Study Showing How Stem Cells Slow Aging May Lead To New Heart Failure Treatments

Durham, NC /PRNewswire/ -- A new study published in STEM CELLS Translational Medicine demonstrates how mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) not only protect the heart from further damage after a cardiac incident but can actually slow down its aging process, too. These findings, in a rat model of the aging heart, could help propel stem cells to the forefront as a potential solution for more effective ways to treat heart conditions.

"This study is important as it suggests an alternative approach for treating heart failure in elderly patients," said Yanjie Lu, M.D., Ph.D., a professor in the pharmacology department at Harbin Medical University (HMU) in Harbin, China, and a world-renowned expert on myocardial infarction. He led the study, conducted by colleagues at HMU.

Aging is a complex and multifaceted process, resulting in damage to molecules, cells and tissue that in turn leads to declining organs. Mesenchymal stem cells, found in bone marrow, can generate bone, cartilage and fat cells that support the formation of blood and fibrous connective tissue. These stem cells also can be coaxed in the laboratory into becoming a variety of cell types, from cardiomyocytes (heart muscle cells) and neurons, to osteoblasts, smooth muscle cells and more.

Several studies have already shown that MSCs can reverse age-related degeneration of multiple organs, restore physical and cognitive functions of aged mice, and improve age-associated osteoporosis, Parkinson's disease and atherosclerosis. Dr. Lu's team has been looking into the anti-aging benefits MSCs might have on the heart, too.

"We previously showed that MSCs offer an anti-senescence action on cardiomyocytes as they grow older," he explained. (Senescence is the condition or process of deterioration with age, including the loss of a cell's power to divide and grow.) "However, what we didn't know was whether these findings from a cellular model could be applied to more physiological conditions in whole animals. That's what we wanted to learn with this study."

They decided to explore their question using rats. After injecting MSCs into rat cardiomyoctyes being cultured in lab dishes and receiving encouraging results, they repeated the procedure on a group of young (4 months old) rats and old (20 months) rats, too. The results in both instances demonstrated that MSCs have a significant anti-aging effect.

"Our study didn't just unravel the efficacy of MSCs in fighting cardiac aging, it also delineated the mechanisms underlying this beneficial action," Dr. Lu explained. "The anti-aging effects could be ascribed to the MSCs anti-oxidative action. The results provide a novel strategy for retarding the cardiac aging process."

"This study helps unravel the efficacy of these cells in fighting cardiac aging and delineates the underlying mechanisms," said Anthony Atala, M.D., editor of STEM CELLS Translational Medicine and director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine. "The results suggest a promising therapeutic approach for treating heart failure in the elderly population."

The full article, "Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell transplantation retards the natural senescence of rat hearts," can be accessed at http://www.stemcellstm.com.

About STEM CELLS Translational Medicine: STEM CELLS Translational Medicine (SCTM), published by AlphaMed Press, is a monthly peer-reviewed publication dedicated to significantly advancing the clinical utilization of stem cell molecular and cellular biology. By bridging stem cell research and clinical trials, SCTM will help move applications of these critical investigations closer to accepted best practices.

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Study Showing How Stem Cells Slow Aging May Lead To New Heart Failure Treatments

Stem cell research is focus of April 13 Lincoln Science Caf

The impact of investing in stem cell research will be the topic at thenext Lincoln Science Caf at 7 p.m. on April 13.

C. Randal Mills, Ph.D., president and CEO of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, will speak at Vega, 350 Canopy St. Prior to joiningthe institutein 2014, Mills was president and CEO of Osiris Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company specializing in stem cell science.

Under his leadership, Osiris developed the worlds first approved stem cell drug, remestemcel-L, to treat graft versus host disease in children, a devastating complication of bone marrow transplantation that can be fatal.

Science Cafsare face-to-face conversations with a scientist on a current topic. They are open to people21 and older, and take place in casual settings like pubs and coffeehouses. A scientist gives a brief presentation followed by a question-and-answer period.

For more information about Science Cafes, go to unmc.edu/sciencecafe. Podcasts of previous Science Cafes also are available on the website or available for download on iTunes.

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Stem cell research is focus of April 13 Lincoln Science Caf

Premature aging of stem cell telomeres, not inflammation, linked to emphysema

Lung diseases like emphysema and pulmonary fibrosis are common among people with malfunctioning telomeres, the "caps" or ends of chromosomes. Now, researchers from Johns Hopkins say they have discovered what goes wrong and why.

Mary Armanios, M.D., an associate professor of oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine., and her colleagues report that some stem cells vital to lung cell oxygenation undergo premature aging -- and stop dividing and proliferating -- when their telomeres are defective. The stem cells are those in the alveoli, the tiny air exchange sacs where blood takes up oxygen.

In studies of these isolated stem cells and in mice, Armanios' team discovered that dormant or senescent stem cells send out signals that recruit immune molecules to the lungs and cause the severe inflammation that is also a hallmark of emphysema and related lung diseases.

Until now, Armanios says, researchers and clinicians have thought that "inflammation alone is what drives these lung diseases and have based therapy on anti-inflammatory drugs for the last 30 years."

But the new discoveries, reported March 30 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest instead that "if it's premature aging of the stem cells driving this, nothing will really get better if you don't fix that problem," Armanios says.

Acknowledging that there are no current ways to treat or replace damaged lung stem cells, Armanios says that knowing the source of the problem can redirect research efforts. "It's a new challenge that begins with the questions of whether we take on the effort to fix this defect in the cells, or try to replace the cells," she adds.

Armanios and her team say their study also found that this telomere-driven defect leaves mice extremely vulnerable to anticancer drugs like bleomycin or busulfan that are toxic to the lungs. The drugs and infectious agents like viruses kill off the cells that line the lung's air sacs. In cases of telomere dysfunction, Armanios explains, the lung stem cells can't divide and replenish these destroyed cells.

When the researchers gave these drugs to 11 mice with the lung stem cell defect, all became severely ill and died within a month.

This finding could shed light on why "sometimes people with short telomeres may have no signs of pulmonary disease whatsoever, but when they're exposed to an acute infection or to certain drugs, they develop respiratory failure," says Armanios. "We don't think anyone has ever before linked this phenomenon to stem cell failure or senescence."

In their study, the researchers genetically engineered mice to have a telomere defect that impaired the telomeres in just the lung stem cells in the alveolar epithelium, the layer of cells that lines the air sacs. "In bone marrow or other compartments, when stem cells have short telomeres, or when they age, they just die out," Armanios says. "But we found that instead, these alveolar cells just linger in the senescent stage."

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Premature aging of stem cell telomeres, not inflammation, linked to emphysema

Japan's Fujifilm to buy Madison stem cell company Cellular Dynamics for $307 million

Madisons biotech community and its supporters cheered the news Monday that Cellular Dynamics International (CDI) founded by UW-Madison stem cell pioneer James Thomson in 2004 will be purchased by Fujifilm Holdings Corp., of Tokyo, for $307 million.

I wish every Monday was like this. This is a really nice surprise, said Carl Gulbrandsen, managing director of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. WARF owns a small percentage of CDI stock and holds patents on some of Thomsons technology, drawing licensing fees and royalties from Cellular Dynamics.

The cash deal calls for the Japanese company to buy publicly traded CDIs stock at $16.50 a share, or more than double the stocks closing price last Friday at $7.94 a share. The stock closed Monday at $16.42.

When the purchase is final, sometime in the next three months if regulators approve, CDI will keep running its headquarters in Madison and branch in Novato, California, as a subsidiary of Fujifilm, the companies said. CDI had 155 employees, as of December 2014, and annual revenue of $16.7 million.

CDI, 525 Science Drive, makes human stem cells in industrial quantities. Using tissue from adults, CDI creates induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) that can be reprogrammed into virtually any cell type in the body. The company specializes in heart, kidney and nerve cells, and it develops customized cell lines.

Its clients include 18 of the top 20 biopharmaceutical companies worldwide. They use the cells to screen compounds for drug screening, for stem cell banks, and for developing stem cell therapeutics.

The sale of CDI is a strong endorsement of stem cell technology and its potential to revolutionize modern medicine. This is good news for all of us in the biotechnology community who are committed to using the technology to unlock the mysteries of disease and to help advance the development of novel therapies, said Chris Armstrong, president and chief executive of Stem Cell Theranostics, a California company that opened a Madison office in 2014.

Al Rauch, a managing analyst with the State of Wisconsin Investment Boards (SWIB) global health care sector team, said the deal gives high marks to CDIs technology. Its really quite cutting-edge. Thats why such a premium was paid for it, over what it was trading for, Rauch said.

Its a positive demonstration of the value of some of the scientists in the area. Thats, in essence, what Fujifilm bought. The value, as far as financial (gains), is a little far off, said Rauch, who toured the company before its 2013 initial public stock offering but did not make an investment from SWIB.

Fujifilm has transformed itself from photographic film to other fields, with the health care industry as one of its major targets for growth. In December, the company bought a majority share of Japan Tissue Engineering Co. Its technology will work well with CDIs, said Shigetaka Komori, chairman and chief executive of Fujifilm. We are delighted to be able to pursue the business from drug discovery to regenerative medicine with CDI, he said.

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Japan's Fujifilm to buy Madison stem cell company Cellular Dynamics for $307 million

Sungduan: Growth factors

EVEN without surgery, one can now experience a dramatic improvement and even cure on health concerns such as diabetes, cancer, HIV, and cardiovascular diseases. This is through the stem cell technology and telomere science.

Dr. Marc Lavaro Jr., an expert on general & ocular oncology, general & ocular pharmacology, pediatric ophthalmic medicine, and Science of Epigenetics said these new technology are considered as breakthrough which repairs and rejuvenates the cells.

Lavaro, head of a molecular biology research in Gifu Prefecture, Japan and Osato Research Institute, Tokyo Japan stressed that stem cell is a kind of cell that can duplicate all kinds of cell which is why it can repair a damaged heart for instance.

In his book entitled 278+ Growth Factors which he is set to publish, he also mentioned that there are also certain organs which do not regenerate like the heart and brain but through stem cells it can revitalize.

Growth factors are stem cell stimulators that address medical conditions including diseases. Each growth factor is equivalent to 1 disease. For example, in a tumor kidney problem, stem cells produce growth factors to combat it.

Another technology is the telomere science under science of Epigenetics. Telomere is part of the chromosome and it protects it. It is responsible for the cell division and daily produces new cell to replace the dead cells.

Ang cell natin is designed to last forever but and pag-ikli ng telomere ang cause of sickness. Pero pwede na siyang marepair. Activator enzyme siya kaya reverse telomere rejuvenate cell, Lavaro explained.

The good news is the stem technology is now in the market and it comes in the form of liquid gel, capsule, and syrup. This is produced by Jeunesse , an exclusive patent pending stem cell technology advance technology, science of epigenetics, and stem cell science technology. It is also cheaper compared to the old stem technology wherein one has to pay for at least 700,000 to more than one million pesos per shot.

Jeunesse is a product of medical research conducted by Dr. Nathan Newman, the father of stem cell technology and world renowned for his cosmetic surgery and innovator of stem cell lift cutting edge cosmetic surgery, without cutting.

Dapat conscious tayo sa health natin at alamin ang tinatake natin if nagwowork talaga o hype lamang ng company, Lavaro added.

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Sungduan: Growth factors

Mount Sinai Researchers Discover Genetic Origins of Myelodysplastic Syndrome Using Stem Cells

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Newswise (New York March 25, 2015) Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)adult cells reprogrammed back to an embryonic stem cell-like statemay better model the genetic contributions to each patient's particular disease. In a process called cellular reprogramming, researchers at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have taken mature blood cells from patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and reprogrammed them back into iPSCs to study the genetic origins of this rare blood cancer. The results appear in an upcoming issue of Nature Biotechnology.

In MDS, genetic mutations in the bone marrow stem cell cause the number and quality of blood-forming cells to decline irreversibly, further impairing blood production. Patients with MDS can develop severe anemia and in some cases leukemia also known as AML. But which genetic mutations are the critical ones causing this disease?

In this study, researchers took cells from patients with blood cancer MDS and turned them into stem cells to study the deletions of human chromosome 7 often associated with this disease.

With this approach, we were able to pinpoint a region on chromosome 7 that is critical and were able to identify candidate genes residing there that may cause this disease, said lead researcher Eirini Papapetrou, MD, PhD, Department of Oncological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Chromosomal deletions are difficult to study with existing tools because they contain a large number of genes, making it hard to pinpoint the critical ones causing cancer. Chromosome 7 deletion is a characteristic cellular abnormality in MDS and is well-recognized for decades as a marker of unfavorable prognosis. However, the role of this deletion in the development of the disease remained unclear going into this study.

Understanding the role of specific chromosomal deletions in cancers requires determining if a deletion has observable consequences as well as identifying which specific genetic elements are critically lost. Researchers used cellular reprogramming and genome engineering to dissect the loss of chromosome 7. The methods used in this study for engineering deletions can enable studies of the consequences of alterations in genes in human cells.

Genetic engineering of human stem cells has not been used for disease-associated genomic deletions, said Dr. Papapetrou. This work sheds new light on how blood cancer develops and also provides a new approach that can be used to study chromosomal deletions associated with a variety of human cancers, neurological and developmental diseases.

Reprogramming MDS cells could provide a powerful tool to dissect the architecture and evolution of this disease and to link the genetic make-up of MDS cells to characteristics and traits of these cells. Further dissecting the MDS stem cells at the molecular level could provide insights into the origins and development of MDS and other blood cancers. Moreover, this work could provide a platform to test and discover new treatments for these diseases.

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Mount Sinai Researchers Discover Genetic Origins of Myelodysplastic Syndrome Using Stem Cells

Canadians honoured for medical research

By Helen Branswell, The Canadian Press

TORONTO - One of the co-discoverers of the Ebola virus and a leading Canadian stem cell researcher are among this year's winners of the prestigious Canada Gairdner Awards.

Dr. Peter Piot is the recipient of the Canada Gairdner Global Health Award, recognizing his work on the discovery of the Ebola virus in 1976 and his leadership in the global response to the HIV-AIDS epidemic.

Dr. Janet Rossant, chief of research at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, is the recipient of the 2015 Canada Gairdner Wightman Award, which honours a Canadian who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in medicine and medical science.

Five international scientists are also being honoured with Canada Gairdner Awards, two each from the United States and Japan and one from Switzerland.

The Gairdners are among the world's most esteemed medical research prizes and each carries a prize of $100,000.

They are awarded annually by the Gairdner Foundation; 82 Gairdner winners have gone on to receive Nobel Prizes.

"The Canada Gairdner Awards distinguish Canada as a leader in biomedical research, raising the profile of science both nationally and on the world stage," Dr. John Dirks, the foundation's president and scientific director, said in a statement announcing the 2015 honourees.

"This year's winners are an exceptional example of the wide implications basic cellular discovery can have on future translational discoveries."

The international winners are:

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Canadians honoured for medical research

SickKids Chief of Research and University of Toronto Professor, Dr. Janet Rossant, named recipient of 2015 Canada …

TORONTO The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and the University of Toronto (U of T) are thrilled to congratulate Dr. Janet Rossant on being named the recipient of the 2015 CanadaGairdnerWightman Award, in recognition of her extensive scientific contributions to developmental biology, her international leadership in stem cell biology and policy-making, and for her pivotal role in advancing research programs for childrens health. The announcement was made in Toronto on March 25, 2015.

It is a huge honour to receive this award on behalf of SickKids, U of T and all the people throughout my career who have helped make my journey in science such fun, says Rossant, Chief of Research and Senior Scientist in the Developmental & Stem Cell Biology Program at SickKids, and University Professor in the Departments of Molecular Genetics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology at U of T.

The CanadaGairdnerWightman Award is given to a scientist who has demonstrated outstanding national leadership in medicine and medical science in Canada.

Rossant is an internationally recognized scientist whose 40-year career has been devoted to advancing the fundamental understanding of embryo development and stem cell origins. In addition to her role as Chief of Research at SickKids, Rossant has revolutionized the landscape surrounding stem cell research through an array of key leadership roles, including President of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, Deputy Scientific Director of the Canadian Stem Cell Network, and Director of the Ontario Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

As a leader in stem cell research, Rossant has contributed significantly to the scientific communitys understanding of stem cells, which have the potential to unlock new therapies for a wide variety of disorders from cancer to diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases. Rossants research into personalized stem cell medicine is primed to make significant improvements to global health care and quality of life. She is a respected voice in the stem cell debate and has established Canada as a global forerunner in stem cell and genetic research.

Rossant pioneered new techniques to manipulate the mouse genome, enabling the mouse to become the preeminent model for understanding the function of the human genome sequence. This has been a key resource to those studying the molecular basis of many human diseases and the effectiveness of various drugs for treatments.

Under Dr. Rossants visionary leadership, SickKids national and international prominence as one of the worlds most celebrated child health research centres has continued to grow and flourish, says Dr. Michael Apkon, SickKids President and CEO. The entire SickKids community joins me in congratulating Dr. Rossant for this well-deserved recognition and prestigious award.

Rossants vision for increased multidisciplinary collaboration as a critical tool to propel scientific discovery guided the design and governance of SickKids state-of-the-art research tower The Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning. The Gilgan Centre creates an environment for scientists, clinicians, and research staff from diverse disciplines to work together in addressing critical child health issues.

A highly prolific Canadian scientist, Rossant has over 379 publications to her name including over 58,000 lifetime citations. In her long-standing career in Canada, she has trained 56 post-doctoral fellows and 27 graduate students.

Professor Rossant is doing brilliant, exciting work on the cutting edge of global biomedical research work that holds great promise for the advancement of our knowledge of human biology and disease, says Meric Gertler, President of the University of Toronto. I am delighted that her world-leading excellence has been recognized by the Gairdner Foundation. On behalf of the entire U of T community, I extend hearty congratulations.

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SickKids Chief of Research and University of Toronto Professor, Dr. Janet Rossant, named recipient of 2015 Canada ...

UM stem cell research on heart may go national

Written by Lidia Dinkova on March 18, 2015

University of Miami stem cell research on generating healthy heart tissue in heart attack survivors is on track to be tested across the US.

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, part of federal medical research arm the National Institutes of Health, is to fund the $8 million cost if the trial wins necessary approvals.

The trial, the first of this research in humans, is a step toward restoring full heart function in heart attack survivors.

The research developed at the UM Miller School of Medicines Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute is on combining two types of stem cells to generate healthy heart tissue in heart attack survivors. Scientists have in the past studied using one type of stem cell at a time, a method thats worked OK, said Dr. Joshua Hare, founding director of the UM stem cell institute.

But UM research shows that combining two types of stem cells expedites healing and regeneration of healthy heart muscle.

We could remove twice the scar tissue than with either cell alone, Dr. Hare said. We had some scientific information that they actually interacted and worked together, so we tested that. It worked.

Researchers combined mesenchymal stem cells, usually generated from human bone marrow, and cardiac stem cells, isolated from a mammals heart.

Stem cells are cells that havent matured to specialize to work in a particular part of the body, such as the heart. Because these cells are in a way nascent, they have the potential to become specialized for a particular body function.

Doctors have been using stem cells to regenerate lost tissue from bones to heart muscle. The mesenchymal and cardiac stem cells each work well in generating healthy heart tissue in heart attack survivors, Dr. Hare said. Combining them expedites the process, according to the UM research.

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UM stem cell research on heart may go national

Twin copies of gene pair up in embryonic stem cells at critical moment in differentiation

Both copies of the Oct4 gene physically come together just as embryonic stem cells begin to develop into tissue-specific cell types

IMAGE:We and other mammals have two copies of each gene, and each copy, or 'allele,' was thought to remain physically apart from the other in the cell nucleus. David Spector's... view more

Credit: Spector Lab, CSHL

Cold Spring Harbor, NY -- Imagine a pair of twins that everyone believed to be estranged, who turn out to be closer than anyone knew. A genetic version of this heartwarming tale might be taking place in our cells. We and other mammals have two copies of each gene, one from each parent. Each copy, or "allele," was thought to remain physically apart from the other in the cell nucleus, but a new study finds that alleles can and do pair up in mammalian cells.

Intriguingly, the pairing of at least one set of alleles has been observed to coincide with a critical time in the life of a stem cell: the moment when it commits to develop into a specific cell type. This process is called differentiation.

In work published today in Cell Stem Cell a team of researchers led by Professor David L. Spector at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) showed that the two alleles of Oct4, a gene important in embryonic stem cells, did not come together randomly, at any time or place, but did so at the developmental point at which stem cells begin their maturation into specific cell types.

Spector, along with Megan Hogan, Ph.D., lead author on the new paper, and colleagues, began by observing the location within the cell nucleus of various genes known to be important in stem cells. "We examined hundreds of cells, and we made the interesting and unexpected finding that the two alleles of the Oct4 gene tended to co-localize together in about 25% of the cells," Spector says. "This was really unexpected, but it's the sort of image that's worth a thousand words."

Examining enough single cells to make sure the team was observing a widespread phenomenon was no easy task. "It was a lot of work, but I think in the end the pictures that come out of it, the stories that we have gotten out if it, makes it worth it," says Hogan, a recent doctoral student in the Spector Lab and now a postdoctoral investigator at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

To figure out if what they were seeing was physiologically important, the team studied whether they could manipulate the timing of the Oct4 pairing during differentiation. They used different methods to cause the stem cells to differentiate, and found that the more rapidly the cells differentiated, the earlier Oct4 pairing occurred. "This supported the notion that this was a potentially very exciting finding," Spector says.

To confirm that the Oct4 pairing wasn't something that only occurred in tissue culture, the team then looked in mouse embryos. "The pairing was equal to or even a little bit more frequent than in culture, and that was really comforting and extremely convincing to us that there is physiological relevance to this," Spector says.

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Twin copies of gene pair up in embryonic stem cells at critical moment in differentiation