Yearly Archives: 2015


Stem Cell Clinic > 2015

Key mechanism identified in tumor-cell proliferation in pediatric bone cancers

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A particular molecular pathway permits stem cells in pediatric bone cancers to grow rapidly and aggressively, according to researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center and its Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center.

In normal cell growth, the Hippo pathway, which controls organ size in animals, works as a dam, regulating cell proliferation. What the researchers found is that the transcription factor of a DNA binding protein called sex determining region Y box 2, or Sox2 for short, which normally maintains cell self-renewal, actually releases the floodgates in the Hippo pathway in osteosarcomas and other cancers, permitting the growth of highly aggressive, tumor-forming stem cells.

Results from the study are to be published in the journal Nature Communications online April 2.

"This study is one of the first to identify the mechanisms that underlie how an osteosarcoma cancer stem cell maintains its tumor-initiating properties," says senior study investigator Claudio Basilico, MD, the Jan T. Vilcek Professor of Molecular Pathogenesis at NYU Langone and a member of its Perlmutter Cancer Center.

In the study, the investigators used human and mouse osteosarcomas to pinpoint the molecular mechanisms that inhibit the tumor-suppressive Hippo pathway. The researchers concluded that Sox2 represses the functioning of the Hippo pathway, which, in turn, leads to an increase of the potent growth stimulator Yes Associated Protein, known as YAP, permitting cancer cell proliferation.

"Our research is an important step forward in developing novel targeted therapies for these highly aggressive cancers," says study co-investigator Alka Mansukhani, PhD, an associate professor at NYU Langone and also a member of the Perlmutter Cancer Center. "One possibility is to develop a small molecule that could knock out the Sox2 transcription factor and free the Hippo pathway to re-exert tumor suppression."

Mansukhani adds that the research suggests that drugs such as verteporfin, which interfere with cancer-promoting YAP function, might prove useful in Sox2-dependent tumors.

The study expands on previous work in Basilico's and Mansukhani's molecular oncology laboratories at NYU Langone and on earlier work by Upal Basu Roy, PhD, MPH, the lead study investigator, who found that Sox2 was an essential transcription factor for the maintenance of osteosarcoma stem cells.

The NYU group has shown that, i addition to playing a role in osteosarcoma, Sox2 operates in other tumors, such as glioblastomas, an aggressive type of brain cancer.

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Key mechanism identified in tumor-cell proliferation in pediatric bone cancers

New study: Stem cell field is infected with hype

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When billions of dollars are at stake in scientific research, researchers quickly learn that optimism sells.

A new study published inScience Translational Medicineoffersa window into how hype arises in the interaction between the media and scientific researchers, and how resistant the hype machine is to hard, cold reality. The report'sfocus is on overly optimisticreporting on potentialstem cell therapies. Its findings are discouraging.

The study by Timothy Caulfield and Kalina Kamenova of the University of Alberta law school (Caulfieldis also on the faculty at the school of public health) found that stem cell researchers often ply journalists with "unrealistic timelines" for the development of stem cell therapies, and journalists oftenswallow these claims uncritically.

The authorsmostly blame the scientists, who need to be more aware of "the importance of conveying realistic ... timelines to the popular press." We wouldn't give journalists this much of a pass; writers on scientific topics should understand that the development of drugs and therapies can take years and involve myriad dry holes and dead ends. They should be vigilant againstgaudypromises.

That's especially true instem cell research, whichis slathered with so much money that immoderate predictions of success are common. The best illustration of that comes from California's stem cell program -- CIRM, or the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine -- a $6-billion public investment that was born in hype.

The promoters of Proposition 71, the 2004 ballot initiative that created CIRM, filled the airwaves with adsimplyingthat the only thing standing between Michael J. Fox being cured of Parkinson's or Christopher Reeve walking again was Prop. 71's money. Theycommissioned a studyassertingthat California might reap a windfall in taxes,royalties and healthcare savings up to seven times the size ofits $6-billion investment. One wouldn't build a storage shed on foundations this soft, much less a $6-billion mansion.

As we've observed before, "big science" programs create incentivesto exaggerateresults to meet the public's inflated expectations. The phenomenon was recognized as long ago as the 1960s, when the distinguished physicist Alvin Weinberg warnedthat big science "thrives on publicity," resulting in "the injection of a journalistic flavor into Big Science which is fundamentally in conflict with the scientific method.... The spectacular rather than the perceptive becomes the scientific standard."

Interestingly, the event used by the Alberta researchers as the fulcrum of their study has a strong connection to CIRM. It's the abrupt 2011 decision by Geron Corp.to terminate its pioneering stem cell development program. This was a big blow to the stem cell research community and to CIRM, which had endowed Geron with a $25-million loan for its stem cell-basedspinal cord therapy development. Then-CIRM Chairman Robert Klein II had called the loan a "landmark step."

There had been evidence, however, that CIRM, eager to show progress toward bringing stem cell therapies to market, had downplayed legitimate questions about the state of Geron's science and the design of the clinical trial. AndGeron had been criticized in the past for over-promising results.

In their study, Caulfield and Kamenova examined more than 300 articles appearing in 14 general-interest newspapers in the United States, Canada and Britain from 2010 to2013. They scrutinizedthe articles' reporting oftimelines for the "realization of the clinical promise of stem cell research" and their perspective on the future of the field generally. The U.S. newspapers were the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and USA Today.

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New study: Stem cell field is infected with hype

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC) Industry Complete Report 2015 – 2016

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DALLAS, April 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Lifescienceindustryresearch.com adds "Complete 2015-16 Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC) Industry Report" in its store. Recent months have seen the first iPSC clinical trial in humans, creation of the world's largest iPSC Biobank, major funding awards, a historic challenge to the "Yamanaka Patent", a Supreme Court ruling affecting industry patent rights, the announcement of an iPSC cellular therapy clinic scheduled to open in 2019, and much more. Furthermore, iPSC patent dominance continues to cluster in specific geographic regions, while clinical trial and scientific publication trends give clear indicators of what may happen in the industry in 2015 and beyond.

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Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC) Industry Complete Report 2015 - 2016

Japan's Fujifilm to buy Madison stem cell company Cellular Dynamics for $307 million

By Stem Cell Medicine

Madisons biotech community and its supporters cheered the news Monday that Cellular Dynamics International (CDI) founded by UW-Madison stem cell pioneer James Thomson in 2004 will be purchased by Fujifilm Holdings Corp., of Tokyo, for $307 million.

I wish every Monday was like this. This is a really nice surprise, said Carl Gulbrandsen, managing director of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. WARF owns a small percentage of CDI stock and holds patents on some of Thomsons technology, drawing licensing fees and royalties from Cellular Dynamics.

The cash deal calls for the Japanese company to buy publicly traded CDIs stock at $16.50 a share, or more than double the stocks closing price last Friday at $7.94 a share. The stock closed Monday at $16.42.

When the purchase is final, sometime in the next three months if regulators approve, CDI will keep running its headquarters in Madison and branch in Novato, California, as a subsidiary of Fujifilm, the companies said. CDI had 155 employees, as of December 2014, and annual revenue of $16.7 million.

CDI, 525 Science Drive, makes human stem cells in industrial quantities. Using tissue from adults, CDI creates induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) that can be reprogrammed into virtually any cell type in the body. The company specializes in heart, kidney and nerve cells, and it develops customized cell lines.

Its clients include 18 of the top 20 biopharmaceutical companies worldwide. They use the cells to screen compounds for drug screening, for stem cell banks, and for developing stem cell therapeutics.

The sale of CDI is a strong endorsement of stem cell technology and its potential to revolutionize modern medicine. This is good news for all of us in the biotechnology community who are committed to using the technology to unlock the mysteries of disease and to help advance the development of novel therapies, said Chris Armstrong, president and chief executive of Stem Cell Theranostics, a California company that opened a Madison office in 2014.

Al Rauch, a managing analyst with the State of Wisconsin Investment Boards (SWIB) global health care sector team, said the deal gives high marks to CDIs technology. Its really quite cutting-edge. Thats why such a premium was paid for it, over what it was trading for, Rauch said.

Its a positive demonstration of the value of some of the scientists in the area. Thats, in essence, what Fujifilm bought. The value, as far as financial (gains), is a little far off, said Rauch, who toured the company before its 2013 initial public stock offering but did not make an investment from SWIB.

Fujifilm has transformed itself from photographic film to other fields, with the health care industry as one of its major targets for growth. In December, the company bought a majority share of Japan Tissue Engineering Co. Its technology will work well with CDIs, said Shigetaka Komori, chairman and chief executive of Fujifilm. We are delighted to be able to pursue the business from drug discovery to regenerative medicine with CDI, he said.

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Japan's Fujifilm to buy Madison stem cell company Cellular Dynamics for $307 million

Cellular Dynamics Webinar Spotlights Diabetic Cardiomyopathy-in-a-dish Model that May Elucidate Mechanisms for Repair …

By Stem Cell Medical Center

Yorba Linda, CA (PRWEB) March 30, 2015

Developing new treatments for Diabetes Type 2 complications is challenging due to the use of cellular models that recapitulate only some subset of the specific features, but not the entirety of the disease.

A company that specializes in developing and manufacturing fully functioning human cells to precise specifications has created iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes (heart muscle cells), which have been used to develop environmentally and genetically driven in vitro models of Diabetes Type 2. The development process involves mimicking diabetic clinical chemistry to induce a phenotypic surrogate of diabetic cardiomyopathy, observing structural and functional disarray.

Cellular Dynamics International (CDI) is sponsoring a new educational webinar, Diabetic Cardiomyopathy Modeling & Screening with iPSC-derived Cardiomyocytes, to present the first patient-specific iPSC model of a complex metabolic condition, demonstrating the power of this model for discovery and testing of new therapeutic strategies. The webinar concludes with the presentation of a new approach using chemical biology to ultimately elucidate novel mechanisms activating the repair and regeneration of cardiomyocytes. Webinar speakers are Roberto Iacone, PhD and Brad Swanson, PhD.

Dr. Iacone, Senior Principal Scientist at Roche, pharma and research development (pRED), Basel, Switzerland, established the Stem Cell Group in the Cardiovascular and Metabolic Discovery at the company. Research in his group has focused on understanding the pathophysiological mechanisms and development complications in the heart using patient-specific iPSCs: the patient in a dish paradigm. The group is establishing in vitro disease modeling to identify new drugs for the retina remodeling linked to age-related macular degeneration. His research interest includes the identification and characterization of genes that regulate tissue repair and regeneration, aiming to develop regenerative medicines activating endogenous tissue progenitors.

Dr. Swanson is Senior Director of Cell Biology Research and Development, Cellular Dynamics International, Madison, Wisconsin, where he led the effort to develop the first commercially available human iPSC-derived cell product, iCell Cardiomyocytes, and several other iPSC models. Previously, he was a Senior Scientist at Roche NimbleGen, where he established the industrys first sequence capture product for targeted next generation sequencing workflows. Swanson received his PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology (cardiac differentiation) from UW-Madison, undertook postdoctoral research in T cell behavior at the National Jewish Medical Center-HHMI in Denver, Colorado, and joined Columbus Childrens Research Institute/Ohio State University Center for Vaccines and Immunity as an Assistant Professor.

The free webinar, hosted by LabRoots, will be presented on April 7, 2015, at 8:30 am PST/11:30 am EST/5:30 pm CET.

For full details and free registration, click here.

About Cellular Dynamics International, Inc. Cellular Dynamics International, Inc. is a leading developer and producer of fully functioning human cells in industrial quantities to precise specifications. CDI's proprietary products include true human cells in multiple cell types (iCell products), human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and custom iPSCs and iCell products (MyCell Products). CDI's products provide standardized, easy-to-use, cost-effective access to the human cell, the smallest fully functioning operating unit of human biology. Customers use our products, among other purposes, for drug discovery and screening; to test the safety and efficacy of their small molecule and biologic drug candidates; for stem cell banking; and in the research and development of cellular therapeutics. CDI was founded in 2004 by Dr. James Thomson, a pioneer in human pluripotent stem cell research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. CDI's facilities are located in Madison, Wisconsin, with a second facility in Novato, California. See http://www.cellulardynamics.com.

About LabRoots: LabRoots is the leading scientific social networking website and producer of online educational events and webinars. And we are a powerful advocate in amplifying global networks and communities, and contributing to the advancement of science through content sharing capabilities and encouraging group interactions.

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Cellular Dynamics Webinar Spotlights Diabetic Cardiomyopathy-in-a-dish Model that May Elucidate Mechanisms for Repair ...

Center of Regenerative Orthopedics in South Florida Now Offering Stem Cell Therapy to Help Avoid Hip and Knee …

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Pompano Beach, Florida (PRWEB) March 30, 2015

The top stem cell therapy practice in South Florida, Center of Regenerative Orthopedics, is now offering procedures to help patients avoid the need for hip and knee replacement. The procedures are partially covered by insurance and are offered by a highly skilled, Board Certified Orthopedic doctor in an outpatient setting. Call (954) 399-6945 for more information and scheduling.

Stem cell procedures for joint arthritis and pain are now mainstream and represent a cutting edge option for patients. Most nonoperative joint treatments do not actually alter the course of the disease, rather, simply act as a proverbial bandaid for relief. Stem cells, on the other hand, have the capacity to actually repair and regenerate damaged tissue such as cartilage, tendon and ligament.

Degenerative and rheumatoid arthritis affects tens of millions of Americans. Stem cell procedures have been showing excellent results for pain relief and functional improvements in small studies. By having the procedures partially covered by insurance, it makes them convenient for the general public to obtain the cutting edge option.

Joint replacement should be considered a last resort option for treatment. While typically successful, there are potential complications and they are not meant to last forever. In addition, there is minimal downtime after the stem cell procedures. Joint replacements take months to recover from afterwards.

Center of Regenerative Orthopedics is located in Pompano Beach, and sees patients throughout South Florida as well as from all over the United States. Call (954) 399-6945 to schedule with the top stem cell clinic in South Florida.

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Center of Regenerative Orthopedics in South Florida Now Offering Stem Cell Therapy to Help Avoid Hip and Knee ...

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