CSU vets seeking cats with chronic kidney disease

Colorado State University veterinarians are looking for cats with chronic kidney disease to participate in a clinical trial involving stem cell therapy.

Felines with chronic kidney disease may benefit from the clinical trial. Kidney disease, or renal failure, is a highly common ailment particularly in older cats.

Currently, other than kidney transplantation, only supportive care home treatments are available to try and slow the progression of the disease. Recent studies have shown that stem cell therapy has the potential to improve kidney function in rodents with kidney failure. In laboratories, stem cells improve renal function, decrease inflammation and scarring in the kidney and improve levels of excess protein in the urine.

What the study involves: Stem cells that have been grown from the fat of young healthy specific-pathogen free cats (the cats are not harmed during the collection process) will be slowly injected intravenously every two weeks for three treatments. A small group of cats will receive a placebo treatment during the trial, but have the option to receive stem cell treatment after finishing the trial. The study involves a minimum of five visits to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, so cats that are stressed or become agitated during veterinary visits, or are not local to the CSU area, are not ideal candidates.

Cats with stable chronic kidney disease can participate in the stem cell study. Those with other illnesses or heart disease, kidney infection, stones or other renal complications cannot be enrolled in the study.

All visits, lab work, stem cell treatments and a $200 stipend for the owner's expenses are funded by CSU's Frankie's Fund for Feline Stem Cell Research and the Morris Animal Foundation.

For more information about enrolling a cat in this study, contact Dr. Jessica Quimby at jquimby@colostate.edu.

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CSU vets seeking cats with chronic kidney disease

Saving a penny: Stem cell therapy shows promise in repairing stress urinary incontinence

ScienceDaily (Aug. 17, 2012) Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) can occur due to sneezing, coughing, exercising or even laughing and happens because the pelvic floor muscles are too weak causing leakage when the bladder is put under pressure. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine shows that a new technique, using stem cells isolated from amniotic fluid, can regenerate damaged urethral sphincter muscles and prevent pressure incontinence in mice.

Although SUI is more common during and after pregnancy, and after the age of 40, one in three women will experience it at some point in their lives. Men can also be affected, especially after prostate surgery. SUI is treatable and in many cases losing weight, reducing caffeine intake, pelvic floor exercises, and bladder training can have very beneficial effects. If this does not work more invasive treatments are necessary, however there can be serious side effects associated with surgery.

Using stem cells to regenerate the damaged or weak muscles has been proposed as an alternative to surgery. But most protocols for harvesting stem cells also require invasive procedures, and often produce very low numbers of viable cells. In contrast amniotic stem cells can be collected easily, and have very low immunogenicity, reducing chances of rejection. Researchers from Kyungpook National University, Korea, investigated the ability of stem cells isolated from human amniotic fluid obtained during routine amniocentesis to regenerate damaged urethral sphincter muscles in mice.

James Yoo and Tae Gyun Kwon, who led this research, explained, "These stem cells are mesenchymal and consequently have the ability to become muscle cells when grown under the right conditions. We found that the stem cells were able to survive for seven days inside the mice but by 14 days they had all disappeared. Nevertheless they were able to induce regeneration of the mouse's own urethral sphincter muscle."

Quite how stem cells are able to retrain the body's own cells is still not fully understood. Not only was muscle regenerated, but this muscle had proper connections to nerves, and was able to improve the pressure required in the bladder before incontinence begins and stops. Humans are already being treated with stem cell therapy for diseases, including diabetes, and since Since amniotic stem cells appeared to cause no immune response or tumour formation, these cells may provide an avenue for future stem cell therapy for humans.

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Saving a penny: Stem cell therapy shows promise in repairing stress urinary incontinence

Autism and Cord Blood Stem Cells: FDA Gives Green Light for Groundbreaking Clinical Trial

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Aug.21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Sutter Neuroscience Institute, a recognized Center of Excellence, and CBR (Cord Blood Registry), the world's largest stem cell bank, are launching the first FDA-approved clinical trial to assess the use of a child's own cord blood stem cells to treat select patients with autism. This first-of-its-kind placebo controlled study will evaluate the ability of an infusion of cord blood stem cells to help improve language and behavior. The study is in conjunction with the Sutter Institute for Medical Research.

To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, please visit: http://www.multivu.com/mnr/57707-cord-blood-registry-stem-cell-trials-child-autism

(Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120821/MM59477)

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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, autism spectrum disorders impact one in 88 children in the U.S., and one in 54 boys.1 The condition is thought to have multiple risk factors including genetic, environmental and immunological components.

"This is the start of a new age of research in stem cell therapies for chronic diseases such as autism, and a natural step to determine whether patients receive some benefit from an infusion of their own cord blood stem cells," said Michael Chez, M.D., director of Pediatric Neurology with the Sutter Neuroscience and principal study investigator. "I will focus on a select portion of children diagnosed with autism who have no obvious cause for the condition, such as known genetic syndromes or brain injury."

The study will enroll 30 children between the ages of two and seven, with a diagnosis of autism who meet the inclusion criteria for the study. Enrolled participants will receive two infusionsone of the child's own cord blood stem cells and one of a placeboover the course of 13 months. Both the participants and the lead investigators will be blinded from knowing the content of each infusion. To ensure the highest quality and consistency in cord blood stem cell processing, storage and release for infusion, CBR is the only family stem cell bank providing units from clients for the study.

For information on study, visit http://www.cordblood.com/autism.

Study Rationale

A newborn's umbilical cord blood contains a unique population of stem cells that have been used for more than 20 years in medical practice to treat certain cancers, blood diseases and immune disorders. When patients undergo a stem cell transplant for these conditions, the stem cells effectively rebuild the blood and immune systems.

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Autism and Cord Blood Stem Cells: FDA Gives Green Light for Groundbreaking Clinical Trial

Autism Stem-Cell Therapy to Be Tested in Kids in Trials

By Ryan Flinn - 2012-08-21T04:01:00Z

Researchers are recruiting autistic children for a study that will test whether injecting stem cells banked from their umbilical cords can lessen symptoms and provide insights into the nature of the disorder.

While stem cells have been promoted, and sold, as a treatment for autism, few clinical trials have been conducted to see whether theyre effective. The study, which begins enrolling patients today, is the first of its kind approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to assess the use of stem cells as a potential autism therapy, said Michael Chez, director of pediatric neurology at Sutter Medical Center in Sacramento, California, and the principal investigator.

About 1 in 88 children in the U.S. are diagnosed with an autism-related condition. The disorder hurts brain development and is linked to poor social interaction and communication skills, repeated body movements, and unusual attachments to objects.

With this study well be able to answer in a firm way that this is truly an observed effect, or we didnt get an observed effect, Chez said in a phone interview.

Thirty children with autism, ages 2 to 7, will be divided in two groups, with one getting the stem cell injection and the other receiving a placebo shot. After six months, the groups will switch. Patients will be monitored for improvement in language as well as irritability and other autism rating scales.

Ricardo Dolmetsch, a neurobiologist at Stanford University in California whose laboratory is studying autism, said he doesnt think the trial will yield much in usable results, though hes glad the idea of using stem cells is being testing.

I commend them for having the guts to actually do it, given that there are all kinds of people out there trying to sell it, he said. On the other hand I dont think its big enough to provide an answer.

Chez theorizes that autism, which has no known cause or cure, may be spurred on by damaged nerve cells. Stem cells, the building blocks of life that can grow into any type of tissue in the body, could repair the damage or create new cells, he said. Such a mechanism would yield results in six to 12 months, the time it takes to create new cells.

Another possibility may be that autism is related to a signaling issue, where cells in the body arent connecting properly. Stem cells may help repair that problem, he said, and would be evident if results are seen within weeks of the injection. A third and more exploratory possibility is the disorder is related to inflammation, an immune system response.

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Autism Stem-Cell Therapy to Be Tested in Kids in Trials

Stem Cell Trial for Autism Launches in U.S.

Stem cell treatment could lower inflammation levels and demonstrate whether autism is an autoimmune disease

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Families with autistic children must navigate a condition where questions outnumber the answers, and therapies remain sparse and largely ineffective. A clinical trial being conducted by the Sutter Neuroscience Institute in Sacramento, California to address this situation began recruiting participants today for a highly experimental stem cell therapy for autism. The institute plans to find 30 autistic children between ages 2 and 7 with cord blood banked at the privately-run Cord Blood Registry, located about 100 miles west of the institute. Already one other clinical trial, with 37 total participants between ages 3 and 12 years old, has been completed in China. The researchers affiliated with Beike Biotechnology in Shenzhen, the firm that sponsored the study, have not yet published any papers from that the trial, which used stem cells from donated cord blood. Mexican researchers are currently recruiting kids for yet another type of autism stem cell trial that will harvest cells from the participants fat tissue.

But for each of these officially registered trials, many more undocumented stem cell therapy treatments take place for clients who are willing to pay enough. Our research is important because many people are going to foreign countries and spending a lot of money on therapy that may not be valid, says Michael Chez, a pediatric neurologist and lead investigator of the study at Sutter.

A major difference between the Sutter trial and those in China is that his will use the childs own stem cells, rather than those from a donor. Chez hypothesizes that one way autologous stem cell infusion might work is by reducing inflammation within the bodys immune system. This would answer previous research that suggests that autism may be an autoimmune disease. One of our exploratory goals will be to look at inflammatory markers in cells, he says.

The studys primary goal, however, will be assessing changes in patients speaking and understanding of vocabulary.For each individual, researchers will create a baseline benchmark that establishes current skill levels. The group will be evenly divided, with one initially receiving an infusion of their own, unmodified cord blood stem cells and the other a placebo treatment of saline injection. Six months later, all of the children will be tested on their ability to comprehend and form words. The groups will then be switched. In the course of the 13-month-long study, both groups will receive only one stem cell therapy infusion.

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Stem Cell Trial for Autism Launches in U.S.

Stem Cell Treatments: False Hope Warning Signs

Unproven, Risky Treatments Mislead Patients to Seek Cutting-Edge Therapy

There's a dark side to stem cells: bogus treatments that prey on patients' hopes when mainstream medicine has little to offer.

Stephen Byer stepped far outside typical medical care when his son, Ben, had ALS. He took Ben to China for stem cell-like treatments, and later helped hundreds of people do the same, believing it would help them.

The unproven procedure could have killed Ben. It didn't -- but it also didn't work. Ben later died of ALS. So did the ALS patients Byer now regrets helping get the treatment.

Why take the chance? For Byer, it started with misleading promises online.

"The Internet, while increasing communication, has spawned a horde of charlatans and creeps," Byer says. "We were suckered into one of the earlier forms of stem cell chicanery."

But not everyone who seeks unapproved stem cell treatments feels ripped off. Even though the stem cell treatments Dawn Gusty got in Tijuana, Mexico, didn't ease her multiple sclerosis, she doesn't look back with regret.

That moment -- when hope surpasses science, and when someone claims to be able to bridge that gap -- may be one of the riskiest for patients to handle. And it's one of the most alarming for stem cell experts.

"It is a very dangerous situation," says Joshua Hare, MD, director of the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute at the University of Miami.

Make no mistake: Hare is all for scientific stem cell research. His concern, he says, is "hype" that glosses over an inconvenient fact: There are no new approved stem cell therapies.

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Stem Cell Treatments: False Hope Warning Signs

Stem cell tranplant decision due in Venice

The toddler, Celeste Carrer, suffers from muscular atrophy or progressive muscle wastage. In the past 18 months she has had several injections of stem cells taken from the bone marrow of her mother Elisabetta that reportedly enabled to her to move her head, arms and legs after near paralysis.

The treatments were carried out by paediatrician Dr Mario Andolina at Brescia Hospital in Italy's north in conjunction with the Stamina Foundation, a non-profit organisation established in 2009 to promote stem cell research.

However the child's treatment was stopped in May after Turin prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello launched an investigation into medical staff at the non-profit foundation.

Police raided the hospital's laboratories while agents from the Agenzia del Farmaco, the national drug agency, blocked the "collection, transport, manipulation, cultivation, storage and administration of human cells" at the hospital and foundation.

"The block on Brescia will unfortunately cause the death of several patients," said Dr Andolina."The therapy annoys people because the stem cell treatment is practically free apart from a bone marrow extraction from relatives. Traditional cures on the other hand cost thousands of euros."

Elisabetta Carrer and her husband won legal approval in January 2011 to begin their child's transplants and are now taking legal action in a bid to resume Celeste's treatments.

"The laboratory is considered appropriate to manage transplants for children from all over Europe and is regarded as cutting edge," the Carrers' lawyer Dario Bianchini told La Repubblica, the Italian daily.

"There is clinical evidence to show that Celeste, after these treatments, has improved." Under a decree approved by former Health Minister Livia Turco in 2006, stem cell research is permitted in Italy when a patient is in a life-threatening situation or worsening.

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Stem cell tranplant decision due in Venice

Stem cell transplant decision due in Venice

The toddler, Celeste Carrer, suffers from muscular atrophy or progressive muscle wastage. In the past 18 months she has had several injections of stem cells taken from the bone marrow of her mother Elisabetta that reportedly enabled to her to move her head, arms and legs after near paralysis.

The treatments were carried out by paediatrician Dr Mario Andolina at Brescia Hospital in Italy's north in conjunction with the Stamina Foundation, a non-profit organisation established in 2009 to promote stem cell research.

However the child's treatment was stopped in May after Turin prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello launched an investigation into medical staff at the non-profit foundation.

Police raided the hospital's laboratories while agents from the Agenzia del Farmaco, the national drug agency, blocked the "collection, transport, manipulation, cultivation, storage and administration of human cells" at the hospital and foundation.

"The block on Brescia will unfortunately cause the death of several patients," said Dr Andolina."The therapy annoys people because the stem cell treatment is practically free apart from a bone marrow extraction from relatives. Traditional cures on the other hand cost thousands of euros."

Elisabetta Carrer and her husband won legal approval in January 2011 to begin their child's transplants and are now taking legal action in a bid to resume Celeste's treatments.

"The laboratory is considered appropriate to manage transplants for children from all over Europe and is regarded as cutting edge," the Carrers' lawyer Dario Bianchini told La Repubblica, the Italian daily.

"There is clinical evidence to show that Celeste, after these treatments, has improved." Under a decree approved by former Health Minister Livia Turco in 2006, stem cell research is permitted in Italy when a patient is in a life-threatening situation or worsening.

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Stem cell transplant decision due in Venice

Stem Cell Therapy: The Hope and the Hype

By Shane Huntington

Pioneering stem cell researcher Prof Martin Pera discusses where stem cell research has been and where its going, the therapeutic potential of stem cell technologies, and what we should and shouldnt expect from this fast-developing research field. With host Dr Shane Huntington.

SHANE HUNTINGTON Over the last couple of decades stem cells have been touted as the key to treating a wide range of diseases, with advantages that exceed surgical repair or even organ transplantation; but work on stem cells, especially those derived from human embryos, has drawn significant public scrutiny. In many countries embryonic stem cell research is tightly regulated, and researchers have been forced to explore other research options. Such restrictions are not present worldwide and, in some countries, regulation has yet to catch up with the science. This can make it especially challenging for patients trying to navigate through the world of therapeutic stem cell technologies, both in trial phase and on the consumer market. To explore these issues and the technology itself we are joined on Up Close by one of the pioneers of stem cell research: Professor Martin Pera, program leader of Stem Cells Australia, and professor of stem cell sciences at the University of Melbourne. Welcome to Up Close, Martin.

MARTIN PERA Thank you.

SHANE HUNTINGTON Could you start by giving us a bit of an overview of what a stem cell is and why these particular cells have generated so much interest over the last two decades?

MARTIN PERA Well, they're really two basic types of stem cells. One type of stem cell we cal pluripotent stem cells. And these can either be derived from very early stage embryos of they can now be created in the lab from adult cells, from patients, through a process we call reprogramming. And pluripotent stem cells are able to give rise to all the tissues of the body. The second class of stem cell is the tissue stem cell, sometimes called adult stem cells. These are stem cells that are minority populations in many adult tissues. They are, essentially, more limited in their potential; they usually only give rise to a few types. Both types of stem cells have two key properties. The first is that they are primitive cells that can give rise to more mature functional cell types like neurons or red blood cells. The second is that they can also divide to produce more stem cells. So stem cells provide a reservoir for tissue regeneration or repair. I think the excitement around pluripotential stem cells in particular has to do with the fact that they can be grown indefinitely in the laboratory and multiplied many times over to make more stem cells and that they can give rise to all the tissues of the body. So for the first time we've got an indefinitely renewable source of any healthy human tissue for use either in the laboratory or in transplantation medicine.

SHANE HUNTINGTON You've been working at the stem cells, essentially, from the beginning, when you and others first discovered that you could, potentially, coax these cells down particular differentiation pathways. Tell us a bit about what that was like back then because I can imagine there would have been an incredible sense of enthusiasm with regards to the possibilities of such cells.

MARTIN PERA Well, we were very excited. Of course, it was known since the 1980s that stem cells could be developed from the mouse embryo. Despite many attempts in the intervening years it proved difficult to derive these cells from other species. Then, in the mid-'90s, Jamie Thomson, in Wisconsin, showed that you could make pluripotent cells from the rhesus monkey embryo. And our laboratory, and a few others, set out to see if we could do this from human embryos. It was incredibly exciting when we first had some success, so that, indeed, we could make these cells and that they could turn in to human tissue-like nerves.

SHANE HUNTINGTON What does it mean in terms of the progress of, essentially, combating a range of diseases at that point in time? It seems as though you had something that looked like it was an answer but, decades later, we're still sort of a fair way off.

MARTIN PERA Well, at those early stages there was incredible promise and incredible potential. One of the most difficult things for us in the field was to convey that promise, and the excitement was not trying to claim that things were going to happen too quickly. To me, it's remarkable that only a little over a decade after human embryonic stem cells were discovered we're already seeing clinical trials of the first human embryonic stem cell derived products for conditions like macular degeneration, a very common cause of blindness. Now, that's remarkable because, as I say, it's only a little over a decade. Even in the drug industry - which is a well travelled paradigm for development of therapeutics - it's not unusual to have 10 to 15 years between the discovery and clinical trials. So I think this is quite remarkable. However, in many areas, we still have a long way to go for many applications.

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Stem Cell Therapy: The Hope and the Hype