Stem cell therapy may help knees – News – Citizens’ Voice – Citizens Voice

Q: I read that you can use your own stem cells to rejuvenate worn-out knees. Does this really work?

A: Worn out is a good way to term what happens to the knee joint with prolonged use. Lets look at how this happens, starting with cartilage.

The lower portion of the knee joint (at the tibia) contains shock absorbers called menisci made of cartilage. You have one on the inner portion and another on the outer portion of each knee. The upper portion of the knee joint (at the femur) is lined with cartilage as well. All of this cartilage helps protect the bones at the joint but it doesnt heal or regenerate well due to limited blood supply. When severe, worn cartilage leads to arthritis of the knee. In knee X-rays of people over age 60, 37 percent have shown evidence of arthritis of the knees.

The intriguing thing about stem cells is that they have the ability to become any type of cell that the body needs. The cells used for stem cell injections in the knees are called mesenchymal stem cells, and they can differentiate into bone, fat or cartilage cells. These stem cells can come from the fat cells of your body, from your bone marrow or from the inner lining of your knee joint; theyre then replicated in the laboratory and injected into the knee joint.

Heres what the research shows so far.

In a 2013 study, 32 patients with meniscal tears of the knee were injected with a combination of stem cells, platelet-rich plasma and hyaluronic acid. The study reported improved symptoms and even MRI evidence of meniscal cartilage regeneration.

In a 2014 study, 55 patients who had surgery for meniscal tears of the knees were separated into three groups, with two of the groups receiving stem cell injections. Researchers found that, after six weeks, pain had decreased substantially in the two groups that received stem cell injections and that the decrease was even greater at one and two years after the injection.

In a 2017 study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, researchers analyzed six studies that used stem cells for osteoarthritis of the knees. In five of the studies, stem cells were given after surgery to the knee; in the other study, stem cells from a donor were administered without surgery. All the studies showed reduced pain and improved knee function. Further, in three of the four trials, MRIs corroborated the cartilage improvements.

There may be benefit to stem cell injections for cartilage loss of the knees, but more data are needed. Id also like to see more data on this type of therapy as a preventive measure for younger patients before their knees are worn out.

ASK THE DOCTORS is written by Robert Ashley, M.D., Eve Glazier, M.D., and Elizabeth Ko, M.D. Send questions to askthedoctors@

mednet.ucla.edu, or write: Ask the Doctors, c/o Media Relations, UCLA Health, 924 Westwood Blvd., Suite 350, Los Angeles, CA, 90095.

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Stem cell therapy may help knees - News - Citizens' Voice - Citizens Voice

CAR T-Cell Therapy Shown to Eliminate Tumors in Some Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Patients During Trial – Lymphoma News Today

CAR T-cell immunotherapy was seen to eradicate or shrink tumors in 70% of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who had exhausted other treatment options, according to a clinical trial report.

Among those who had no sign of cancer left in the bone marrow four weeks after treatment, all had survived with no signs of cancer after six months.

Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center also suggested, based on the studies, that analyzing bone marrow using a new genetic technique is a better method than the more commonly used cell counts when attempting to determine a prognosis for the disease.

The report,Durable Molecular Remissions in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Treated With CD19-Specific Chimeric Antigen ReceptorModified T Cells After Failure of Ibrutinib,described the outcomes of 24 CLL patients whose cancer had progressed after treatment with Imbruvica (ibrutinib), which was approved for the treatment of CLL in 2014. The research was published in theJournal of Clinical Oncology.

It was not known whether CAR T-cells could be used to treat these high-risk CLL patients, Cameron Turtle, an immunotherapy researcher at Fred Hutch and lead author of the study, said in apress release. Our study shows that CD19 CAR T-cells are a highly promising treatment for CLL patients who have failed ibrutinib.

CD19 is a molecule found on the surface of leukemia cells. T-cells, gathered from a patient, are engineered to specifically recognize this factor. When that happens, the body launches an aggressive immune response toward these cancer cells.

The Phase 1/2 study (NCT01865617) which is still recruiting participants included patients who had failed a median of five previous treatment rounds. The participants ages ranged from 40 to 73.

Before injecting the engineered T-cells into patients, their white blood cells were destroyed by chemotherapy.

One patient had a severe toxic response to the treatment and was not assessed for the therapys effects. Among the remaining patients, 16 of 23 70% had a response four weeks after treatment.

Not all patients had chemotherapy before CAR T-cell treatment, but among the 19 who did, four had a complete response, and 10 had a partial response.

Two additional patients responded after a second round of chemotherapy and CAR T-cell treatment.

Analyzing bone marrow using a method that can sort cancerous cells from normal cells indicated that 88% were free of disease after treatment. But repeating the analysis in 12 of these patients using a method called IGH deep sequencing showed that only 58% of them had no disease present in the bone marrow.

Those in which the genetic analysis found no traces of cancer all survived with no further traces of disease for a median of 6.6 months after treatment.

For more information about the trial, which also includes patients with relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkins lymphoma or acute lymphoblastic leukemia, see the trial registration page at thislink. The trial treats patients at theSeattle Cancer Care Allianceclinic.

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CAR T-Cell Therapy Shown to Eliminate Tumors in Some Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Patients During Trial - Lymphoma News Today

Cardiac stem cells rejuvenate rats’ aging hearts, study says – CNN – CNN

The old rats appeared newly invigorated after receiving their injections. As hoped, the cardiac stem cells improved heart function yet also provided additional benefits. The rats' fur fur, shaved for surgery, grew back more quickly than expected, and their chromosomal telomeres, which commonly shrink with age, lengthened.

The old rats receiving the cardiac stem cells also had increased stamina overall, exercising more than before the infusion.

"It's extremely exciting," said Dr. Eduardo Marbn, primary investigator on the research and director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute. Witnessing "the systemic rejuvenating effects," he said, "it's kind of like an unexpected fountain of youth."

"We've been studying new forms of cell therapy for the heart for some 12 years now," Marbn said.

Some of this research has focused on cardiosphere-derived cells.

"They're progenitor cells from the heart itself," Marbn said. Progenitor cells are generated from stem cells and share some, but not all, of the same properties. For instance, they can differentiate into more than one kind of cell like stem cells, but unlike stem cells, progenitor cells cannot divide and reproduce indefinitely.

Since heart failure with preserved ejection fraction is similar to aging, Marbn decided to experiment on old rats, ones that suffered from a type of heart problem "that's very typical of what we find in older human beings: The heart's stiff, and it doesn't relax right, and it causes fluid to back up some," Marbn explained.

He and his team injected cardiosphere-derived cells from newborn rats into the hearts of 22-month-old rats -- that's elderly for a rat. Similar old rats received a placebo injection of saline solution. Then, Marbn and his team compared both groups to young rats that were 4 months old. After a month, they compared the rats again.

Even though the cells were injected into the heart, their effects were noticeable throughout the body, Marbn said

"The animals could exercise further than they could before by about 20%, and one of the most striking things, especially for me (because I'm kind of losing my hair) the animals ... regrew their fur a lot better after they'd gotten cells" compared with the placebo rats, Marbn said.

The rats that received cardiosphere-derived cells also experienced improved heart function and showed longer heart cell telomeres.

The working hypothesis is that the cells secrete exosomes, tiny vesicles that "contain a lot of nucleic acids, things like RNA, that can change patterns of the way the tissue responds to injury and the way genes are expressed in the tissue," Marbn said.

It is the exosomes that act on the heart and make it better as well as mediating long-distance effects on exercise capacity and hair regrowth, he explained.

Looking to the future, Marbn said he's begun to explore delivering the cardiac stem cells intravenously in a simple infusion -- instead of injecting them directly into the heart, which would be a complex procedure for a human patient -- and seeing whether the same beneficial effects occur.

Dr. Gary Gerstenblith, a professor of medicine in the cardiology division of Johns Hopkins Medicine, said the new study is "very comprehensive."

"Striking benefits are demonstrated not only from a cardiac perspective but across multiple organ systems," said Gerstenblith, who did not contribute to the new research. "The results suggest that stem cell therapies should be studied as an additional therapeutic option in the treatment of cardiac and other diseases common in the elderly."

Todd Herron, director of the University of Michigan Frankel Cardiovascular Center's Cardiovascular Regeneration Core Laboratory, said Marbn, with his previous work with cardiac stem cells, has "led the field in this area."

"The novelty of this bit of work is, they started to look at more precise molecular mechanisms to explain the phenomenon they've seen in the past," said Herron, who played no role in the new research.

One strength of the approach here is that the researchers have taken cells "from the organ that they want to rejuvenate, so that makes it likely that the cells stay there in that tissue," Herron said.

He believes that more extensive study, beginning with larger animals and including long-term followup, is needed before this technique could be used in humans.

"We need to make sure there's no harm being done," Herron said, adding that extending the lifetime and improving quality of life amounts to "a tradeoff between the potential risk and the potential good that can be done."

Capicor hasn't announced any plans to do studies in aging, but the possibility exists.

After all, the cells have been proven "completely safe" in "over 100 human patients," so it would be possible to fast-track them into the clinic, Marbn explained: "I can't tell you that there are any plans to do that, but it could easily be done from a safety viewpoint."

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Cardiac stem cells rejuvenate rats' aging hearts, study says - CNN - CNN

2m collaboration to focus on gene and cell therapy – Drug Target Review

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A leading gene and cell therapy group has announced a collaboration focusing on gene and cell therapy manufacturing..

A leading gene and cell therapy group, has announced it has agreed to enter into a collaboration agreement with a consortium of partners, the agreement is a two-year 2 million collaboration project focused on gene and cell therapy manufacturing, co-funded by the UKs innovation agency, Innovate UK.

Cell and gene therapies offer unprecedented promise for the cure, treatment or long-term management of disease and we are delighted that this consortium has been awarded funding from Innovate UK that will help to keep Oxford BioMedica (OXB), our partners and the UK, at the forefront of innovation in industrial viral vector manufacturing., said John Dawson, Chief Executive Officer of Oxford BioMedica.

The aim of the collaboration is to explore and apply novel advanced technologies to further evolve OXBs proprietary suspension LentiVector platform to deliver even higher quality vectors for both clinical and commercial use. The project aims to deliver tangible benefits to patients by shortening the time-to-clinic and time-to-market as well as to improve the cost and access of bringing novel gene and cell therapies to patients.

Each partner in the collaboration holds proprietary technology and know-how that can be used to develop an innovative approach to viral vector manufacturing.

Collaborating on developing improved process analytic technologies with our partners will help drive productivity in viral vector manufacturing, accelerating the development of these transformative advanced therapies. We have the opportunity to both transform patients lives and grow an industry in the UK that we can be proud of,said Keith Thompson, Chief Executive Officer of Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult.

The aims of this pioneering project are closely aligned with the current government national priorities to make the UK a global hub for manufacturing advanced therapies, which will benefit economic growth and create and retain more highly skilled employment.

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2m collaboration to focus on gene and cell therapy - Drug Target Review