a ruling giving donors the ability to sell their bone-marrow tissue will encourage legal sale of other body parts.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(Time.com) -- How much would it take for you to consider selling your bone marrow? A U.S. appeals court puts the price at about $3,000 in a ruling that now makes it legal to pay donors for their bone-marrow tissue.

The court's decision may well help thousands of sick patients who need bone-marrow transplants to survive, but it also begs the question, What other body parts might next be up for sale?

The ruling came about at the end of 2011, in a decision to an October 2009 lawsuit brought by a group of cancer patients, parents and bone-marrow-donation advocates against the government over the federal law banning the buying and selling of bodily organs. The plaintiffs were led by Doreen Flynn, who has three daughters who suffer from Fanconi anemia, a blood disorder that requires bone-marrow transplants to treat.

Flynn and the other plaintiffs said that too many such patients die waiting for transplants and argued that we should be allowed to pay people to donate their marrow as a way of ensuring a more reliable supply. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit agreed.

Time.com: Facebook now lets organ donors tell their friends

At the core of the plaintiffs' argument was the National Organ Transplantation Act (NOTA), which since 1984 has forbid the buying and selling of human organs, including bone marrow. But new developments in bone-marrow extraction have made marrow donation not much different from donating blood.

Traditionally, bone-marrow donation required anesthesia and long needles to extract the marrow from the hip bones of donors. Now, a technique called peripheral apheresis allows doctors to extract blood stem cells directly from the blood, instead of the bone -- patients first take a drug that pulls stem cells from the bone and into the blood -- meaning that the marrow cells should be considered a fluid like blood, rather than an organ, the plaintiffs argued. NOTA doesn't prohibit payments for blood or other fluids, such as plasma or semen.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder decided not to ask the Supreme Court to review the appellate court's decision, which would have been the next step in overturning it. That means the ruling stands -- and that people can now be paid up to $3,000 for their marrow, as long as it is collected by apheresis. In a concession to the spirit of NOTA, however, the compensation can't be in cash; it needs to be in the form of a voucher that can be applied to things such as scholarships, education, housing or a donation to a charity.

More:
Should you be allowed to sell organs?

ScienceDaily (July 3, 2012) searchers from the University of Maryland School of Maryland report promising results from using adult stem cells from bone marrow in mice to help create tissue cells of other organs, such as the heart, brain and pancreas -- a scientific step they hope may lead to potential new ways to replace cells lost in diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson's or Alzheimer's.

The research in collaboration with the University of Paris Descartes is published online in the June 29, 2012 edition of Comptes Rendus Biologies, a publication of the French Academy of Sciences.

"Finding stem cells capable of restoring function to different damaged organs would be the Holy Grail of tissue engineering," says lead author David Trisler, PhD, assistant professor of neurology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

He adds, "This research takes us another step in that process by identifying the potential of these adult bone marrow cells, or a subset of them known as CD34+ bone marrow cells, to be 'multipotent,' meaning they could transform and function as the normal cells in several different organs."

University of Maryland researchers previously developed a special culturing system to collect a select sample of these adult stem cells in bone marrow, which normally makes red and white blood cells and immune cells. In this project, the team followed a widely recognized study model, used to prove the multipotency of embryonic stem cells, to prove that these bone marrow stem cells could make more than just blood cells. The investigators also found that the CD34+ cells had a limited lifespan and did not produce teratomas, tumors that sometimes form with the use of embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells cultivated from other methods that require some genetic manipulation.

"When taken at an early stage, we found that the CD34+ cells exhibited similar multipotent capabilities as embryonic stem cells, which have been shown to be the most flexible and versatile. Because these CD34+ cells already exist in normal bone marrow, they offer a vast source for potential cell replacement therapy, particularly because they come from a person's own body, eliminating the need to suppress the immune system, which is sometimes required when using adults stem cells derived from other sources," explains Paul Fishman, MD, PhD, professor of neurology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

The researchers say that proving the potential of these adult bone marrow stem cells opens new possibilities for scientific exploration, but that more research will be needed to see how this science can be translated to humans.

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Adult stem cells from bone marrow: Cell replacement/tissue repair potential in adult bone marrow stem cells in animal ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 3, 2012

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF MEDICINE INVESTIGATORS FIND CELL REPLACEMENT/ TISSUE REPAIR POTENTIAL IN ADULT BONE MARROW STEM CELLS IN ANIMAL MODEL

Scientists Looking for Potential Avenue to Grow Cells of Different Organs

Newswise Baltimore, MD July 3, 2012. Researchers from the University of Maryland School of Maryland report promising results from using adult stem cells from bone marrow in mice to help create tissue cells of other organs, such as the heart, brain and pancreas - a scientific step they hope may lead to potential new ways to replace cells lost in diseases such as diabetes, Parkinsons or Alzheimers. The research in collaboration with the University of Paris Descartes is published online in the June 29, 2012 edition of Comptes Rendus Biologies, a publication of the French Academy of Sciences.

Finding stem cells capable of restoring function to different damaged organs would be the Holy Grail of tissue engineering, says lead author David Trisler, PhD, assistant professor of neurology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

He adds, This research takes us another step in that process by identifying the potential of these adult bone marrow cells, or a subset of them known as CD34+ bone marrow cells, to be multipotent, meaning they could transform and function as the normal cells in several different organs.

University of Maryland researchers previously developed a special culturing system to collect a select sample of these adult stem cells in bone marrow, which normally makes red and white blood cells and immune cells. In this project, the team followed a widely recognized study model, used to prove the multipotency of embryonic stem cells, to prove that these bone marrow stem cells could make more than just blood cells. The investigators also found that the CD34+ cells had a limited lifespan and did not produce teratomas, tumors that sometimes form with the use of embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells cultivated from other methods that require some genetic manipulation.

When taken at an early stage, we found that the CD34+ cells exhibited similar multipotent capabilities as embryonic stem cells, which have been shown to be the most flexible and versatile. Because these CD34+ cells already exist in normal bone marrow, they offer a vast source for potential cell replacement therapy, particularly because they come from a persons own body, eliminating the need to suppress the immune system, which is sometimes required when using adults stem cells derived from other sources, explains Paul Fishman, MD, PhD, professor of neurology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

The researchers say that proving the potential of these adult bone marrow stem cells opens new possibilities for scientific exploration, but that more research will be needed to see how this science can be translated to humans.

The results of this international collaboration show the important role that University of Maryland School of Medicine researchers play in advancing scientific understanding, investigating new avenues for the development of potentially life-changing treatments, says E. Albert Reece, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., vice president for medical affairs at the University of Maryland and the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor and dean of the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

More:
Study Results: Adult Stem Cells From Bone Marrow

Ed Reschke / Getty Images

A color-enhanced photograph of spongy (Cancellous) bone red bone marrow fills the space.

How much would it take for you to consider selling your bone marrow? A U.S. appeals court puts the price at about $3,000 in a ruling that now makes it legal to pay donors for their bone marrow tissue.

The courts decision may well help thousands of sick patients who need bone marrow transplants to survive, but it also begs the question, what other body parts might next be up for sale?

The ruling came about at the end of 2011, in a decision to an October 2009 lawsuit brought by a group of cancer patients, parents and bone marrow donation advocates against the government over the federal law banning the buying and selling of bodily organs. The plaintiffs were led by Doreen Flynn, who has three daughters who suffer from Fanconi anemia, a blood disorder that requires bone marrow transplants to treat. Flynn and the other plaintiffs said that too many such patients die waiting for transplants and argued that we should be allowed to pay people to donate their marrow as a way of ensuring a more reliable supply. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit agreed.

(MORE: Facebook Now Lets Organ Donors Tell Their Friends)

At the core of the plaintiffs argument was the National Organ Transplantation Act (NOTA), which since 1984 has forbid the buying and selling of human organs, including bone marrow. But new developments in bone marrow extraction have made marrow donation not much different from donating blood: traditionally, bone marrow donation required anesthesia and long needles to extract the marrow from the hipbones of donors. Now, a technique called peripheral apheresis allows doctors to extract blood stem cells directly from the blood, instead of the bone patients first take a drug that pulls stem cells from the bone and into the blood meaning that the marrow cells should be considered a fluid like blood, rather than an organ, the plaintiffs argued. NOTA doesnt prohibit payments for blood or other fluids, such as plasma or semen.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder decided not to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the appellate courts decision, which would have been the next step in overturning it. That means the ruling stands and that people can now be paid up to $3,000 for their marrow, as long as it is collected by apheresis. In a concession to the spirit of NOTA, however, the compensation cant be in cash; it needs to be in the form of a voucher that can be applied to things such as scholarships, education, housing or a donation to a charity.

While the decision applies only to the nine states covered by the Ninth Circuit court, and only to bone marrow obtained through apheresis, it does raise bigger questions about how we will look at organ donation in the future. With about 114,000 people waiting for organs in the U.S. alone on any given day, and only 3,300 donors, the urgent medical need runs up against moral standards of the value human life. Once we start paying for the parts we need, though, how far do we go? We dont allow people to buy and sell human beings, thats slavery, says Dr. Robert Klitzman, director of the bioethics program at Columbia University. Should we allow people to buy and sell human body parts?

(MORE: Where Do (Some) Babies Come From? In Washington, a New Law Bans Anonymous Sperm and Egg Donors)

See the article here:
Paying for Bone Marrow: Should We Be Able to Sell Our Parts?

Ed Reschke / Getty Images

A color-enhanced photograph of spongy (Cancellous) bone red bone marrow fills the space.

How much would it take for you to consider selling your bone marrow? A U.S. appeals court puts the price at about $3,000 in a ruling that now makes it legal to pay donors for their bone marrow tissue.

The courts decision may well help thousands of sick patients who need bone marrow transplants to survive, but it also begs the question, what other body parts might next be up for sale?

The ruling came about at the end of 2011, in a decision to an October 2009 lawsuit brought by a group of cancer patients, parents and bone marrow donation advocates against the government over the federal law banning the buying and selling of bodily organs. The plaintiffs were led by Doreen Flynn, who has three daughters who suffer from Fanconi anemia, a blood disorder that requires bone marrow transplants to treat. Flynn and the other plaintiffs said that too many such patients die waiting for transplants and argued that we should be allowed to pay people to donate their marrow as a way of ensuring a more reliable supply. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit agreed.

(MORE: Facebook Now Lets Organ Donors Tell Their Friends)

At the core of the plaintiffs argument was the National Organ Transplantation Act (NOTA), which since 1984 has forbid the buying and selling of human organs, including bone marrow. But new developments in bone marrow extraction have made marrow donation not much different from donating blood: traditionally, bone marrow donation required anesthesia and long needles to extract the marrow from the hipbones of donors. Now, a technique called peripheral apheresis allows doctors to extract blood stem cells directly from the blood, instead of the bone patients first take a drug that pulls stem cells from the bone and into the blood meaning that the marrow cells should be considered a fluid like blood, rather than an organ, the plaintiffs argued. NOTA doesnt prohibit payments for blood or other fluids, such as plasma or semen.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder decided not to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the appellate courts decision, which would have been the next step in overturning it. That means the ruling stands and that people can now be paid up to $3,000 for their marrow, as long as it is collected by apheresis. In a concession to the spirit of NOTA, however, the compensation cant be in cash; it needs to be in the form of a voucher that can be applied to things such as scholarships, education, housing or a donation to a charity.

While the decision applies only to the nine states covered by the Ninth Circuit court, and only to bone marrow obtained through apheresis, it does raise bigger questions about how we will look at organ donation in the future. With about 114,000 people waiting for organs in the U.S. alone on any given day, and only 3,300 donors, the urgent medical need runs up against moral standards of the value human life. Once we start paying for the parts we need, though, how far do we go? We dont allow people to buy and sell human beings, thats slavery, says Dr. Robert Klitzman, director of the bioethics program at Columbia University. Should we allow people to buy and sell human body parts?

(MORE: Where Do (Some) Babies Come From? In Washington, a New Law Bans Anonymous Sperm and Egg Donors)

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Paying for Bone Marrow: Should We Be Able to Sell Our Body Parts?

Ed Reschke / Getty Images

A color-enhanced photograph of spongy (Cancellous) bone red bone marrow fills the space.

How much would it take for you to consider selling your bone marrow? A U.S. appeals court puts the price at about $3,000 in a ruling that now makes it legal to pay donors for their bone marrow tissue.

The courts decision may well help thousands of sick patients who need bone marrow transplants to survive, but it also begs the question, what other body parts might next be up for sale?

The ruling came about at the end of 2011, in a decision to an October 2009 lawsuit brought by a group of cancer patients, parents and bone marrow donation advocates against the government over the federal law banning the buying and selling of bodily organs. The plaintiffs were led by Doreen Flynn, who has three daughters who suffer from Fanconi anemia, a blood disorder that requires bone marrow transplants to treat. Flynn and the other plaintiffs said that too many such patients die waiting for transplants and argued that we should be allowed to pay people to donate their marrow as a way of ensuring a more reliable supply. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit agreed.

(MORE: Facebook Now Lets Organ Donors Tell Their Friends)

At the core of the plaintiffs argument was the National Organ Transplantation Act (NOTA), which since 1984 has forbid the buying and selling of human organs, including bone marrow. But new developments in bone marrow extraction have made marrow donation not much different from donating blood: traditionally, bone marrow donation required anesthesia and long needles to extract the marrow from the hipbones of donors. Now, a technique called peripheral apheresis allows doctors to extract blood stem cells directly from the blood, instead of the bone patients first take a drug that pulls stem cells from the bone and into the blood meaning that the marrow cells should be considered a fluid like blood, rather than an organ, the plaintiffs argued. NOTA doesnt prohibit payments for blood or other fluids, such as plasma or semen.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder decided not to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the appellate courts decision, which would have been the next step in overturning it. That means the ruling stands and that people can now be paid up to $3,000 for their marrow, as long as it is collected by apheresis. In a concession to the spirit of NOTA, however, the compensation cant be in cash; it needs to be in the form of a voucher that can be applied to things such as scholarships, education, housing or a donation to a charity.

While the decision applies only to the nine states covered by the Ninth Circuit court, and only to bone marrow obtained through apheresis, it does raise bigger questions about how we will look at organ donation in the future. With about 114,000 people waiting for organs in the U.S. alone on any given day, and only 3,300 donors, the urgent medical need runs up against moral standards of the value human life. Once we start paying for the parts we need, though, how far do we go? We dont allow people to buy and sell human beings, thats slavery, says Dr. Robert Klitzman, director of the bioethics program at Columbia University. Should we allow people to buy and sell human body parts?

(MORE: Where Do (Some) Babies Come From? In Washington, a New Law Bans Anonymous Sperm and Egg Donors)

Continue reading here:
A Court Allows Payment for Bone Marrow. Should People Be Able to Sell Their Parts?

Public release date: 2-Jul-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Kim Newman sciencenews@einstein.yu.edu 718-430-3101 Albert Einstein College of Medicine

July 2, 2012 -- (Bronx, NY) -- Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have found that abnormal bone marrow stem cells drive the development of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), serious blood diseases that are common among the elderly and that can progress to acute leukemia. The findings could lead to targeted therapies against MDS and prevent MDS-related cancers. The study is published today in the online edition of the journal Blood.

"Researchers have suspected that MDS is a 'stem cell disease,' and now we finally have proof," said co-senior author Amit Verma, M.B.B.S., associate professor of medicine and of developmental and molecular biology at Einstein and attending physician in oncology at Montefiore Einstein Center for Cancer Care. "Equally important, we found that even after MDS standard treatment, abnormal stem cells persist in the bone marrow. So, although the patient may be in remission, those stem cells don't die and the disease will inevitably return. Based on our findings, it's clear that we need to wipe out the abnormal stem cells in order to improve cure rates."

MDS are a diverse group of incurable diseases that affect the bone marrow and lead to low numbers of blood cells. While some forms of MDS are mild and easily managed, some 25 to 30 percent of cases develop into an aggressive disease called acute myeloid leukemia. Each year, about 10,000 to 15,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with MDS, according to the National Marrow Donor Program.

Most cases of MDS occur in people over age 60, but the disease can affect people of any age and is more common in men than women. Symptoms vary widely, ranging from anemia to infections, fever and bleeding. Treatment usually involves chemotherapy to destroy abnormal blood cells plus supportive care such as blood transfusions.

In the current study, lead author Britta Will, Ph.D., research associate in the department of cell biology, and her colleagues analyzed bone marrow stem cells and progenitor cells (i.e., cells formed by stem cells) from 16 patients with various types of MDS and 17 healthy controls. The stem and progenitor cells were isolated from bone marrow using novel cell-sorting methods developed in the laboratory of co-senior author Ulrich Steidl, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of cell biology and of medicine and the Diane and Arthur B. Belfer Faculty Scholar in Cancer Research at Einstein.

Genome-wide analysis revealed widespread genetic and epigenetic alterations in stem and progenitor cells taken from MDS patients, in comparison to cells taken from healthy controls. The abnormalities were more pronounced in patients with types of MDS likely to prove fatal than in patients with lower-risk types.

"Our study offers new hope that MDS can be more effectively treated, with therapies that specifically target genes that are deregulated in early stem and progenitor cells," said Dr. Steidl. "In addition, our findings could help to detect minimal residual disease in patients in remission, allowing for more individualized treatment strategies that permanently eradicate the disease."

###

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Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) linked to abnormal stem cells

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 07:58 EST, 28 June 2012 | UPDATED: 08:44 EST, 28 June 2012

Robin Roberts' older sister has spoken out about being her sole bone marrow donor after learning she was a match.

Sally-Ann, who anchors a morning show in New Orleans, will be essential to her GMA host sister's treatments for myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a blood and bone marrow disease.

The mother-of-three, 55, told the New York Post yesterday how she had been so desperate to be a match for her sister, she and her friends made a prayer circle around the test kit.

'We prayed, "please let this be a match,"' she admitted.

Perfect match: Sally-Ann Roberts, pictured with Robin earlier this month, has spoken about how she learned she would be her sister's sole bone marrow donor

She admitted: 'Im the big sister. Im the one whos supposed to be suffering because of age. But thats not the way it is.'

To donate her bone marrow, Sally-Ann explained that she will have five days of injections to boost her blood cell count, before her blood is passed through a machine that will extract the stem cells her sister, 51, so desperately needs.

'The way it is explained to me is that they will first have to knock out her immune system in order for my stem cells to be accepted by her body,' she said.

Go here to read the rest:
'We prayed that I'd be a match': Robin Roberts' sister Sally-Ann on learning she was the sole bone marrow donor

Last April, when doctors first suspected that Good Morning America host Robin Roberts may have contracted a rare blood disease from the chemotherapy treatments she took for breast cancer, she showed up at her mothers house with a bag full of cheek swabs.

The swabs were to test her family to see if one of them could if worse came to worst be a bone-marrow donor.

Robins oldest sister, Sally-Ann, who anchors a morning show on the CBS station in New Orleans, says she and a friend made a prayer circle around the test kit.

We prayed: Please let this be a match, Sally-Ann told The Post yesterday.

Roger Wong/INFphoto.com

MATCH: Robin Roberts sister Sally-Ann (right), a morning-show host in New Orleans, beat 1-in-4 odds to be donor.

AP

TOUGH: Robin shows off an elastic band Tuesday that covers the intravenous port where she gets medication.

And it worked.

Sally-Ann is going to be Robins sole bone-marrow donor for a series of treatments later this year.

Link:
Sis to serve as Robin's bone-marrow donor

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 07:58 EST, 28 June 2012 | UPDATED: 08:44 EST, 28 June 2012

Robin Roberts' older sister has spoken out about being her sole bone marrow donor after learning she was a match.

Sally-Ann, who anchors a morning show in New Orleans, will be essential to her GMA host sister's treatments for myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a blood and bone marrow disease.

The mother-of-three, 55, told the New York Post yesterday how she had been so desperate to be a match for her sister, she and her friends made a prayer circle around the test kit.

'We prayed, "please let this be a match,"' she admitted.

Perfect match: Sally-Ann Roberts, pictured with Robin earlier this month, has spoken about how she learned she would be her sister's sole bone marrow donor

She admitted: 'Im the big sister. Im the one whos supposed to be suffering because of age. But thats not the way it is.'

To donate her bone marrow, Sally-Ann explained that she will have five days of injections to boost her blood cell count, before her blood is passed through a machine that will extract the stem cells her sister, 51, so desperately needs.

'The way it is explained to me is that they will first have to knock out her immune system in order for my stem cells to be accepted by her body,' she said.

Originally posted here:
'We prayed that I'd be a match': Robin Roberts' sister Sally-Ann on learning she was the sole bone marrow donor

Ask the Experts | Health

The When Harry Met Sally screenwriter recently succumbed to this enigmatic form of cancer, but there are new treatments in the pipeline

By Larry Greenemeier | June 28, 2012

BRAVE FACE: Nora Ephron at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival. She was first diagnosed in 2006 with a type of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a category of blood diseases also referred to as "preleukemia." This later progressed to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Image: Courtesy of David Shankbone, via Wikimedia Commons

Nora Ephron's final act played out in Manhattan on June 26 where the 71-year-old writer and movie director died from pneumonia brought on by acute myeloid leukemia (AML), one of the most common types of leukemia among adults. AML is a cancer caused when abnormal cells grow inside bone marrow and interfere with the production of healthy blood cells. The marrow eventually stops working correctly, leaving a person with an increased risk of bleeding and infections.

Ephronbest known for writing When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattlewas first diagnosed in 2006 with one of the myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), a category of blood diseases also referred to as "preleukemia" that can progress into AML if the bone marrow continually fails to produce enough healthy platelets, red blood cells and white blood cells over time. MDS made headlines recently when ABC's Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts announced she has been diagnosed with the disease.

Some types of leukemia, including AML, develop as a result of exposure to certain chemicals (including herbicides and pesticides), chemotherapy drugs (such as etoposide and a class of drugs known as alkylating agents) and radiation. Typically, however, a doctor is unable to pinpoint the exact cause in individual cases.

Although estimates vary, there are between 10,000 and 12,000 new cases of MDS in the U.S. annually. More than 80 percent of all MDS patients are older than 60. The National Cancer Institute projects that 13,780 men and women7,350 men and 6,430 womenwill be diagnosed with AML and that 10,200 men and women will die of the malady this year.

Scientific American spoke with Bart Scott, a medical oncologist specializing in the treatment of patients with MDS, about syndrome's progression to AML, who is most at risk for this cancer and whether there are any promising treatments on the horizon. Scott is also director of hematology and hematologic malignancies at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and an assistant member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center's clinical research division.

[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]

Originally posted here:
What Is Acute Myelogenous Leukemia, the Cancer That Struck Nora Ephron?

Last April, when doctors first suspected that Good Morning America host Robin Roberts may have contracted a rare blood disease from the chemotherapy treatments she took for breast cancer, she showed up at her mothers house with a bag full of cheek swabs.

The swabs were to test her family to see if one of them could if worse came to worst be a bone-marrow donor.

Robins oldest sister, Sally-Ann, who anchors a morning show on the CBS station in New Orleans, says she and a friend made a prayer circle around the test kit.

We prayed: Please let this be a match, Sally-Ann told The Post yesterday.

Roger Wong/INFphoto.com

MATCH: Robin Roberts sister Sally-Ann (right), a morning-show host in New Orleans, beat 1-in-4 odds to be donor.

AP

TOUGH: Robin shows off an elastic band Tuesday that covers the intravenous port where she gets medication.

And it worked.

Sally-Ann is going to be Robins sole bone-marrow donor for a series of treatments later this year.

See original here:
Sis to serve as Robin's bone-marrow donor

Ask the Experts | Health

The When Harry Met Sally screenwriter recently succumbed to this enigmatic form of cancer, but there are new treatments in the pipeline

By Larry Greenemeier | June 28, 2012

BRAVE FACE: Nora Ephron at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival. She was first diagnosed in 2006 with a type of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a category of blood diseases also referred to as "preleukemia." This later progressed to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Image: Courtesy of David Shankbone, via Wikimedia Commons

Nora Ephron's final act played out in Manhattan on June 26 where the 71-year-old writer and movie director died from pneumonia brought on by acute myeloid leukemia (AML), one of the most common types of leukemia among adults. AML is a cancer caused when abnormal cells grow inside bone marrow and interfere with the production of healthy blood cells. The marrow eventually stops working correctly, leaving a person with an increased risk of bleeding and infections.

Ephronbest known for writing When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattlewas first diagnosed in 2006 with one of the myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), a category of blood diseases also referred to as "preleukemia" that can progress into AML if the bone marrow continually fails to produce enough healthy platelets, red blood cells and white blood cells over time. MDS made headlines recently when ABC's Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts announced she has been diagnosed with the disease.

Some types of leukemia, including AML, develop as a result of exposure to certain chemicals (including herbicides and pesticides), chemotherapy drugs (such as etoposide and a class of drugs known as alkylating agents) and radiation. Typically, however, a doctor is unable to pinpoint the exact cause in individual cases.

Although estimates vary, there are between 10,000 and 12,000 new cases of MDS in the U.S. annually. More than 80 percent of all MDS patients are older than 60. The National Cancer Institute projects that 13,780 men and women7,350 men and 6,430 womenwill be diagnosed with AML and that 10,200 men and women will die of the malady this year.

Scientific American spoke with Bart Scott, a medical oncologist specializing in the treatment of patients with MDS, about syndrome's progression to AML, who is most at risk for this cancer and whether there are any promising treatments on the horizon. Scott is also director of hematology and hematologic malignancies at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and an assistant member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center's clinical research division.

[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]

More:
What Is Acute Myelogenous Leukemia, the Cancer That Struck Nora Ephron?

Harvard Bioscience, Inc. (Nasdaq: HBIO), a life sciences tools company, says the first two successful stem cells laryngotracheal transplants have been completed in Russia using the companys specially-designed bioreactor to grow the cells, which were taken from the patients bone marrow.

Last November, the Holliston, Mass.-based company announced that a simpler procedure, a tracheal transplant, had been completed using stem cells grown in the bioreactor. A few month later, the company announced that the recipient of the tracheal transplant, Christopher Lyle, had died.

The transplants, which required more than six months of preparation, were performed on the first two patients enrolled in an ongoing clinical trial at Krasnodar Regional Hospital in Russia. The company said the procedures are the result of a global collaboration involving organizations in the U.S., Sweden, Russia, Germany, and Italy. The patients were treated as part of a $4.8 million Russian government grant designed to foster international collaboration.

Both of the patients are under 35 and suffered severe damage to their tracheas due to car accidents and subsequent comas they sustained. The company said both patients were able to breathe and speak normally after the procedure.

Excerpt from:
Harvard Bioscience plays role in stem cell transplants

WWL-TVs Sally-Ann Roberts talks about her sisters health battle. Watch Richard Ford on The Colbert Report. TV tweet of the day so far.

TV Linkzilla Daily for 6/27/12 starts now.

When Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts announced June 11 that shed been diagnosed with a rare form of bone-marrow cancer MDS, or myelodysplastic syndrome -- and would undergo chemotherapy and a bone-marrow transplant, her sister, WWL-TV anchor Sally-Ann Roberts, was cast in a key recovery role.

Sally-Ann Roberts, it turned out, was a perfect match to be a bone-marrow-cell donor for her sister. The New Orleans anchors medical contribution wont come for weeks or perhaps months, but shes already begun efforts to raise awareness of the need for donors.

Her station has launched a Perfect Match Supporting Sally-Ann & Robin page on its website, which now holds several stories on the topic, including a Wednesday (June 27) piece in which WWL staffers sign up to join a bone-marrow registry.

An informational and registration phone-bank, staffed by volunteers from organ- and bone-marrow-donation organizations, will operate from 6-9 p.m. Thursday (June 28), in coordination with the stations morning news block.

In a recent interview, Sally-Ann Roberts said her match is a real blessing, because only 25 percent of people who need a bone-marrow transplant actually find a match among their siblings.

She continued:

The majority of people who need a bone marrow donor have to go outside of their family in order to find one. Sometimes it's like a needle in a haystack, and that's why Robin wants to use this challenge that she's facing right now to try to bring attention to the national narrow donor registry. Millions of people are part of it. If a person -- man woman or child -- is in search of a bone marrow donor they can go to this registry and have a chance to find one. There are many, many people who have used the registry successfully.

The only problem is that minorities are underrepresented in the donor registry. Unlike organ donations, where it really doesn't matter what the ethnic background of an individual is for an organ donation, bone marrow for stem cells has to be aligned with the person's genetic makeup. And that's why if you're African American you will find a match with another African American. Native Americans, the same thing. So that's why every racial group needs to be represented in the marrow-donor registry. That's what were trying to do. Were trying to direct people to BeTheMatch.org. If they do, they'll get a packet in the mail and will be able to do a swab, just the inside of their cheek, and will get a self-addressed stamped envelope. They mail it back with the required information. They may get a phone call, they may never get a phone call. But people who have done so -- I've gone online to listen to some of their stories -- they feel so grateful that they were able to reach out and help another individual in need.

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WWL-TV and Sally-Ann Roberts rally support for bone-marrow donor registry