Archive for the ‘Skin Stem Cells’ Category

Scientists at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) have found that a class of heart failure drugs might decrease low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels in patients who do not respond to statins. In a study appearing in the April 6, 2017 issue ofCell Stem Cell, cardiac glycosides reduced levels of a precursor of LDL in liver-like cells, and patients taking cardiac glycosides for heart failure had low LDL.

Not everyone with high LDL cholesterol responds to statins. Statins increase levels of a cell surface receptor that removes LDL cholesterol from the bloodstream. However, statins do not work in patients with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), who have a rare mutation in that receptor. FH patients have very high cholesterol and die of cardiovascular disease by their forties. The existing drugs for FH can cause fatty liver disease, and the best treatment is a liver transplant.

Stephen A. Duncan, D. Phil., SmartStateTMChair of Regenerative Medicine at MUSC, and his colleagues, including Max A. Cayo, Ph.D., an MSTP student at the Medical College of Wisconsin, developed a drug screen to identify an alternative to statins. They focused on apolipoprotein B (ApoB), a molecule that liver cells use to make LDL and which is normal in patients with FH. Drugs that decrease ApoB could potentially lower cholesterol independently of the LDL receptor in FH patients and also in patients with other forms of high cholesterol.

FH was a perfect model for testing alternatives to statins. Yet the rarity of FH meant these liver cells were scarce. Duncan's group obtained skin cells from a patient with the rare disorder from the Next Generation Genetic Association Studies consortium of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, which studies genetic mutations linked to cardiovascular diseases. Next, they generated induced pluripotent stem cells from these skin cells. Stem cells continually double their numbers while in culture. This meant that a sample of converted skin cells from a single patient with FH provided a renewable source of liver-like cells that retained the mutation.

The team treated their liver-like cells with the SPECTRUM drug library, a collection of 2300 pharmaceuticals, many of which have reached clinical trials. In a surprising finding, all nine cardiac glycosides in the library, some once widely prescribed for heart failure, reduced ApoB levels in liver-like cells from the patient with FH, ranging from 29 percent (ouabain) to 38 percent (digoxin) to 73 percent (gitoxin). In further tests, they also lowered ApoB levels in human hepatocytes and reduced them by 30 percent in mice engineered to grow normal human livers without the FH mutation at doses eight times below their toxicity thresholds. Molecular tests revealed that glycosides shorten the lifetime of the ApoB molecule, in part by increasing how quickly it is degraded.

As everyone needs ApoB to make LDL cholesterol, this was proof that cardiac glycosides could potentially also work in patients with other forms of high cholesterol. To find out, the team combed through more than five thousand records of patients prescribed cardiac glycosides for heart failure who also had LDL cholesterol records. On average, LDL cholesterol levels were lower in those taking a cardiac glycoside (reduction of 9 mg/dL) or a statin (reduction of 14 mg/dL) than in those not taking any drug. No difference in LDL cholesterol levels was noted between those taking an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, another heart failure drug with no known role in cholesterol production, and those not taking any drug. Duncan's team also found patients who had LDL measurements recorded both before and after being prescribed a cardiac glycoside. LDL cholesterol dropped in 16 out of 21 patients and by an average of nearly 26 points, which was similar to the 32-point drop seen in a matching group of patients prescribed statins.

This study contains the first evidence to date that cardiac glycosides could potentially reduce LDL cholesterol independently of the LDL receptor, where statins act, by promoting ApoB degradation.

It is not clear from this study whether cardiac glycosides decrease LDL cholesterol in patients who do not have heart failure or at what dose they should be used. The cardiac glycosides have narrow ranges of efficacy for the treatment of heart failure, above which they can be toxic. However, they could offer inexpensive, life-saving options for patients with FH. Digoxin, the cardiac glycoside most commonly prescribed for heart failure, costs less than one dollar per day. Additionally, a cardiac glycoside in a low dose could conceivably provide an added benefit to patients already taking a statin. Finally, using stem cell-based screens of drugs that are already on the market is an innovative way to investigate treatments for rare liver diseases.

"There are so few livers available for transplant," says Duncan. "Having the stem cell model where we make liver cells in the culture dish opens up a possibility of using this not only to investigate a disease, but also as a way to discover drugs that could fix a disease."

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Stem Cell Drug Screen Yields Potential Alternative to Statins - R & D Magazine

Using 3D tissues generated from stem cells, scientists in Germany were able to gain insights into a hereditary disorder which affects parts of brain.

Scientists have grown 3D mini-brains from stem cells and used them to better understand how a rare congenital brain defect develops.

A new method could push research into developmental brain disorders an important step forward, researchers said. Scientists at the University of Bonn in Germany converted skin cells from patients into induced pluripotent stem cells.

From these jack-of-all-trades cells, they generated brain organoids small 3D tissues which resemble the structure and organisation of the developing human brain.

Investigations into human brain development using human cells in the culture dish have so far been very limited: the cells in the dish grow flat, so they do not display any three-dimensional structure.

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Model organisms are available as an alternative, such as mice. The human brain has, however, a much more complex structure. Developmental disorders of the human brain can thus only be resembled to a limited degree in the animal model.

Scientists at the University of Bonn applied a recent development in stem cell research to tackle this limitation: they grew 3D organoids in the cell culture dish, the structure of which is incredibly similar to that of the human brain.

These mini brains offer insight into the processes with which individual nerve cells organise themselves into our highly complex tissues. In their work, the scientists investigated the Miller-Dieker syndrome a hereditary disorder is attributed to a chromosome defect. As a consequence, patients present malformations of important parts of their brain.

In patients, the surface of the brain is hardly grooved but instead more or less smooth, said Vira Iefremova, from University of Bonn. The researchers produced induced pluripotent stem cells from skin cells of Miller-Dieker patients, from which they then grew brain organoids.

In organoids, the brain cells organise themselves very similar to the process in the brain of an embryo: the stem cells divide; a proportion of the daughter cells develops into nerve cells; these move to wherever they are needed.

In organoids, the brain cells organise themselves very similar to the process in the brain of an embryo. (Shutterstock)

These processes resemble a complicated orchestral piece in which the genetic material waves the baton. In Miller-Dieker patients, this process is fundamentally disrupted.

We were able to show that the stem cells divide differently in these patients, said Philipp Koch, associate professor from the University of Bonn. In healthy people, the stem cells initially extensively multiply and form organised, densely packed layers. Only a small proportion of them becomes differentiated and develops into nerve cells, said Koch, who led the study.

Certain proteins are responsible for the dense and even packing of the stem cells. The formation of these molecules is disrupted in Miller-Dieker patients.

The stem cells are thus not so tightly packed and, at the same time, do not have such a regular arrangement. This poor organisation leads, among other things, to the stem cells becoming differentiated at an earlier stage.

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3D 'mini-brains' help understand rare developmental disorders - Hindustan Times

Its tough being a kid, when No seems to be the primary component in an adults vocabulary. Dont jump on the bed, Dont touch the hot pan, and, my personal favorite as a parent, No, you may not color your sister with permanent markers.

Being a young, developmentally impressionable cell is also no picnic. How to choose what developmental path to follow? Should it become a nerve cell, a skin cell, a muscle cell? Now stem cell researcher Marius Wernig, MD, along with postdoctoral scholarMoritz Mall, PhD, and former postdoctoral scholar Michael Kareta, PhD,have shown that young would-be neural cells also live in a culture of no in the form of a powerful repressor protein called Myt1l that actively blocks all other cell fates including skin, heart, lung and liver.

They published their results yesterday in Nature.

As I explained in our release:

The study marks the first identification of a near-global repressor that works to block many cell fates but one. It also suggests the possibility of a network of as-yet-unidentified master regulators specific to each cell type in the body.

Myt1l works in conjunction with another protein that channels the developing cell into the neural cell fate by encouraging the expression of nerve-specific genes. Wernig explained:

Together, these proteins work as a perfect team to funnel a developing cell, or a cell that is being reprogrammed, into the desired cell fate Its a beautiful scenario that both blocks the fibroblast program and promotes the neuronal program. My gut feeling would be that there are many more master repressors like Myt1l to be found for specific cell types, each of which would block all but one cell fate.

Blocking Myt1l expression even in adult neural cells can cause them to lose their way, the researchers found. They begin to express non-neuronal genes and become less efficient at transmitting nerve signals.Because Myt1l has been found to be mutated in some cases of autism, schizophrenia and major depression, theresearch may one day offer new therapeutic avenues for affected people.

Wernig is a member of StanfordsInstitute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine.

Previously: Bridging the stem-cell gap: Stanford researchers identify unique transition state,Its not just science fiction anymore: Childx speakers talk stem cell and gene therapyandCongratulations to Marius Wernig, named Outstanding Young Investigator by stem cell society Image by Gemma Evans

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No means no in stem cell fates, say Stanford researchers - Scope (blog)

Associate professor Dr. Philipp Koch, Dr. Julia Ladewig and Vira Iefremova. Credit: Barbara Frommann/Uni Bonn

A new method could push research into developmental brain disorders an important step forward. This is shown by a recent study at the University of Bonn in which the researchers investigated the development of a rare congenital brain defect. To do so, they converted skin cells from patients into so called induced pluripotent stem cells. From these jack-of-all-trades cells, they generated brain organoids small three-dimensional tissues which resemble the structure and organization of the developing human brain.

Investigations into human brain development using human cells in the culture dish have so far been very limited: the cells in the dish grow flat, so they do not display any three-dimensional structure. Model organisms are available as an alternative, such as mice. The human brain has, however, a much more complex structure. Developmental disorders of the human brain can thus only be resembled to a limited degree in the animal model.

Scientists at the Institute of Reconstructive Neurobiology at the University of Bonn applied a recent development in stem cell research to tackle this limitation: they grew three-dimensional organoids in the cell culture dish, the structure of which is incredibly similar to that of the human brain. These mini brains offer insight into the processes with which individual nerve cells organize themselves into our highly complex tissues. The method thus opens up completely new opportunities for investigating disorders in the architecture of the developing human brain, explains Dr. Julia Ladewig, who leads a working group on brain development.

Rare brain deformity investigated

In their work, the scientists investigated the Miller-Dieker syndrome. This hereditary disorder is attributed to a chromosome defect. As a consequence, patients present malformations of important parts of their brain. In patients, the surface of the brain is hardly grooved but instead more or less smooth, explains Vira Iefremova, PhD student and lead author of the study. What causes these changes has so far only been known in part.

The researchers produced induced pluripotent stem cells from skin cells from Miller-Dieker patients, from which they then grew brain organoids. In organoids, the brain cells organize themselves very similar to the process in the brain of an embryo: the stem cells divide; a proportion of the daughter cells develops into nerve cells; these move to wherever they are needed. These processes resemble a complicated orchestral piece in which the genetic material waves the baton.

In Miller-Dieker patients, this process is fundamentally disrupted. We were able to show that the stem cells divide differently in these patients, explains associate professor Dr. Philipp Koch, who led the study together with Dr. Julia Ladewig. In healthy people, the stem cells initially extensively multiply and form organized, densely packed layers. Only a small proportion of them becomes differentiated and develops into nerve cells.

Certain proteins are responsible for the dense and even packing of the stem cells. The formation of these molecules is disrupted in Miller-Dieker patients. The stem cells are thus not so tightly packed and, at the same time, do not have such a regular arrangement. This poor organization leads, among other things, to the stem cells becoming differentiated at an earlier stage. The change in the three-dimensional tissue structure thus causes altered division behavior, says Ladewig. This connection cannot be identified in animals or in two-dimensional cell culture models.

The scientist emphasizes that no new treatment options are in sight as a result of this. We are undertaking fundamental research here. Nevertheless, our results show that organoids have what it takes to herald a new era in brain research. And if we better understand the development of our brain, new treatment options for disorders of the brain can presumably arise from this over the long term.

Reference:

Iefremova, V., Manikakis, G., Krefft, O., Jabali, A., Weynans, K., Wilkens, R., . . . Ladewig, J. (2017). An Organoid-Based Model of Cortical Development Identifies Non-Cell-Autonomous Defects in Wnt Signaling Contributing to Miller-Dieker Syndrome. Cell Reports, 19(1), 50-59. doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2017.03.047

This article has been republished frommaterialsprovided by the University of Bonn. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

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'Mini Brains' Developed to Study Miller-Dieker Syndrome ... - Technology Networks

Ive always had dry skin, but for several years now, that annoying parchedness has given way to flaky, pink patches on both of my cheeks that a dermatologist dubbed mild rosacea. Im half Irish, and so developing the skin condition sometimes referred to as the curse of the Celts isnt all that surprising. But damn, is it annoying. Most mornings, it looks like I used a Brillo pad for a pillow.

Like anyone with fussy skin, I tried a long list of creams and gels to calm down those angry pink spots, including Mirvaso (which fixed the discoloration temporarily but did nothing to heal the dryness), and a sulfur treatment that caused my entire face to break out in tiny bumps. (Turns out, Im allergic. Fun!) Id finally resigned myself to Aveenos Ultracalming Moisturizer which worked okay, but didnt give me the smoothness Id hoped for when Corey at a Sephora on the Upper West Side changed my face life.

I explained to Corey, who had the kind of dreamy skin and eyelashes a girl can only dream of, that I needed a creamy foundation that would cover any red spots on my wedding day. He shook his head. You need something that is going to sooth your skin, and then we can talk foundation. He left me by a row of lipsticks and returned with a jar of Peter Thomas Roths Stem Cell Bio-Repair Gel Mask. I use this all the time, he told me. Put it on for ten minutes after you take a shower, wash it off, and then slather your face with moisturizer.

I was in no position to argue with this perfect-skinned man. I bought the gel, and a jar of Drunk Elephants Lala Whipped Cream moisturizer, and went home expecting well, not much. But then, as instructed, I cleansed my face with semi-cold water, dried it off, and applied a thin layer of the pink gel mask which is cool to the touch and has the slightest rose scent. And holy hell. After one application, my skin already felt smoother.

Ive been using the gel several times a week for a month now, and my skin is no longer flaking. Theres some pinkness, but less and my face is visibly less dry. I cant say I buy into the fact that plant stem cells are working magic on me (doubts have been raised about such claims), but the gel does live up to its promise of hydrating skin and combating dullness which could be thanks to a combination of natural oils and the fact that the mask itself feels as cool and redness-taming as an aloe gel. Sure, Im not quite Corey level yet, but my face has a noticeable glow to it that it hasnt had in years. Whats more, the mask is free of parabens, sulfates, and phthalates, and it doesnt irritate my sensitive skin.

If you really want the ultimate cooling effect, you can stick the jar of gel in the fridge and leave it on overnight. (The gel dries in less than a minute, so you wont be sleeping in goo.) Im not that hard core, and grabbing it right out of my medicine cabinet after showering has been working fine for me. On my wedding day, the makeup artist even commented on how soft my skin was, and my foundation laid on just right. I told her about the gel and what my face was like before. Sounds like a miracle worker, she said. Amen.

Peter Thomas Roth Rose Stem Cell Bio-Repair Gel Mask $52, Sephora

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This Pink Gel Mask Saved My Dry, Flaky Skin - New York Magazine

No two stem cells are identical, even if they are genetic clones. This stunning diversity is revealed today in an enormous publicly available online catalogue of 3D stem cell images. The visuals were produced using deep learning analyses and cell lines altered with the gene-editing tool CRISPR. And soon the portal will allow researchers to predict variations in cell layouts that may foreshadow cancer and other diseases.

The Allen Cell Explorer, produced by the Allen Institute for Cell Science in Seattle, Washington, includes a growing library of more than 6,000 pictures of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) key components of which glow thanks to fluorescent markers that highlight specific genes.

The Cell Explorer complements ongoing projects by several groups that chart the uniqueness of single cells at the level of DNA, RNA and proteins. Rick Horwitz, director of the Allen Institute for Cell Science, says that the institutes images may hasten progress in stem cell research, cancer research and drug development by revealing unexpected aspects of cellular structure. You cant predict the outcome of a football game if you know stats on all the players but have never watched a game.

The project began about a year ago with adult skin cells that had been reprogrammed into an embryonic-like, undifferentiated state. Horwitz and his team then used CRISPRCas9 to insert tags in genes to make structures within the cells glow. The genes included those that code for proteins that highlight actin filaments, which help cells to move and maintain their shape. It quickly became clear that the cells, which were all genetic clones from the same parent cell, varied in the placement, shape and number of their components, such as mitochondria and actin fibres.

Computer scientists analysed thousands of the images using deep learning programs and found relationships between the locations of cellular structures. They then used that information to predict where the structures might be when the program was given just a couple of clues, such as the position of the nucleus. The program learned by comparing its predictions to actual cells.

The deep learning algorithms are similar to those that companies use to predict peoples preferences, Horwitz says. If you buy a chainsaw at Amazon, it might then show you chain oil and plaid shirts.

The 3D interactive tool based on this deep learning capability should go live later this year. At the moment, the site shows a preview of how it will work using side-by-side comparisons of predicted and actual images.

Benjamin Freedman, a cell biologist at the University of Washington in Seattle, looks forward to playing with the Cell Explorers predictive function once the Allen Institute team has taught their algorithm to recognize more iPS cells that have been changed genetically or chemically. For example, Freedman says he could delete a gene related to kidney disease in one of the fluorescently tagged stem cells from the Allen Institute and see how the mutation affects the glowing structure. Then he could use the sites modelling tool to determine how other cellular components might be altered. Ultimately, Freedman says, we want to understand processes at the cellular level that cause disease in the kidney as a whole.

In the coming months, Allen Institute researchers will update the site with images of stem cells at different stages of cell division, and as they transform into distinct cell types, such as heart and kidney cells. Catching cells at different time points can be crucial to identifying fundamental processes, says Horwitz.

Allen Institute for Cell Science

Structural differences in the DNA (purple) and cellular membrane (blue) of genetically identical stem cells.

The Allen Institutes visual emphasis on stem cells dovetails with a number of efforts to catalogue other aspects of cells. For example, the London-based charity Cancer Research UK is creating interactive virtual-reality models of breast cancer cells in tumours. And an international effort called the Human Cell Atlas seeks to define all human cell types in terms of their molecular profiles, including DNA sequences, RNA transcripts and proteins.

Aviv Regev, a computational biologist at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who is working on the Human Cell Atlas, says that the Allen Cell Explorer complements her project by focusing on the look of cellular features as opposed to how genes, RNA and proteins interact within the cell. The community is accepting that there are a lot of differences between cells that we thought were the same until recently, she says, so now were taking an unbiased approach to learn about pieces in the puzzle we didnt know existed before.

Read more:
Machine learning predicts the look of stem cells - Nature.com

Science Daily

Mini brains from the petri dish Science Daily The researchers produced induced pluripotent stem cells from skin cells from Miller-Dieker patients, from which they then grew brain organoids. In organoids, the brain cells organize themselves -- very similar to the process in the brain of an embryo ... and more »

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Mini brains from the petri dish - Science Daily

Last week, a patient with blurry vision in his right eye walked into a doctors office and became the first person to receive reprogrammed stem cells from a donor to treat his age-related macular degeneration.

The patient a Japanese man in his 60s is not alone, as four other patients have been approved for the procedure by Japan's health ministry. The first medical case was reported on March 28 by Nature.

In a one-hour operation by surgeon Yasuo Kurimoto, the patient received skin cells from a human donor at Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital. The donors skin cells were reverse engineered into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. These cells are often seen as a game-changer in the world of regenerative medicine as they have the ability to become almost any type of cell in the body.

In this case, the iPS cells were turned into retinal cells, which were then implanted into the retina of the patient, who has age-related macular degeneration. It is hoped the procedure will stop the progression of the disease, which can lead to blindness. The transplantis not being touted as a cure for the condition, merely a prevention methodfrom further damage.

During the procedure, the surgical team injected 50 microliters of liquid containing 250,000 retinal cells into the patients eye, according to the Japan Times. The real test, however, will be the next phase of monitoring.

What sets this transplant apart is also what makes the recovery process precarious. Doctors will need to keep a careful watch on the patient, as iPS cells from a donor are not a genetic match and could cause an immune rejection.

At this point, you might remember a similar case in 2014 with a Japanese woman at the same hospital. She also received retinal cells derived from iPS cells, however hers were taken from her own skin, not a donor's.

"A key challenge in this case is to control rejection," said Riken researcher Masayo Takahashi to the Japan Times. "We need to carefully continue treatment."

In an update, the team said the Japanese woman was doing well and her vision had not declined. They decided to change track and use donor cells for this study because it holds a more viable future for such transplants.

It's hoped, if all goes well here, that researchers can create a bank of donor stem cells. Such a future would cut down on costs and reduce wait times, as cultivating ones own cells can take several months. However, there's stillmuch to be done.

After the procedure, Takahashi told a press conference that the surgery went well. They will continue to monitor the situation and provide further updates in the future.

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Man Receives Reprogrammed" Stem Cells From Donor In Medical First - IFLScience

In what's reported to be a world-first, last Tuesday, a Japanese man received a pioneering retinal cell transplant grown from donor stem cells instead of his own.

Doctors took skin cells from a donor bank and reprogrammed them into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which can be coaxed to grow into most cell types in the body.

For this procedure, the physicians grew the iPS cells into atype of retinal cell, and then injected them into the retina of the patient's right eye.

The test subject was a man in his 60s who has been living with age-related macular degeneration-a currently incurable eye disease that slowly leads to loss of vision.

If this news sounds somewhat familiar, it's because the same team of Japanese doctors successfully performed a similar transplant in 2014. But in that case, the iPS cells came from the patient's own skin, not from a donor.

The 2014 treatment involved culturing a patient's cells into a thin sheet of retinal pigment epithelium cells, which they transplanted directly under her retina.

One year later, their results showed that the patient's disease had not progressedas it would have without any treatment, and she continues to do well.

But a second case study after the 2014 success never went ahead - the researchers found genetic abnormalities in the iPS cells they had derived from an additional patient's skin. To avoid complications, the doctors fromRIKENand Kobe City Medical Centre General Hospital decided to halt the trial and refine their approach.

Now they are back with a potentially safer technique that uses cells from a donor bank. The patient who received the transplant last week is the first of five approved for a study by Japan's health ministry in February this year. It's important to note that so far this is a safety study - a precursor to a clinical trial.

As team leader Masayo Takahashi from RIKEN told a press conference, we will have to wait and see for several years until we know for sure whether last week's transplant was a complete success - which is the whole point of doing a safety study like this.

"A key challenge in this case is to control rejection. We need to carefully continue treatment," she said.

The patient will be closely observed for a year, and then receive check-ups for three more years. The main things for the team to look out for are rejection of the new retinal cells, and the development of potential abnormalities.

An editorial in Nature praises the team's cautious approach, emphasising that this work with iPS cells could pave a smoother path for other trials in the emerging field of stem cell medicine.

If donor cells turn out to be a viable option in iPS cell procedures, it would be huge for creating more affordable stem cell treatments that anyone can benefit from.

Instead of having to induce stem cells out of each individual patient's samples, doctors could go down the cheaper and quicker route of simply picking a suitable match from a donor bank.

Stem cell treatments such as this new procedure are an extremely promising avenue in medicine, but scientists are right to remain cautious and proceed slowly. Just last month a devastating case report broke the news that three women lost their eyesight by participating in a dodgy stem cell trial.

On the other hand, in 2015, an experimental stem cell treatment showed promise in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, and just last year, stem cell injections were used to help stroke patients in recovery.

With all these exciting developments, we'll definitely be keeping an eye on further reports from the Japanese team.

Originally posted here:
A Japanese man just got another person's stem cells transplanted in his eye - ScienceAlert

KAMLOOPS My curiosity was sparked when I read that a stem cell centre was opening in Kamloops (Kamloops This Week, March 21, 2017).

So I went to the location of the centre at 470 Columbia St only to find a parking lot. Thinking that the address might be wrong, I searched the directory of the medical building next door and found that no stem cell centre was listed.

The Stem Cell Centers website lists Kamloops as the only one in Canada. Dr. Richard Brownlee is named as the surgeon with more information coming soon.

Stem cell therapy, says the website, can help with orthopedic or pain management, ophthalmological conditions, cardiac or pulmonary conditions, neurological conditions, and auto-immune diseases, among many other conditions and disease that results in damaged tissue.

One of the ophthalmological conditions they treat is macular degeneration. If your vision is fading due to macular degeneration, you know its time to seek help. Our non-invasive Stem Cell Therapy treatment might be the solution for you.

I wanted get Dr. Brownlees reaction to news that an unproven stem cell treatment had resulted in blindness according to the New England Journal of Medicine as reported in the Globe and Mail, March 20, 2017.

This week, the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) reported on three individuals who went blind after receiving an unproven stem cell treatment at a Florida clinic. The patients paid thousands of dollars for what they thought was a clinical trial on the use of stem cells to treat macular degeneration.

The writer of the Globe and Mail article, Timothy Caulfield, Research Chair of the in Health Law and Policy at the University of Alberta, doesnt name the Florida clinic.

The Stem Cell Centers website refers optimistically to treatment for macular degeneration at a Florida clinic, although apparently not theirs since no Florida clinic appears on their list. It tells of how Doug Oliver suffered from macular degeneration before stem cells were extracted from his hip bone and injected them into his eyes. Almost immediately, Olivers eyesight started to improve. I began weeping, he said.

Caulfield encourages caution. Health science gets a lot of attention in the popular press. People love hearing about breakthroughs, paradigm shifts and emerging cures. The problem is, these stories are almost always misleading. It can also help to legitimize the marketing of unproven therapies.

Reports from the Stem Cell Centers own website are cautionary as well. It quotes an abstract from a study done by the Southern California College of Optometry on how stem cells might ultimately be used to restore the entire visual pathway.

The promise of stem cell research is phenomenal. Scientific American (Jan., 2017) reports that brains can be grown in a lab dish from stem cells taken from skin. These samples can be used to research brain disorders ranging from schizophrenia to Alzheimer's disease, and to explore why only some babies develop brain-shrinking microcephaly after exposure to the Zika virus.

However, Dr. George Daley, dean of Harvard Medical School, concludes that there are only a handful of clinical applications available and they are for skin and blood-related ailments.

Practice, it seems, has not yet matched the promise of stem cell research.

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Stem cell centre coming to Kamloops? | CFJC Today - CFJC Today Kamloops

The newest skin-care secrets of 2017 are blazing trails, blowing minds and changing the face of skin care. Here are the eight most important takeaways from the coolest breakthroughs happening right now.

It may not be the sexiest of anti-aging ingredients, but dermatologists are realizing that cholesterol a component of the material holding our skin cells together is one of the most important ingredients to look for in a moisturizer (especially by age 40, when levels can plummet as much as 40 percent). Its most effective when combined with fatty acids and ceramides, which also help hold skin cells firmly in place so your skin looks smoother and more radiant. Find the trio in __ Elizabeth Arden Advanced Ceramide Capsules Daily Youth Restoring Serum . But no one is suggesting you need to start eating butter by the stick: Theres no evidence that ingesting more cholesterol will do anything for the skin, says Jordana Herschthal, a dermatologist in Boca Raton, Florida.

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SkinThis Beauty Pageant Contestant's Acne Kept Her From Competing Not Anymore

Were not throwing shade at walking or lifting weights they beat sitting on the couch but if you want smoother, fresher-looking skin, you need to get your heart rate up. In one study, people ages 20 to 86 who exercised at a high intensity (running, cycling, whatever youre into) for four or more hours a week for at least ten years had thinner stratum corneum layers and more energetic mitochondrial cells than participants who didnt regularly work out. In plain English: Their skin appeared and acted younger. And its never too late to reverse course. Even previously sedentary 65- to 86-year-olds who began moderate aerobic exercise for 45 minutes twice a week had a change in their skin signs of aging began to reverse on a molecular level after just three months.

We used to think UV rays were the main culprit for melasma, but data is also indicating that visible light and heat may cause dark patches, too, says Doris Day , a clinical associate professor of dermatology at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City. This means that Bikram or standing over a hot stove can create inflammation and exacerbate hyperpigmentation . The risk for melasma is increased for anyone with a job where theyre exposed to constant heat, like bakers, says Herschthal. In addition to using sunscreen, she recommends incorporating a product that regulates skin temperature into your routine to minimize the damage; she likes Colorescience Even Up Clinical Pigment Perfector SPF 50 , which has a marine extract called venuceane. Its one of the few ingredients that keeps skin cool for an extended period of time, says Herschthal. (Studies suggest that applying it twice daily regulates skin temperature.) We also like running the metal ReFa S Carat roller over skin for a temporary cooling effect.

From left: Elizabeth Arden Advanced Ceramide Capsules Daily Youth Restoring Serum, SkinCeuticals Triple Lipid Restore 2:4:2, ReFa S Carat roller, Olay Eyes Ultimate Eye Cream, and Colorescience Even Up Clinical Pigment Perfector SPF 50. Photo by Josephine Schiele.

Theres no rule that says you have to use one product on your entire face. In fact, the new thinking is that you shouldnt. I have patients who use retinoids only on their cheeks and forehead and prescription Soolantra on their chin, where theyre prone to rosacea, says Dendy Engelman, a dermatologist in New York City. Another combo she recommends: Thick creams around the delicate eye area and on the lips, and salicylic acid or glycolic acid products on the T-zone to minimize breakouts (try Paulas Choice Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant ). Use anti- redness products only across the bridge of the nose, on the cheeks, and on the chin to soothe areas prone to flushing. (Engelman likes the Eau Thermale Avene Antirougeurs and Aveeno Ultra-Calming lines.)

When the bones in your face shrink with age yes, it happens it contributes to sagging and a generally flat appearance, says Ava Shamban, a dermatologist in Beverly Hills. Dermatologists have long turned to hyaluronic acid fillers to make the face look fuller, but inject too much of them in the wrong places and suddenly its hello, weird blowfish face. Now dermatologists are learning that injecting hyaluronic acid deeper onto the top layer of bone, instead of in wrinkles seems to reverse some of the bone shrinkage. For chins, if you inject on the top layer of bone, youre stimulating stem cells and actually getting chin augmentation over time, says Shamban, adding that the technique appears to work for the cheekbones and jawbone, as well.

Its an even better anti-ager than we thought. A study published in Dermatologic Surgery (and sponsored by the Johnson & Johnson Skin Research Center) found that when people applied a moisturizer with SPF 30 daily for a year without any other anti-aging products (in other words: zero, nada, nothing else), they ended up with clinically measured improvement in mottled skin tone (by 52 percent), texture (by 40 percent), and clarity (by 41 percent). And the self-reported results were even stronger, which means those numbers translated to younger- looking skin. Its some of the best evidence yet that sunscreen doesnt just prevent aging; it may actually reverse it.

A version of this article on the newest skin-care secrets of 2017 originally appeared in the April 2017 issue of Allure. To get your copy, head to newsstands or subscribe now.

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The 8 Newest Skin-Care Secrets of 2017 - Allure Magazine

On March 28, a Japanese man in his 60s became the first person to receive cells derived from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells that had been donated by another person.

The surgery is expected to set the path for more applications of iPS cell technology, which offers the versatility of embryonic stem cells without the latters ethical taint. Banks of iPS cells from diverse donors could make stem cell transplants more convenient to perform, while slashing costs.

iPS cells are created by removing mature cells from an individual (from their skin, for example), reprogramming these cells backto an embryonic state, and then coaxing them to become a cell type useful for treating a disease.

In the recent procedure, performed on a man from Hyogo prefecture, skin cells from an anonymous donor were reprogrammed and then turned into a type of retinal cell that was transplanted onto the retina of thepatient who suffers from age-related macular degeneration. Doctors hope the cells will stop progression of the disease, which can lead to blindness.

In a procedure performed in September 2014at the Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital, a Japanese woman received retinal cells derived from iPS cells. They were taken from her own skin, though, and then reprogrammed. Such cells prepared for a second patient were found to contain genetic abnormalities and never implanted.

The team decided to redesign the study based on new regulations, and no other participants were recruited to the clinical study. In February 2017, the team reported that the one patient had fared well. The introduced cells remained intactand vision had not declined as would usually be expected with macular degeneration.

In todays procedure performed at the same hospital and by the same surgeon Yasuo Kurimoto doctors used iPS cells that had been taken from a donors skin cells, reprogrammed and banked. Japans health ministry approved the study, which plansto enroll 5 patients, on 1 February.

Using a donor's iPS cells does not offer an exact genetic match, raising the prospect of immune rejection. But Shinya Yamanaka, the Nobel Prize-winning stem-cell scientist who pioneered iPS cells, has contended that banked cells should be a close enough match for most applications.

Yamanaka is establishing an iPS cell bank, which depends on matching donors to recipients via three genes that code for human leukocyte antigens (HLAs) proteins on the cell surface that are involved in triggering immune reactions. HisiPS Cell Stock for Regenerative Medicine currently has cell lines from just one donor. But by March 2018, they hope to create 5-10 HLA-characterized iPS cell lines, which should match 30%-50% of Japans population.

Use of these ready-made cells has advantages for offering stem cell transplants across an entire population, says Masayo Takahashi, an ophthalmologist at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology who devised the iPS cell protocol deployed in todays transplant. The cells are available immediately versus several months wait for a patients own cells and are much cheaper. Cells from patients, who tend to be elderly, might have also accumulated genetic defects that could increase the risk of the procedure.

At a press conference after the procedure, Takahashi said the surgery had gone well but that success could not be declaredwithout monitoring the fate of the introduced cells. She plans to make no further announcements about patient progress until all five procedures are finished. We are at the beginning, she says.

This article is reproduced with permission and wasfirst publishedon March 28, 2017.

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Japanese Man Is First to Receive 'Reprogrammed' Stem Cells from Another Person - Scientific American

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Skin stem cells gain traction for skin repair and regeneration ... FinancialsTrend Although a tremendous progress has been made, large full-thickness skin defects are still associated with mortality due to a low availability of donor skin areas. and more »

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Skin stem cells gain traction for skin repair and regeneration ... - FinancialsTrend

Stelios Andreadis, PhD, is leading a team of researchers who have discovered how to convert adult skin cells into stem cells without modifying their genetics.

UB researchers have found that adult skin cells can be converted into neural crest cells without any genetic modification.

The discovery, which was several years in the making, proves that these stem cells can yield other cells that are present in the spinal cord and brain.

The applications could be very significant, ranging from studying genetic diseases in a dish to generating possible regenerative cures from a patients own cells.

Its actually quite remarkable that it happens, says Stelios Andreadis, PhD, professor of biomedical engineering, who recently published a paper on the results, titled Reprogramming Postnatal Human Epidermal Keratinocytes Toward Functional Neural Crest Fates, in the journal Stem Cells.

The identity of the cells was further confirmed by lineage tracing experiments, where the reprogrammed cells were implanted in chicken embryos and acted just as neural crest cells do.

This image shows Keratinocyte-derived neural crest stem cells turning into neurons as shown by typical neuronal morphology.

Stem cells have been derived from adult cells before, but not without adding genes to alter the cells. The new process yields neural crest cells without addition of foreign genetic material. The reprogrammed neural crest cells can become smooth muscle cells, melanocytes, Schwann cells or neurons.

In medical applications this has tremendous potential because you can always get a skin biopsy, says Andreadis, who is also professor and chair of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

We can grow the cells to large numbers and reprogram them without genetic modification. So, autologous cells derived from the patient can be used to treat devastating neurogenic diseases that are currently hampered by the lack of easily accessible cell sources, he says.

The process can also be used to model disease. Skin cells from a person with a genetic disease of the nervous system can be reprogrammed into neural crest cells. These cells will have the disease-causing mutation in their chromosomes, but the genes that cause the mutation are not expressed in the skin.

The genes are likely to be expressed when cells differentiate into neural crest lineages, such as neurons or Schwann cells, thereby enabling researchers to study the disease in a dish. This is similar to induced pluripotent stem cells, but without genetic modification or reprogramming to the pluripotent state.

The discovery was a gradual process, taking almost five years, Andreadis says, as successive experiments kept leading to something new.

It was one step at a time. It was a very challenging task that involved a wide range of expertise and collaborators to bring it to fruition, he says.

Collaborators include:

Andreadis credits the persistence of his then-doctoral student, Vivek K. Bajpai, for sticking with it.

He is an excellent and persistent student, Andreadis says. Most students would have given up.

The research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Andreadis also credits a seed grant from UBs Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Developments IMPACT program that enabled part of the work.

The work recently received a $1.7 million NIH grant to delve into the mechanisms that occur as the cells reprogram, and to employ the cells for treating the Parkinsons-like symptoms in a mouse model of hypomyelinating disease.

This work has the potential to provide a novel source of abundant, easily accessible and autologous cells for treatment of devastating neurodegenerative diseases, Andreadis says. We are excited about this discovery and its potential impact and are grateful to NIH for the opportunity to pursue it further.

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Neural Crest Stem Cells From Skin Without Genetic Modifications - UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences News

This method opens the doors to producing all sorts of hard-to-access cells and tissues so we can better our understanding of diseases and the response of these tissues to newly developed therapeutics. - Mark Kotter

The results published in Stem Cell Reports open the door to producing a diversity of new cell types that could not be made before in order to study disease.

Human pluripotent stem cells are master cells that have the ability to develop into almost any type of tissue, including brain cells. They hold huge potential for studying human development and the impact of diseases, including cancer, Alzheimers, multiple sclerosis, and heart disease.

In a human, it takes nine to twelve months for a single brain cell to develop fully. It can take between three and 20 weeks using current methods to create human brain cells, including grey matter (neurons) and white matter (oligodendrocytes) from an induced pluripotent stem cell that is, a stem cell generated by reprogramming a skin cell to its master stage. However, these methods are complex and time-consuming, often producing a mixed population of cells.

The new platform technology, OPTi-OX, optimises the way of switching on genes in human stem cells. Scientists applied OPTi-OX to the production of millions of nearly identical cells in a matter of days. In addition to the neurons, oligodendrocytes, and muscle cells the scientists created in the study, OPTi-OX holds the possibility of generating any cell type at unprecedented purities, in this short timeframe.

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Image:Oligodendrocyte Credit: Wikimedia

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New stem cell method produces millions of human brain and muscle cells in days - Cambridge Network

Cultured stem cells. Credit: BioServe Inc., University of Colorado

Growing significant numbers of human stem cells in a short time could lead to new treatments for stroke and other diseases. Scientists are sending stem cells to the International Space Station to test whether these cells proliferate faster in microgravity without suffering any side effects.

Therapeutic uses require hundreds of millions of stem cells and currently no efficient way exists to produce such quantities. Previous research suggests that could help, and the space station is home to the nations only national lab in microgravity.

Some types of stem cells grow faster in simulated microgravity, according to Abba Zubair, a researcher at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. Zubair is principal investigator for the Microgravity Expanded Stem Cells investigation, which is cultivating human stem cells aboard the for use in clinical trials back on Earth. He holds a doctor of medicine degree in transfusion medicine and cell therapy and a doctorate of philosophy in tumor immunology.

Human stem cells are cells that have not yet specialized in function and can divide into a spectrum of cell types, rejuvenating and repairing tissue throughout a persons lifetime. Stem cells in every organ of the body, including skin and bones, maintain those organs and repair tissue by dividing and differentiating into specialized cells.

The Plate Habitat (PHAB) containing BioCell cassettes for the Expanded Stem Cell investigation aboard the space station. Credit: BioServe Inc., University of Colorado

Harvesting a persons stem cells and growing enough of them for use in therapies has proven difficult, though. Researchers have successfully grown , found in bone marrow, but growing sufficient quantities takes weeks. That could be too late for treatment of some conditions.

Stem cells are inherently designed to remain at a constant number, Zubair explains. We need to grow them faster, but without changing their characteristics.

The first phase of the investigation, he adds, is answering the question: Do stem cells grow faster in space and can we grow them in such a manner that they are safe to use in patients?

Investigators will examine the space-grown cells in an effort to understand the mechanism behind microgravitys effects on them. The long-term goal is to learn how to mimic those effects and develop a safe and reliable way to produce stem cells in the quantities needed.

Abba Zubair in his lab at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. Credit: BioServe Inc., University of Colorado

The second phase will involve testing clinical application of the cells in patients. Zubair has been studying treatment of stroke patients with lab-grown stem cells and plans to compare those results with use of the space-grown stem cells.

What is unique about this investigation is that we are not only looking at the biology of the and how they grow, but focusing on application, how we can use them to treat patients, he says.

The investigation expands existing knowledge of how microgravity affects stem cell growth and differentiation as well as advances future studies on how to produce large numbers of for treating stroke and other conditions.

The faster that happens, the better for those who could benefit from .

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Mumbai: A 45-year-old man -- suffering from 45 per cent burns due to a chemical spill at work -- has been healed with stem cell treatment, said the authorities at a hospital here on Friday.

Ram Naik (name changed) was brought to city-based StemRx Bioscience hospital after receiving first aid in another hospital. Nearly 45 per cent of his upper body was burned due to a chemical spill during work.

The impact of the burns led to a charred look on his face and body. Also, joint mobility due to the burns was reduced. The outer layer of the skin was affected, facial burns were of grade II level and in some instances grade III burns were also present, leading to deeper structures like the subcutaneous tissue also being affected.

According to the doctors, burn wound healing involves a series of complex processes, with healing time and scar tissue being the most important parameters that affect treatment outcomes. Burn injuries, especially severe ones, are proving to have devastating effects on the affected patients.

They said that stem cells have been recently applied in burn wounds to promote superior healing of the wounds. Not only have stem cells been shown to promote better and faster healing of the burn wounds, they are also capable of decreasing inflammation and prevent scar progression and fibrosis.

Therefore, the doctors decided to provide Naik stem cell treatment.

Regenerative Medicine researcher at Stemrx Bioscience hospital Pradeep Mahajan said that within two days, a notable improvement in his condition was observed and the swelling and charred appearance started reducing.

"Mild eyelid movements were noticed and on the third day the burns started drying on the face and he could open his mouth and eyes. Growth factors derived from platelets, cells, fibroblasts, collagen-based gel etc. was used during treatment. In addition, in areas with deep burns, sheets of PGLA coated with cells and growth factors were used," said Mahajan, adding that different medication and treatments were imparted and closed dressing was avoided.

"Blood transfusion and supplementary fluids were given intravenously to maintain systemic homeostasis," said Mahajan.

Stating that on 5th and 6th day following treatment, dry scales from the face and body started peeling off, the doctor's team also observed impressive changes such as new skin forming within a week of treatment with cells and growth factors.

By conventional modalities, it takes more than eight weeks for the patient to heal and many additional months for the patient to be able to regain joint and facial movements.

"By the 10th day of the treatment, dry scales completely peeled off and by the 14th day the patient had no tenderness or burning pain. Joint movements became free as well, Steady rate of progression of healthy skin formation is being noticed. Areas with deep burns are also healing at a rapid rate and I am confident that within a month we will accomplish thorough healing and the patient will be back to normal," Mahajan said.

Medical sciences say that such cases are challenging to manage considering the degree of impairment they result in due to prolonged healing period. Also, through conventional therapeutic modalities healing occurs with scar formation and results in contractures. Chances of systemic complications and infection are also high.

However according to the medical team, by using stem cells, the natural healing potential of the body is used, leading to reduction of healing time and promoting regeneration of affected tissues. This also reduces the mental trauma and financial burden that a patient goes through when under conventional management.

"Stem cell-based therapy has offered a novel and powerful strategy in almost every medical specialty including burns and wound management. Stem cells have proven to have tremendous potential in enhancing wound healing and facilitating skin regeneration," Mahajan said.

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Man with 45% burns healed with stem cell treatment - ETHealthworld.com

Mumbai:A 45-year-old man, who was suffering from 45 per cent burns due to a chemical spill at work, has been healed with stem cell treatment, said the authorities at a hospital here on Friday.

Ram Naik (name changed) was brought to city-based StemRx Bioscience hospital after receiving first aid in another hospital. Nearly 45 per cent of his upper body was burned due to a chemical spill during work.

The impact of the burns led to a charred look on his face and body. Also, joint mobility due to the burns was reduced. The outer layer of the skin was affected, facial burns were of grade II level and in some instances grade III burns were also present, leading to deeper structures like the subcutaneous tissue also being affected.

According to the doctors, burn wound healing involves a series of complex processes, with healing time and scar tissue being the most important parameters that affect treatment outcomes. Burn injuries, especially severe ones, are proving to have devastating effects on the affected patients.

They said that stem cells have been recently applied in burn wounds to promote superior healing of the wounds. Not only have stem cells been shown to promote better and faster healing of the burn wounds, they are also capable of decreasing inflammation and prevent scar progression and fibrosis.

Therefore, the doctors decided to provide Naik stem cell treatment.

Regenerative Medicine researcher at Stemrx Bioscience hospital Pradeep Mahajan said that within two days, a notable improvement in his condition was observed and the swelling and charred appearance started reducing.

"Mild eyelid movements were noticed and on the third day the burns started drying on the face and he could open his mouth and eyes. Growth factors derived from platelets, cells, fibroblasts, collagen-based gel etc. was used during treatment. In addition, in areas with deep burns, sheets of PGLA coated with cells and growth factors were used," said Mahajan, adding that different medication and treatments were imparted and closed dressing was avoided.

"Blood transfusion and supplementary fluids were given intravenously to maintain systemic homeostasis," said Mahajan.

Stating that on 5th and 6th day following treatment, dry scales from the face and body started peeling off, the doctor's team also observed impressive changes such as new skin forming within a week of treatment with cells and growth factors.

By conventional modalities, it takes more than eight weeks for the patient to heal and many additional months for the patient to be able to regain joint and facial movements.

"By the 10th day of the treatment, dry scales completely peeled off and by the 14th day the patient had no tenderness or burning pain. Joint movements became free as well, Steady rate of progression of healthy skin formation is being noticed. Areas with deep burns are also healing at a rapid rate and I am confident that within a month we will accomplish thorough healing and the patient will be back to normal," Mahajan said.

Medical sciences say that such cases are challenging to manage considering the degree of impairment they result in due to prolonged healing period. Also, through conventional therapeutic modalities healing occurs with scar formation and results in contractures. Chances of systemic complications and infection are also high.

However according to the medical team, by using stem cells, the natural healing potential of the body is used, leading to reduction of healing time and promoting regeneration of affected tissues. This also reduces the mental trauma and financial burden that a patient goes through when under conventional management.

"Stem cell-based therapy has offered a novel and powerful strategy in almost every medical specialty including burns and wound management. Stem cells have proven to have tremendous potential in enhancing wound healing and facilitating skin regeneration," Mahajan said.

Originally posted here:
Man with 45% burns healed with stem cell treatment | Zee News - Zee News

Forbes

Four Ways to Younger Skin Right Now Forbes Her Hydrating and Plumping Serum No1 combats the environmental stressors that skin faces every day to detoxify and rejuvenate the face and subsequently enacting anti-aging properties. By using plant-stem cells, hyaluronic acid, marine snail peptides ...

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Four Ways to Younger Skin Right Now - Forbes

Elena-Rudakova/Shutterstock

Twice a year, I strip down to my underwear, don a paper gown and subject myself to a full-body examination at the dermatologists office. These are done twice as often as most other patientsand for good reason. Not only am I freckly and fair-skinned, Ive had an unhealthy relationship with the sun, which makes me more susceptible to skin cancer.

During my teens and 20s, when I was a lifeguard and camp counselor, I spent the majority of my summers outdoors. Like my peers, Id wanted to achieve the perfect tan. Id worn sunscreen, but it was SPF 4barely any protection, compared with what doctors recommend today.

Now, Im paying the price. This past decade, Ive had a handful of suspicious-looking moles removed. Recently, my dermatologist sent me to a medical photographer for a full-body photo session to document my moles, in case they change.

wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock

My situation isnt unique. Countless people worldwide didnt protect themselves adequately from the suns ultraviolet rays during their youth. Decades ago, doctors didnt preach about sun protection, and researchers didnt realize that the suns ultraviolet rays could cause skin changes that can lead to melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

The most important reason for the increase in melanomas is thought to be due to increased exposure to ultraviolet radiation from sun and artificial tanning sources, says John J. DiGiovanna, staff clinician in the dermatology branch of the National Cancer Institutes Center for Cancer Research in Bethesda, Maryland.

Melanoma is only the ninth most commonly diagnosed cancer across Europe, but its rates have been rising sharply since the 1980s, six-fold among some groups.

Every year, 100,000 new cases of melanoma are diagnosed in Europe, says John Haanen, head of medical oncology at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam. Caucasians are at greatest risk, especially those with fair skin, red hair and freckles. Risk rises after age 40especially sun worshippers. Many experts refer to the increased prevalence as an epidemic.

I would not call it a melanoma epidemic but a skin cancer epidemic, says Reinhard Dummer, director of the Skin Cancer Centre at University Hospital Zrich. We expect in Switzerland that one out of five persons will develop skin cancers once in their lives.

Cultural changes over several decades are likely to blame. Bathing suits have gotten skimpier, and seaside vacations have become more common, exposing pale office workers to intense sunlight for short periods.

In Europe, low-cost air travel has increased the ability for people to travel to sunny, warmer climates for a week here and there, says Alex Menzies, medical oncologist at Melanoma Institute Australia, the country with the highest melanoma rates in the world. Intermittent exposure to the sun with burning is a major risk for melanoma.

Even if youve endured decades worth of sun exposure, there is hope.

The earlier you notice melanoma, the greater your chances are of being cured. Surgery is the primary treatment. If you picked up an early-changing mole, you could have a virtually normal life expectancy, says Girish Patel, lead investigator for the Skin Cancer Stem Cell Research Program at Cardiff University.

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Regular skin checks and meaningful lifestyle changes to limit further damage from the sun help improve the odds. Since Imogen Cheese, 37, of Gloucestershire, England, was diagnosed with stage II melanoma in 2013, shes screened by her medical team every three months. I cover up to avoid the midday sun, says Imogen. I wear high factor SPF, I am active and eat a healthy balanced diet. So far, her cancer has not progressed.

Researchers have made great strides in the treatment of advanced melanoma. One option: Targeted therapy, which can be given to stage IV patients with specific genetic mutations.

Melanoma researchers in Australia have been involved with targeted therapy research since the beginning, about seven years ago. We do testing on their tumors to look if there are any mutations in certain genes in the tumor, says Menzies. We have targeted therapy that can attack the BRAF mutation, which is found in about 50 percent of tumors from patients. If we give tablets for BRAF-mutant melanoma, almost every patient will have shrinkage of the tumor. On average, it will keep things under control for one year, and the one-year survival rate has improved to 70 percent, from 30 percent five years ago.

Five years after John Ambrose, 67, of New South Wales, Australia, had a grade IV skin melanoma removed he began coughing up blood. His disease had spread to both lungs and his prognosis was poor. He joined a targeted therapy clinical trial in 2013, and within three months, his tumors shrank by 70 percent. After 18 months, he had clear scans. Today, John travels, plays golf and spends time with his grandchildren.

My situation has not stopped me living a normal life, he says.

Texas native Jesse Thomas, 57, also benefited from targeted therapy after being diagnosed with stage IV melanoma in 2013, with tumors on his neck, liver and spine. Genomic testing revealed Jesse had an uncommon V600K BRAF mutation, and his oncologist was able to pinpoint a targeted therapy for him.

They expected the cancer to stop growing, but it actually shrank, Jesse says. Theres no way to cure it, but I am controllable.

Targeted therapy is only for stage IV patients, but researchers are studying its effects on stage III patients. We should know within a couple of years whether these treatments are beneficial, says John Haanen.

Researchers have been able to stimulate the T-cells in some melanoma patients immune systems to fight cancer, with astounding results.

T-cells kill off viruses and other things, Menzies says, but with cancer, theyre sitting there around the tumor, asleep. They know that the tumor is foreign, but the tumor has turned them off, stopping them from killing it. Immunology drugs turn on the T-cells and they kill the tumor.

Melanoma researchers consider immunology the biggest breakthrough in decades.

This is our penicillin moment in oncology, Menzies says. Melanoma can be turned into a chronic disease, and many people will not die from it in the near future if we continue to go the way were going.

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Immunotherapy doesnt work for everyone, but it can be quite effective. Cardiff Universitys Patel says, In the 45 or so percent of people who respond, they can respond for very long periods of time.

In 2013, Cardiff resident Vicky Brown, 62, was shocked to learn that a lump in her breast was actually melanoma, not breast cancer. Shed had early-stage melanoma in 2006, which returned in her breast and lungs.

Through a clinical trial, Brown received intravenous doses of two immunotherapy drugs. Within weeks, her tumors shrank. She discontinued the drugs due to side effects, but it kept the melanoma in check for a year. In 2015, after new lung tumors appeared, she received more immunology treatments. The drugs again shrank her tumors.

I am hoping this couple of doses will give me more time again, Vicky says. My grandson is now nine months old. I want to be able to make memories for him, as well as my four-year-old granddaughter.

Researchers are working to get more patients to have a positive response to the treatment. The notion is that clearly, if we can do it in a few, we should be able to do it in the majority, says Patel.

For years, researchers tried creating a melanoma vaccine, to no avail. Now, researchers are combining the success of immunotherapy with the concept of vaccines, leading to personalized melanoma treatments.

As we better understand how the immune system recognizes the melanoma cells, we are developing so-called personalized vaccines, Haanen says. We are starting now in metastatic patients and if this concept works well move to earlier stages.

Hein Jambroers, 50, of Roermond, Netherlands, has benefited from a personalized treatment called adoptive cell therapy (ACT). He was diagnosed with stage II melanoma in 2009, but a year later, he had stage IV disease, with tumors on his right leg and liver, and was told that he had less than six months to live.

After getting some short-term benefit from targeted therapy, Hein was referred to an ACT clinical trial in 2011. Doctors at the Netherlands Cancer Institute harvested some of his white blood cells, then monitored them in a laboratory to identify the healthiest T-cells to fight melanoma. They were replicated in large numbers. Hein received chemotherapy to kill his existing T-cells, then got an infusion of the laboratory-created T-cells, which basically gave him a new immune system that shrank his tumors within three months.

Hes what doctors call a complete responder. Hes had clean scans ever since; no trace of melanoma.

Complete responders have an excellent prognosis, says Haanen, who treated Hein. Cure is always difficult to say, but very long-term remissions which could be cureare seen in the majority of complete responders and in some partial responders.

Hein, who expected to die, is cautiously optimistic. Im very positive about my future, but Im always on a state of alert, he says. I sit in the shade. I cream up with sunscreen. I even do it for my child and my wife. I dont want to tempt the fates.

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Soon, doctors may defeat cancer by attacking stem cells.

Skin stem cells make thousands of healthy skin cells. Melanoma stem cells work similarly, except they make thousands of malignant melanoma cells. Researchers are targeting melanoma stem cells to stop tumors from spreading.

Its like killing off the queen bee, Patel says. The whole hive then dies away, because youve gotten to the cell thats giving rise to everything.

This is vastly different from chemotherapy, which aims to kill as much cancer as possible. Stem cells make up only one to three per cent of some skin cancers.

If you got rid of the cancer stem cell population, the whole tumor could not proliferate, Patel says. If you take the bulk of a tumor and regrow it in a mouse without stem cells, it cant form. But if you take a small part of the cancer stem cell population, it grows back fully.

Researchers have begun clinical trials, and treatments could be available in a decade.

Despite sun damage that I endured during my youth, Im optimistic that Im doing everything that I can to stay ahead of any problems that may crop up. Ive got photos of all of my moles and freckles now, which I use for monthly self-exams. Ill bring them to my dermatologist for my next full-body examination. Ive also been raising my children with 21st century values for sun exposureplenty of high-SPF sunscreen, hats and time in the shadeso hopefully the next generation wont have the melanoma worries that my generation does.

If youve been diagnosed with advanced melanoma, heres what patient advocates recommend:

See a specialist

Seek a facility where doctors specialize in melanoma. Our recommendation for patients is to get into a melanoma center of excellence, says Bettina Ryll, founder of Melanoma Patient Network Europe in Uppsala, Sweden. The new immunotherapies have very different side effects from anything weve ever had before, so you dont want to have a physician who has never seen this.

Consider a clinical trial

Availability of immunotherapy and targeted therapy varies in Europe. Cost is a factor in many countries. Many patients enter clinical trials to receive these drugs. A promising clinical trial may be farther from home than youd prefer, but the extra drive could be worth it. Rory Bernard, 47, of Clermont-Ferrand, France, travels four hours to Paris for targeted therapy treatments, which have shrunk his tumors and extended his life. The dermatologist said, If you stay here, youre dead in six months, says Rorys wife, Gilly Spurrier-Bernard, founder of Melanoma France. My aim is to inform patients that if they want to get the best treatment, they may need to move around. Translation translation transl translation translation transl translation translation.

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Sun Exposure Is No Joke. You Need to Get Your Skin Checked ASAP - Reader's Digest

Scientists claim that #Stem Cells obtained from skin provide a new weapon against brain tumors. Jedd Wolchok, a cancer immunotherapy expert at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, says that nanoparticles are thinner than a human hair, and help to fight tumors. Previously, doctors used stem cells to target breast cancer tumors. Latest clinical trials show that the new therapy is useful for patients with brain tumors. According to a study published in the journal "Science Translational Medicine," the treatment shrinks the tumors and extends the survival of victims.

Researcher says that it's time to forget about drugs that spur the immune system to fight tumors. Stem cells will be used on a large scale to treat patients. Every year, pharmaceutical companies develop a number of antibodies and proteins that block the overexpressed molecules, enabling the immune system to target tumors. All these medicines are harmful to the nervous system. In contrast, the stem cells directly target a tumor without damaging the neurons. Jedd Wolchok believes that the current anti-cancer drugs work in only 10% to 40% of patients. There is no use of drugs that target only several cells of a tumor and fail to completely destroy it. Stem cells destroy a tumor within a few minutes. However, the process is very complicated and only experienced neurosurgeons should perform an operation. Once a patient receives radiation therapy to shrink a tumor, his immune system mounts an aggressive response that wipes out both the tumors and metastases throughout the body.

Jedd Wolchok will find out whether it is possible to use nontoxic nanoparticles to sensitize the immune system or not. He requires more time and further research before he publishes his findings. He says that it is not easy to pass the nanoparticles through the tumors as the particles are bigger than macrophages. However, specific blood proteins can be used to coat the nanoparticles, facilitating their uptake. Once these particles reach the brain tumor, they act as tumor killers. Jedd and his team will carry out an experiment on mice with breast cancer. Wolchok builds his study on an earlier discovery that brain stem cells have a weird affinity for cancers. #Beat The Clock

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Skin cells provide a new weapon against brain tumors - Blasting News

To grow clusters of human stem cells that mimic organs in the lab and might be used someday in tissue implants, Bill Murphy, a UW-Madison professor of biomedical engineering, creates tiny scaffolds made of plastic or rubber.

The three-dimensional scaffolds must support the cells and feed them, help them organize and allow them to communicate.

One spring day in 2014, Murphy looked out his office window near UW Hospital, onto the universitys Lakeshore Nature Preserve, and saw a structure that does those very things naturally: plants specifically, cellulose, the main component of the cell walls of green plants.

Now, Murphy and Gianluca Fontana, a UW-Madison post-doctoral fellow with help from Olbrich Botanical Gardens have grown skin, brain, bone marrow and blood vessel cells on cellulose from plants such as parsley, spinach, vanilla and bamboo.

Plants could be an alternative to artificial scaffolds for growing stem cells, the researchers reported Monday in the journal Advanced Healthcare Materials.

Rather than having to manufacture these devices using high-tech approaches, we could literally pick them off of a tree, said Murphy, co-director of the UW-Madison Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center.

The strength, porosity and large surface area of plants could prove superior to making scaffolds using current methods, such as 3-D printing and injection molding, Murphy said.

Plants have a huge capacity to grow cell populations, he said. They can deliver fluids very efficiently to their leaves ... At the microscale, theyre very well organized.

In addition, there are many plants to chose from. After Murphys inspirational gaze out the window, he and Fontana tested plants as scaffolds for stem cells using varieties they could easily obtain: parsley, spinach, jewelweed, water horsetail, summer lilac and, from the UW Arboretum, softstem bulrush.

Then Fontana asked John Wirth, Olbrichs conservatory curator, about other species that might work. Wirth invited Fontana to walk through the tropical greenhouse and take samples back to his lab.

I had never had a request like this before; it made me look at plant material in a different way, Wirth said. I think its a fantastic way of using these pieces of living tissue, to grow human tissue.

Olbrich plants that proved useful include vanilla, bamboo, wasabi, elephant ear, zebra plant and various orchids.

To use plants as scaffolds, the scientists strip away all of the cells, leaving husks of cellulose. Since human cells have no affinity for plants, they add peptides as biological fasteners.

Theyre like grappling hooks for the cells to attach to the plant, Murphy said.

To determine if plant scaffolds could really replace those made of plastic or rubber, the researchers hope to test the cellulose models in animal studies this year.

A major goal of tissue engineering is to develop implants that could regenerate tissue in people to repair bone or muscle damage after traumatic injuries, for example.

It is likely the human body wouldnt reject tissue implants formed on plant scaffolds because the plant cells would be removed, Murphy said.

Were crossing kingdoms, he said. But were optimistic that these materials would be well-tolerated.

Originally posted here:
Borrowing from nature: UW-Madison scientists use plants to grow ... - La Crosse Tribune

Neuroscientists at the Wisconsin-based Wicab Inc have developed a device called BrainPort that helps blind people see with their tongues. According to the late co-founder of the company, neuroscientist Paul Bach-y-Rita, we see with our brains and not with our eyes, so it should be possible to develop devices that allow the blind to see.

BrainPort involves collecting visual data using a small digital camera that the blind person wears on a pair of sunglasses. The digital optical signals are then converted by a central processing unit (CPU) about the size of a cell phone that the blind person carries in his/her pocket into electrical signals, simulating and replacing the function of the retina. The CPU then sends the signals to sensors on the surface of a lollipop-like device that the blind person carries in the mouth. The nerves on the tongue receive these signals and transmit them to the brain, thereby creating the images of the object being viewed. With a little learning, the user can distinguish between a knife and a fork on the dining table and read letters and numbers and decipher them on the buttons in an elevator.

The device originally announced in 2009 has been tested extensively at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centres UPMC Eye Centre and is now commercially available. In a subsequent development, the images can be transferred to the brain by an arm band through the nervous system in the arms. This avoids the use of lollipop devices.

Another way to restore vision for the blind has been developed by Prof. Michael Beauchamp at the University of Texas. He is exploring the possibility of electrically stimulating the visual cortex of the brain by means of electrical implants. He also believes that we see not with our eyes but with our brains and if electrical images generated from the visual objects can be transferred to the correct region of the brain, vision can be restored. About 10 percent of the blind people experience vivid hallucinations. This is attributed to the hyperactivity of the visual cortex of the brain and the images produced can be seen in exquisite detail. It is envisaged that a webcam fitted on the glasses of the blind person could be connected to an implant in the brain to restore vision.

The ability to record brain activity while seeing an image, and then play it back to reconstruct that image has been a matter of pure science fiction until now. Scientists working at the University of California, Berkeley, have succeeded in reconstructing visual images after recording the brain activity of people watching movie trailers. The scientists were able to see what peoples brains were seeing. They used a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scanner to record the flow of blood in certain parts of the brain. Using powerful computing techniques, it was possible to correlate the visual images with corresponding brain activities. This allowed the images to be reconstructed. The researchers hope to eventually read the thoughts of patients in a coma or those suffering from a paralysis after a stroke. They can even apply these techniques on spies who are trying to hide information. Researchers have now also succeeded in reconstructing words by detecting peoples corresponding brain activity.

Another area of intense research activity is that of regenerative medicine that involves the growth of human cells and tissues. Indeed stem cell therapy is heralding the advent of a revolution in medicine to repair damaged kidney and heart cells and to treat diabetes and other diseases. Stem cells can be differentiated into different types of specialised cells (heart, kidney, pancreas etc). Adult stem cell therapies have been used for a long time to treat leukaemia and other cancers by bone marrow transplants.

Now a special bandage, seeded with stem cells, has been developed by scientists at the Bristol University in the UK to repair cartilage tears that are otherwise difficult to heal. The bone marrow is extracted from the hip of the patient with a needle. Stem cells are obtained from it and multiplied separately before being embedded into a special membrane/bandage which is inserted into the torn cartilage. The stem cells present on the membrane are expected to help the healing process. The procedure can help repair meniscus tears that are particularly common in athletes.

Ink jet printers are commonly used for printing documents. An astounding breakthrough has been made by doctors at the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine in the US where a device that resembles an ink jet printer can be used to spray new skin cells on to burn wounds. This method results in rapid healing and can eventually replace the need for having skin grafts. The device resembles a colour ink jet printer and comprises a tank that contains skin cells, stem cells and nutrients. These are sprayed by a computer controlled nozzle directly on to the burnt area. In animal experiments, the wounds in mice were fully healed within two weeks using this technique compared to the five-week period that skin graft procedures took. The ink jet printer method also showed less scarring and better hair regeneration. The technology is being employed by the US army to print-shut bullet wounds and blast damage.

Magicians have been practising the art of making objects disappear for centuries. Now, science can take on that role. In 2006, Prof. John Pendry and his colleagues proposed the design of a cloak that could steer light around an object, making it invisible. Soon thereafter Dr David Smith at Duke University made a cloaking device that used certain metamaterials that had unusual electromagnetic properties. The invisible threads of these metamaterials are made of components smaller than the wavelength of light. This allows them to bend light waves and impart optical properties that are not present in normal substances. Computer models indicate that such threads should not be thicker than a micrometre. When these carpet cloaks are placed over an object, the object becomes invisible.

The technology has applications in defence: it may allow soldiers, weapons, warships and planes to appear invisible. Harry Potters cloak of invisibility is fast becoming a reality. Invisible armies, ships, planes and submarines cloaked by metamaterials seem like a possibility in the near future.

Countries investing in these cutting edge researches are making billions of dollars through such entrepreneurial ventures. If Pakistan is to prosper, we must give the highest national priority to education, science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship. This requires a visionary government that understands the critical role of a knowledge-based economy in the rapidly changing world of today.

The writer is chairman of UN ESCAP Committee on Science Technology & Innovation and former chairman of the HEC.

Email: [emailprotected]

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Disruptive innovations - The News International

To grow clusters of human stem cells that mimic organs in the lab and might be used someday in tissue implants, Bill Murphy, a UW-Madison professor of biomedical engineering, creates tiny scaffolds made of plastic or rubber.

The three-dimensional scaffolds must support the cells and feed them, help them organize and allow them to communicate.

One spring day in 2014, Murphy looked out his office window near UW Hospital, onto the universitys Lakeshore Nature Preserve, and saw a structure that does those very things naturally: plants specifically, cellulose, the main component of the cell walls of green plants.

Now, Murphy and Gianluca Fontana, a UW-Madison post-doctoral fellow with help from Olbrich Botanical Gardens have grown skin, brain, bone marrow and blood vessel cells on cellulose from plants such as parsley, spinach, vanilla and bamboo.

Plants could be an alternative to artificial scaffolds for growing stem cells, the researchers reported Monday in the journal Advanced Healthcare Materials.

Rather than having to manufacture these devices using high-tech approaches, we could literally pick them off of a tree, said Murphy, co-director of the UW-Madison Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center.

The strength, porosity and large surface area of plants could prove superior to making scaffolds using current methods, such as 3-D printing and injection molding, Murphy said.

Plants have a huge capacity to grow cell populations, he said. They can deliver fluids very efficiently to their leaves ... At the microscale, theyre very well organized.

In addition, there are many plants to chose from. After Murphys inspirational gaze out the window, he and Fontana tested plants as scaffolds for stem cells using varieties they could easily obtain: parsley, spinach, jewelweed, water horsetail, summer lilac and, from the UW Arboretum, softstem bulrush.

Then Fontana asked John Wirth, Olbrichs conservatory curator, about other species that might work. Wirth invited Fontana to walk through the tropical greenhouse and take samples back to his lab.

I had never had a request like this before; it made me look at plant material in a different way, Wirth said. I think its a fantastic way of using these pieces of living tissue, to grow human tissue.

Olbrich plants that proved useful include vanilla, bamboo, wasabi, elephant ear, zebra plant and various orchids.

To use plants as scaffolds, the scientists strip away all of the cells, leaving husks of cellulose. Since human cells have no affinity for plants, they add peptides as biological fasteners.

Theyre like grappling hooks for the cells to attach to the plant, Murphy said.

To determine if plant scaffolds could really replace those made of plastic or rubber, the researchers hope to test the cellulose models in animal studies this year.

A major goal of tissue engineering is to develop implants that could regenerate tissue in people to repair bone or muscle damage after traumatic injuries, for example.

It is likely the human body wouldnt reject tissue implants formed on plant scaffolds because the plant cells would be removed, Murphy said.

Were crossing kingdoms, he said. But were optimistic that these materials would be well-tolerated.

More here:
Borrowing from nature: UW-Madison scientists use plants to grow ... - Madison.com

Some heritable but unstable genetic mutations that are passed from parent to affected offspring may not be easy to investigate using current human-induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) modeling techniques, according to research conducted at The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The study serves to caution stem cell biologists that certain rare mutations, like the ones described in the study, are difficult to recreate in laboratory-produced stem cells.

Stem cell-based disease modeling involves taking cells from patients, such as skin cells, and introducing genes that reprogram the cells into human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs). These master cells are unspecialized, meaning they can be pushed to become any type of mature cell needed for research, such as skin, liver or brain. The hiPSCs are capable of renewing themselves over a long period of time, and this emerging stem cell modeling technique is helping elucidate the genetic and cellular mechanisms of many different disorders.

Our study describes how a complex chromosomal rearrangement genetically passed by a patient with psychosis to her affected son was not well recreated in laboratory-produced stem cells, says Kristen Brennand, PhD, Associate Professor of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Neuroscience, and Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine, and the studys senior investigator. As stem cell biologists dive into studying brain disorders, we all need to know that this type of rare mutation is very hard to model with induced stem cells.

To investigate the genetic underpinnings of psychosis, the research team used hiPSCs from a mother diagnosed with bipolar disease with psychosis, and her son, diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. In addition to the normal 46 chromosomes (23 pairs), the cells in mother and son had a very small extra chromosome, less than 1/10th normal size. This microduplication of genes is increasingly being linked to schizophrenia and bipolar disorders, and the extra chromosomal bit, known as a marker (mar) element, falls into the category of abnormally duplicated genes.

For the first time, the Mount Sinai research team tried to make stem cells from adult cells with this type of mar defect. Through the process, they discovered that the mar element was frequently lost during the reprogramming process.

While mar elements in the general population are rare (less than .05 percent in newborn infants), more than 30 percent of individuals with these defects are clinically abnormal, and mar elements are also significantly more likely to be found in patients with developmental delays.

The study found that the mothers cells were mosaic, meaning some cells were normal while others were not, and the hiPSCs the team created accurately replicated that condition: some were normal and some had the extra mar chromosome. But the technique did not work well with the sons cells. While all of his cells should have had the mar element, as with his mother, some of the reprogrammed stem cells did not contain the extra bit of chromosome.

We realized we kept losing the mutation in the stem cells we made, and the inability to recreate cells with mar elements may hamper some neuropsychiatric research, says Dr. Brennand. The bottom line is that it is essential that stem cell biologists look for existing mar elements in the cells they study, in order to check that they are retained in the new stem cells.

Reference:

Tcw, J., Carvalho, C. M., Yuan, B., Gu, S., Altheimer, A. N., Mccarthy, S., . . . Brennand, K. J. (2017). Divergent Levels of Marker Chromosomes in an hiPSC-Based Model of Psychosis. Stem Cell Reports. doi:10.1016/j.stemcr.2017.01.010

This article has been republished frommaterialsprovided by Mount Sinai Hospital. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

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Stem Cell-based Modelling can be Difficult for Rare Genetic Variants - Technology Networks