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Stem Cell therapy on animals may be medicine of the future

By Uncategorized

Two Central Pennsylvania dogs are receiving a regenerative therapy for arthritis thats unprecedented for this area and less expensive than standard surgery. Stem Cell therapy is a way to repair damaged tissue and treat injury. When dealing with dogs, veterinarians say its the future of treatments and its becoming less costly.

Gunny is a 7-year-old German Shepard. He underwent the revolutionary stem cell therapy at the Palmyra Animal Clinic. Vets say the stem cell therapy is a way to combat Gunnys arthritis in his hips. Doctors collected fatty tissue from his shoulder, processed the stem cells in the lab and injected the cells back into his hips. This happens all in one day for around $1500. Prior to this, surgery could cost around $3,000.

Dr. Calvin Clements of the Palmyra Animal Clinic says, Injected in a damaged joint or ligament, these cells will take on that characteristic and differentiate into the cartilage or tissue were dealing with and help to regenerate it.

Dr. Clements says results are noticeable in about a month. On average, animals improve 85%.

For more information, contact the Palmyra Animal Clinic at 717-838-5451.

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Stem Cell therapy on animals may be medicine of the future

Stem-Cell Treatment for Blindness Moving Through Patient Testing

By Stem Cell Treatment

Advanced Cell Technology is testing a stem-cell treatment for blindness that could preserve vision and potentially reverse vision loss.

Vision support: The cells used in Advanced Cell Technologys clinical trials produce dark pigments and cobblestone-like patterns that can be readily recognized in cultures.

A new treatment for macular degeneration is close to the next stage of human testinga noteworthy event not just for the millions of patients it could help, but for its potential to become the first therapy based on embryonic stem cells.

This year, the Boston-area company Advanced Cell Technology plans to move its stem-cell treatment for two forms of vision loss into advanced human trials. The company has already reported that the treatment is safe (see Eye Study Is a Small but Crucial Advance for Stem-Cell Therapy), although a full report of the results from the early, safety-focused testing has yet to be published. The planned trials will test whether it is effective. The treatment will be tested both on patients with Stargardts disease (an inherited form of progressive vision loss that can affect children) and on those with age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of vision loss among people 65 and older.

The treatment is based on retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells that have been grown from embryonic stem cells. A surgeon injects 150 microliters of RPE cellsroughly the amount of liquid in three raindropsunder a patients retina, which is temporarily detached for the procedure. RPE cells support the retinas photoreceptors, which are the cells that detect incoming light and pass the information on to the brain.

Although complete data from the trials of ACTs treatments have yet to be published, the company has reported impressive results with one patient, who recovered vision after being deemed legally blind. Now the company plans to publish the data from two clinical trials taking place in the U.S. and the E.U. in a peer-reviewed academic journal. Each of these early-stage trials includes 12 patients affected by either macular degeneration or Stargardts disease.

The more advanced trials will have dozens of participants, says ACTs head of clinical development, Eddy Anglade. If proved safe and effective, the cellular therapy could preserve the vision of millions affected by age-related macular degeneration. By 2020, as the population ages, nearly 200 million people worldwide will have the disease, estimate researchers. Currently, there are no treatments available for the most common form, dry age-related macular degeneration.

ACTs experimental treatment has its origins in a chance discovery that Irina Klimanskaya, the companys director of stem-cell biology, made while working with embryonic stem cells at Harvard University. These cells have the power to develop into any cell type, and in culture they often change on their own. A neuron here, a fat cell thereindividual cells in a dish tend to take random walks down various developmental paths. By supplying the cultures with fresh nutrients but otherwise leaving them to their own devices for several weeks, Klimanskaya discovered that the stem cells often developed into darkly pigmented cells that grew in a cobblestone-like pattern. She suspected that they were developing into RPE cells, and molecular tests backed her up.

Now that her discovery has advanced into an experimental treatment, Klimanskaya says she is excited by the hints that it may be able to preserve, and perhaps restore, sight. She recalls a voice mail she received during her second year at ACT: a person blinded by an inherited condition thanked her for her work, whether or not there was a treatment available for him. When you get a message like this, you feel like you are not doing it in vain, she says.

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Stem-Cell Treatment for Blindness Moving Through Patient Testing

Pioneers in Regenerative Therapy to Discuss New Trends in Stem Cell Medicine

By Uncategorized

Washington (PRWEB) April 15, 2014

Research that resulted in the first stem cells that are pluripotentthose that have the potential to differentiate into almost any cell in the bodywill be the backdrop for a discussion about trends in regulation in the field of regenerative medicine at the DIA 2014 50th Annual Meeting, June 15 to 19 in San Diego.

Chaired by Shinji Miyake, professor of clinical research for the Keio University School of Medicine in Japan, the session Pioneering Regenerative Medicine: Trends in Regulations for New Therapy will introduce the worlds first clinical research of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell products, conducted in Japan, and review updated regulatory guidance to bring regenerative medicine to patients who need healthy tissue or organs. The session will be held June 16 at 8:30 a.m. in the San Diego Convention Center.

iPS cells are stem cells that can be generated directly from adult cells. These cells can multiply indefinitely and represent a single source of cells, such as heart, neural, pancreatic and liver, that can be used to replace damaged cells.

In 2006, Japanese physician and researcher Shinya Yamanaka led a team to generate iPS cells from adult mouse tissue using gene therapy. This work led to a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2012 for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent.

We are honored to host pioneers of this unique field of medicine at the DIA Annual Meeting to share their experiences in the planning of the first clinical research of iPS cell productswhich have the ability to enhance research worldwide, said Barbara L. Kunz, DIA global chief executive. Their expert knowledge of issues and solutions in the application of the regenerative therapies will benefit all who advocate for and drive innovative medicine.

The session will also feature a presentation about the application of iPS cells to retinal diseases by Masayo Takahashi, project leader for the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Japan, along with a European Medicines Agency (EMA) presentation by Dariusz Sladowski, researcher and member of the Committee for Advanced Therapies at EMA.

ABOUT DIA: DIA is the global connector in the life sciences product development process. Our association of more than 18,000 members builds productive relationships by bringing together regulators, innovators and influencers to exchange knowledge and collaborate in an impartial setting. DIAs network creates unparalleled opportunities for the exchange of knowledge and has the interdisciplinary experience to prepare for future developments. DIA is an independent, nonprofit organization with its global center in Washington, D.C., USA; regional offices covering North and South America (Horsham, Pa., USA); Europe, North Africa and the Middle East (Basel, Switzerland); and Japan (Tokyo), India (Mumbai) and China (Beijing). For more information, visit http://www.diahome.org.

ABOUT DIAs 2014 50th ANNUAL MEETING: Celebrate the Past Invent the Future is the largest multidisciplinary event that brings together a community of life sciences professionals at all levels and across all disciplines involved in the discovery, development and life cycle management of medical products. The meeting aims to foster innovation that will lead to the development of safe and effective medical products and therapies for patients. For more information, visit http://www.diahome.org/dia2014.

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Pioneers in Regenerative Therapy to Discuss New Trends in Stem Cell Medicine

MGH Findings Suggest Novel Treatment Approach For Brain Tumors

By Stem Cell Treatment

By Estel Grace Masangkay

A team of investigators from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has identified four transcription factors characterizing the small proportion of glioblastoma cells behind the aggressiveness and treatment resistance of the brain tumor. The teams findings suggest a novel approach to treating glioblastoma stem cells.

The researchers identified a combination of four transcription factors (POU3F2, SOX2, SALL2 and OLIG2) able to reprogram differentiated tumor cells back into glioblastoma stem cells in vitro as well as in an animal model. The team confirmed that the four factors and their corresponding regulatory elements were active in from 2 to 7 percent of human glioblastoma cells, which also expressed a known stem cell marker.

Dr. Mario Suv of the MGH Department of Pathology and Center for Cancer Research, and co-lead author, said, We have identified a code of molecular switches that control a very aggressive subpopulation of brain cancer cells, so-called glioblastoma stem cells. Understanding what drives these aggressive cells will give us insights into alternative ways of eliminating them and potentially changing the course of this very deadly tumor.

Findings show that inhibition of a crucial regulatory protein complexs action involving a known target gene of one of the core transcription factors caused glioblastoma stem cells to lose their stem-like properties and eventually die.

Dr. Bradley Bernstein of the MGH Pathology and the MGH Cancer Center, and senior author of the study, said, This study brings us back to the fundamental idea that there are many reasons that cancer cells can be aggressive. Just as normal cells with the same genome differentiate into many different cell types, a single tumor characterized by specific genetic mutations can contain many different types of cells stem-like and more differentiated cells with the difference being rooted in their epigenetic information. Identifying the drivers of these different cellular states in glioblastoma stem cells could offer us the best opportunity for treating what remains an extremely difficult-to -treat tumor.

The MGH teams findings will be published in the April 24 issue of Cell and will receive an advance online release.

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MGH Findings Suggest Novel Treatment Approach For Brain Tumors

Silly Putty the Key to Stem Cell Therapies?

By Stem Cell Doctors

Could a component of Silly Putty, the childhood classic from the 1950s that your grandkids probably play with today, help embryonic stem cells turn into working spinal cord cells? Yes, say researchers at the University of Michigan in Ann who published their study online at Nature Materials on April 13th 2014.

A release from the university reports that the team grew the cells on a soft, utrafine carpet made of a key ingredient in Silly Putty. The ingredient, called polydimethylsiloxane, is a type of silicone. This research is the first to directly link physical, as opposed to chemical, signals to human embryonic stem cell differentiation. Differentiation is the process of the source cells morphing into the body's more than 200 cell types that become muscle, bone, nerves and organs, for example.

Jianping Fu, U-M assistant professor of mechanical engineering, says the findings raise the possibility of a more efficient way to guide stem cells to differentiate and potentially provide therapies for diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease), Huntington's or Alzheimer's.

In the specially engineered growth systemthe carpets Fu and his colleagues designedmicroscopic posts of the Silly Putty component serve as the threads. By varying the post height, the researchers can adjust the stiffness of the surface on which they grow cells. Shorter posts are more rigid ike an industrial carpet. Taller ones are softer and plusher.

The team found that stem cells they grew on the tall, softer micropost carpets turned into nerve cells much faster and more often than those they grew on the stiffer surfaces. After 23 days, the colonies of spinal cord cellsmotor neurons that control how muscles movethat grew on the softer micropost carpets were four times more pure and 10 times larger than those growing on either traditional plates or rigid carpets. The release quotes Fu as saying, "This is extremely exciting. To realize promising clinical applications of human embryonic stem cells, we need a better culture system that can reliably produce more target cells that function well. Our approach is a big step in that direction, by using synthetic microengineered surfaces to control mechanical environmental signals." Fu is collaborating with doctors at the U-M Medical School. Eva Feldman, the Russell N. DeJong Professor of Neurology, studies amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. It paralyzes patients as it kills motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. Researchers like Feldman believe stem cell therapiesboth from embryonic and adult varietiesmight help patients grow new nerve cells. She's using Fu's technique to try to make fresh neurons from patients' own cells. At this point, they're examining how and whether the process could work, and they hope to try it in humans in the future.

"Professor Fu and colleagues have developed an innovative method of generating high-yield and high-purity motor neurons from stem cells," Feldman said. "For ALS, discoveries like this provide tools for modeling disease in the laboratory and for developing cell-replacement therapies." Fu's findings go deeper than cell counts. The researchers verified that the new motor neurons they obtained on soft micropost carpets showed electrical behaviors comparable to those of neurons in the human body. They also identified a signaling pathway involved in regulating the mechanically sensitive behaviors. A signaling pathway is a route through which proteins ferry chemical messages from the cell's borders to deep inside it. The pathway they zeroed in on, called Hippo/YAP, is also involved in controlling organ size and both causing and preventing tumor growth. Fu says his findings could also provide insights into how embryonic stem cells differentiate in the body. "Our work suggests that physical signals in the cell environment are important in neural patterning, a process where nerve cells become specialized for their specific functions based on their physical location in the body," he said.

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Silly Putty the Key to Stem Cell Therapies?

Silly Putty Ingredient Could Help Stem Cells Become Motor Neurons

By Stem Cell Treatment

April 14, 2014

Image Caption: University of Michigan researchers have found that mechanical forces in the environment of human embryonic stem cells influences how they differentiate, or morph into the body's different cell types. To arrive at the findings, they cultured the stem cells on ultrafine carpets made of microscopic posts of a key ingredient in Silly Putty. Credit: Ye Tao, Rose Anderson, Yubing Sun, and Jianping Fu

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports Your Universe Online

An ingredient found in Silly Putty could help scientists more efficiently turn human embryonic stem cells into fully functional specialized cells, according to research published online Sunday in the journal Nature Materials.

In the study, researchers from the University of Michigan report how they were able to coax stem cells to turn into working spinal cord cells by growing them on a soft, extremely fine carpet in which the threads were created from polydimethylsiloxane, one component of the popular childrens toy.

According to the authors, the paper is the first to directly link physical signals to human embryonic stem cell differentiation, which is the process by which source cells morph into one of the bodys 200-plus other types of cells that go on to become muscles, bones, nerves or organs.

Furthermore, their research increases the possibility that scientists will be able to uncover a more efficient way to guide differentiation in stem cells, potentially resulting in new treatment options for Alzheimers disease, ALS, Huntingtons disease or similar conditions, assistant professor of mechanical engineering Jianping Fu and his colleagues explained in a statement.

This is extremely exciting, said Fu. To realize promising clinical applications of human embryonic stem cells, we need a better culture system that can reliably produce more target cells that function well. Our approach is a big step in that direction, by using synthetic microengineered surfaces to control mechanical environmental signals.

He and his University of Michigan colleagues designed a specially engineered growth system in which polydimethylsiloxane served as the threads, and they discovered that by varying the height of the posts, they were able to alter the stiffness of the surface upon which the cells were grown.

Shorter posts were more rigid, while the taller ones were softer. On the taller ones, the stem cells that were grown morphed into nerve cells more often and more quickly than they did on the shorter ones. After a period of three weeks and two days, colonies of spinal cord cells that grew on the softer micropost carpets were four times more pure and 10 times larger than those growing on rigid ones, the study authors noted.

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Silly Putty Ingredient Could Help Stem Cells Become Motor Neurons

Beverly Hills Orthopedic Institute Now Working With R3 Stem Cell to Offer Bone Marrow and Amniotic Stem Cell …

By Stem Cell Treatment

Beverly Hills, CA (PRWEB) April 14, 2014

Top Los Angeles and Beverly Hills orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Raj, is now working with R3 Stem Cell at his Beverly Hills Orthopedic Institute to offer comprehensive regenerative medicine treatment. The stem cell procedures for shoulder, knee, and hip conditions typically work great for degenerative arthritis, tendonitis, and ligament injuries. For more information and scheduling with the top stem cell clinic in LA and Beverly Hills, call (310) 438-5343.

Dr. Raj treats athletes, celebrities, executives, grandparents, and everything in between. Oftentimes, the stem cell procedures are able to help athletes heal tendon and ligament injuries quickly, without surgery and get back to competition quickly. In addition, the stem cell procedures work well the majority of the time for degenerative arthritis of the hip, knee, and shoulder.

The stem cell material is either bone marrow derived from the patient or comes from amniotic fluid. The bone marrow derived stem cell injections are performed as an outpatient procedure. The bone marrow is harvested from the patient, immediately processed, and then injected into the problem area. The processing concentrates the stem cells and growth factors to increase the potential for repair and regeneration.

The amniotic fluid derived stem cells have been used tens of thousands of times around the world with no adverse events being reported, with the fluid being processed at an FDA regulated lab. The fluid contains stem cells, hyaluronic acid and growth factors to help repair damaged cartilage and injured tendons and ligaments. This can help patients avoid surgery for rotator cuff tendonitis and tears, elbow tendonitis, achilles tears, knee injuries and joint arthritis.

Dr. Raj is Double Board Certified and sees patients from the greater Los Angeles and Beverly Hills area. Numerous times, he has been named one of Los Angeles top orthopedic doctors, while also acting as an ABC News Medical Correspondent.

To schedule appointments for regenerative medicine stem cell procedures in Los Angeles for arthritis, tendon, or ligament injuries in Los Angeles, call Beverly Hills Orthopedic Institute at (310) 438-5343.

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Beverly Hills Orthopedic Institute Now Working With R3 Stem Cell to Offer Bone Marrow and Amniotic Stem Cell ...

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