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Results are a leap for embryonic stem cells

Scientists have replicated one of the most significant accomplishments in stem cell research by creating human embryos that were clones of two men.

The lab-engineered embryos were harvested within days and used to create lines of infinitely reproducing embryonic stem cells, which are capable of growing into any type of human tissue.

The work, reported Thursday in the journal Cell Stem Cell, comes 11 months after researchers in Oregon said they had produced the world's first human embryo clones and used them to make stem cells. Their study, published in Cell, aroused skepticism after critics pointed out multiple errors and duplicated images.

In addition, the entire effort to clone human embryos and then dismantle them in the name of science troubles some people on moral grounds.

The scientists in Oregon and the authors of the new report acknowledged that the clones they created could develop into babies if implanted in surrogate wombs. But like others in the field, they have said reproductive cloning would be unethical and irresponsible.

The process used to create cloned embryos is called somatic cell nuclear transfer, or SCNT. It involves removing the nucleus from an egg cell and replacing it with a nucleus from a cell of the person to be cloned. The same method was used to create Dolly the sheep in 1996, along with numerous animals from other species.

Human cloning was a particular challenge, in part because scientists had trouble getting enough donor eggs to carry out their experiments. Some scientists said SCNT in humans would be impossible.

Dr. Robert Lanza, the chief scientific officer for Advanced Cell Technology Inc. in Marlborough, Mass., has been working on SCNT off and on for about 15 years. He and his colleagues finally achieved success with a modified version of the recipe used by the Oregon team and skin cells donated by two men who were 35 and 75.

After swapping out the nucleus in the egg cell, both groups used caffeine to delay the onset of cell division a technique that has been called "the Starbucks effect." But instead of waiting 30 minutes to prompt cell division, as was done in the Oregon experiment, Lanza and his team waited two hours.

It remains unclear exactly how the egg causes the cells in previously mature tissues in this case, skin to transform into a more versatile, pluripotent state.

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Results are a leap for embryonic stem cells

Surprise: Lost stem cells naturally replaced by non-stem cells, fly research suggests

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Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered an unexpected phenomenon in the organs that produce sperm in fruit flies: When a certain kind of stem cell is killed off experimentally, another group of non-stem cells can come out of retirement to replace them.

The discovery sheds light on the tiny "environments" that stem cells occupy in animal bodies and may help explain how stem cells in tumors replenish themselves, the researchers report in the May 8 issue of the journal Cell Reports. Damage of the kind duplicated in the laboratory occurs naturally after exposure to radiation and perhaps also after ingestion of toxic chemicals such as those used in chemotherapy.

The research group, led by Erika Matunis, Ph.D., a professor of cell biology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has been using the fruit fly as a model living system in which to study stem cells in their natural state. Most stem cell research is done on cells grown in the laboratory, but in real life, stem cells reside in tissues, where they are sequestered in tiny spaces known as niches. Adult stem cells keep dividing throughout life to make various kinds of cells, like new blood cells and germ cells.

Matunis's group studies such niches in fruit fly testes, the sperm-producing organs shaped like a coiled tube whose end houses a niche. In the niche are three kinds of cells: germ line stem cells, which divide to produce sperm; somatic cyst stem cells, which make a kind of cell that helps the sperm-producing cells out; and hub cells, which make signals that keep the other two kinds of cells going.

The hub cells are not stem cells; they have settled on their final form, incapable of dividing further or changing their functionor so everyone thought.

However, in a bid to figure out what happens when the somatic cyst stem cells are killed off, Matunis suggested that graduate student Phylis Hti figure out how to best do away with them, thinking the task would be straightforward.

Instead, she says, "it took a lot of heroic, patient combinations" of different genes working together to kill the somatic cyst cells, Matunis says.

"When we finally figured out a way to kill all of the somatic stem cells, we thought that the rest of the tissue would probably just empty out," she says. In 35 percent of testes, that's just what happened. But in the rest, the somatic stem cells grew back.

This was a surprise, Matunis says, and left a puzzle: Where were the new somatic stem cells coming from?

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Surprise: Lost stem cells naturally replaced by non-stem cells, fly research suggests

Lymphoma Research Foundation Convenes Scientific Meeting of World Leading Mantle Cell Lymphoma Experts

New York, NY (PRWEB) April 17, 2014

The Lymphoma Research Foundation (LRF) the nations largest non-profit organization devoted exclusively to funding innovative lymphoma research and serving the lymphoma community through a comprehensive series of education programs, outreach initiatives and patient services announced today the publication of its Recent Advances in Mantle Cell Lymphoma: Report of the 2013 Mantle Cell Lymphoma Consortium Workshop in the journal, Leukemia & Lymphoma.

The worlds leading mantle cell lymphoma researchers convened at the Lymphoma Research Foundations 10th Annual Mantle Cell Lymphoma Consortium (MCLC) Scientific Workshop in Atlanta, GA on April 24-25, 2013 to report on the latest research findings and exchange ideas on how to improve treatment options for people living with mantle cell lymphoma. Key topics discussed at the Mantle Cell Lymphoma Consortium Scientific Workshop included new findings regarding the biology of MCL, novel potential targets for MCL therapy, and results of recent and ongoing clinical trials in MCL. This years meeting also featured a debate in which several researchers at the forefront of MCL treatment discussed how to best use stem cell transplantation in mantle cell lymphoma.

The Lymphoma Research Foundations Mantle Cell Lymphoma Consortium provides a unique forum for the worlds leading MCL researchers to share scientific and clinical findings, exchange ideas, and plan new collaborations, said Elizabeth Thompson, Chief Executive Officer of the Lymphoma Research Foundation. Since its inception ten years ago, the MCLC Scientific Workshop has helped researchers make significant strides in understanding MCL biology, evaluating potential new therapies, and optimizing the use of currently available therapies; the Foundation is proud to convene this annual meeting so that advances in MCL can be accelerated.

Highlights from LRFs 2013 Mantle Cell Lymphoma Consortium Scientific Workshop have been published in Leukemia & Lymphoma. The authors of the report are members of the Foundations MCLC Executive Committee and include: Leo Gordon, MD, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (Chair); Steven Bernstein, MD, University of Rochester Medical Center; Pedro Jares, PhD, IDIBAPS, University of Barcelona; Brad Kahl, MD, University of Wisconsin, UW Carbone Cancer Center; Thomas Witzig, MD, Mayo Clinic; and Martin Dreyling, MD, PhD, University of Munich-Grosshadern. Traditionally accessible only to subscribers, Leukemia & Lymphoma is making this report available to the public for one month. To read the entire report, visit: http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/10428194.2013.876634.

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a rare and often aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), constituting about six percent of all NHL cases in the United States (more than 4,000 cases per year). In an effort to accelerate advances in the field of MCL, the Lymphoma Research Foundation established the Mantle Cell Lymphoma Consortium (MCLC) in 2003. To learn more about lymphoma or mantle cell lymphoma, visit lymphoma.org.

About the Lymphoma Research Foundation The Lymphoma Research Foundation (LRF) is the nations largest non-profit organization devoted to funding innovative research and serving the lymphoma community through a comprehensive series of education programs, outreach initiatives and patient services. To date, LRF has awarded more than $54 million in lymphoma-specific research.

For additional information on LRFs research, education and services, visit lymphoma.org

About Leukemia & Lymphoma Leukemia & Lymphoma in its fourth decade continues to provide an international forum for publication of high quality clinical, translational, and basic science research, and original observations relating to all aspects of hematological malignancies. The scope ranges from clinical and clinico-pathological investigations to fundamental research in disease biology, mechanisms of action of novel agents, development of combination chemotherapy, pharmacology and pharmacogenomics as well as ethics and epidemiology. The Journal is also dedicated to education in the form of reviews, commentaries, conference summaries and emerging drug profiles.

Leukemia & Lymphoma provides a premier reference source for physicians and scientists interested in clinical, translational, and laboratory research, as well as clinical diagnosis and treatment of patients with malignant hematological disorders.

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Lymphoma Research Foundation Convenes Scientific Meeting of World Leading Mantle Cell Lymphoma Experts

Bone Marrow Stem Cells Help TBI Case! See the Amazing Before & After Results! – Video


Bone Marrow Stem Cells Help TBI Case! See the Amazing Before After Results!
Dr. Steenblock treated John F. for a TBI. John suffered from a TBI or a traumatic brain injury after a bike accident. He had just one bone marrow stem cell treatment and got amazing results!...

By: David Steenblock

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Bone Marrow Stem Cells Help TBI Case! See the Amazing Before & After Results! - Video

St. Petersburg Surgeon Dr. Christian Drehsen Lobbies FDA to Speed Approval of Non-Embryonic Stem Cell Therapy

St. Petersburg, FL (PRWEB) April 17, 2014

One of the most respected plastic surgeons in America is encouraging the FDA to move forward on approval of stem-cell based therapies inspired in part by Matthew McConaughey's recent Oscar win for the film Dallas Buyers Club. In the film, McConaughey portrayed Ron Woodroof, who fought the Food and Drug Administration over his use and distribution of unapproved but effective HIV/AIDS medications. In a letter to FDA comissioner Margaret A. Hamburg dated April 14th, Dr. Christian Drehsen of St. Petersburg claims that the story echoes current FDA treatment of stem cell therapies, of which almost none are approved for use in the United States.

Drehsen cites his extensive past experience working with stem cells, and calls on the FDA to provide more rapid approval for the procedures, which he says are safe and effective.

In the period 2009-2010, before the current regulatory embargo, Drehsen performed over 20 reconstructive and cosmetic stem-cell procedures using technology from the pioneering stem cell therapy research firm Cytori. In his letter, Drehsen writes that the results of his procedures were excellent, and hes frustrated with the limitations now in place.

Japan has approved these procedures. Much of Europe has approved them. Theyre changing peoples lives every day but not in the United States, the letter reads in part.

Stem cell therapies have myriad potential uses. Drehsen says that in his own practice at the Clinique of Plastic Surgery, their promise includes greatly improved outcomes for burn victims, patients with extensive sun exposure damage, and post-operative breast reconstruction procedures. Those therapies have been pioneered with good results in Europe and Australia, respectively.

Other treatments currently proven or under trial include treatments for traumatic hamstring injury (http://ir.cytori.com/investor-relations/News/news-details/2014/Cytori-to-Initiate-US-Clinical-Trial-of-Adipose-Derived-Regenerative-Cells-in-Hamstring-Injuries/default.aspx) and chronic heart failure (http://www.cytori.com/Innovations/ClinicalTrials/CardiovascularDisease.aspx).

Though much American resistance to stem cell research has been rooted in ethical concerns about the use of embryonic stem cells, the Cytori procedure uses Adipose-Derived Regenerative Cells, or ADRCs stem cells derived from the patients own body fat and altered for re-injection using a proprietary process. Dr. Drehsen was one of a handful of doctors in the United States to use this technology for plastic surgery before the FDA blocked its usage. This makes him one of the most experienced surgeons in the U.S. in non-embryonic stem-cell enhanced facelift procedures. Drehsens website (http://cliniqueps.com) features many examples of his past successful stem-cell procedure outcomes.

The FDA serves the vital function of ensuring patient safety. But these procedures have been proven safe," Drehsen concludes. "It should be no surprise that using a patients own tissue presents fewer risks than many alternatives. Its sad that these options have continued to be blocked by bureaucracy.

Drehsen says that much of the equipment used in his stem cell procedures now sits in storage, unused.

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St. Petersburg Surgeon Dr. Christian Drehsen Lobbies FDA to Speed Approval of Non-Embryonic Stem Cell Therapy

Proper stem cell function requires hydrogen sulfide

Stem cells in bone marrow need to produce hydrogen sulfide in order to properly multiply and form bone tissue, according to a new study from the Center for Craniofacial Molecular Biology at the Ostrow School of Dentistry.

Professor Songtao Shi, principal investigator on the project, said the presence of hydrogen sulfide produced by the cells governs the flow of calcium ions. The essential ions activate a chain of cellular signals that results in osteogenesis, or the creation of new bone tissue, and keeps the breakdown of old bone tissue at a proper level.

Conversely, having a hydrogen sulfide deficiency disrupted bone homeostasis and resulted in a condition similar to osteoporosis -- weakened, brittle bones -- in experimental mice. In humans, osteoporosis can cause serious problems such as bone fractures, mobility limitations and spinal problems; more than 52 million Americans have or are at risk for the disease.

However, Shi and his team demonstrated that the mice's condition could be rescued by administering small molecules that release hydrogen sulfide inside the body. The results indicate that a similar treatment may have potential to help human patients, Shi said.

"These results demonstrate hydrogen sulfide regulates bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, and restoring hydrogen sulfide levels via non-toxic donors may provide treatments for diseases such as osteoporosis, which can arise from hydrogen sulfide deficiencies," Shi said.

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by University of Southern California. The original article was written by Beth Newcomb. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Proper stem cell function requires hydrogen sulfide

First Embryonic Stem Cells Cloned From A Man's Skin

hide captionThis mouse egg (top) is being injected with genetic material from an adult cell to ultimately create an embryo and, eventually, embryonic stem cells. The process has been difficult to do with human cells.

Eighteen years ago, scientists in Scotland took the nuclear DNA from the cell of an adult sheep and put it into another sheep's egg cell that had been emptied of its own nucleus. The resulting egg was implanted in the womb of a third sheep, and the result was Dolly, the first clone of a mammal.

Dolly's birth set off a huge outpouring of ethical concern along with hope that the same techniques, applied to human cells, could be used to treat myriad diseases.

But Dolly's birth also triggered years of frustration. It's proved very difficult to do that same sort of DNA transfer into a human egg.

Last year, scientists in Oregon said they'd finally done it, using DNA taken from infants. Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer at Advanced Cell Technology, says that was an important step, but not ideal for medical purposes.

"There are many diseases, whether it's diabetes, Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease, that usually increase with age," Lanza says. So ideally scientists would like to be able to extract DNA from the cells of older people not just cells from infants to create therapies for adult diseases.

Lanza's colleagues, including Young Gie Chung at the CHA Stem Cell Institute in Seoul, Korea (with labs in Los Angeles as well), now report success.

Writing in the journal Cell Stem Cell, they say they started with nuclear DNA extracted from the skin cells of a middle-age man and injected it into human eggs donated by four women. As with Dolly, the women's nuclear DNA had been removed from these eggs before the man's DNA was injected. They repeated the process this time starting with the genetic material extracted from the skin cells of a much older man.

hide captionDolly, the first mammal to be genetically cloned from adult cells, poses for the camera in 1997 at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Dolly, the first mammal to be genetically cloned from adult cells, poses for the camera in 1997 at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland.

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First Embryonic Stem Cells Cloned From A Man's Skin

Cloning advance using stem cells from human adult reopens …

Scientists have grown stem cells from adults using cloning techniques for the first time bringing them closer to developing patient-specific lines of cells that can be used to treat a whole host of ailments, from heart disease to blindness.

The research, described in Thursdays online edition of the journal Cell Stem Cell, is a controversial advance likely to reopen the debate over the ethics of human cloning.

The scientists technique was similar to the one used in the first clone of a mammal, Dolly the sheep, which was created in 1996.

They reprogrammed an egg cell by removing its DNA and replaced it with that of an adult donor. Scientists then zapped the cell with electricity, which made it divide and multiply. The resulting cells were identical in DNA to the donor.

The first success in humans was reported last year by scientists at the Oregon Health & Science University and the Oregon National Primate Research Center. But they used donor cells from infants. In this study, the cells came from two men, a 35-year-old and a 75-year-old.

Paul Knoepfler, an associate professor at the University of California at Davis who studies stem cells, called the new research exciting, important, and technically convincing.

In theory you could use those stem cells to produce almost any kind of cell and give it back to a person as a therapy, he said.

In their paper, Young Gie Chung from the Research Institute for Stem Cell Research for CHA Health Systems in Los Angeles, Robert Lanza from Advanced Cell Technology in Marlborough, Mass., and their co-authors emphasized the promise of the technology for new therapies. What they didnt mention but was clear to those working with stem cells was that their work was also an important discovery for human cloning.

While the research published Thursday involves cells that are technically an early stage embryo, the intention is not to try to grow them into a fully formed human. However the techniques in theory could be a first step toward creating a baby with the same genetic makeup as a donor.

Bioethicists call this the dual-use dilemma.

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Cloning advance using stem cells from human adult reopens ...

Top stem cell scientist joins Stemedica

Stem cell scientist Mahendra Rao, former director of the now-defunct Center For Regenerative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health. Photo taken in December, 2013 during a speech by Rao at the World Stem Cell Summit in San Diego.

One of the nation's top stem cell scientists has become an adviser to San Diego's Stemedica, a developer of stem cell-based therapies.

Dr. Mahendra Rao joined Stemedica's scientific and medical advisory board, and will help guide the company's strategy, said Maynard Howe, chief executive of the privately held company. Rao's career as a scientist who has also worked for companies and federal agencies makes him particularly useful, Howe said.

Rao is a medical doctor with a PhD in developmental neurobiology from CalTech. He headed the neurosciences division of the National Institute on Aging. He also led the stem cell division of Carlsbad-based Life Technologies, now a unit of Thermo Fisher Scientific. The two companies are on good terms: Life Technologies sells two kinds of stem cells made by Stemedica, used for research purposes, Howe said.

Rao was most recently founding director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health, which has been shut down. Rao, who resigned at the end of March, said he was disappointed at the slow pace of funding studies with artificial embryonic stem cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells. Stemedica announced his appointment April 8.

Rao said Wednesday that his goal now is to advance stem cell therapies through the private sector. Stemedica drew his attention because it had developed a method of reliably generating "clinically compliant" stem cells suitable for use in therapy.

In addition, Rao said he likes that Stemedica is developing combination stem cell therapies, using a variety called mesenchymal stem cells. This variety of stem cell generates chemicals that promote short-term regrowth and seems to enhance the survival of other transplanted stem cells. For example, mesenchymal stem cells could help transplanted neural stem cells integrate into the brain.

"That's a high-risk process and it's a much more difficult road, but they seem to be willing to do that," Rao said.

He has also rejoined the board of Q Therapeutics, a Salt Lake City company developing treatments for spinal cord injuries and other neurological disorders. Rao is the company's scientific founder, but had to leave the company when he joined the NIH.

Stemedica and its affiliated companies are undertaking multiple clinical trials of stem cell therapies. One of the most advanced is for stroke, Howe said. See utsandiego.com/stemedicastroke1 for detailed information.

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Top stem cell scientist joins Stemedica

Stem Cell therapy on animals may be medicine of the future

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