Category Archives: Stem Cell Treatment


Study Shows Liposuction Byproduct Could Lead to ED Cure

Durham, NC (PRWEB) March 19, 2015

A new study appearing in STEM CELLS Translational Medicine has moved science one step closer to finding a simple treatment for erectile dysfunction (ED) after prostate cancer surgery, eschewing the usual pharmaceutical drug route with potential for harmful side effects, in favor of stem cell therapy that can help the body regenerate.

The study, conducted in rats, compares the effectiveness of using a byproduct of liposuction uncultured stromal vascular fraction (SVF) with adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) cultured in the lab to treat ED caused by injury to the cavernous nerve (CN). This nerve, which facilities erection, is sometimes injured during a radical prostatectomy to treat prostate cancer.

ADSCs are harvested from fat and are an attractive source of stem cells for several reasons: They are abundant and can be easily obtained using minimally invasive liposuction. Also, they have characteristics similar to bone marrow-derived stem cells in terms of self-renewal and multipotency. Furthermore, ADSCs retain their ability to divide and grow longer than bone marrow-derived stem cells, which may be beneficial in treating chronic conditions.

On the other hand, cultured ADSCs have limitations, including the cost and time of culturing them, the potential for contamination, changes in cell characteristics during culturing procedures, and their tendency to sometimes form tumors. To avoid these risks, uncultured SVF has emerged as an easier and safer way to use stem and progenitor cells (which are further along in the differentiation process) derived from adipose tissue. SVF comes from the disposable byproduct of liposuction.

However, no study had yet reported side-by-side comparisons of uncultured SVF and cultured ADSCs in treating ED. That was the objective of this study, led by Dalsan You, M.D., Ph.D., and Choung-Soo Kim, M.D., Ph.D., and their colleagues at the Asan Medical Center and University of Ulsan College of Medicine in Seoul, Korea. They tested the cells using 40 rats with and without injured CNs. One group of animals was injected with cultured ADSCs; one received uncultured SVF, and a control group received no stem cells. Four weeks later, both sources of stem cells had significantly improved the animals erection function over the control group. Also, both stem cell types significantly increased the number of nNOS-positive nerve fibers, suggesting that they stimulated nerve regeneration.

However, Dr. Kim said, the cells coming from uncultured SVF outperformed the cultured ADSCs in terms of smooth muscle/collagen ratio and endothelial cell content in the blood vessels, which are also important factors in repairing ED.

Further research is now ongoing to determine the optimal protocol for cellular therapy of ED following CN injury, Dr. You added. We want to follow the progress of the animals over the long term and also we want to see what happens with multiple stem cell injections, rather than just the one given in this study.

This first study to compare two types of cells derived from fat tissue in a rat model of erectile dysfunction after prostate cancer surgery is an important step in identifying effective new treatments for this condition, said Anthony Atala, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of STEM CELLS Translational Medicine and director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

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Study Shows Liposuction Byproduct Could Lead to ED Cure

BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics to Present at 3rd Annual Regen Med Investor Day on March 25 in New York

HACKENSACK, N.J.and PETACH TIKVAH, Israel, March 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: BCLI), a leading developer of adult stem cell technologies for neurodegenerative diseases, announced today that CEO Tony Fiorino, MD, PhD, will present at the 3rd Annual Regen Med Investor Day to be held Wednesday, March 25, 2015 in New York City.

Organized by the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) and co-hosted with Piper Jaffray, this one-day investor meeting provides institutional, strategic and venture investors with unique insight into the financing hypothesis for advanced therapies-based treatment and tools. The program includes clinical and commercial experts who are on-hand to address specific questions regarding the outlook for these products, as well as offer insight into how advanced therapies could impact the standard of care in key therapeutic areas. In addition to presentations by more than 30 leading companies from across the globe, the event includes dynamic, interactive panels featuring research analysts covering the space, key clinical opinion leaders and top company CEOs. These discussions will explore themes specific to cell and gene therapy such as commercialization, market access and pricing for breakthrough technologies, gene therapy delivery and upcoming milestones in the adoptive T-cell therapy space.

The following are specific details regarding BrainStorm's presentation:

Event:

ARM's Regen Med Investor Day

Date:

March 25, 2015

Time:

4:20 PM EST

Location:

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BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics to Present at 3rd Annual Regen Med Investor Day on March 25 in New York

A single-cell breakthrough

9 hours ago by Marla Vacek Broadfoot A jelly fish-green fluorescent gene marks stem cells and other proliferating primitive cells of an intestine-like structure. The central lumen hollow space is stained red. Credit: Magness Lab

The human gut is a remarkable thing. Every week the intestines regenerate a new lining, sloughing off the equivalent surface area of a studio apartment and refurbishing it with new cells. For decades, researchers have known that the party responsible for this extreme makeover were intestinal stem cells, but it wasn't until this year that Scott Magness, PhD, associate professor of medicine, cell biology and physiology, and biomedical engineering, figured out a way to isolate and grow thousands of these elusive cells in the laboratory at one time. This high throughput technological advance now promises to give scientists the ability to study stem cell biology and explore the origins of inflammatory bowel disease, intestinal cancers, and other gastrointestinal disorders.

But it didn't come easy.

One step forward

When Magness and his team first began working with intestinal stem cells some years ago, they quickly found themselves behind the eight ball. Their first technique involved using a specific molecule or marker on the surface of stem cells to make sure they could distinguish stem cells from other intestinal cells.

Then Magness's team would fish out only the stem cells from intestinal tissues and grow the cells in Petri dishes. But there was a problem. Even though all of the isolated cells had the same stem cell marker, only one out of every 100 could "self-renew" and differentiate into specialized cells like a typical stem cell should. (Stem cells spawn cells that have specialized functions necessary for any organ to work properly.)

"The question was: why didn't the 99 others behave like stem cells?" Magness said. "We thought it was probably because they're not all the same, just like everybody named Judy doesn't look the same. There are all kinds of differences, and we've been presuming that these cells are all the same based on this one name, this one molecular marker. That's been a problem. But the only way to solve it so we could study these cells was to look at intestinal stem cells at the single cell level, which had never been done before."

Magness is among a growing contingent of researchers who recognize that many of the biological processes underlying health and disease are driven by a tiny fraction of the 37 trillion cells that make up the human body. Individual cells can replenish aging tissues, develop drug resistance, and become vehicles for viral infections. And yet the effects of these singular actors are often missed in biological studies that focus on pooled populations of thousands of seemingly "identical" cells.

Distinguishing between the true intestinal stem cells and their cellular look-a-likes would require isolating tens of thousands of stem cells and tracking the behavior of each individual cell over time. But Magness had no idea how to accomplish that feat. Enter Nancy Allbritton, PhD, chair of the UNC/NCSU Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering. The two professors met one day to discuss Magness joining the biomedical engineering department as an adjunct faculty member. And they did discuss it. And Magness did join. But the meeting quickly turned into collaboration.

One of Allbritton's areas of expertise is microfabrication the ability to squeeze large devices into very small footprints. During their meeting, Allbritton showed Magness her latest creation, a device smaller than a credit card dotted with 15,000 tiny wells for culturing cells.

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A single-cell breakthrough

Beverly Hills Orthopedic Institute Now Offering Stem Cell Therapy for Nonoperative Shoulder Labral Tears

Beverly Hills, California (PRWEB) March 17, 2015

Beverly Hills Orthopedic Institute is now offering stem cell procedures for the nonoperative treatment of shoulder labral tears. The procedures are outpatient, low risk, and very effective at helping patients avoid the need for surgery. Call Beverly Hills Orthopedic Institute at (310) 247-0466 for more information and scheduling.

Injuries to the shoulder may involve rotator cuff tendonitis, tears or labral injury. Stem cell therapy is typically effective for all of these conditions, and Dr. Raj has been having significant success with labral tears. Conventional treatment for labral tears is often unsuccessful, as they typically do not have sufficient blood supply.

Treatment with regenerative medicine offers the potential to avoid surgery and heal the tissues. The stem cell therapy includes either bone marrow or amniotic derived treatment. Both of these are outpatient and very low risk. Small studies have shown the effectiveness of stem cell treatment for joint arthritis, tendonitis, tendon tears, cartilage defects and labral tears.

The treating physician, Dr. Raj, is a Double Board Certified orthopedic surgeon Beverly Hills trusts, and excels in treating all kinds of sports injuries and arthritic conditions. He also serves as a Medical Correspondent for ABC News, along with receiving numerous LA TOP DOC and Top Doctors Southern California Awards.

To receive the best stem cell therapy in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, call the Institute today at (310) 247-0466.

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Beverly Hills Orthopedic Institute Now Offering Stem Cell Therapy for Nonoperative Shoulder Labral Tears

Stem Cell Therapy Now Being Offered for NonHealing Wounds at Telehealth's Three Regenerative Medicine Clinics

Orange, California (PRWEB) March 17, 2015

The top stem cell therapy clinics in California, Telehealth, are now offering treatment for nonhealing wounds at three locations. The stem cell therapy for wound healing is being offered by Board Certified doctors at three separate locations in Orange, La Jolla and Upland. Call (888) 828-4575 for more information and scheduling.

Patients with diabetes, neuropathy and autoimmune disorders often find it difficult to heal even minor wounds. This may lead to diabetic ulcers and infections in the soft tissue and/or bone. At times, even the most rigorous conventional wound care fails to heal wounds sufficiently.

At Telehealth, stem cell therapy for nonhealing wounds has been showing exceptional results. Wounds that had basically been unresponsive to traditional methods have displayed quick results with healing when the procedures are performed. The regenerative medicine treatments involve either bone marrow derived stem cells or amniotic derived stem cells. Additional, PRP therapy is included in the treatment at times when necessary.

Along with helping to heal difficult wounds, stem cell therapy is also available for degenerative arthritis, chronic tendonitis, rotator cuff tears, ligament injuries, migraines and much more. Treatments are offered in Orange, Upland and a new La Jolla location by Board Certified doctors with extensive experience.

Most treatments are partially covered by insurance, which helps considerably to keep cost down. Call (888) 828-4575 for more information and scheduling.

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Stem Cell Therapy Now Being Offered for NonHealing Wounds at Telehealth's Three Regenerative Medicine Clinics

ESPERITE (ESP) financial results for 2014 published, metamorphosis completed, first positive forecast growth at 36mio …

Stem cell historical CryoSave's core business now profitable and improving

Consolidated operations, headcount rationalization, integrated sales and marketing strategies, laboratories integration and processes automatization completed to yield enhanced performance and results

Zutphen,The Netherlands-17March 2015

Frederic Amar, appointed ESPERITE CEO on March 2014, is implementing from the onset an aggressive reorganization and development of the company. Frederic Amar's far-reaching new business model has materialized in three separate synergetic business units attacking new markets with a diversified offer, transforming a mono-product business model into a biotech multiservice company. ESPERITE's consolidated operations feature now reduced complexity, sustainable lower overhead, centralized administrative services, integrated sales and marketing strategies coupled with the technology to handle large volumes efficiently. The preliminary (unaudited) financial results for year ended 31 December 2014 published today reflect these improvements.

Frederic Amar, CEO of ESPERITE: "ESPERITE, both an aspiration and inspiration, reborn on July 2014 to signal a whole new way of doing business and create growth. It was a year of strong impulse and fierce implementation of new ideas. Execution exceeded expectations and results will too. I am proud of our achievements this year transforming a fragile company into an ambitious start-up. Our strategic investments and mastery of technology brings ESPERITE to pole position".

Financial highlights

Revenue 27.6 million (2013: 29.8 million) Gross profit as percentage of revenue 62.2% (2013: 64.5%) Underlying* operating expenses before depreciation, amortization and impairments: 17.7 million (2013: 18.7 million) Underlying EBITDA**: -0.56 million (2013: 0.5 million)

Underlying EBITA***: -2.1 million (2013: -1.0 million) Underlying operating result: -3.4 million (2013: -2.3 million)

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ESPERITE (ESP) financial results for 2014 published, metamorphosis completed, first positive forecast growth at 36mio ...

Eight-year-old girl meets her stem cell donor

Terrence Antonio James

FRIENDS FOR LIFE: Sabrina Chahir, who received a marrow transplant in 2011, meets her donor, Maximilian Eule, left, a German who came in from Austria to meet her, at a restaurant in Illinois earlier this month.

Sabrina Chahir was waiting to meet the man who helped send her cancer into remission.

The 8-year-old girl from the United States, who likes art and takes piano lessons, knew he had flown across an ocean to see her, nearly four years after he donated his stem cells to help rid her blood of cancer that could have taken her life.

Recently Sabrina and Maximilian Eule, 30, had their first face-to-face meeting at a celebration in suburban Schaumburg, Illinois with Sabrina's friends and family.

The two had emailed and video-chatted. But Sabrina's mother, Natalia Wehr, said it was important to her to meet Eule in person.

"It's your daughter, and this person we don't know did something so wonderful," Wehr said. "You need to know who that is."

SABRINA'S STORY - DIAGNOSED AT TWO

Sabrina was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, one of the most common types of cancer in children, when she was 2. The cancer cells were in more than 80 percent of her blood.

The girl's cancer had gone into remission before, but she soon relapsed. After rounds of treatment and infections that caused Sabrina to go blind temporarily, doctors at Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago told Sabrina's family she would need a stem cell transplant.

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Eight-year-old girl meets her stem cell donor

Hip and shoulder arthritis six months after bone marrow stem cell therapy by Harry Adelson ND – Video


Hip and shoulder arthritis six months after bone marrow stem cell therapy by Harry Adelson ND
Mareen describes her outcome six months after her bone marrow stem cell treatment by Harry Adelson ND for arthritis of her hip and shoulder http://www.docereclinics.com.

By: Harry Adelson, N.D.

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Hip and shoulder arthritis six months after bone marrow stem cell therapy by Harry Adelson ND - Video

Wheelchair Kamikaze: Stem Cell Treatments for Multiple …

As all patients with MS are aware, the currently available treatments do nothing to cure the disease or repair the damage that it does. At their best, todays crop of disease modifying drugs (DMDs) quiet the disease, thereby improving the quality of life for many of the patients taking them, especially those suffering from relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis. However, many of these drugs carry with them risky side effect profiles, and though the newest compounds represent advances over their predecessors, patients are crying out for revolution, not evolution.

Stem cells could represent the revolution patients so fervently desire. Because of their ability to transform into almost any type of cell in the human body, stem cells may hold the key to achieving one of the holy grails of modern medicine, the regeneration and repair of damaged tissues. For MS patients, this could potentially mean the reversal of disability, and with it the long dreamt of disposal of wheelchairs, walkers, and canes. We are still a long way from that lofty goal, however, but the first few steps along the path to that salvation are currently being taken.

Though stem cell research is advancing in laboratories worldwide, the science of using stem cells to treat diseases in humans is still in its infancy. Because multiple sclerosis is a neurodegenerative disease, and its most prominent feature is the damage the disease does to the central nervous system, it is hoped that stem cells may hold the key to reversing the carnage wrought by the disease by facilitating the repair of damaged nerve cells. Furthermore, research has provided hints that stem cells may modulate the abnormal immune response seen in MS patients, and some researchers are even using stem cells to completely reboot the human immune system, a process that in some cases appears to stop the disease dead in its tracks.

Its important to understand that there are two very different approaches to using stem cells in the treatment of multiple sclerosis. One approach hopes to use the cells to repair damaged nervous systems; the other uses stem cells to provide the patient with a brand-new immune system, one that theoretically will not turn against a patients own body. The latter approach is known as hematopoietic stem cell transplant, or HSCT, and has been used on patients in trial settings for almost two decades.

HSCT involves ablating (destroying) a patients existing immune system through the use of powerful chemotherapy drugs, and then intravenously infusing a patients own stem cells back into their body, a process depicted in the below diagram:

As you might imagine, using powerful chemotherapy drugs to destroy a patients immune system is not without its dangers, and early attempts at this therapy had mortality rates as high as 10%. As researchers perfected their methodology and began using less dangerous chemotherapy agents, though, the risks associated with HSCT dropped dramatically. Today, most patients undergoing HSCT are subjected to chemotherapy and immunosuppressive agents that do not completely destroy their bone marrow, and the safety profile of the procedure has improved impressively. The results achieved by this HSCT can be dramatic. In one study (click here) that looked at the long-term outcomes of HSCT, after 11 years 44% of patients who had started out with aggressive relapsing remitting disease were free from disability progression. By comparison, only 10% of those who did not display signs of active inflammation before HSCT remained stable.

One of the primary proponents of HSCT therapy for MS patients, Dr. Richard Burt of Northwestern University, stresses that the proper selection of patients is the key to the success of the treatment. In fact, the title of the paper he recently published (click here) includes the phrase if no inflammation, no response. Its the only therapy to date that has been shown to reverse neurologic deficits, said Dr. Burt, But you have to get the right group of patients. In a study published by Dr. Burt in 2009, 17 out of 21 relapsing remitting patients improved after HSCT, and after three years all patients were free from progression (click here). Dr. Burt is currently heading up the HALT-MS trial for HSCT (click here). There are several centers around the world offering HSCT therapy, and there is a Worldwide HSCT Facebook group (click here) that contains information on all of the legitimate HSCT facilities worldwide. The group is populated by many folks who have undergone HSCT therapy. Be aware that its a private group, and you must request membership before being given access to all of the available information.

While HSCT holds much promise for putting the brakes on very aggressive relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis, it unfortunately has little to offer those with progressive disease, and does nothing to directly repair the damage done to the central nervous system by MS. Fortunately, another form of stem cell therapy proposes to do just that. Researchers in two centers in the US have received FDA approval to use bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to repair nervous system damage, thereby possibly reversing the effects of the disease. There are additional trials using MSCs to treat MS underway internationally. Mesenchymal stem cells have the ability to transform (differentiate) into many different cell types, and could prove to be the building blocks necessary for repairing damage to the central nervous system as well as other organs and tissues. Experiments using MSCs to treat animal models of MS have been very encouraging (click here), demonstrating the cells abilities to modulate the immune system and spur the repair of damaged nervous system tissues. It remains to be seen whether the same effects can be achieved when using the cells to treat human beings.

The two FDA approved studies both use MSCs harvested from a patients own bone marrow, but employ them in very different ways. One study, currently underway at the Cleveland Clinic (click here), infuses mesenchymal stem cells intravenously into the patient, in the expectation that the cells will modulate the immune system and also initiate the regeneration of damaged tissues in the central nervous system. This study, which will eventually use MSCs to treat 24 patients, is proceeding slowly, but as the above linked to article details, one of the first patients treated is already reporting encouraging results.

The second FDA approved trial, to be conducted by the Tisch MS Research Center of New York (which just so happens to be my MS clinic), will use mesenchymal stem cells that have been transformed through a proprietary laboratory process into neural progenitor (NP) cells, injected directly into the spinal fluid (intrathecally)) of the patient (click here). Neural progenitor cells are a specialized type of stem cell specific to the nervous system that have the ability to transform into the various types of tissues damaged and destroyed by the MS disease process. Researchers at the Tisch Center have developed a way to get mesenchymal stem cells to differentiate into neural progenitor cells, and hope that by injecting these cells directly into the spinal fluid the NP cells will directly target the regenerative mechanisms of the central nervous system (click here). The stem cells themselves may act to repair damaged tissues, but theyve also been shown to have the ability to recruit existing stem cells within the brain and spinal cord to jumpstart the bodys own repair mechanisms.

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Wheelchair Kamikaze: Stem Cell Treatments for Multiple ...