Newly identified stem cell population in skin's epidermis responsible for tissue repair

ScienceDaily (Sep. 3, 2012) Researchers at the Universit Libre de Bruxelles, ULB identify a new stem cell population in the skin epidermis responsible for tissue repair.

The skin, which is an essential barrier that protects our body against the external environment, undergoes constant turnover throughout life to replace dead cells that are constantly sloughed off from the skin surface. During adult life, the number of cells produced must exactly compensate the number of cells lost. Different theories have been proposed to explain how this delicate balance is achieved.

In a new study published in Nature, researchers lead by Pr. Cdric Blanpain, MD/PhD, FNRS/FRS researcher and WELBIO investigator at the IRIBHM, Universit libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, in collaboration with Pr. Benjamin Simons, University of Cambridge, UK, demonstrate the existence of a new population of stem cells that give rise to progenitor cells that ensure the daily maintenance of the epidermis and demonstrate the major contribution of epidermal stem cells during wound healing.

In this new study, Guilhem Mascr and colleagues used novel genetic lineage tracing experiments to fluorescently mark two distinct epidermal cell populations, and follow their survival and contribution to the maintenance of the epidermis overtime. Interestingly, in doing so, they uncover the existence of two types of dividing cells. One population of proliferative cells presented a very long term survival potential while the other population is progessively lost overtime. In collaboration with Pr. Benjamin D. Simons, the authors developed a mathematical model of their lineage tracing analysis. The authors proposed that the skin epidermis is hierarchically organized with slow cycling stem cells residing on the top of the cellular hierarchy that give rise to more rapidly cycling progenitor cells that ensure the daily maintenance of the skin epidermis. Analysis of cell proliferation confirms the existence of slow cycling stem cells and gene profiling experiments demonstrate that the stem and the progenitors cells are characterized by distinct gene expression.

Importantly, by assessing the contribution these two populations of cells during wound healing, they found that only stem cells are capable of extensive tissue regeneration and undergo major expansion during this repair process, while the progenitors did not expand significantly, and only provide a short-lived contribution to the wound healing response. As well as resolving the cellular hierarchy of epidermis, this is the first demonstration of a critical role of epidermal SC during wound healing. "It was amazing to see these long trails of cells coming from a single stem cell located at a very long distance from the wound to repair the epidermis" comments Cdric Blanpain, the senior author of this study.

In conclusion, this work demonstrates the existence of slow-cycling stem cells that promote tissue repair and more rapidly cycling progenitors that ensure the daily maintenance of the epidermis. A similar population of slow cycling stem cells that can be rapidly mobilized in case of sudden need has been observed in other tissues, such as the blood, muscle and hair follicle, and the partition between rapidly cycling progenitors and slow cycling stem cells could be relatively conserved across the different tissues. This study may have important implications in regenerative medicine in particular for skin repair in severely burnt patients or in chronic wounds.

This work was supported by the FNRS, the " Brain back to Brussels " program from the Brussels Region, the program d'excellence CIBLES of the Wallonia Region, a research grant from the Fondation Contre le Cancer, the ULB foundation, the fond Gaston Ithier. Cdric Blanpain is an investigator of WELBIO and is supported by a starting grant of the European Research Council (ERC) and the EMBO Young Investigator Program.

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Newly identified stem cell population in skin's epidermis responsible for tissue repair

Paralyzed patients regain some sensory function after neural stem cell treatment

StemCells' human neural stem cell

But, promising new research from a phase 1 study conducted at the University of Zurich sponsored by StemCells, Inc. shows that six months after the implantation of neural stem cells, two out of three complete injury patients - meaning they had no neurological function below the point of injury - were able to gain some sensory function.

"We haven't made progress in how to address injury after they occur, but using neural stem cells in a transplant lets us, for the first time, think we can repair this," Dr. Stephen Huhn, a neurosurgeon and the vice president and head of the CNS program at StemCells, Inc. said to HealthPop.

The phase 1 study was intended to see if the implantation treatment had any unwanted side effects. For the procedure, 20 million neural stem cells were implanted directly into the spinal cord, something that has never been done before. Then, any reactions were monitored including complex examinations of sensory function - for example light touch, sensitivity to temperature and sensitivity to subtle electronic stimulation - as well as electrostimulation of the spinal cord itself.

What researchers were surprised to find was that the neural stem cell implantation was able to return some sensation to these paralyzed patients, who were all injured at the thoracic or chest level.

Hugh explained that if you think of the spinal cord and its 31 segments as a building with a series of floors, these patients could not access the floor below the point of the initial trauma. However, after the implantation, one patient was able to access three to four floors (or spinal cord segments below the paralysis point) and the other was able to reach five or six floors.

"These patients have had such an injury to their spinal cord that to see this kind of effect is amazing. They contain the worst of the worst injuries," he explained.

While the other patient did not regain sensation, none of the patients had any negative side effects. Huhn believes this means that the treatment may be able to work even better for people who have limited function after a traumatic injury. Since the treatment has been deemed to be safe, the next phase is to test the implantation on nine other people who have incomplete injuries or some limited sensation or function after an injury.

Huhn recognizes that the field of stem cell research is controversial. The world's only other trial using stem cells to treat spinal injury - which used embryonic stem cells - was ended in 2011 for financial reasons, according to the New Scientist. But, Huhn feels that the unique properties of neural stem cells and potential benefits warrant their use in medical treatment. Neural stem cells have the unique ability to divide and replicate themselves though cell culture. This means that for this trial, the team was able to use only one donated brain source to supply all the material needed for the study.

"This is a very delicate area, and we appreciate that neural stem cells are one of the first discoveries that we've had in which we can think about biologically repairing the nervous system," "Now we have a tool, a technology - something we can think about repairing the central nervous system with."

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Paralyzed patients regain some sensory function after neural stem cell treatment

Annabelle Rama to undergo stem cell treatment to improve health

YAHOO:

Talent manager Annabelle Rama will fly to Germany in September to undergo therapy - stem cell therapy, that is. This has been a promise made by her son Richard Gutierrez who's footing the bill. "Early this year pa lang ay napagplanuhan na 'yung pagpapa-stem cell ng nanay ko at prinomise ko sa kanya na pag-iipunan ko, prinomise ko sa kanya na ako ang magti-treat sa kanya," Richard said on the first episode of "H.O.T. TV," Aug. 5.

He noted, "'Yung mom ko hindi mahilig 'yan na pumunta sa mga doctor, hindi mahilig magpa-check-up."

Looking forward

This early, Annabelle is already excited about her trip and the upcoming treatment.

"Kaya ako excited pumunta kasi unang-una mataas ang aking sugar, mataas ang aking cholesterol, tapos me problema pa ako sa high blood, blood pressure ko. Siguro nga kailangan kong pumunta ng Germany," she said, noting that the condition of her friends, talent manager Lolit Solis and actress Lorna Tolentino, have improved tremendously after going through stem cell therapy.

"Nakita ko ang mukha ni Lolis pumuputi ang mukha niya, eh at saka mukha siyang fresh na fresh. Lalo na si LT, nakita ko rin siya. Mukhang gumanda naman siya. Basta lahat ng kaibigan kong galing doon, nakakausap ko, sabi nila ay talagang gumaling daw sila. 'Yung kanilang napi-feel na mabigat sa katawan dahil sa sakit nila ay nawawala lahat," she said.

Exorbitant fees?

Annabelle had already inquired about the fees of stem cell procedure in the country and she feels it's exorbitant.

"Kasi sa Piipinas may pinagtatanungan na ako, umabot ng mga four million pesos 'yung naitanong ko kaya parang na-discourage akong magpagamot kasi nga ganoon kamahal."

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Annabelle Rama to undergo stem cell treatment to improve health

Lorna Tolentino underwent stem cell treatment to improve health

PEP:

Kahit pa noong kabataan niya ay kilala na si Lorna Tolentino bilang isa sa may pinakamagandang mukha sa Philippine showbiz industry. Hanggang ngayon na edad 50 na siya ay wala pa rin itong kupas.

Ang kanyang sikreto ay nasa patuloy na pangangalaga niya sa katawan.

Mahilig mag-ehersisyo si Lorna, at ilan sa regular niyang ginagawa ay ang yoga at gym workout. Nagda-diet din siya upang suportahan ang pag-e-exercise.

Halos lahat na ng diet ay napagdaanan ko na, pero ang tamang paraan pa rin ay mag-ehersisyo ka at [kumain ng] tamang pagkain, saad ng aktres sa panayam ng PEP (Philippine Entertainment Portal), noong July 17 sa TV5 event sa Elements Centris, Quezon City.

Ibig sabihin, meron pa ring caution akong ginagawa. Binabantayan ko rin kung ano yung kinakain ko kasi sabi nga nila, You are what you eat, e.

Mas mapili ngayon si Lorna sa kanyang mga kinakain dahil na rin sa kanyang bad cholesterol level at hormonal imbalance sa katawan.

Hindi siya kumakain ng anumang matataba at maalat na pagkain.

Pagdating naman sa kanyang balat, Siyempre sa pangangalaga ng Flawless at Belo, at ni Joey Santos ng Villa Medica, kaya heto, patuloy na maganda yung skin ko.

STEM CELL TREATMENT. Bukod sa kanyang panlabas na anyo ay pinangangalagaan din nang husto ni Lorna ang kanyang kalusugan.

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Lorna Tolentino underwent stem cell treatment to improve health

Stem cells of youth

Public Lives By: Randy David Philippine Daily Inquirer

Recently, I listened to a friend recount his stem cell treatment at a medical spa in Europe. The treatment costs about P1 million. The clinic where it is done has lately been attracting hundreds of Filipinos in search of the modern version of the proverbial fountain of youth.

Youre fetched from the airport by a limousine, my friend said, and brought to a beautiful countryside lodge in the middle of a lush forest. Over three relaxing days, three injections of a serum taken from the fetus of a sheep are administered on the patients buttocks. In between treatments, the spas overseas guests are taken on a guided tour of nearby sights as part of the package. The physical change is supposed to be felt gradually after a week. I cant explain to you exactly how it works, he said, but I do feel good and strong. All the aches in my bones are gone, and the wrinkles on my face have receded. He did look rested, I must say. But, if I had that kind of money, I thought to myself, I would sooner buy a motorcycle.

Stem cell experimentationand the post-human future it signifieshas always fascinated me. And so I asked my no-nonsense dermatologist who has been treating me for occasional allergic flare-ups what she thought of stem cells as the new path to prolonged youth. Its definitely the newest craze in town, she confirmed. More than a dozen of her own patients have been enticing her with an all-expenses-paid European holiday just to accompany them to this famous clinic. She advises them instead to take off for a week and pamper themselves at a local spa if they have money to spend. But if they are persistent, she tells them they can get the same treatment in China or Thailand for maybe half the price.

These foreign clinics are not medical centers for stem cell therapy, she tells me, short of saying they are scams. They are really nothing but expensive spas that offer a menu of rejuvenation treatments. The cells taken from the fetuses of animals and injected into their clients bodies cannot be called stem cells, she says emphatically. They are adult cells.

Stem cells are called such because they are the cells that generate fresh tissue or blood. The human body has reserves of these stem cells, mostly found in the bone marrow. They are mobilized like an army when the body requires regeneration from injury or illness. Sometimes, when the healing, for example, of a broken bone is taking an unusually long time, a surgeon may draw stem cells from a persons bone marrow, and graft these directly onto his injured bone. These autologous stem cells (meaning, sourced from the same person) speed up the healing process. These are also used to treat some forms of cancer like leukemia. At the moment of birth, a babys umbilical cord is filled with stem cells, and these are sometimes harvested and preserved for future use to treat that babys congenital illnesses or defects.

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Stem cells of youth

Stem Cells Bring New Hope for Parry-Romberg Syndrome Patients

SEOUL, South Korea, Aug. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- In a landmark clinical study, scientists of the RNL Stem Cell Technology Institute have demonstrated that the transplant of patients' own ("autologous") stem cells can dramatically improve the ability of plastic surgeons to repair diseases. In the September 2012 issue of the prestigious international plastic surgery journal Annals of Plastic Surgery (69:3), researchers published their controlled study of the power of stem cells, describing a breakthrough with patients who have Parry-Romberg Syndrome. More than 200,000 have this tragic and debilitating disease in the U.S. alone. Their prognosis without treatment is the slow loss of control, then paralysis of the face and in some cases the mouth and even eyes. Most patients with Parry-Romberg begin to experience these symptoms between the age of five (5) and fifteen (15) years of age. There is, says the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, "no cure." To date, treatments have involved waiting until the disease slows and then transplanting fat into patients' faces, strengthening bones in their faces, and using microvascular surgery to "install" a free flap of skin.

However the only solution for patients with this disorder, and those with similar disorders, the grafting of fat, is at best a temporary solution, which alleviates none of the pain felt by these patients, and can in fact result in an increase in pain when fat grafts fail. So, plastic surgeons, engineers and others have searched for years for a solution with longer term effects, or even a way to fight the disease's symptoms in a sustained way.

Dr. Kyeung-Suk Ko and Dr. Jong-Woo Choi led a research team under Dr. Jeong-chan Ra of RNL Stem Cell Technology Institute that may have uncovered, for the first time, just such a tool for plastic surgeons: patients' own stem cells. In their controlled study, the team painlessly removed a few ounces of fat from one group Parry-Romberg Syndrome patients, harvesting stem cells from these patients' fat, cells that are genetically identical to the patient's cells throughout their body and that have well documented abilities to "home in" on inflammation and disease and have dramatic effects on patients' symptoms and even disease itself. In this study, those patients in the "treated" group received stem cells magnified into the millions (using the team's patented technology whose safety has been well published). These patients' outcomes, adding stem cells to standard-of-care therapies, were measured against traditional microfat grafts in the control group receiving no stem cells.

In what many have described as a revolutionary finding, the team found that those patients who received their own "adult" mesenchymal stem cells saw unprecedented improvement in the effectiveness of therapies. Fat grafts that are often "resorbed" into patients' skin shortly after they are placed were 50% less likely to disappear when provided alongside stem cells (20.59% vs 46.81%).

This study was approved by the Korea Food and Drug Administration, the institutional IRB of the Asan Medical Center, and peer-reviewed prior to acceptance in the renowned plastic surgery publication under the title: "Clinical application of human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells in progressive hemifacial atrophy (Parry-Romberg Disease) with microfat grafting techniques using three-dimensional computed tomography and three-dimensional camera." Authors and investigators included: Koh KS, Oh TS, Kim H, Chung IW, Lee KW, Lee HB, Park EJ, Chung JS, Shin IS, Ra JC, Choi JW. Media and others may access the article at http://journals.lww.com/annalsplasticsurgery/Abstract/2012/09000/Clinical_Application_of_Human_Adipose.22.aspx. Its National Library of Medicine ID is PMID:22878516.

Dr. Ra, senior author, said, "We believe that this is a big step for Parry-Romberg Syndrome patients and expect to see autologous stem cell transplantation as standard of care for their treatment. The next step is to test the efficacy of the many ways in which stem cells from adults' own bodies will expand the quality of life and even identify cures for many rare diseases."

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Stem Cells Bring New Hope for Parry-Romberg Syndrome Patients

New stem cell treatment cuts costs, hospital stay

Published on Aug 29, 2012

Madam Purwati receiving a blood transfusion to treat her cancer. -- PHOTO: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CANCER INSTITUTE

When Madam Usdiati Endah Purwati, 52, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma earlier this year, she braced herself for a treatment that she knew could cost as much as $70,000.

After all, the stem cell transplant the school principal needs to treat the bone marrow cancer will keep her in the hospital for three weeks. But her bill ended up being half of that amount, and she did not have to be hospitalised at all.

This arrangement was possible because of a new treatment regimen introduced last year at the National University Cancer Institute that offers outpatient autologous stem cell transplants to multiple myeloma patients.

In such procedures, the patient's stem cells are taken and stored; and after chemotherapy - which destroys much of the blood-producing stem cells along with the cancer cells - the stem cells are transplanted back to the same patient to help the body produce blood at a normal rate again.

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New stem cell treatment cuts costs, hospital stay

PART 1: Lorna Tolentino admits undergoing stem cell treatment to keep vital organs rejuvenated

PART 1: Lorna Tolentino admits undergoing stem cell treatment to keep vital organs rejuvenated

Isang bihirang pagkakataon na nakausap uli ng PEP.ph (Philippine Entertainment Portal) sa isang mahabang interview ang multi-awarded actress na si Lorna Tolentino.

Naganap ang panayam noong nakaraang Huwebes, August 23, sa faculty office ng Central Colleges of the Philippines (CCP), kung saan ginanap ang taping ng weekly supernatural mystery drama series naThird Eye ng TV5.

During dinner break, nabanggit ni Lorna ang tungkol sa pinsang si Zsa Zsa Padilla, who was diagnosed with Stage 1 cancer of the kidney.

"Ka-text ko si Zsa Zsa. Four weeks daw siya doon, tapos saka babalik dito.

Four weeks after the operation, hindi pa siya puwedeng mag-work.

August 27 ang naiulat noon na schedule ng operasyon ni Zsa Zsa sa Cedars-Sinai Medical Center sa Los Angeles, California.

Sixteen hours and delay ng oras ng U.S. sa Pilipinas, kayat malamang na ngayong araw na ang operasyon ni Zsa Zsa.

Tatanggalin ang mala-golf ball sa laking namuong laman sa kanyang kidney.

The rest is here:
PART 1: Lorna Tolentino admits undergoing stem cell treatment to keep vital organs rejuvenated

PART 1: Lorna Tolentino admits undergoing stem cell treatment to keep her vital organs rejuvenated

PART 1: Lorna Tolentino admits undergoing stem cell treatment to keep vital organs rejuvenated

Isang bihirang pagkakataon na nakausap uli ng PEP.ph (Philippine Entertainment Portal) sa isang mahabang interview ang multi-awarded actress na si Lorna Tolentino.

Naganap ang panayam noong nakaraang Huwebes, August 23, sa faculty office ng Central Colleges of the Philippines (CCP), kung saan ginanap ang taping ng weekly supernatural mystery drama series naThird Eye ng TV5.

During dinner break, nabanggit ni Lorna ang tungkol sa pinsang si Zsa Zsa Padilla, who was diagnosed with Stage 1 cancer of the kidney.

"Ka-text ko si Zsa Zsa. Four weeks daw siya doon, tapos saka babalik dito.

Four weeks after the operation, hindi pa siya puwedeng mag-work.

August 27 ang naiulat noon na schedule ng operasyon ni Zsa Zsa sa Cedars-Sinai Medical Center sa Los Angeles, California.

Sixteen hours and delay ng oras ng U.S. sa Pilipinas, kayat malamang na ngayong araw na ang operasyon ni Zsa Zsa.

Tatanggalin ang mala-golf ball sa laking namuong laman sa kanyang kidney.

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PART 1: Lorna Tolentino admits undergoing stem cell treatment to keep her vital organs rejuvenated