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Scientists move closer to creating cartilage from stem cells

By adminMarch 4, 2015Stem Cell Medicine

Scientists have succeeded in producing cartilage formed from embryonic stem cells that could in future be used to treat the painful joint condition osteoarthritis.

In research funded by Arthritis Research UK, Professor Sue Kimber and her team in the Faculty of Life Sciences at The University of Manchester has developed a protocol under strict laboratory conditions to grow and transform embryonic stem cells into cartilage cells (also known as chondrocytes).

Professor Kimber said: This work represents an important step forward in treating cartilage damage by using embryonic stem cells to form new tissue, although its still in its early experimental stages.

Their research was published in Stem Cells Translational Medicine.

During the study, the team analysed the ability of embryonic stems cells to become precursor cartilage cells. They were then implanted into cartilage defects in the knee joints of rats.

After four weeks cartilage was partially repaired and following 12 weeks a smooth surface, which appeared similar to normal cartilage, was observed. Further study of this newly regenerated cartilage showed that cartilage cells from embryonic stem cells were still present and active within the tissue.

Developing and testing this protocol in rats is the first step in generating the information needed to run a study in people with arthritis. Before this will be possible more data will need to be collected to check that this protocol is effective and that there are no toxic side-effects.

But researchers say that this study is very promising as not only did this protocol generate new, healthy-looking cartilage but also importantly there were no signs of any side-effects such as growing abnormal or disorganised, joint tissue or tumours. Further work will build on this finding and demonstrate that this could be a safe and effective treatment for people with joint damage.

Chondrocytes created from adult stem cells are currently being experimentally used but as they cannot be currently be produced in large amounts the procedure is expensive.

With their huge capacity to proliferate, embryonic stem cells, which can be manipulated to form almost any type of mature cell, offer the possibility of high-volume production of cartilage cells. Their use would also be cheaper and applicable to greater number of arthritis patients, the researchers claim.

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Scientists move closer to creating cartilage from stem cells

Behind the scenes of the world's first commercial stem-cell therapy

By adminMarch 4, 2015Stem Cell Treatment

Contrasto/eyevine

Biologist Graziella Pellegrini has worked on stem-cell therapy at four different Italian institutions, including a hospital run by priests.

Last month saw a major landmark for regenerative medicine: the first time that a stem-cell therapy beside the use of cells extracted from bone marrow or umbilical cord blood had been cleared for sale by any regulatory agency in the world. The European Commission approved Holoclar for use in cases of blindness caused by burning. The achievement is all the more remarkable because Holoclar was developed by a small laboratory in Italy, a country better known for its lack of support for life sciences and for its recent tolerance of an unproven stem-cell concoction, marketed by the Stamina Foundation, that claimed to be a panacea for many diseases. Nature talked to Graziella Pellegrini from the University of Modena about how she and her colleagues overcame the many obstacles to take the therapy from bench to bedside.

The surface of the cornea the transparent tissue that sits in front of the iris is constantly renewed in a healthy eye, to keep it smooth and clear. New corneal cells are generated from a niche of stem cells in the limbus, an area between the cornea and the white of the eye. But if the limbus is destroyed by burning, then the white of the eye grows over the cornea and becomes criss-crossed with blood vessels. This causes chronic pain and inflammation, as well as blindness.

I had seen patients who had starting seeing again after 20 years of blindness: how could I stop?

Holoclar treatment can help to reverse these symptoms by adding new stem cells to seed the regrowth of a transparent cornea. But there must be enough surviving limbus in one eye to allow 1 or 2 square millimetres of tissue to be extracted. This tissue is then cultivated on a support made from modified human fibrin (a biodegradable blood protein) under stringent clinical conditions until at least 3,000 stem cells have been generated. The culture, still on its fibrin scaffold, is transplanted into the injured eye, which has been scraped clear of the invading white, and from there stem cells seed the regrowth of a transparent cornea, free of blood vessels, within a year.

Only around 1,000 people annually in the whole of Europe will be eligible: burns victims who have become blind but whose eyes have not been too extensively destroyed.

It is always very hard to find research money in Italy. We had to uproot many times. I first started working on the concept of the therapy, with my colleague Michele De Luca, in 1990 when we were post-docs at the University of Genova studying the fundamental biology of epithelial cells the cells that form the sheets lining organs, and also the skin. In 1996, we moved to Rome to the Institute Dermopatico Immaculate, a hospital run by priests who were highly committed to research and who offered us wonderful facilities and access to patients. But in the end they did not want to support our eye work through to the clinic. So in 2002, we moved to the Veneto Eye Bank Foundation in Venice, which had an epithelial stem-cell laboratory. Then in 2008 we moved again, to the Centre for Regenerative Medicine Stefano Ferrari, which had been newly created at the University of Modena specifically to incubate such types of advanced therapy.

Italy is not supportive of biomedical research. Things might have been easier if we had not had to struggle so much. But I am Italian, and the best way to stimulate me to find a solution is to tell me I cant do something. And despite the problems, research into advanced therapies does have a history here. One of the worlds first gene-therapy trials on children with an immunodeficiency disorder was carried out in Milan.

We published the results of our first two patients both successes in 19971. That was proof of principle that the therapy could work. Our major clinical paper, on 112 patients, was published in 20102. Around 77% of the transplants were fully successful, and a further 13% partially successful.

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Behind the scenes of the world's first commercial stem-cell therapy

Bid to get Maxine treatment in China

By adminMarch 2, 2015Stem Cell Doctors

A FORMER acrobat whose rare disease leaves her unable to move other than to blink is seeking help from Chinese scientists.

Despite careers as a trapeze artist and yoga teacher, Maxine Craik, of Beach Road, Mersea, lays paralysed by Spinocerebellar Ataxia.

Her friends and carers are trying to raise 60,000 to send her to China where Nobel Prize winning doctors offer controversial stem-cell therapy, not available in the UK.

She has an incurable brain disease which causes the body to shut down, but leaves the mind unaffected.

Over the past year, Miss Craik, 49, has lost the ability to talk, walk, swallow and her eye sight is failing.

The mum-of-one communicates by blinking as helpers use an alphabet board to spell messages.

Jayne Richards, her personal carer for five years, said: Maxine can hear and understand everything that is said to her, but her only response is to almost wink. Imagine the horror and frustration.

We have decided to try to raise enough money to take her to China so that she can undergo this potentially life-changing treatment, but, is not going to be cheap.

But it is a glimmer of hope.

Miss Richards began researching stem-cell therapy four years ago to try and help her friend. She has agreed a treatment plan with the Shenzhen Beike Cell Engineering Research Institute near Hong Kong with the blessing of UK neurologists.

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Bid to get Maxine treatment in China

Human stem cells restore cognitive function after chemotherapy damage

By adminMarch 1, 2015Stem Cell Clinic

Health and Medicine for Seniors

Human stem cells restore cognitive function after chemotherapy damage

First solid evidence that transplantation of human neural stem cells can reverse chemo induced damage of healthy tissue in the brain

Feb. 16, 2015 - Human nerve system stem cell treatments are showing promise for reversing learning and memory deficits after chemotherapy, according to UC Irvine researchers.

In preclinical studies using rodents, they found that adult stem cells transplanted one week after the completion of a series of chemotherapy sessions restored a range of cognitive functions, as measured one month later using a comprehensive platform of behavioral testing. In contrast, rats not treated with stem cells showed significant learning and memory impairment.

The frequent use of chemotherapy to combat multiple cancers can produce severe cognitive dysfunction, often referred to as "chemobrain," which can persist and manifest in many ways long after the end of treatments in as many as 75 percent of survivors - a problem of particular concern with pediatric patients.

"Our findings provide the first solid evidence that transplantation of human neural stem cells can be used to reverse chemotherapeutic-induced damage of healthy tissue in the brain," said Charles Limoli, a UCI professor of radiation oncology.

Study results appear in the Feb. 15 issue of Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Many chemotherapeutic agents used to treat disparate cancer types trigger inflammation in the hippocampus, a cerebral region responsible for many cognitive abilities, such as learning and memory. This inflammation can destroy neurons and other cell types in the brain.

Additionally, these toxic compounds damage the connective structure of neurons, called dendrites and axons, and alter the integrity of synapses - the vital links that permit neurons to pass electrical and chemical signals throughout the brain. Limoli compares the process to a tree being pruned of its branches and leaves.

Shoulder/Hip torn labrum 2 years and 5 months (respectively) after stem cell therapy by Adelson – Video

By adminMarch 1, 2015Uncategorized

Shoulder/Hip torn labrum 2 years and 5 months (respectively) after stem cell therapy by Adelson
Stacy describes her outcome from stem cell therapy by Dr Harry Adelson for treatment of torn labrum of her shoulder and hip. http://www.docereclinics.com.

By: Harry Adelson, N.D.

Howe's recovery shows stem-cell advances

By adminMarch 1, 2015Stem Cell Treatment

Published: Sunday, 3/1/2015 - Updated: 50 seconds ago

BY MARLENEHARRIS-TAYLOR BLADE STAFF WRITER

Hockey legend Gordie Howes star power is raising awareness in the United States and Canada about advances in stem-cell therapies as he continues what is being called a miraculous recovery from a massive stroke.

Those closest to him, including his son, Toledo radiologist Dr. Murray Howe, are convinced the former Detroit Red Wings player would have died if he had not traveled to a medical clinic in Tijuana, Mexico, for an experimental stem-cell treatment not yet available in the United States.

After a debilitating stroke on Oct. 26, Mr. Howe, 86, had a few weeks of slight recovery, but then his health went downhill quickly, said Dr. Howe, director of sports medicine imaging for ProMedica Toledo Hospital. The family had started preparing for his funeral. But that all turned around after he had the adult stem-cell treatment on Dec. 8.

If you saw him now, you wouldnt know he had a stroke, Dr. Howe said.

Its been wonderful. Every day I would say hes a little bit better, and there are little hints of improvement. Certainly in the first month, every day his strength, coordination, and balance were better. He has been eating like a horse. He had lost 20 pounds, and now he has gained back 25 pounds, so he is pretty close to his playing weight now, Dr. Howe said.

Amazing results

In describing his fathers treatment and recovery in the last three months, Dr. Howe does not hesitate to use words such as unbelievable, astonishing, and amazing.

Eight hours after Mr. Howe received what is called a lumbar puncture, where stem cells were injected in the spinal fluid of his lower back by an anesthesiologist, he went from being bedridden and only mumbling short sentences to speaking clearly and walking with assistance, Dr. Howe said.

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Howe's recovery shows stem-cell advances

'Miracle' stem cell therapy reverses multiple sclerosis

By adminMarch 1, 2015Stem Cell Treatment

In the new treatment, specialists use a high dose of chemotherapy to knock out the immune system before rebuilding it with stem cells taken from the patients own blood.

Stem cells are so effective because they can become any cell in the body based on their environment.

"Since we started treating patients three years ago, some of the results we have seen have been miraculous," Professor Basil Sharrack, a consultant neurologist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, told The Sunday Times.

"This is not a word I would use lightly, but we have seen profound neurological improvements."

During the treatment, the patient's stem cells are harvested and stored. Then doctors use aggressive drugs which are usually given to cancer patients to completely destroy the immune system.

The harvested stem cells are then infused back into the body where they start to grow new red and white blood cells within just two weeks.

Within a month the immune system is back up and running fully and that is when patients begin to notice that they are recovering.

Holly Drewry, 25, of Sheffield, was wheelchair bound after the birth of her daughter Isla, now two.

But she claims the new treatment has transformed her life.

It worked wonders, she said. I remember being in the hospital... after three weeks, I called my mum and said: 'I can stand'. We were all crying.

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'Miracle' stem cell therapy reverses multiple sclerosis

Animal cells for a younger you

By adminMarch 1, 2015Stem Cell Treatment

THE contemporary age brings a lot of new things that leave people in awe, amazement, and sometimes, in disbelief and disagreement. One thing that the more advanced technology gave birth to is the controversial Stem Cell Therapy (SCT).

According to mayoclinic.org, SCT is the replacement of damaged or diseased stem cells by injecting or infusing healthy stems into your body.

An article from philstar.com also says that SCT replaces or supports ones degenerating tissues and organs. The stem cells used in this technology are capable of developing into different kinds of cells, thus, are also called master cells.

According to bethematch.org, the diseases that are treatable by SCT are leukemia, bone marrow diseases, inherited immune system disorders, and diseases with poorly functioning red blood cells.

SCT is also used as an anti-aging treatment. Some of the prominent Filipinos have used this therapy to maintain their youthful glow and energy.

In the Philippines, clinics offering SCT have sprouted like mushrooms due to its perceived benefits to the patients. In fact, Makati Medical Center has its Cellular Therapeutics Center, equipped with facilities from Germany, USA, and Japan.

In an article from makatimed.net, it was said that the center has an extensive range of services that boast the remarkable efficacy of stem cells.

Dr. Florencio Q. Lucero who started the use of adult SCT in the Philippines in 2006, was quoted in an article from inquirer.net saying that in the Philippines, most of the customers rich businessmen and public officials who are mostly males.

One of them is Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada. He had his SCT at a clinic in Germany called Villa Medica on April 2012. Another article from inquirer.net said that Estrada had 14 shots of blood from the donor animal, the unborn sheep, on his buttocks.

In the same article, Estrada was quoted saying he could sleep better, his knees are working better, and that his skin has shown its glow.

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Animal cells for a younger you

Translational Regenerative Medicine: Market Prospects 2015-2025

By adminFebruary 28, 2015Uncategorized

Report Details

Translational Regenerative Medicine - new study showing you trends, R&D progress, and predicted revenues Where is the market for regenerative medicine heading? What are the commercial prospects for this market and related technologies? Visiongain's brand new report shows you potential revenues and other trends to 2025, discussing data, opportunities and prospects.

Visiongain's report lets you assess regenerative medicine: cell-based therapies that aim to restore function and regenerate diseased tissues. Our 260 page report provides 145 tables, charts, and graphs. Discover the most lucrative areas in the industry and the future market prospects. Our new study lets you assess forecasted sales at world market, submarket and national level. You will see financial results, interviews, trends, opportunities and revenue predictions.

Forecasts from 2015-2025 and other analyses show you commercial prospects Besides revenue forecasting to 2025, our new study provides you with recent results, growth rates, and market shares. There you will find original analyses, with business outlooks and developments. Discover qualitative analyses (including SWOT and Porter's Five Forces), company profiles and commercial developments. Read the full transcript of an exclusive expert opinion interview from industry specialists informing your understanding and allowing you to assess prospects for investments and sales: Dr Antonio SJ Lee, CEO and Managing Director, MEDIPOST America Inc.

You find prospects for key submarkets and products In addition to analyses of the overall world market, you see revenue forecasts for these three submarkets to 2025: Stem cell therapies Gene Therapies Tissue engineering products

Products that can significantly increase disease-free survival and improve patient tolerance will achieve success. In the long term, we forecast these curative therapies to be adopted by many healthcare systems globally.

Our investigation shows business research and analyses with individual revenue forecasts and discussions. You find dynamics of the industry and assess its potential sales, seeing agents likely to achieve the most success.

To see a report overview please email Sara Peerun on sara.peerun@visiongainglobal.com

See revenue forecasts for products How will leading products perform to 2025 at the world level? Our study forecasts sales of currently marketed and pipeline regenerative medicine products including these: Osteocel Plus Trinity ELITE and Trinity Evolution Prochymal Apligraf Dermagraft ReCell Neovasculgen Glybera Talimogene Laherparepvec (T-Vec)

Discover how high revenues can go. You will see what is happening, understanding trends, challenges and opportunities.

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Translational Regenerative Medicine: Market Prospects 2015-2025

New approach to assessing effectiveness of anti-cancer drugs

By adminFebruary 27, 2015Stem Cell Doctors

Manchester scientists have a developed a new method to monitor the effect of anti-cancer drugs on very rare leukemia stem cells. The approach potentially allows doctors to screen patients and personalise their treatment.

The recent development of novel agents has improved outcomes for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). These so-called tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) target abnormal proteins caused by commonly found genetic mutations in CML patients. However, the existence of treatment-resistant cancer stem cells -- cells that are able to repeatedly renew the leukemia cell population -- is one way that many patients experience disease recurrence when treatment stops.

Any new drug must therefore be tested on such stem cells, but unfortunately they are only found in very low numbers and are identified by certain cell surface markers. Now researchers at The University of Manchester -- part of the Manchester Cancer Research Centre -- have tested a way to monitor the effect of drugs on small samples of cells.

Professor Tony Whetton, head of the Stem Cell and Leukaemia Proteomics Laboratory who led the study, said: "Current techniques require greater numbers of cells in order to detect changes caused by TKIs. Our study investigated the potential of a new technology platform that can identify changes in very small cell numbers."

The research team looked at an antibody-based approach to detect structural changes in certain proteins, in order to track the effectiveness of the TKI drugs. The instrument used fixes proteins in place and holds them, there allowing for a better signal to be generated from less material. With this approach they found that they could record changes in samples of only a few thousand critically important but rare stem cells.

"This new approach will enable us to test drugs on cells taken from patients, either at presentation or in a clinical trial setting. It has great potential to allow us to implement precision medicine, where patients receive the most appropriate treatment to target their individual tumour," added Professor Whetton.

Story Source:

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

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New approach to assessing effectiveness of anti-cancer drugs