More than 60 US clinics have sold unproven stem cell therapies for heart failure – New York Post

Stem cell therapy isnt approved to treat heart failure in the US, but dozens of clinics nationwide advertise the treatments anyway, often charging thousands of dollars for procedures that may not be safe or effective, a new study suggests.

Researchers found 61 centers offering stem cell therapies for heart failure as of last year in the US alone, including five that claimed to have performed more than 100 procedures. Only nine centers required copies of patients medical records and just one facility said it had a board certified cardiologist on staff.

We simply do not know anything about the quality of the treatment delivered at these centers, said senior study author Dr. Paul Hauptman director of heart failure at Saint Louis University Hospital.

These centers are not regulated in any way, Hauptman said by email.

Almost 6 million Americans have heart failure, and its one of the most common reasons older adults go to the hospital, according to the American Heart Association.

It happens when the heart muscle is too weak to effectively pump enough blood through the body. Symptoms can include fatigue, weight gain from fluid retention, shortness of breath and coughing or wheezing. Medications can help strengthen the heart and minimize fluid buildup in the body.

While some experimental stem cell therapies for heart failure are currently being tested in late-stage human trials, none have won approval from the US Food and Drug Administration.

In theory, after a transplant, stem cells could permanently become part of the diseased heart and either help grow new healthy heart tissue or tell existing cells to work better, said Paul Knoepfler, a cell biology researcher at the University of California Davis School of Medicine in Sacramento who wasnt involved in the study.

Its also possible stem cells could temporarily visit the heart and stimulate a positive response in cells already there, he said.

Even though theres no conclusive proof yet that any stem cell treatments are safe and effective for heart failure, centers contacted for the study charge an average of $7,694 for each treatment using patients own stem cells and $6,038 for each procedure with donor stem cells.

In one instance, though, a clinic staff member said, If you have a million dollars to spend we will set you up with weekly infusions.

Hauptmans team had used a standard script when contacting each center, asking about the stem cell treatment itself, medical exams before and afterward and pricing.

Among the other responses they received from clinic staff were remarks such as, If you know anyone that can start an IV, a neighbor that is a nurse for example, we can send you the stem cells and that person can administer them to you and We hope you dont believe your doctor when they tell you there is nothing they can do, you were smart to call us.

None of the sites in the study discussed what methods they used to isolate or identify stem cells, though most claimed to use patients cells and 24 said they got cells from fat tissue.

Most centers claimed to deliver cells intravenously, researchers report in JAMA Internal Medicine.

This approach has been associated with complications such as stroke, in which infused cells block blood vessels in the brain, said Douglas Sipp, a researcher at RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan, who wasnt involved in the study.

The biggest risk is that patients will waste their money, time and hopes on an unnecessary and useless invasive procedure, Sipp said by email.

If any stem cell treatment did ultimately prove safe and effective enough to win FDA approval, it would likely offer a significant improvement over the limited treatment options currently available, said Leigh Turner, a researcher at the University of Minnesota Center for Bioethics who wasnt involved in the study.

But its impossible to say what patients would get at unregulated clinics offering unapproved stem cell therapies, Turner said by email. In at least two cases unrelated to the current study, patients died after getting stem cell procedures at a clinic in Florida, and in another case at a different Florida clinic, a woman went blind, Turner noted.

Clinics marketing stem cell treatments to patients suffering from heart failure might be administering anything from slurries of mixed cells, some of which might be stem cells, to nothing more than cellular debris, Turner said. Often one can only speculate.

Originally posted here:
More than 60 US clinics have sold unproven stem cell therapies for heart failure - New York Post

Stem Cell Therapy can provide a surgery-free solution to knee and shoulder issues – Colorado Springs Gazette

Springs Integrated Health offers leading-edge, all-natural medical care. The center provides services intended to get to the root of patient issues and deliver real, lasting results in the simplest, most effective way. Instead of covering up symptoms with medications, the clinic breaks down health into obtainable goals that can optimize the wellness of each and every patient. Services include chiropractic, hormone lab testing, physical rehabilitation, Supartz therapy, trigger point therapy, FAR infrared sauna, stem cell therapy and more.

There was a time when stem cell therapy was out of reach for most people, but it has become increasingly accessible in recent years; and a go-to solution for a range of physiological complications. Stem cells are blank cells in the body that can become any tissue, whether that be knee tissue, bone tissue, cartilage, organ tissue stem cells can become whatever they are closest and nearest to, said Tiffany Graham, DC of Springs Integrated Health. So when you inject them into a joint thats damaged the body is always healing itself anyway it can create new tissue where there has been damage.

Stem cell therapy has been used for decades in Europe, and in the United States has been used by Peyton Manning, Tiger Woods, and many NFL players and other professional athletes. Although stem cells were initially reserved for the ultra wealthy, they have since become both affordable and accessible; and many patients are opting for them over lengthy and expensive knee and shoulder surgeries. One in 400 total knee replacements result in fatal infection, and those that do not end up in infection still prove to have an extensive recovery time. Stem cell therapy is safe and quick, and people can feel results in as little as one week. Further, the company Springs Integrated Health utilizes for stem cells has given more than 50,000 injections with zero side effects and zero adverse reactions.

There are two different types of stem cells. The first is adult stem cells, where patients take their own bone marrow, fat or blood; spin it down; and re-inject into the joints. Thats not what is used at Springs Integrated Health, because its a long procedure that can be very painful and expensive. The second is amniotic stem cells, which are from donated placental tissue. This tissue comes from mothers who have planned c-sections, and who have elected to donate their placenta to science. The stem cells have been thoroughly tested and are clear of all antigens, so there is no risk for rejection or infection. The stem cells used at Springs Integrated Health are 100 percent ethically-sourced, and are not embryonic stem cells, which come from aborted fetal tissue, said Graham.

Rick Paine is a beaming example of the efficacy of stem cell therapy. He is an avid runner and hiker, and coached swimming at the University of Nebraska for 17 years. He was also an Olympic Head Coach in Australia in 2000. Eight years ago, he wore his left knee out and had to get a knee replacement, and it took two to three years to recover. About two years ago, his right knee was becoming worn out, and he did not want to go through the another knee surgery, because it was a very unpleasant experience for him. He was seeing an active release therapist who was helping, but he still had trouble with downhill on hikes, walking on the golf course and doing the everyday activities that make him happy.

Paine had been seeing Dr. Graham for about a year and a half before deciding to commence with stem cell therapy for his torn medial meniscus on the right knee in November 2016. At first I was skeptical, but I thought, lets give it a shot, Paine said. The procedure was quick and pretty painless, and it only took about a month after the injection for my knee to feel really good. He cautions that although the knee may feel great in a month or less, its essential to still take it easy, and give the tissue time to grow before becoming physically active.

Before I got stem cells, I couldnt squat to pick up a ball on the golf course but since getting the stem cells I can definitely do that. Im 65 years old, and a surgery would have taken me out of hiking for two to three years, but with this, it was only three months until I was hiking again, said Paine. We took X-rays a few months ago, and there has been significant improvement in my knee. I didnt expect to see that, I thought it was too good to be true, but Im living proof that stem cell therapy works.

Paine shared that now, eight months after his procedure, his knee still feels perfect. He admits that its not like having a brand new knee, but he has no issues whatsoever with downhill, uphill or bending down. I knew I wanted to do at least one more 14er, and didnt think it would be possible, but stem cells have definitely allowed me to do that. Paine is now gearing up for a 12 mile hike from Crested Butte to Aspen, a hike he couldnt have even considered before stem cells. I wish we had stem cells way back when, because it would have saved a lot of athletes careers.

To receive a complimentary consultation, or to attend an upcoming, free informational seminar at Springs Integrated Health, call 719-301-6649 or visit SpringsIntegratedHealth.com.

Springs Integrated Health is located at 1712 W. Uintah St., Colorado Springs. Hours are Monday, 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 3 to 6 p.m.; Tuesday, 3 to 6 p.m.; Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 3 to 6 p.m.; Thursday, 3 to 6 p.m.; and Friday 8 to 10 a.m.

See more here:
Stem Cell Therapy can provide a surgery-free solution to knee and shoulder issues - Colorado Springs Gazette

Stanford announces new Center for Definitive and Curative Medicine – Stanford Medical Center Report

It is a privilege to lead the center and to leverage my previous experience to build Stanfords preeminence in stem cell and gene therapies, said Roncarolo, who is also chief of pediatric stem cell transplantation and regenerative medicine, co-director of the Bass Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Diseases and co-director of the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. Stanford Medicines unique environment brings together scientific discovery, translational medicine and clinical treatment. We will accelerate Stanfords fundamental discoveries toward novel stem cell and gene therapies to transform the field and to bring cures to hundreds of diseases affecting millions of children worldwide.

The center consists of several innovative pieces designed to allow the rapid development of early scientific discoveries into the clinic that in the past have languished. This includes an interdisciplinary team of basic and clinical scientists to shepherd nascent therapies developed at Stanford. The team will be headed by associate directors Matthew Porteus, PhD, associate professor of pediatrics, and Anthony Oro, MD, the Eugene and Gloria Bauer Professor and professor of dermatology.

To help with clinical development, the center boasts a dedicated stem cell clinical trial office with Sandeep Soni, MD, clinical associate professor of pediatrics, as medical director. In addition, the center has dedicated clinical trial hospital beds in the Bass Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Diseases located on the top floor of the soon-to-open LucilePackardChildrensHospital. From work performed by scientists over the past decade, the center already has a backlog of nearly two dozen early stage therapies whose development the center will accelerate.

The center will provide novel therapies that can prevent irreversible damage in children, and allow them to live normal, healthy lives, said Mary Leonard, MD, professor and chair of pediatrics and physician-in-chief at Stanford Childrens Health. The stem cell and gene therapy efforts within the center are aligned with the strategic vision of the Department of Pediatrics and Stanfords precision health vision, where we go beyond simply providing treatment for children to instead cure them definitively for their entire lives.

One of the unique features of the center is its close association with the recently opened $35 million Stanford Laboratory for Cell and Gene Medicine, a 23,000-square-foot manufacturing facility located on California Avenue in Palo Alto. One of the first of its kind in the world, the laboratory has the ability to produce newly developed cell and gene therapy therapies according to the Good Manufacturing Practice standards as required for patient treatment.

Headed by executive director David DiGiusto, PhD, the lab can produce diverse cellular products for patient use, such as genetically corrected bone marrow cells for sickle cell anemia, genetically-engineered skin grafts for children with the genetic disease epidermolysis bullosa or genetically-engineered lymphocytes to fight rejection and leukemia.

We are fortunate that Stanford researchers have created such a strong portfolio of innovative candidate therapeutics to develop, said DiGusto. The capabilities of the laboratory will bridge the gap between research and clinical investigation so that the curative potential of these exciting cell and gene therapies can be realized.

For more information about the center, or for information about trials associated with the center, please see https://med.stanford.edu/ptrm/faculty.html, or contact Jennifer Howard at jmhoward@stanford.edu.

Read the original post:
Stanford announces new Center for Definitive and Curative Medicine - Stanford Medical Center Report

Patients’ plasma, stem cells help knee problems – The Columbus Dispatch

JoAnne Viviano The Columbus Dispatch @JoAnneViviano

Dennis Matko was headed for a knee replacement when he discovered a new therapy that would instead inject his own stem cells and plasma into the joint to help prevent degradation.

The 69-year-old Clintonville resident said he had been pretty active in his 50s, leading to problems with the right knee. He eventually had his meniscus removed. He had been through physical therapy, cortisone shots and gel injections, but the pain persisted.

The therapy, he said, was a no-brainer. He was sold because the procedure involved putting his own fluids into his body with no foreign objects and no drugs.

Dr. Joe Ruane, the orthopedic doctor who treated Matko, introduced the therapy at OhioHealth, but there are a number of places using the therapy around the state and country.

It's used to treat people with osteoarthritis, the type of arthritis caused by wear and tear.

Ruane said that the need for total knee replacements in the U.S. is expected to climb by 600 percent in the next 20 years, and there is concern that there might not be enough surgeons to perform the procedures.

We need an alternative, and patients are looking for alternatives, and given the choice between a knee replacement and an injection, many patients would choose an injection, he said.

The treatment involved removing Matkos bone marrow from the back of his pelvic bone, a process done in the office under general anesthesia. The marrow was then processed to form a concentrate of stem cells and other growth factors.

Matko also had blood drawn to create platelet-rich plasma, which acts as a signaling system to get the stem cells to respond.

Ruane injected both components into the knee, delivering more than 100 stimulating and growth factors to the joint.

Ruane said the process inhibits irritating chemicals that contribute to inflammation, decreases the activity of enzymes that break down cartilage, and helps the knee to make some of its own joint fluid again.

And, to a small degree, it does help regrow some of the tissue in the knee that has been destroyed by the arthritis, Ruane said.

The procedures are most effective in young patients with early arthritis, said Dr. Adolph Lombardi of Joint Implant Surgeons in New Albany, where stem-cell and platelet-rich plasma injections are offered as separate therapies. It won't help with bone-on-bone disease, he said.

While other injections might offer short-term pain relief, platelet-rich plasma has been shown to offer a full year of relief, said Lombardi, who works with the Mount Carmel Health System. The idea is that bone-marrow stem cells, when injected into a hip or knee, can differentiate into cartilage cells and help with regeneration.

"All of this is very new but it seems to be extremely promising," Lombardi said. "This is using their own bodies' healing potential to maintain cartilage and relieve pain."

Dr. Michael Baria performs the procedure at Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State University, where the bone-marrow and platelet-rich plasma injections also are offered as separate treatments. He agreed that the hope with the bone-marrow injections is that the stem cells turn into cartilage cells, improving or halting the osteoarthritis disease.

But in his experience, the treatment is helpful for patients with advanced disease.

"The most common patient we see for this is going to be in late-stage arthritis, so kind of at the end of their rope," Baria said. "Platelet-rich plasma is usually not as good for bone-on-bone arthritis. Bone marrow doesnt seem to be limited by bone on bone."

The body has trouble healing arthritis because cartilage doesnt get enough blood supply, Ruane said. Injecting the stem cells boosts the bodys own process.

While platelet-rich plasma has been shown to decrease inflammation, stem-cell use is newer and has yet to be proven effective, Baria noted.

OhioHealth andJoint Implant Surgeons are currently in the midst of controlled randomized trials, hoping to prove the effectiveness of the procedures and obtain approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Unless that happens, the procedure will be considered experimental, and insurance doesnt cover costs. Matko paid $2,800 for the injections at OhioHealth.

Before the treatment, Matko was having trouble with mundane things like going up and down stairs and with other activities, such as taking hikes or walks with his wife or working out. A retired police officer, he now works as a business consultant and spends a lot of time on his feet, so he was looking for better mobility there as well.

Matko said the injections have helped his knee, which is getting progressively better over time. He said hes been able to increase his activity, getting back to the gym and taking hikes and walks. He has minimal pain climbing stairs and hes more comfortable in his work.

Im not saying its all better but its much better, Matko said. Its headed in the right direction.

He realizes the treatment is not a cure.

Im not looking for a miracle, he said. I just want to forestall problems as long as possible.

.

.

jviviano@dispatch.com

@JoAnneViviano

Read the original:
Patients' plasma, stem cells help knee problems - The Columbus Dispatch

Glial cells botch wiring in childhood schizophrenia – Futurity: Research News

Malfunctioning glial cells that keep nerve cells from forming working communication networks may be the basis of the wiring problems in the brains of people with schizophrenia, new research suggests.

The inability of these cells to do their jobappears to be a primary contributor to the disease.

When researchers transplanted human brain cells generated from individuals diagnosed with childhood-onset schizophrenia into mice, the animals nerve cell networks did not mature properly and the mice exhibited the same antisocial and anxious behaviors seen in people with the disease.

The findings of this study argue that glial cell dysfunction may be the basis of childhood-onset schizophrenia, says neurologist Steve Goldman, co-director of the Center for Translational Neuromedicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) and lead author of the study.

The inability of these cells to do their job, which is to help nerve cells build and maintain healthy and effective communication networks, appears to be a primary contributor to the disease.

Glia are an important family of support cells found in the brain and play a critical role in the development and maintenance of the brains complex interconnected network of neurons. Glia includes two major types: astrocytes and oligodendrocytes.

Astrocytes are the brains principal support cells, while oligodendrocytes are responsible for producing myelin, the fatty tissue that, like the insulation on electrical wires, wraps the axons that connect different nerve cells. The source of both these cells is another cell type called the glial progenitor cell (GPC).

Astrocytes perform several functions in the brain. During development, astrocytes colonize areas of the brain and establish domains in which these cells help direct and organize the network of connections between nerve cells.

Individual astrocytes also send out hundreds of long fibers that interact with synapsesthe junction where one neurons axon meets anothers dendrite. The astrocytes help facilitate the communication between neurons at the synapses by regulating the flow of glutamate and potassium, which enable neurons to fire when they are communicating with each other.

In the new study, the researchers obtained skin cells from individuals with childhood-onset schizophrenia and reprogrammed the cells to create induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) which, like embryonic stem cells, are capable of giving rise to any cell type found in the body. Next, the team manipulated the iPSCs to create human GPCs.

The human GPCs were then transplanted into the brains of neonatal mice. These cells out-competed the animals own native glia, resulting in mice with brains comprised of animal neurons and human GPCs, oligodendrocytes, and astrocytes.

The researchers observed that human glial cells derived from schizophrenic patients were highly dysfunctional. The development of oligodendrocytes was delayed and the cells did not create enough myelin-producing cells, meaning signal transmission between the neurons was impaired.

The development of astrocytes was similarly tardy so that the cells were not present when needed and were thus ineffective in guiding the formation of connections between neurons. The astrocytes also did not mature properly, resulting in misshapen cells that could not fully support the signaling functions of the neurons around them.

The astrocytes didnt fully mature and their fibers did not fill out their normal domains, meaning that while they provided control to some synapses, others had no coverage, says Martha Windrem, also with the Center for Translational Neuromedicine and first author of the study. As a result, the neural networks in the animals became desynchronized and uncoordinated.

The researchers also subjected the mice to a series of behavioral tests. They observed that the mice with human glial cells from individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia were more fearful, anxious, anti-social, and had a variety of cognitive deficits compared to mice transplanted with human glial cells obtained from healthy people.

The studys authors point out that the new research provides scientists with a foundation to explore new treatments for the disease. Because schizophrenia is a unique to humans, until now scientists have been limited in their ability to study the disease. The new animal model developed the by the researchers can be used to accelerate the process of testing drugs and other therapies in schizophrenia.

The study also identifies a number of glial gene expression flaws that appear to create chemical imbalances that disrupt communication between neurons. These abnormalities could represent targets for new therapies.

Additional coauthors of the study are from the University of Rochester, the University of Copenhagen, George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University, and Case Western University.

The study appears in the journal Cell. Funding from National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Charitable Foundation, the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation, and the Novo Nordisk and Lundbeck Foundations supported the research.

Source: University of Rochester

Excerpt from:
Glial cells botch wiring in childhood schizophrenia - Futurity: Research News

Renowned Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Zain Khalpey, MD, PhD, FETCS, FACS will be Honorably Mentioned in The … – PR NewsChannel (press release)

The International Association of HealthCare Professionals is pleased to welcome Zain Khalpey, MD, PhD, FETCS, FACS, a prominent Cardiothoracic Surgeon to their prestigious organization with his upcoming publication in The Leading Physicians of the World. Dr. Khalpey is a highly trained and qualified surgeon with a vast expertise in all facets of his work and an international reputation for his work with Artificial Hearts remodeling scars in hearts with laser therapy, stem cells and liquid matrices to build a program for heart recovery and regenerative medicine, using precision medicine, but more specifically metabolomics with new artificial intelligence platforms in cardiac surgery to change outcomes for the better. Dr. Khalpey is currently serving as an Associate Professor of surgery, medical imaging, physiological sciences, biomedical engineering, cell & molecular medicine, regenerative & translational medicine, and pharmacology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson, Arizona. He also serves as Co-Director of the Heart Transplant and Perfusion Science Programs, Director of the Mechanical Circulatory Support and Artificial Heart Programs, and Director of Robotic Mitral Valve Program in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Banner University Medical Center. Furthermore, Dr. Khalpey is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University.

Dr. Khalpey was educated at the University of London, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude with his Medical Degree in 1998. He then gained his PhD in cardiothoracic surgery, bioenergetics, and cardiac transplantation from Imperial College London. Dr. Khalpey completed extensive postgraduate training in both the United Kingdom and the United States. In the United Kingdom, Dr. Khalpey was awarded a very prestigious Winston Churchill Medal for his research as well as a highly prestigious lifetime Hunterian Professorship from the Royal College of Surgeons of England, where he remains a member. His research training to end his PhD was completed at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, and Massachusetts General Hospital at Harvard in Boston. He then went on to finish his clinical general surgery residency and cardiothoracic heart surgery fellowship at the Brigham and Womens Hospital, also at Harvard in Boston. He went on to New York where he completed a Super-Fellowship in Heart Transplants and Mechanical Circulatory Support Therapies for Advanced Heart Failure, at New York Presbyterian Hospital at Columbia University. He is certified by the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, and has earned the coveted title of Fellow of the European Board of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery and Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

Dr. Khalpey is a distinguished member of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the American Academy of Regenerative Medicine and the Board of Regenerative Medicine. For his extensive expertise and important work, he has been awarded the prestigious Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Medical Sciences in Europe Award. Awards in the Fulbright Distinguished Chairs Program in Europe are viewed as among the most prestigious accolades in the Fulbright Scholar Program. Dr Khalpey holds the coveted Endowed Tony S. Marnell Sr. Chair in Cardiovascular Research at the University of Arizona for his metabolic and stem cell research within the surgical tissue and stem cell biobank he created. Furthermore, Dr. Khalpey is the surgical director of the Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenator Program, which is the only mobile ECMO service in the state of Arizona. Alongside his exceptional operative team of perfusionists and clinical fellows, Dr. Khalpey helped save NHL hockey player, Tucson Roadrunners Captain, Craig Cunninghams life after sudden cardiac arrest. Dr. Khalpey is the only person on the west coast who is routinely placing left ventricular assist devices (LVADS) through minimally invasive incisions, without the use of a bypass machine, and also strives to revolutionize organ transplantation. Dr. Khalpeys passion for what he does is unparalleled. He is renowned for his innovative and groundbreaking work, and has dedicated his life to providing the best solutions for his patients and community.

View Dr. Zain Khalpeys Profile Here:

https://www.findatopdoc.com/doctor/8137416-Zain-Khalpey-Cardiac-Surgeon-85755

Learn more about Dr. Khalpey here:

https://profiles.arizona.edu/person/zkhalpey and be sure to read his upcoming publication in The Leading Physicians of the World.

About FindaTopDoc.com

FindaTopDoc.com is a hub for all things medicine, featuring detailed descriptions of medical professionals across all areas of expertise, and information on thousands of healthcare topics. Each month, millions of patients use FindaTopDoc to find a doctor nearby and instantly book an appointment online or create a review. FindaTopDoc.com features each doctors full professional biography highlighting their achievements, experience, patient reviews and areas of expertise. A leading provider of valuable health information that helps empower patient and doctor alike, FindaTopDoc enables readers to live a happier and healthier life. For more information about FindaTopDoc, visit: http://www.findatopdoc.com

Go here to see the original:
Renowned Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Zain Khalpey, MD, PhD, FETCS, FACS will be Honorably Mentioned in The ... - PR NewsChannel (press release)

‘That’s the story of the American Dream, right?’ – Post-Bulletin

As a poor youngster staring at a dead-end future in Mexico, Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa would often lay on the roof of his ramshackle home to dream of a brighter future.

Not even he dared dream his life would become this compelling.

Affectionately known as "Dr. Q," Quinones-Hinojosa recently was hired to be Mayo Clinic's chairman of neurologic surgery at its expanding Florida campus while leading federal research to cure brain cancer.

And, after long consideration, he's also given Disney the green light to turn his life story into a movie.

Expectations are high for the dramatic version of Dr. Q's life, especially since Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment's credits includes "12 Years A Slave," "Moonlight," "Selma" and "The Departed," among other blockbusters. The script is expected to be completed by the end of 2017 and it may hit theaters by the end of 2018.

'Knew something good would happen'

While it won't be a true documentary, the truth appears to need little embellishment.

"I used to go to the roof of my house and look at the stars I knew something good was going to happen," Dr. Q said last week by phone from Florida. "There's a lot of people who immigrate to the U.S., but there's not very many who came from nothing to be where (I am) today. That's the story of the American dream, right?"

It's a timely topic with unambiguous political overtones. The Trump administration has cracked down on immigration and increased deportation efforts, which has raised the profile of sanctuary cities across the country.

Dr. Q entered this country illegally, and while he is now a U.S. citizen, it's an open question whether he would have been allowed to reach his current heights in today's politicized climate. As an 18-year-old who jumped a border fence to enter the United States in 1988, he didn't speak English, had no immigration paperwork and was essentially broke.

His first few years were spent in the fields as a migrant worker, earning enough money to learn English at a California community college. He overcame those obstacles to earn an academic scholarship at UC-Berkeley in 1991.

Three years later, his unusual ascent saw him enroll at Harvard, paving the way for him to become a brain surgeon.

'Real people who are changing the world'

The rags-to-riches immigrant story first caught the attention of Plan B's studio execs way back in 2007, while Dr. Q was Professor of Neurosurgery and Oncology, Neurology, and Cellular and Molecular Medicine and Director of the Brain Tumor Stem Cell Laboratory at Johns Hopkins. Jeremy Kleiner, who is now Plan B's co-president with Pitt, made his initial pitch to Dr. Q in 2007.

Dr. Q spent the next eight years respectfully declining Kleiner's periodic overtures. He finally reconsidered after seeing "12 Years A Slave," which won best picture at the 2015 Oscars.

"The world has a tremendous appetite for real stories," Dr. Q said. "I always tell people, 'I'm not an expert on immigration, I'm an expert on brain cancer and brain surgery.' Why my story resonates is we need stories of real people who are changing the world.

"I'm not a fancy person. I still take the trash out of my house and my kids always make fun of me because I know a lot about very little. At the end of the day, I'm just a regular guy but my patients may think differently. They put their lives in my hands."

While filmmakers have been chasing Dr. Q's story for about a decade, Mayo Clinic's pursuit is actually longer. He turned down a 2005 job offer at Mayo's Rochester campus to work at Johns Hopkins.

Dr. Q's decision this April to join the Mayo system finally! was hailed as "a coup" by Gianrico Farrugia, CEO of Mayo's Jacksonville campus. His arrival coincides with a $100 million expansion project, aimed at making Jacksonville a destination medical center for that part of the country and Latin America.

Construction is expected to start later this year on buildings to improve services for complex cancer patients and those seeking neurologic or neurosurgical care. That all falls under Dr. Q's purview.

"Any place in the world would be pleased to have him coming," Farrugia told the Florida-Times Union. "It's a real coup to have him coming to Florida. I think he will have a remarkable impact on Jacksonville."

Forbes has named Dr. Q one of the most creative Mexicans in the world, while Popular Science has also dubbed him among the "Brilliant Ten" for his cancer research. The prestigious William J. and Charles H. Mayo Professor also presented May 18 at Tedx Zumbro River at Autumn Ridge Church in Rochester about his quest to use stem cells to fight brain cancer.

While collaborating daily on an upcoming Disney movie that figures to make him a household name, Dr. Q's says he feels a particular kinship with Mayo due to its humble origins.

"They (Mayo Clinic's founders) went out in the middle of cornfields and built something that is unimaginable," Dr. Q said. "I came and basically went to work in the fields in California. I picked corn when I first came in 1987. I relate so much and in so many ways that I feel I have so many things in common with this amazing institution."

Read more:
'That's the story of the American Dream, right?' - Post-Bulletin

Stem cell-based therapy for targeting skin-to-brain cancer – Medical Xpress

July 10, 2017 Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute have a potential solution for how to kill tumor cells that have metastasized to the brain. The team has developed cancer-killing viruses that can deliver stem cells via the carotid artery, and applied them to metastatic tumors in the brain of clinically relevant mouse models. The investigators report the elimination of metastatic skin cancer cells from the brain of these preclinical models, resulting in prolonged survival. The study, published online this week in the journal PNAS, also describes a strategy of combining this therapy with immune check point inhibitors.

"Metastatic brain tumors - often from lung, breast or skin cancers - are the most commonly observed tumors within the brain and account for about 40 percent of advanced melanoma metastases. Current therapeutic options for such patients are limited, particularly when there are many metastases," says Khalid Shah, MS, PhD, director of the Center for Stem Cell Therapeutics and Imaging (CSTI) in the BWH Department of Neurosurgery, who led the study. "Our results are the first to provide insight into ways of targeting multiple brain metastatic deposits with stem-cell-loaded oncolytic viruses that specifically kill dividing tumor cells."

In their search for novel, tumor-specific therapies that could target multiple brain metastases without damaging adjacent tissues, the research team first developed different BRAF wild type and mutant mouse models that more closely mimic what is seen in patients. They found that injecting patient-derived, brain-seeking melanoma cells into the carotid artery of these preclinical models resulted in the formation of many metastatic tumors throughout the brain, mimicking what is seen in advanced melanoma cancer patients. The injected cells express markers that allow them to enter the brain and are labelled with bioluminescent and fluorescent markers to enable tracking by imaging technologies.

To devise a potential new therapy, the investigators engineered a population of bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells loaded with oncolytic herpes simplex virus (oHSV), which specifically kills dividing cancer cells while sparing normal cells. Previous research by Shah and his colleagues shows that different stem cell types are naturally attracted toward tumors in the brain. After first verifying that stem cells injected to the brain would travel to multiple metastatic sites and not to tumor-free areas in their model, the team injected stem cells loaded with oHSV into the carotid artery of metastasis-bearing mice.. Injecting the stem cells loaded with oHSV into the carotid artery, a likely strategy for clinical application, led to significantly slower tumor growth and increased survival, compared with the models that received unaltered stem cells or control injections. The oHSV loaded stem cells are ultimately killed by oHSV mediated oncolysis, preventing the engineered cells from persisting within the brain, which is an important safety component in the therapeutic use of these stem cells.

Due to an increasing body of evidence which suggests that the host immune response may be critical to the efficacy of oncolytic virotherapy, Shah and his colleagues also developed an immunocompetent melanoma mouse model and explored treating with both stem cell loaded oHSV and immune checkpoint blockers such as the ones that target the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway. They found that PD-L1 immune checkpoint blockade significantly improved the therapeutic efficacy of stem cell based oncolytic virotherapy in melanoma brain metastasis.

"We are currently developing similar animal models of brain metastasis from other cancer types as well as new oncolytic viruses that have the ability to specifically kill a wide variety of resistant tumor cells," said Shah, who is also a professor at Harvard Medical School and a principal faculty member at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. "We are hopeful that our findings will overcome problems associated with current clinical procedures. This work will have direct implications for designing clinical trials using oncolytic viruses for metastatic tumors in the brain."

Explore further: Stem-cell-based therapy promising for treatment of breast cancer metastases in the brain

More information: Wanlu Du el al., "In vivo imaging of the fate and therapeutic efficacy of stem cell-loaded oncolytic herpes simplex virus in advanced melanoma," PNAS (2017). http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1700363114

Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read more

View original post here:
Stem cell-based therapy for targeting skin-to-brain cancer - Medical Xpress

Stem Cell Injections: Emerging Option for Joint Pain Relief Health … – Health Essentials from Cleveland Clinic (blog)

Are you suffering from chronicjoint pain? If so, you may want to ask your doctor whetherstem cellinjections are right for you. If you want to avoid the surgical route of repairing a damaged knee or treating an arthritic shoulder, a stem cell injection may give you the relief you need.

Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Policy

Stem cells are specialtypes of cells with the ability to self-renew or multiply. They have the potential to replicate any cell in your body. In other words, they canbecome a cartilage cell, a muscle cell or a nerve cell, says orthopedic surgeonAnthony Miniaci, MD.

They have a tremendous capacity to differentiate and form different tissues, so thats the thought behind regenerating cartilage, regenerating nerve cells and healing any injured tissues, he says.

The source of stem cells isfound in your own bone marrow orfat or you can also receive stem cells from donor sources, particularlyamniotic sourcessuch as the placenta or the amniotic fluid and lining surrounding a fetus. These cells are not part of the embryo, Dr. Miniaci says.

The number of stem cells that you have and theirquality and activity diminish as you get older, he says. Amniotic stem cells, on the other hand, are from young tissue, so theoretically these are younger, more active cells.

Thetreatment team harvests stem cells from your bone marrow or fat or uses donor cells . Later on, your treatment team injects the cells preciselyinto your joint, ligament or tendon.

Theoretically, the cells will then divide and duplicate themselves and develop into different types of cells depending on the location into which they have been injected. For example, if you have damagedknee cartilage, stem cells placed near the damaged cartilage can develop into new cartilage tissue.

However, for patients with asevere loss of cartilageor no cartilage at all, a stem cell injection is unlikely to createa new joint, Dr. Miniaci says.

Severe loss of cartilage typically leads to bone erosion or bone deformity, so a stem cell injection is highly unlikely to work in terms of reversing those changes, he says.

It can, however, improve your symptoms of pain and swelling.

The earlier you can treat someones joint pain, the better chance this has of working, making it less painful for thepatient, less inflamed, and improve their function, he says.

The main risk from a stem cell injection is in harvesting the stem cells. When taking the cells from your bone marrow, the treatment team inserts a large needle into your pelvis and removes some blood and the cells.

Any time you make incisions or insert sharp instrument into somebodys pelvis, they can have problems such as acquiring an infection, Dr. Miniaci says.

If youre taking the stem cells from fat, you you can remove some out from under the skin, he says. Again, you have a risk for an infection because were making little nicks into the skin to get to the fat.

While the use of stem cell injections to treatjoint painholds much promise, Dr. Miniaci cautions that this treatment option is still very new. Researchers needto study its effectiveness further.

We dont have a lot of data or proof indicating that stem cell injections actually repair the joint, he says.

He explains that if you have cartilage orbone damage, stem cells candifferentiate and produce bone and cartilage and tissues. So, theoretically, they could heal damaged tissue within a muscle, tendon, bone or cartilage.

Thats the theory behind it, but this type of treatment and research is just in its infancy, he says.

We really dont know whats effective, whats not effective, how many cells are necessary, how many actual injections you need and how often, he says. Nobody knows how well it works yet. But we will eventually.

Anecdotally, Dr. Miniaci finds that some patients can have significant improvement in their symptoms with stem cellinjections. But he has not seen any proof yet that they are regrowing or regenerating a joint.

Many people think that theyre going to come in with their arthritic joint and leave with a newer version of their knee joint. That doesnt happen, he says.

What does occur is a biological reaction which makes the environment in their joints a little healthier, which probably makes it less inflamed, and as result, gives them less pain.

Here is the original post:
Stem Cell Injections: Emerging Option for Joint Pain Relief Health ... - Health Essentials from Cleveland Clinic (blog)

Seizures follow similar path regardless of speed, says study – Medical Xpress

June 27, 2017 In this cover drawing for Cell Reports, Columbia researchers illustrate the concept that seizures traveling at different speeds follow the same neuronal firing pattern, just as the above string pattern stays the same whether both hands move closer or farther apart. Credit: Michael Wenzel

Of the 50 million people who suffer from epilepsy worldwide, a third fail to respond to medication. As the search for better drugs continues, researchers are still trying to make sense of how seizures start and spread.

In a new study in Cell Reports, researchers at Columbia University come a step closer by showing that the neurons of mice undergoing seizures fire off in a sequential pattern no matter how quickly the seizure propagatesa finding that confirms seizures are not the result of neurons randomly going haywire.

"This is good news," said the study's senior author, Dr. Rafael Yuste, a neuroscientist at Columbia. "It means that local neuronal circuits matter, and that targeting the right cells may stop or even prevent some types of brain seizure."

To induce the seizures, researchers injected a tiny area of cortex in awake mice with two types of drugsone that increases neuronal firing and another that blocks the inhibitory interneurons that control information flow between cells. Recording the seizures as they rippled outward, researchers found that cells in the mouse's brain systematically fired one after the other. Under both models, the seizure spread across the top layer of cortex in a wave-like pattern before descending into its lower layers.

The video will load shortly

Unexpectedly, they found that whether the seizure lasted 10 seconds or 30 seconds, it followed the same route, like a commuter stuck in traffic. The concept of neurons firing in a reliable pattern no matter how fast the seizure is traveling is illustrated on the cover of Cell Reports, drawn by the study's lead author, Dr. Michael Wenzel.

"The basic pattern of a string stretched between two hands stays the same whether the hands move closer together or farther away," he says. "Just as neurons maintain their relative firing patterns regardless of how slowly or quickly the seizure unfolds."

Researchers were able to get a cell-by-cell view of a seizure propagating through a mouse's brain using high-speed calcium imaging that allowed them to zoom in 100 times closer than electrode techniques used on the human brain.

It may be the first time that researchers have watched a seizure unfold at this level of detail, and their findings suggest that inhibitory neurons may be a promising area of future research, said Dr. Catherine Schevon, a neurology professor at Columbia University Medical Center who was not involved in the research.

"The role of inhibitory restraint in seizure development is an area that few have studied at micrometer scale," she said. "This could be a useful treatment target for future drug development or stem cell interneuron implants."

Explore further: Brain model explores the cause of different epileptic seizure onset patterns

More information: Cell Reports (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2017.05.090

Journal reference: Cell Reports

Provided by: Columbia University

At the onset of an epileptic seizure, differing characteristics of brain tissue surrounding the seizure's origin site may determine which of two main patterns of brain activity will be seen, according to a study in PLOS Computational ...

McLean Hospital and Harvard Stem Cell Institute scientists have new evidence that stem cell transplantation could be a worthwhile strategy to help epileptics who do not respond to anti-seizure drugs.

More than 50 million people of all ages suffer from epilepsy, otherwise known as seizure disorder, the fourth most common neurological disease in the world. Patients diagnosed with epilepsy often experience recurrent seizures ...

More than half of children with epilepsy outgrow their seizures, yet the mechanism underlying this remission is unknown.

Prolonged epileptic seizures may cause serious problems that will continue for the rest of a patient's life. As a result of a seizure, neural connections of the brain may be rewired in an incorrect way. This may result in ...

The ability to reliably pinpoint the anatomical source of epileptic seizures, different for each patient, remains elusive. One third of patients do not respond to medication and an alternative can be surgery to locate and ...

Mice, unlike cats and dogs, are able to move their whiskers to map out their surroundings, much as humans use their fingers to build a 3D picture of a darkened room.

Researchers have identified a network of neurons that plays a vital role in learning vocalizations by aiding communication between motor and auditory regions of the brain.

Behavioral training changes the way attention facilitates information processing in the human brain, a study publishing on June 27 in the open access journal PLOS Biology led by Sirawaj Itthipuripat, at University of California ...

Stroke is an age-related disease that disproportionately affects women. Although experimental studies have identified several hormonal and genetic factors underlying these differences, little is known about how pregnancy ...

While the definitive causes remain unclear, several genetic and environmental factors increase the likelihood of autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, a group of conditions covering a "spectrum" of symptoms, skills and levels ...

Of the 50 million people who suffer from epilepsy worldwide, a third fail to respond to medication. As the search for better drugs continues, researchers are still trying to make sense of how seizures start and spread.

Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read more

View post:
Seizures follow similar path regardless of speed, says study - Medical Xpress