Stem Cells Offer New Solutions for Lung Disease – Miami’s Community Newspapers

Kristin Comella, Chief Science Officer

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, and is projected to be the third by 2020. COPD is associated with an exaggerated chronic inflammatory response causing airway abnormalities. Patients typically undergo a progression of declining lung function, characterized by an increase of cough, shortness of breath, and mucus production. Extra-pulmonary manifestations of COPD include osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, skeletal muscle abnormalities, and depression. There is currently no cure and the manifestations can only be treated symptomatically. It afflicts more than 5% of the population in many countries and accounts for more than 600 billion in health care costs, morbidity, and mortality.

Adult stem cells are found in every part of the body and their primary role is to heal and maintain the tissue in which they reside. Stem cells are unspecialized cells capable of renewing themselves by cell division. In addition, they have the ability to differentiate into specialized cell types. Adult stem cells can be harvested from a patients own tissue, such as adipose (fat) tissue, muscle, teeth, skin or bone marrow. One of the most plentiful sources of stem cells in the body is the fat tissue. In fact, approximately 500 times more stem cells can be obtained from fat than bone marrow. Stem cells derived from a patients own fat are referred to as adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs). Adipose derived stem cells have been explored with respect to their activity in diseases involving significant inflammatory or degenerative components. More recently, adult stem cells have been identified as having the potential to reverse the effects of diseases like COPD.

The mixed population of cells that can be obtained from fat is called a stromal vascular fraction (SVF). The SVF can easily be isolated from fat tissue in approximately 30-90 minutes in a clinic setting (under local anesthesia) using a mini-lipoaspirate technique. The SVF contains all cellular elements of fat, excluding adipocytes. Tens to hundreds of millions of ADSCs can be obtained in the context of the SVF acquired from 20-200 ml of adipose tissue during this out-patient procedure. This sets the stage for their practical use at the point-of-care, in which a preparation of ASC can be provided for infusion or injection after the mini-liposuction. COPD patients who have undergone stem cell therapies often express the willingness to receive additional cell infusions if possible, due to a feeling of well-being associated with the injection. There is early evidence of feasibility and safety of infusions into the patients with COPD. In relevant studies, intravenous infusion of cultured adipose stem cells has been demonstrated to remarkably improve the onset and progression of smoke exposure-induced emphysema in rodents.

Stem cells possess enormous regenerative potential. The potential applications are virtually limitless. Patients can receive cutting edge treatments that are safe, compliant, and effective. Our team has successfully treated over 7000 patients with very few safety concerns reported. One day, stem cell treatments will be the gold standard of care for the treatment of most degenerative diseases. We are extremely encouraged by the positive patient results we are seeing from our physician-based treatments. Our hope is that stem cell therapy will provide relief and an improved quality of life for many patients. The future of medicine is here!

For additional information on Stem Cell Centers of Excellences South Miami clinic, visit http://www.stemcellcoe.com.

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Stem Cells Offer New Solutions for Lung Disease - Miami's Community Newspapers

Hypothalamic Stem Cells Control Aging in Mice – Sci-News.com

In a study in mice, a research team at Albert Einstein College of Medicine has found that stem cells in the hypothalamus, a region of the brain that controls an immense number of bodily functions, govern how fast aging occurs in the body.

Electron microscopic images (false color) of hypothalamic neural stem/progenitor cells. Right high magnification of the outlined area on the left; arrows indicate the presence of multivescular bodies. Image credit: Zhang et al, doi: 10.1038/nature23282.

The hypothalamus, a deep brain region just in front of the brainstem, regulates arousal, sleep, hunger, body temperature, and other fundamental behaviors. It strictly controls the pituitary gland that in turn is responsible for the secretion of different hormones.

In a recent study, Professor Dongsheng Cai and his colleagues made the surprising finding that the hypothalamus also regulates aging throughout the body.

Now, the team has pinpointed the cells in the hypothalamus that control aging: a tiny population of adult neural stem cells, which were known to be responsible for forming new brain neurons.

Our research shows that the number of hypothalamic neural stem cells naturally declines over the life of the animal, and this decline accelerates aging, Professor Cai said.

But we also found that the effects of this loss are not irreversible. By replenishing these stem cells or the molecules they produce, its possible to slow and even reverse various aspects of aging throughout the body.

In studying whether stem cells in the hypothalamus held the key to aging, Professor Cai and co-authors first looked at the fate of those cells as healthy mice got older.

The number of hypothalamic stem cells began to diminish when the animals reached about 10 months, which is several months before the usual signs of aging start appearing.

By old age about two years of age in mice most of those cells were gone, Professor Cai noted.

The team next wanted to learn whether this progressive loss of stem cells was actually causing aging and was not just associated with it.

So the authors observed what happened when they selectively disrupted the hypothalamic stem cells in middle-aged mice.

This disruption greatly accelerated aging compared with control mice, and those animals with disrupted stem cells died earlier than normal, Professor Cai said.

Could adding stem cells to the hypothalamus counteract aging?

To answer that question, the scientists injected hypothalamic stem cells into the brains of middle-aged mice whose stem cells had been destroyed as well as into the brains of normal old mice.

In both groups of animals, the treatment slowed or reversed various measures of aging.

The team found that the hypothalamic stem cells appear to exert their anti-aging effects by releasing molecules called microRNAs.

They are not involved in protein synthesis but instead play key roles in regulating gene expression.

microRNAs are packaged inside tiny particles called exosomes, which hypothalamic stem cells release into the cerebrospinal fluid of mice.

Professor Cai and colleagues extracted microRNA-containing exosomes from hypothalamic stem cells and injected them into the cerebrospinal fluid of two groups of mice: middle-aged mice whose hypothalamic stem cells had been destroyed and normal middle-aged mice.

This treatment significantly slowed aging in both groups of animals as measured by tissue analysis and behavioral testing that involved assessing changes in the animals muscle endurance, coordination, social behavior and cognitive ability.

Details of the research were published online July 26 in the journal Nature.

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Yalin Zhang et al. Hypothalamic stem cells control ageing speed partly through exosomal miRNAs. Nature, published online July 26, 2017; doi: 10.1038/nature23282

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Hypothalamic Stem Cells Control Aging in Mice - Sci-News.com

Stem cells in brain located by scientists could help reverse ageing process – The Independent

Scientists have identified a pea-sized part of the brain they say may hold the key to extending human lifespans.

Researchers found it was possible to slow and even reverse various aspects of ageing throughout the body by replenishing adult stem cells that control how quickly the body grows old.

The small bundle of neurons that appears to keep a tight rein on ageing is called the hypothalamus and is located at the base of the brain.

Dongsheng Cai, from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, led the new study in which tests were carried out on lab mice to pinpoint this area.

The research, published in the journal Nature, showed that as the number of these cells declines naturally over time, or if their function is disrupted, the bodys organs and metabolic processes age faster and death occurs earlier.

Our research shows that the number of hypothalamic neural stem cells naturally declines over the life of the animal, and this decline accelerates ageing, said Professor Cai. But we also found that the effects of this loss are not irreversible.

Ageing could be held back by replenishing these stem cells or the molecules they produce, he added.

The scientists believe that humans are likely to respond to the influence of hypothalamus stem cells in just the same way as the mice.

Brain activity appears to continue after people are dead, according to a study

The hypothalamus acts like a computers central processing unit (CPU), regulating a wide range of biological functions in the body and linking nerves and hormones.

One of its most important jobs is to maintain homeostasis keeping different parts of the body working in a constantly stable, balanced way.

Among the many body functions it influences are temperature control, appetite, blood pressure, heart rate, sleep cycles, sex drive, and digestion. It operates via a complex array of hormones.

The crucial hypothalamus stem cells are mother cells that mature to produce new neurons.

Professor Cais team of researchers looked at what happened to the cells as healthy mice got older.

They found that the number of hypothalamus stem cells began to diminish when the animals reached about 10 months, several months before the usual signs of ageing normally start to appear. Mice in captivity live a maximum of only about two to three years.

By old age about two years of age in mice most of those cells were gone, said Professor Cai. When the stem cells in middle aged mice were selectively disrupted artificially, it led to greatly accelerated ageing, he said.

The professor added: Those mice with disrupted stem cells died earlier than normal.

The next step was to inject hypothalamus stem cells into the brains of mice whose own supply of the cells had been destroyed, as well as normal old mice.

In both groups of animals, various measurements including tissue analysis and assessments of muscle endurance, coordination, social behaviour and mental abilityshowed that ageing was either slowed or reversed.

The anti-ageing effects were traced to molecules called microRNAs (miRNAs) released by the stem cells.

These small snippets of genetic material play a key role in regulating gene activity. By pairing up with messenger RNA molecules, which carry genetic code instructions to protein-building machinery in cells, they can effectively switch off certain genes.

When miRNA was extracted from hypothalamus stem cells and injected into the cerebrospinal fluid of mice, ageing was once again significantly slowed.

As a first step towards new anti-ageing treatments, the scientists are now trying to identify specific populations of anti-ageing microRNAs and possibly other secretions from hypothalamus stem cells that may play a role.

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Stem cells in brain located by scientists could help reverse ageing process - The Independent

Only as Old as the Brain’s Stem Cells Feel – Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

What the brain tells the body can accelerate aging and shorten lifespan. That much is already clear from recent studies on neuroendocrine interactions between the central nervous system and the periphery. These studies have even identified a brain region known to regulate growth, development, reproduction, and metabolismthe hypothalamusas a particularly important communications hub. Yet this brain regions cell-level contributions to aging regulation have been unclear.

A new study has listened to the hypothalamus more closely in hopes of picking up cell-level chatter that could influence aging speed. This study, which was completed by scientists based at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, tuned into a tiny population of adult stem cells. Already known to be responsible for forming new brain neurons, these stem cells, the scientists found, also regulate aging speed, partly through the release of exosomal microRNAs (miRNAs).

"Our research shows that the number of hypothalamic neural stem cells naturally declines over the life of the animal, and this decline accelerates aging," said the studys leader, Dongsheng Cai, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of molecular pharmacology at Einstein. "But we also found that the effects of this loss are not irreversible."

Details of the study appeared July 26 in the journal Nature, in an article entitled Hypothalamic Stem Cells Control Ageing Speed Partly through Exosomal miRNAs. The article describes how the scientists worked with mouse models in which hypothalamic stem/progenitor cells were evaluated.

Each mouse model consistently displayed acceleration of ageing-like physiological changes or a shortened lifespan, wrote the articles authors. Conversely, ageing retardation and lifespan extension were achieved in mid-aged mice that were locally implanted with healthy hypothalamic stem/progenitor cells that had been genetically engineered to survive in the ageing-related hypothalamic inflammatory microenvironment.

The researchers first looked at the fate of those cells as healthy mice got older. The number of hypothalamic stem cells began to diminish when the animals reached about 10 months, which is several months before the usual signs of aging start appearing. "By old ageabout two years of age in micemost of those cells were gone," noted Dr. Cai.

The researchers next wanted to learn whether this progressive loss of stem cells was actually causing aging and was not just associated with it. So they observed what happened when they selectively disrupted the hypothalamic stem cells in middle-aged mice. "This disruption, pointed out Dr. Cai, greatly accelerated aging compared with control mice, and those animals with disrupted stem cells died earlier than normal."

Could adding stem cells to the hypothalamus counteract aging? To answer that question, the researchers injected hypothalamic stem cells into the brains of middle-aged mice whose stem cells had been destroyed as well as into the brains of normal old mice.

By replenishing these stem cells or the molecules they produce, it's possible to slow and even reverse various aspects of aging throughout the body, the authors of the Nature article declared. Mechanistically, hypothalamic stem/progenitor cells contributed greatly to exosomal miRNAs in the cerebrospinal fluid, and these exosomal miRNAs declined during ageing, whereas central treatment with healthy hypothalamic stem/progenitor cell-secreted exosomes led to the slowing of ageing.

The researchers extracted miRNA-containing exosomes from hypothalamic stem cells and injected them into the cerebrospinal fluid of two groups of mice: middle-aged mice whose hypothalamic stem cells had been destroyed and normal middle-aged mice. This treatment significantly slowed aging in both groups of animals as measured by tissue analysis and behavioral testing that involved assessing changes in the animals' muscle endurance, coordination, social behavior, and cognitive ability.

The researchers are now trying to identify the particular populations of miRNAs and perhaps other factors secreted by these stem cells that are responsible for these antiaging effectsa first step toward possibly slowing the aging process and treating age-related diseases.

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Only as Old as the Brain's Stem Cells Feel - Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

Regenerative Medicine: The Future of Medicine is Here Miami’s … – Miami’s Community Newspapers

Regenerative medicine is a revolutionary approach to treating many degenerative conditions and includes a variety of different techniques including stem cell therapy. This field joins nearly all disciplines of science and holds the realistic promise of repairing damaged tissue by harnessing the bodys ability to heal itself.

Adult stem cells are found in every part of the body and their primary role is to heal and maintain the tissue in which they reside. Stem cells are unspecialized cells capable of renewing themselves by cell division. In addition, they have the ability to differentiate into specialized cell types. Adult stem cells can be harvested from a patients own tissue, such as adipose (fat) tissue, muscle, teeth, skin or bone marrow.

One of the most plentiful sources of stem cells in the body is the fat tissue. In fact, approximately 500 times more stem cells can be obtained from fat than bone marrow. Stem cells derived from a patients own fat are referred to as adipose-derived stem cells. The mixed population of cells that can be obtained from fat is called a stromal vascular fraction (SVF). The SVF can easily be isolated from fat tissue in approximately 30-90 minutes in a clinic setting (under local anesthesia) using a mini-lipoaspirate technique. The SVF contains a mixture of cells including adipose-derived stem cells or ADSCs and growth factors and has been depleted of the adipocyte (fat cell) population.

ADSCs are multi-potential and can differentiate into a variety of different types of tissue including but not limited to bone, cartilage, muscle, ligament, tendon and fat. These cells have also been shown to express a variety of different growth factors and signaling molecules (cytokines), which recruit other stem cells to facilitate repair and healing of the affected tissue. ADSCs are very angiogenic in nature and can promote the growth of new blood vessels.

Based on research performed in our FDA registered facilities, stem cell quality and functionality can vary greatly depending on the methods utilized to obtain the cells. It is important to utilize a product that has undergone full characterization to include safety, identity, purity and potency. We have developed a method for harvesting and isolating stem cells from fat for therapeutic use. The use of a cell population that retains the ability to function in vivo will lead to more consistent patient results with long term success.

Adipose stem cells can be obtained from the patient easily, abundantly, and with minimal patient discomfort. Clinical applications for patients can be performed in an office setting safely, legally, and ethically using autologous ADSCs. Current applications include orthopedic conditions (tendon/ligament injuries, osteoarthritis, etc.), degenerative conditions (COPD, diabetes), neurological (MS, Parkinsons, spinal cord injuries, TBI, etc.) and auto-immune (RA, Crohns, colitis, lupus).

Stem cells possess enormous regenerative potential. The potential applications are virtually limitless. Patients can receive cutting edge treatments that are safe, compliant, and effective. Our team has successfully treated over 7000 patients with very few safety concerns reported. One day, stem cell treatments will be the gold standard of care for the treatment of most degenerative diseases. We are extremely encouraged by the positive patient results we are seeing from our physician-based treatments. Our hope is that stem cell therapy will provide relief and an improved quality of life for many patients. The future of medicine is here!

For additional information on our South Miami clinic, visit http://www.stemcellcoe.com.

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Unanimous Advice To FDA: Approve Landmark CAR-T Cancer Therapy – Xconomy

Xconomy National

The first ever approval of a new kind of cancer immunotherapy called CAR-T is one step closer. A 10-member panel of doctors and researchers who advise the Food and Drug Administration recommended with a rare unanimous vote that the agency approve a treatment for kids and young adults with a severe form of leukemia who have run out of other options.

The therapy would involve genetically modifying a patients T cells to kill cancer and then infusing them back into the body. The dramatic effect of the treatment, known for years as CTL-019, was never questioned at the meeting. Of 68 young people receiving it, 52 of them had an excellent response almost immediately, with their cancer disappearing within the first three months. Three-quarters of those patients remained cancer-free six months after treatment.

Explaining their vote, many advisors were effusive. Its the most exciting thing Ive seen in my lifetime, said Timothy Cripe, a blood cancer and bone marrow transplant specialist at Nationwide Childrens Hospital in Columbus, OH.

Others had high praise for the drugs marketer, Novartis (NYSE: NVS), and its plans to keep a close eye on the potentially severe side effects of CAR-T if it becomes a commercial product. Those so-called risk mitigation plans were one of the main concerns that the FDA, in documents released Monday, asked its advisors to consider.

The main side effect of CTL-019 is cytokine release syndrome, a blistering immune reaction to the drug and the detritus of dying cancer cells. It can be deadly, with spiking fevers and other symptoms, if medical staff arent properly trained for it. Novartis said it would train staffers at 30 to 35 medical centers and take other measures, as well.

At the FDAs behest, the advisory panel spent much of the day discussing long-term side effects, toothe possibility that the T cell modification could go awry, and years down the road cause secondary cancers. Its a concern that stems from the early days of gene therapy, when the genetic tweaking of patients cells with a modified virus turned on cancer-causing genes.

Novartis officials said they would follow patients for at least 15 years and investigate any cases of secondary cancers. Committee member Catherine Bollard, who runs an immunotherapy center at the Childrens Research Institute in Washington, DC, said she would like Novartis also to investigate when patients relapse with altered forms of leukemia.

The committee members said it was hard to assess the long-term risk, but in patients with no other treatment options, the near-term benefits of CAR-T therapy more than tipped the scales. You have to be a long-term survivor to experience [long-term] toxicity, said Bruce Roth of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO. CTL-019 should give kids with ALL a chance for long-term survival, he said.

In a field that has plenty of pressing questions about severe, even deadly short-term side effects including brain swelling that was seen in trials of CAR-T therapies run by competing companies many observers were left wondering why the FDA highlighted the long-term risks of the CAR-T causing another cancer, perhaps years into the future. One possibility is that the agency is anticipating that CAR-T products will be developed for patients who arent at the end of the line. For example, the engineered T cells could be used as an adjuvant or additional therapy after a previous treatment has wiped out all but the last traces of cancer, said Richard Maziarz, a blood cancer specialist at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland.

In those settings, the downstream effect [of triggering a secondary cancer] is conceivable, said Maziarz. (Maziarz was not part of todays advisory committee. He has treated adult patients with CTL-019 as part of a different Novartis study.)

The news today buoyed Novartis stock, which was up $1.22, or nearly 1.5 percent. Based in Switzerland, but with much of its R&D in the U.S., Novartis was the first biopharma group to dive into the CAR-T field in a big way when in 2012 it launched a collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania. Much of the early work on CTL-019, now renamed tisagenlecleucel, took place in the universitys labs and clinics.

Novartis disbanded its cell and gene therapy group last year but vowed to press on with CTL-019. Approval in pediatric ALL now seems all but assured; the FDA rarely bucks the advice of its advisory committees. Novartis is also vying to have CTL-019 approved to treat adults with the most common forms of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Beyond that, the companys plans with CAR-T are unclear. Penn has a next-generation CAR-T under development, dubbed CTL-119, which is not licensed to Novartis.

Novartis also convinced the advisory committee that its complicated manufacturing process could be fast and consistent. There are many links in the production chain, which requires extracting T cells from a patient, shipping them to a lab for genetic modification, making viral vectors that insert new DNA into the T cells, then shipping the cells back to be dripped through an IV back into the patient.

Such a complex system for making personalized treatments is likely to drive up their cost, and the next big hurdle (assuming an FDA approval this fall) is to win over insurers. The complexity can also introduce other kinds of risk, such as failure of the cells to repopulate the patients immune system. I think it will be important in the commercial phase to assess both failure rates and turnaround times for CAR-T production, said Krishna Komanduri, director of the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center Adult Stem Cell Transplant Program at the University of Miami, who has treated patients with other experimental CAR-Ts, but not the one from Novartis. Either delays or failure of production will have clinical consequences for the highest risk patients.

Photo by Guido Van Nispen via Creative Commons 2.0 license.

Alex Lash is Xconomy's National Biotech Editor. He is based in San Francisco.

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Unanimous Advice To FDA: Approve Landmark CAR-T Cancer Therapy - Xconomy

Adult Stem Cells Save Woman Ravaged by Lupus, Now She Can be a Mom – LifeNews.com

Today the Charlotte Lozier Institute announced the release of its latest testimonial video at StemCellResearchFacts.org, a project of the Washington, D.C.-based research and policy group. The video revisits Jackie Stollfus, a lupus survivor whose story was first told in a video released in 2014.

Diagnosed at the age of 21 with systemic lupus, an autoimmune disease with no known cure, Stollfus endured years of debilitating symptoms that did not respond to medication before undergoing a transplant of her own bone marrow stem cells. Seven years later, she is healthy, active, and has been able to start a family. Adult stem cells saved my life, gave me a chance to have a life, gave me that chance to be a mom, she says.

Dr. David Prentice, Vice President and Research Director of the Charlotte Lozier Institute and an international expert on stem cells, hailed the new video, saying:

Follow LifeNews.com on Instagram for pro-life pictures.

Autoimmune diseases are notoriously challenging to treat, which makes Jackie Stollfuss recovery that much more striking. As this video shows, adult stem cells are the gold standard for stem cells when it comes to patient-centered science. Jackies story is only the latest example of innovation using adult stem cells. These non-controversial cells have led to validated healing in FDA-approved studies and peer-reviewed publications for patients with various diseases and conditions. Derived from bone marrow, umbilical cord blood, and other ethical sources, they have already been used to help over one million suffering patients around the globe.

Charlotte Lozier Institute President Chuck Donovan praised Congressional efforts to prioritize NIH funding for the most promising research:

The initial successes for these innovative therapies must be followed up with expanded resources to bring more treatments to the clinic and the bedside. The bipartisan, aptly-named Patients First Act (H.R. 2918) introduced by Rep. Jim Banks and Rep. Dan Lipinski is a good example of how policymakers can advance cutting-edge medicine. It directs resources for stem cells where they will do the most good for patients.

StemCellResearchFacts.org, a project of the Charlotte Lozier Institute, was established in 2009 to facilitate and form a worldwide community dedicated to helping individuals, patients and families discover, learn and share the latest advances in adult stem cell research. To that end, the website has published 16 video testimonials backed by peer-reviewed published science. These testimonials feature patients who have undergone successful therapies for a variety of conditions including autoimmune diseases, cancer, spinal cord injury, heart disease, and more using adult stem cells. They also convey the testimony of doctors and researchers on the merits of these treatments.

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Adult Stem Cells Save Woman Ravaged by Lupus, Now She Can be a Mom - LifeNews.com

Scientists Turn Back the Clock on Adult Stem Cells Aging …

Reversing the aging process could lead to medical treatments for many chronic conditions

Researchers have shown they can reverse the aging process for human adult stem cells, which are responsible for helping old or damaged tissues regenerate. The findings could lead to medical treatments that may repair a host of ailments that occur because of tissue damage as people age. A research group led by the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and the Georgia Institute of Technology conducted the study in cell culture, which appears in the September 1, 2011 edition of the journal Cell Cycle.

The regenerative power of tissues and organs declines as we age. The modern day stem cell hypothesis of aging suggests that living organisms are as old as are its tissue specific or adult stem cells. Therefore, an understanding of the molecules and processes that enable human adult stem cells to initiate self-renewal and to divide, proliferate and then differentiate in order to rejuvenate damaged tissue might be the key to regenerative medicine and an eventual cure for many age-related diseases A research group led by the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in collaboration with the Georgia Institute of Technology, conducted the study that pinpoints what is going wrong with the biological clock underlying the limited division of human adult stem cells as they age.

We demonstrated that we were able to reverse the process of aging for human adult stem cells by intervening with the activity of non-protein coding RNAs originated from genomic regions once dismissed as non-functional genomic junk, said Victoria Lunyak, Ph.D., associate professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging.

Adult stem cells are important because they help keep human tissues healthy by replacing cells that have gotten old or damaged. Theyre also multipotent, which means that an adult stem cell can grow and replace any number of body cells in the tissue or organ they belong to. However, just as the cells in the liver, or any other organ, can get damaged over time, adult stem cells undergo age-related damage. And when this happens, the body cant replace damaged tissue as well as it once could, leading to a host of diseases and conditions. But if scientists can find a way to keep these adult stem cells young, they could possibly use these cells to repair damaged heart tissue after a heart attack; heal wounds; correct metabolic syndromes; produce insulin for patients with type 1 diabetes; cure arthritis and osteoporosis and regenerate bone.

The team began by hypothesizing that DNA damage in the genome of adult stem cells would look very different from age-related damage occurring in regular body cells. They thought so because body cells are known to experience a shortening of the caps found at the ends of chromosomes, known as telomeres. But adult stem cells are known to maintain their telomeres. Much of the damage in aging is widely thought to be a result of losing telomeres. So there must be different mechanisms at play that are key to explaining how aging occurs in these adult stem cells, they thought.

Researchers used adult stem cells from humans and combined experimental techniques with computational approaches to study the changes in the genome associated with aging. They compared freshly isolated human adult stem cells from young individuals, which can self-renew, to cells from the same individuals that were subjected to prolonged passaging in culture. This accelerated model of adult stem cell aging exhausts the regenerative capacity of the adult stem cells. Researchers looked at the changes in genomic sites that accumulate DNA damage in both groups.

We found the majority of DNA damage and associated chromatin changes that occurred with adult stem cell aging were due to parts of the genome known as retrotransposons, said King Jordan, Ph.D., associate professor in the School of Biology at Georgia Tech.

Retroransposons were previously thought to be non-functional and were even labeled as junk DNA, but accumulating evidence indicates these elements play an important role in genome regulation, he added.

While the young adult stem cells were able to suppress transcriptional activity of these genomic elements and deal with the damage to the DNA, older adult stem cells were not able to scavenge this transcription. New discovery suggests that this event is deleterious for the regenerative ability of stem cells and triggers a process known as cellular senescence.

By suppressing the accumulation of toxic transcripts from retrotransposons, we were able to reverse the process of human adult stem cell aging in culture, said Lunyak.

Furthermore, by rewinding the cellular clock in this way, we were not only able to rejuvenate aged human stem cells, but to our surprise we were able to reset them to an earlier developmental stage, by up-regulating the pluripotency factors the proteins that are critically involved in the self-renewal of undifferentiated embryonic stem cells. she said.

Next the team plans to use further analysis to validate the extent to which the rejuvenated stem cells may be suitable for clinical tissue regenerative applications.

The study was conducted by a team with members from the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of California, San Diego, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, International Computer Science Institute, Applied Biosystems and Tel-Aviv University.

Citation: Inhibition of activated pericentromeric SINE/Alu repeat transcription in senescent human adult stem cells reinstates self-renewal. Cell Cycle, Volume 10, Issue 17, September 1, 2011

About the Buck Institute for Research on Aging The Buck Institute is the first freestanding institute in the United States that is devoted solely to basic research on aging and age-associated disease. The Institute is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to extending the healthspan, the healthy years of each individuals life. Buck Institute scientists work in an innovative, interdisciplinary setting to understand the mechanisms of aging and to discover new ways of detecting, preventing and treating conditions such as Alzheimers and Parkinsons disease, cancer, cardiovascular disease and stroke. Collaborative research at the Institute is supported by new developments in genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics technology. For more information: http://www.thebuck.org.

About the Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology is one of the world's premier research universities. Ranked seventh amongU.S. News & World Report's top public universities, Georgia Tech has more than 20,000 students enrolled in its Colleges of Architecture, Computing, Engineering, Liberal Arts, Management and Sciences and is among the nation's top producers of women and minority engineers.The Institute offers research opportunities to both undergraduate and graduate students and is home to more than 100 interdisciplinary units plus the Georgia Tech Research Institute. For more information: http://www.gatech.edu.

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A*STAR scientists identify role of key stem cell factor in gastric cancer progression – Biotechin.Asia

Understanding stem cell factors in injury repair and Cancer

Last month, scientists from A*STARs Institute of Medical Biology (IMB) have identified a key biological role for the Lgr5, a protein present mainly in the adult stem cells of many tissue types, as a key driving factor in gastric cancer.

Like other organs in the body, the stomach is constantly exposed to a variety of stress factors. Whether its a kick from your Tai Chi instructor or a wild night at the pub, mechanical stress, food habits and alcohol can influence the health of your stomach. A specialized set of cells- adult stem cells help to maintain the health and functionality of the stomach. Adult stem cells help to fuel the process of tissue renewal in the stomach and repair damage caused by stressors.

Lgr5 is specifically expressed in adult stem cells of many organs.Identification of Lgr5 as a marker characterizing stem cells has driven major advances in the understanding of stem cell biology for clinical applications.

According to the World Health Organization, gastric cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer globally. In Singapore, gastric cancer is among the top 10 most common cancers for males and females. The most common cause is infection by the bacterium Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), which accounts for more than 60% of cases. Certain types of H. pylori have greater risks than others.

The discovery of Lgr5 expressing Chief cells as a key driver of gastric cancer represents a significant breakthrough in the study of gastric cancer biology and delivers crucial insight into gastric cancer development that should prove invaluable for developing more effective treatments in the clinic.

The two and half year research project was led by Dr. Marc Leushacke, Research Scientist at IMB, under the tutelage of Professor Nick Barker, Research Director. Using a fate mapping study, the team discovered a new population of Lgr5-expressing cells within the lining of the major digestive region of the stomach and characterized the role of these Lgr5-expressing cells during normal conditions, injury repair, and cancer.

The team discovered that Lgr5-expressing Chief cells, function as adult stem cells helping to repair the stomach lining after injury and are also the key cell type involved in gastric cancer following mutations.

The origin of gastric cancer is controversially discussed in the field. Our study definitively identifies Lgr5-labeled corpus cells at the gland base as a major gastric cancer origin and therefore provides clarity to the ongoing discussion. We hope that these findings will contribute to translatable clinical outcomes in the future.- said Professor Barker

For more information, please refer to the original paper Lgr5-Expressing Chief Cells Drive Epithelial Regeneration and Cancer in the Oxyntic Stomach published in Nature Cell Biology on 6 June 2017.

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A*STAR scientists identify role of key stem cell factor in gastric cancer progression - Biotechin.Asia

Adult Stem Cell Banking Information from Celltex Therapeutics

Why Bank?

Not everyone interested in adult stem cell therapy has a condition that requires immediate treatment. Indeed, some far-sighted individuals would like to have a large reserve of their own stem cells available in case they are needed in the future. Celltex can provide state-of-the-art adult stem cell banking services that can provide individuals peace of mind.

No matter where you live, Celltex will work with you to provide banking services for your stem cells.

Sometimes your body cannot create enough stem cells to make an effective healing response to an illness or injury. Banking your cells now provides the opportunity to multiply and utilize your younger, healthy cells at a later point in life when you and your physician determine it would be beneficial.

Whether you choose to bank because of a current condition, or so that your cells are available to you in case of an emergency, illness, injury, or accident in the future, there are numerous benefits to banking your stem cells now. It is a simple and safe procedure that can benefit you now, or in the future.

As we age, illness and the natural processes of aging reduce the number of stem cells available to regenerate organs, muscles and bone and in particular we have fewer adult cells that have the collective power to assist in healing many different kinds of cells.

The younger you are when you bank your cells, the more efficient, active and mobile they are.

Celltex is a leader in providing services for the rapidly expanding field of regenerative medicine. Specifically, Celltex precisely separates, multiplies, and stores adult adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells for autologous use by physicians. This means that an individuals fat (adipose) is the source of their adult stem cells, which are used only for that individual and never for any other person.

Celltexs advanced laboratory uses a patented process to ensure that it supplies physicians with genetically identical, autologous adult stem cells for clinical therapeutic use. Dedicated to ensuring the proper extraction, isolation and culture of stem cells, we hold more than 14 patents protecting our methodology and quality control processes that ensure the potency and purity of your cells when you choose to use them.

No other corporation or academic organization engaged in the banking of adult stem cells does as much quality control or in as secure an environment as that deployed by Celltex. This is the leading edge of biosafety applied to regenerative medicine.

Celltex does not treat patients or provide any healthcare services. Rather, individual doctors decide whether a patient their patient might benefit from adult stem cells.

Below is an overview of the process to bank your adult stem cells:

Read more about Celltex stem cell banking services for adults, for families, or for groups and companies.

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Adult Stem Cell Banking Information from Celltex Therapeutics