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Finding stem cell donor match warden’s ‘only hope’ for fighting cancer

By Stem Cell Treatment

If all goes according to plan in Gregory Sanborns life over the coming weeks, doctors find a matching stem cell donor for him and he undergoes an aggressive year of procedures and solitary recovery, he can return to work cancer-free.

I let my immune system get strong, I come back to work a year from now, and I live to be old, fat and happy in my garden, Sanborn said.

The alternative: a stem cell match is not found or a matching donation fails to produce the desired results. In that case, Sanborn knows what happens.

The cutaneous T-cell lymphoma that is ravaging his body wins.

And Sanborn dies.

Basically, its my only hope, Sanborn said of the stem-cell transplant he has been left to hope for. If it works, Ill be cured. And if it doesnt, I wont be.

Sanborn, a 46-year-old career game warden who now serves as the deputy chief of the Maine Warden Service, remains optimistic. He is also realistic. And after several months of treatment, Sanborn has learned that his self-reliance always one of his attributes of which he was proudest may stand in the way of his recovery.

Thats why last Friday he was willing to say something he never thought hed say.

As people come up to me now, I look right at them and say, You know what? At this point, Ill take whatever help anyone is willing to give me, because I truly cannot do this alone, Sanborn said.

Sanborn wont have to fight the battle alone. His brother wardens have joined forces with the University of Maine football team to hold a stem cell donor drive on Wednesday. The wardens hope to find a matching donor for Sanborn; the drive itself could benefit patients around the world, as the results will be added to a database that serves those in need of a transplant.

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Finding stem cell donor match warden’s ‘only hope’ for fighting cancer

"Housekeeping" Mechanism for Brain Stem Cells Discovered

By Stem Cell Medical Center

Findings offer new insights into neurologic development and regenerative therapies for neurologic disease

Newswise (New York, NY, April 22, 2012) Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) have identified a molecular pathway that controls the retention and release of the brains stem cells. The discovery offers new insights into normal and abnormal neurologic development and could eventually lead to regenerative therapies for neurologic disease and injury. The findings, from a collaborative effort of the laboratories of Drs. Anna Lasorella and Antonio Iavarone, were published today in the online edition of Nature Cell Biology.

The research builds on recent studies, which showed that stem cells reside in specialized niches, or microenvironments, that support and maintain them.

From this research, we knew that when stem cells detach from their niche, they lose their identity as stem cells and begin to differentiate into specific cell types, said co-senior author Antonio Iavarone, MD, professor of Pathology and Neurology at CUMC.

However, the pathways that regulate the interaction of stem cells with their niche were obscure, said co-senior author Anna Lasorella, MD, associate professor of Pathology and Pediatrics at CUMC and a member of the Columbia Stem Cell Initiative.

In the brain, the stem cell niche is located in an area adjacent to the ventricles, the fluid-filled spaces within the brain. Neural stem cells (NSCs) within the niche are carefully regulated, so that enough cells are released to populate specific brain areas, while a sufficient supply is kept in reserve.

In previous studies, Drs. Iavarone and Lasorella focused on molecules called Id (inhibitor of differentiation) proteins, which regulate various stem cell properties. They undertook the present study to determine how Id proteins maintain stem cell identity.

The team developed a genetically altered strain of mice in which Id proteins were silenced, or knocked down, in NSCs. In the absence of Id proteins, mice died within 24 hours of birth. Their brains showed markedly lowered NSC proliferative capacity, and their stem cell populations were reduced.

Studies of NSCs from this strain of mice revealed that Id proteins directly regulate the production of a protein called Rap1GAP, which in turn controls Rap1, one of the master regulators of cell adhesion. The researchers found that the Id-Rap1GAP-Rap1 pathway is critical for the adhesion of NSCs to their niche and for NSC maintenance. There may be other pathways involved, but we believe this is the key pathway, said Dr. Iavarone. There is good reason to believe that it operates in other kinds of stem cells, and our labs are investigating this question now.

This is a new idea, added Dr. Lasorella. Before this study, the prevailing wisdom was that NSCs are regulated by the niche components, conceivably through the release of chemical attractants such as cytokines. However, our findings suggest that stem cell identity relies on this mechanism.

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"Housekeeping" Mechanism for Brain Stem Cells Discovered

Former Alabama football players get stem cell injections from Gulf Shores doctor

By Stem Cell Clinic

MOBILE, Alabama -- At the end of this past season with the Oakland Raiders, an aching Rolando McClain gave an assignment to his agent: Find out more about stem cell therapies for injuries, like other athletes are trying.

Ive been having two seasons of nagging pain in my knee, the former University of Alabama standout said.

Not long afterward, McClain was on his way to Gulf Shores.

There, radiologist Jason R. Williams performed liposuction on McClain and then injected stem cells from the linebackers own fat cells into his knee and into the area of a high ankle sprain.

It feels a lot better, McClain said in an interview last week, adding that hes working out four days a week with the Raiders, running, lifting weights, doing squats and even sprinting with hardly any pain at all.

About three months ago, Williams, 38, began the new procedure in which he injects patients -- two of them being McClain and former University of Alabama receiver Marquis Maze -- with their own stem cells in an effort to repair damaged joints and muscles.

This is going to be the future of medicine, said Williams, who owns Precision StemCell, which includes a diagnostic and interventional radiology practice in Gulf Shores.

Stem cells, sometimes called the bodys master cells, are precursor cells that develop into blood, bones and organs, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which regulates their use.

Their promise in medicine, according to many scientists and doctors, is that the cells have the potential to help and regenerate other cells.

While Williams treatments are considered investigational, he said, they meet FDA guidelines since the stem cells are collected from a patients fat tissue and administered back to that patient during the same procedure.

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Former Alabama football players get stem cell injections from Gulf Shores doctor

Pitcher hopes stem cell procedure will get him one last season

By Stem Cell Doctors

When pitching in the Dominican Republic, C.J. Nitkowski said he felt he was back to his normal self on the mound

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

For the full story on C.J. Nitkowski's risky medical procedure and baseball comeback, watch CNN Presents, Sunday night at 8ET.

Alpharetta, Georgia (CNN) -- At 39 years old, Christopher John Nitkowski really has no business trying to pitch in the major leagues. In the harsh reality of professional sports, he's a has-been.

Just don't tell him that.

The former first-round draft pick last pitched for the Washington Nationals in 2005 after a 10-season career spent mostly as a left-handed reliever.

"You go as long as you can," he told CNN. "I had a good friend tell me, 'Man, just make them tear the uniform off of you. You can do whatever you're gonna do for the rest of your life. You can't play baseball forever.'"

A doctor injects C.J. Nitkowski's stem cells into his injured shoulder

In the middle of the 2011 baseball season Nitkowski announced in a first-person article for Sports Illustrated that he would try a comeback. After his brief major league appearance in 2005, he pitched subsequent years for one team in Japan and three in South Korea.

This time, he wrote, he would agree to a risky medical experiment that would involve injecting his own stem cells into his injured pitching shoulder, which he hurt in an initial comeback attempt last spring.

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Pitcher hopes stem cell procedure will get him one last season

New stem cell found in the brain

By Uncategorized

Public release date: 19-Apr-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Tim Hawkins Tim.Hawkins@vai.org 616-234-5519 Van Andel Research Institute

Grand Rapids, Mich. (April 19, 2012 ) Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have discovered a new stem cell in the adult brain. These cells can proliferate and form several different cell types - most importantly, they can form new brain cells. Scientists hope to take advantage of the finding to develop methods to heal and repair disease and injury in the brain.

Analyzing brain tissue from biopsies, the researchers for the first time found stem cells located around small blood vessels in the brain. The cell's specific function is still unclear, but its plastic properties suggest great potential.

"A similar cell type has been identified in several other organs where it can promote regeneration of muscle, bone, cartilage and adipose tissue," said Patrik Brundin, M.D., Ph.D., Jay Van Andel Endowed Chair in Parkinson's Research at Van Andel Research Institute (VARI), Head of the Neuronal Survival Unit at Lund University and senior author of the study.

In other organs, researchers have shown clear evidence that these types of cells contribute to repair and wound healing. Scientists suggest that the curative properties may also apply to the brain. The next step is to try to control and enhance stem cell self-healing properties with the aim of carrying out targeted therapies to a specific area of the brain.

"Our findings show that the cell capacity is much larger than we originally thought, and that these cells are very versatile," said Gesine Paul-Visse, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Neuroscience at Lund University and the study's primary author. "Most interesting is their ability to form neuronal cells, but they can also be developed for other cell types. The results contribute to better understanding of how brain cell plasticity works and opens up new opportunities to exploit these very features."

The study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, is of interest to a broad spectrum of brain research. Future possible therapeutic targets range from neurodegenerative diseases to stroke.

"We hope that our findings may lead to a new and better understanding of the brain's own repair mechanisms," said Dr. Paul-Visse. "Ultimately the goal is to strengthen these mechanisms and develop new treatments that can repair the diseased brain."

###

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New stem cell found in the brain

ACT Announces Third Dry AMD Patient Treated in Clinical Trial

By Uncategorized

MARLBOROUGH, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. (ACT; OTCBB: ACTC), a leader in the field of regenerative medicine, announced today the dosing of the third patient in its Phase I/II trial for dry age-related macular degeneration (dry AMD) using retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). The outpatient transplantation surgery was performed successfully, and the patient is recovering uneventfully.

Gary Rabin, chairman and CEO of ACT, commented, The completion of enrollment of the first cohort of patients in our dry AMD clinical trial is a significant step forward in our RPE clinical program. The first six patients in the U.S. trials have all been treated at UCLA, and as we have recently announced, the trials should soon expand to additional sites. As we have built our clinical team, we have been fortunate to have attracted the attention of some of the highest-caliber ophthalmologists and related institutions in the U.S. and Europe and recognize the huge value that their expertise provides us as we plan for the future of our therapeutic programs. With their guidance, we have also worked with the FDA to successfully expand the criteria of eligibility for patients to participate in our dry AMD trial.

The procedures at UCLA were all conducted by the team led by Steven Schwartz, M.D., Ahmanson Professor of Ophthalmology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and retina division chief at UCLA's Jules Stein Eye Institute.

The six patients treated at UCLA to date have tolerated the surgical procedure well. commented Dr. Schwartz. There have been no complications in the procedure, nor any issues relating to the safety of the injected stem cell-derived RPE cells in any of the patients. We continue to regularly evaluate all patients in the trial, and while still preliminary, I am encouraged by the patients progress and the relative straightforwardness of the surgical procedure.

We are extremely pleased with the progress being made in all three of our clinical trials here in the U.S. and the U.K., commented Robert Lanza, M.D., ACTs chief scientific officer. The data we are reviewing seems to be pointing in the appropriate direction, With the treatment of the latest two dry AMD patients, we look forward to having more significant points of reference to understand the progress of the trial and consider the endpoint design for the next phase. Both Stargardts disease and dry AMD are progressive diseases that result vision loss and blindness due to the thinning of the layer of RPE cells in the patient's macula, the central portion of the retina responsible for central vision. We still have many patients left to treat during the course of these trials, but our team remains hopeful that stem cell-derived RPE cells may someday provide a new therapeutic approach for the treatment of many forms of macular degeneration. We hear from patients who suffer from these diseases on nearly a daily basis, and appreciate the huge responsibility we have to them.

ACT is conducting three clinical trials in the U.S. and Europe using hESC-derived RPE cells to treat forms of macular degeneration. Each trial will enroll a total of 12 patients, with cohorts of three patients each in an ascending dosage format. These trials are prospective, open-label studies, designed to determine the safety and tolerability of hESC-derived RPE cells following sub-retinal transplantation into patients with dry-AMD or Stargardt's macular dystrophy (SMD) at 12 months, the studys primary endpoint. Preliminary results relating to both early safety and biological function for the first two patients in the United States, one SMD patient and one dry AMD patient, were recently reported in The Lancet. On January 20, 2012, the first SMD patient to be enrolled in the Companys U.K. clinical trial was treated at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. The final patient of the first cohort in the companys SMD trial in the U.S. was treated on February 13, 2012.

Further information about patient eligibility for the dry AMD study and the concurrent study on SMD is also available on http://www.clinicaltrials.gov; ClinicalTrials.gov Identifiers: NCT01345006 , NCT01469832 and NCT01344993.

About Advanced Cell Technology, Inc.

Advanced Cell Technology, Inc., is a biotechnology company applying cellular technology in the field of regenerative medicine. For more information, visit http://www.advancedcell.com.

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ACT Announces Third Dry AMD Patient Treated in Clinical Trial

New stem cell found in brain: Finding could be key to developing methods to heal and repair brain injury and disease

By Stem Cell Treatment

ScienceDaily (Apr. 20, 2012) esearchers at Lund University in Sweden have discovered a new stem cell in the adult brain. These cells can proliferate and form several different cell types -- most importantly, they can form new brain cells. Scientists hope to take advantage of the finding to develop methods to heal and repair disease and injury in the brain.

Analyzing brain tissue from biopsies, the researchers for the first time found stem cells located around small blood vessels in the brain. The cell's specific function is still unclear, but its plastic properties suggest great potential.

"A similar cell type has been identified in several other organs where it can promote regeneration of muscle, bone, cartilage and adipose tissue," said Patrik Brundin, M.D., Ph.D., Jay Van Andel Endowed Chair in Parkinson's Research at Van Andel Research Institute (VARI), Head of the Neuronal Survival Unit at Lund University and senior author of the study.

In other organs, researchers have shown clear evidence that these types of cells contribute to repair and wound healing. Scientists suggest that the curative properties may also apply to the brain. The next step is to try to control and enhance stem cell self-healing properties with the aim of carrying out targeted therapies to a specific area of the brain.

"Our findings show that the cell capacity is much larger than we originally thought, and that these cells are very versatile," said Gesine Paul-Visse, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Neuroscience at Lund University and the study's primary author. "Most interesting is their ability to form neuronal cells, but they can also be developed for other cell types. The results contribute to better understanding of how brain cell plasticity works and opens up new opportunities to exploit these very features."

The study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, is of interest to a broad spectrum of brain research. Future possible therapeutic targets range from neurodegenerative diseases to stroke.

"We hope that our findings may lead to a new and better understanding of the brain's own repair mechanisms," said Dr. Paul-Visse. "Ultimately the goal is to strengthen these mechanisms and develop new treatments that can repair the diseased brain."

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New stem cell found in brain: Finding could be key to developing methods to heal and repair brain injury and disease

For Holliston teen, medical miracle or doctor fraud?

By Stem Cell Treatment

The treatment is experimental, not approved in the United States. Medical experts call it a scam. They call its overseas practitioners frauds.

A Holliston family knows all this. But they say stem cell treatment helped their daughter once and they believe it could again.

The Ghelli family, whose daughter Jona has cerebral palsy, is raising money for a second trip to Germany for an experimental stem cell treatment.

Many medical experts in the United States caution against the procedure.

A lot of families end up spending a lot of their own private money for something that we dont even know if it works, said Dr. Elizabeth Barkoudah, instructor of neurology in the Neurology Department at Childrens Hospital in Boston.

Jona Ghelli underwent the procedure at the XCell-Center in Dusseldorf, Germany, in October 2010 and her family calls the results miraculous.

With Jona, we saw them within hours, said her mother, Joanne.

Jona, 17, has suffered since birth from cerebral palsy and microcephaly. She has cognitive and physical impairments and struggles to perform simple tasks such as brushing her teeth.

Just two days after the treatment, which Joanne Ghelli said was performed in a clinic inside a hospital, Jonas hand relaxed. Normally it is rigid and extended.

For us, just to see a mild difference is huge, she said.

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For Holliston teen, medical miracle or doctor fraud?

MissionIR News – VistaGen Therapeutics to Speed Development of Drug Screening and Cell Therapy for Immune System …

By Stem Cell Medicine

Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) April 17, 2012

MissionIR would like to highlight VistaGen Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCBB: VSTA), focused on applying stem cell technology for drug rescue and cell therapy. Drug rescue combines human stem cell technology with modern medicinal chemistry to generate new chemical variants ("drug rescue variants") of promising drug candidates that have been discontinued during preclinical development ("put on the shelf") due to heart or liver safety concerns.

In the companys news yesterday,

VistaGen Therapeutics announced it has licensed breakthrough stem cell culture technology from the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine located at the University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto, Canada.

VistaGen will be utilizing the licensed technology to develop hematopoietic precursor stem cells from human pluripotent stem cells, with the goal of developing drug screening and cell therapy applications for human blood system disorders. The breakthrough technology is included in a new United States patent application.

Hematopoietic precursor stem cells give rise to all red and white blood cells and platelets in the body. VistaGen will use the UHN invention to improve the cell culture methods used to efficiently produce hematopoietic stem cell populations.

This technology dramatically advances our ability to produce and purify this important blood stem cell precursor for both in vitro drug screening and in vivo cell therapy applications, said H. Ralph Snodgrass, PhD, VistaGens President and Chief Scientific Officer.

In addition to defining new cell culture methods for our use, the technology describes the surface characteristics of stem cell-derived adult hematopoietic stem cells. Most groups study embryonic blood development from stem cells, but, for the first time, we are able to not only purify the stem cell-derived precursor of all adult hematopoietic cells, but also pinpoint the precise timing when adult blood cell differentiation takes place in these cultures, Snodgrass added. It is our belief that these early cells will be the precursors of the ultimate adult, bone marrow-repopulating hematopoietic stem cells.

Bone marrow-derived hematopoietic stem cells are able to repopulate the blood and immune system when transplanted into patients prepared for bone marrow transplantation. These cells have important potential therapeutic applications for the restoration of healthy blood and immune systems in individuals undergoing transplantation therapies for cancer, organ grafts, HIV infections, or for acquired or genetic blood and immune deficiencies.

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MissionIR News - VistaGen Therapeutics to Speed Development of Drug Screening and Cell Therapy for Immune System ...

Metro Dog Recovers from Stem Cell Surgery

By Stem Cell Clinic

STANLEY, Kan. FOX 4 first introduced you to Jake the dog on Valentines day. At almost 12-years-old the yellow lab was having trouble getting around and his family wanted to help. They paid $1,800 for stem cell therapy at the Stanley Veterinary Clinic.

Did it work? FOX 4 tagged along for Jakes two month check up to see. The jury is still out from some veterinariansabout the benefit of stem cell therapy for animals. Dr. James L. Cook at the University of Missouri saysthere are other injections that cost much lessthat get the same results.

But Jakes vet and his owner saythe stem cell therapymade a world of difference for him. In February, when we first met Jake, he had trouble getting around andstanding up.But now after the stem cells were harvested fromJakeand then re-injected into his hips, knees, elbow and shoulder, he appears to be moving much easier.

Before on a slick surface he was very reluctant to move around or get up because he was afraid he was going to slip and hurt himself, Dr. Les Pelfrey with the Stanley Veterinary Clinic says. Now, he hops right up and moves about and goes on walks so his quality of life has improved.

Jakes owner also says the dog is offdaily pain medication and calls the therapy, money well spent.

Hes enjoying his life and thats most important, Jakes owner, Elizabeth LeBlanc says. I would do it again.

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Metro Dog Recovers from Stem Cell Surgery

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