Andrew Madoff Battling Stage-Four Cancer, Receives Donor Infusion After Stem Cell Transplant

By Nicole Weisensee Egan

08/09/2013 at 04:15 PM EDT

On Wednesday, Madoff received a donor lymphocyte infusion in hopes of salvaging the stem cell transplant he received on May 29th, after several rounds of chemotherapy and radiation to treat his mantle cell lymphoma.

"Things were humming along nicely, but then one of the components of the transplant started failing," he says. "We kind of waited it out a couple of weeks to see if it would fail entirely."

His situation did not improve, which led to the donor infusion on Tuesday.

"This will hopefully prevent it from failing," he says. "If they didn't do this, it would certainly have failed."

With doctors saying there is only a 50/50 chance that the infusion will work, Madoff insists he is trying to stay positive.

"It's hard. It's been a long road. I've been receiving treatment since January, and it's a lot," he says, ticking off, "Six rounds of chemotherapy, then radiation, then more chemo before the transplant, then the transplant itself."

Madoff, whose stage one cancer (confined to a single lymph node), was originally diagnosed in 2003, now has stage four cancer, which has spread throughout his body. He revealed his recurrence of the disease to PEOPLE earlier this year, after his condition had been diagnosed during his annual checkup last October.

He says that after the PEOPLE story ran he received hundreds of emails and letters of support from total strangers.

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Andrew Madoff Battling Stage-Four Cancer, Receives Donor Infusion After Stem Cell Transplant

$384,000 Stem Cell Burger Grown In a Lab! – Video

$384,000 Stem Cell Burger Grown In a Lab!
Scientists have grown a stem cell burger in a laboratory, but what does this mean for science and global hunger? We look at the story with Lissette Padilla a...

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$384,000 Stem Cell Burger Grown In a Lab! - Video

Stem Cell Therapy Shows Promise in Repairing Brain Damage Even Hours After Stroke Occurs

Durham, NC (PRWEB) August 09, 2013

Stroke is a major health concern and is a leading cause of death in the United States, according to the Center for Disease Control. Despite significant research efforts, developing treatments that ensure complete recovery for stroke patients poses an extreme challenge, especially when more than a few hours have passed between onset of the stroke and administration of treatment.

However, a new study released today in STEM CELLS Translational Medicine indicates that endothelial precursor cells, which are found in the bone marrow, umbilical cord blood, and as very rare cells in peripheral blood, could make a significant difference for these patients recovery even in the later stages of stroke. In animal studies, the treatment minimized the initial brain injury and helped repair the stroke damage.

Previous studies indicated that stem/progenitor cells derived from human umbilical cord blood (hUCB) improved functional recovery in stroke models, noted Branislava Janic, Ph.D., a member of Henry Ford Health Systems Cellular and Molecular Imaging Laboratory in Detroit and lead author of the study. We wanted to examine the effect of hUCB-derived AC133+ endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) on stroke development and resolution in rats.

Dr. Janic and his team injected rats that had suffered strokes with the stem cells. When they later examined the animals using MRI, they found that the transplanted cells had selectively migrated to the injured area and that the stem cells stopped the tissue damage from spreading, instigated regeneration, and also affected the time course for stroke resolution. A significant decrease in lesion size also was observed, at a dose of 10 million cells, as early as seven days after the strokes onset.

This led us to conclude that cord blood-derived EPCs can significantly contribute to developing more effective treatments that allow broader time period for intervention, minimize the initial brain injury and help repair the damage in later post-stroke phases, Dr. Janic said.

The early signs of stroke are often unrecognized, and many patients cannot take advantage of clot-busting treatments within the required few hours after stroke onset, said Anthony Atala, M.D., editor of STEM CELLS Translational Medicine and director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine. In this animal study, a combination of stem cells shows promise for healing stroke damage when administered 24 hours after the stroke. ###

The full article, Intravenous administration of human umbilical cord blood derived AC133+ endothelial progenitor cells in rat stroke model reduces infarct volume magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and histological findings, 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.

About AlphaMed Press: Established in 1983, AlphaMed Press with offices in Durham, NC, San Francisco, CA, and Belfast, Northern Ireland, publishes two other internationally renowned peer-reviewed journals: STEM CELLS (http://www.StemCells.com), in its 31th year, is the world's first journal devoted to this fast paced field of research. The Oncologist (http://www.TheOncologist.com), also a monthly peer-reviewed publication, in its 18th year, is devoted to community and hospital-based oncologists and physicians entrusted with cancer patient care. All three journals are premier periodicals with globally recognized editorial boards dedicated to advancing knowledge and education in their focused disciplines.

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Stem Cell Therapy Shows Promise in Repairing Brain Damage Even Hours After Stroke Occurs

Stem Cell Therapeutics Acquires an Exclusive Option to License Prostate Cancer Stem Cell Assets

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Aug 9, 2013) - Stem Cell Therapeutics Corp. (TSX VENTURE:SSS)(SCTPF), a biopharmaceutical company developing cancer stem cell-related therapeutics, today announced that it has entered into an option agreement to exclusively license worldwide rights to a series of prostate cancer stem cell assets from the University of York, United Kingdom. The assets originate from research funded by Yorkshire Cancer Research (YCR) and conducted in the YCR Cancer Research Unit, University of York, under the direction of Professor Norman Maitland. Stem Cell Therapeutics (SCT) intends to work closely with the Maitland group, leveraging its internal scientific strengths and its existing global network of collaborators.

"This agreement provides Stem Cell Therapeutics with an opportunity to evaluate several highly promising therapeutic targets, all of which are expressed on prostate cancer stem cells, as well as on other types of cancers," added Dr. Bob Uger, SCT's Chief Scientific Officer. "Much of the York group's research is focused on hypothesis testing using powerful multicellular in vitro models and xenograft in vivo models of tumour development/metastasis. We will extend this research into the generation of monoclonal antibodies to these targets, with an ultimate goal of identifying new therapeutic development candidates."

Dr. Maitland's research group is focused on the development and aetiology of human prostate cancer. They have compiled gene expression profiles for various cell types present in prostate tumors and in normal prostate tissue, and have mined these data for genes and signaling pathways that affect cell fate. This has demonstrated that heterogeneity within human prostate cancers is due to two independent events: carcinogenic changes and aberrant differentiation. Exploiting knowledge of the genetic signature of prostate cancer stem cells, the Maitland group has identified novel avenues for treatment which could delay, or even prevent, tumour recurrence. The group has also shown that prostate cancer stem cells have an active resistance mechanism to many conventional therapies, such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy. These latter therapies are directed against the majority of cells in the tumour (the most differentiated cells), but do not affect the minority population, which are the cancer stem cells. Thus, prostate cancer stem cells form a root for post therapy recurrence.

"This commercial partnership should be the ultimate outcome for all charity-supported cancer research. We plan to exploit more than 10 years of research into prostate cancer stem cells in York to develop new treatments for the benefit of patients here and around the world," commented Professor Maitland. "Our unique approach, supported by Yorkshire Cancer Research, has studied fragments of real tumors donated by men with prostate cancer, and has provided new insights into how the rare stem cells work, and more importantly, how we can kill them. With the collaboration and expertise of Stem Cell Therapeutics, a company dedicated to cancer stem cell R&D, we can at last produce the actual drugs and biological agents to achieve our goal."

The execution of the definitive license agreement is subject to final due diligence and certain conditions being met by SCT over the next 6-9 months. The license agreement will contain customary terms and provisions for assets at this stage of development, including an initial license consideration, milestone payments, royalties on sales and sublicensing terms.

"We consider ourselves fortunate to have secured these assets from such a preeminent cancer stem cell research group. Dr. Maitland has long been considered a world-authority in prostate cancer research and we look forward to working closely with both him and his colleague, Dr. Anne Collins," remarked SCT's CEO, Dr. Niclas Stiernholm. "This development is a continuation of our strategy to build individual programs and collaborations around strong scientific minds with demonstrated global leadership in the cancer stem cell arena."

About Cancer Stem Cells:

The cancer stem cell (CSC) concept postulates that the growth of tumors is driven by a rare population of dedicated cells that have stem cell-like properties, including self-renewal. While the bulk of a tumor consists of rapidly proliferating cells and differentiated cells, neither of which is capable of self-renewal, a small population of CSCs provides for long-term maintenance of the cancer. Although the CSC concept was first postulated in the 1960s, it wasn't until 1994 that proof of their existence was demonstrated, when Dr. John Dick and colleagues in Toronto isolated CSCs (known as leukemic stem cells, or LSCs) from bulk acute myeloid leukemia cells. More recently, CSCs have been identified in many other human malignancies, including solid tumors such as bladder, brain, breast, colon, ovarian and prostate cancers. There is accumulating evidence that CSCs are resistant to conventional chemotherapies and radiation. Thus, CSCs are thought to be responsible for a phenomenon well known to oncologists: most patients will experience an initial response to conventional chemotherapies but will ultimately relapse. To cure cancer, CSCs need to be destroyed, but the current armament of therapies is poorly equipped to do so.

About Stem Cell Therapeutics:

Stem Cell Therapeutics Corp. (SCT) is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to advancing cancer stem cell discoveries into novel and innovative cancer therapies. Building on over half a century of leading and groundbreaking Canadian stem cell research, the company is supported by established links to a group of Toronto academic research institutes and cancer treatment centers, representing one of the world's most acclaimed cancer research hubs. The Company has two premier preclinical programs, SIRPaFc and a CD200 monoclonal antibody (mAb), which target two key immunoregulatory pathways that tumor cells exploit to evade the host immune system. SIRPaFc is an antibody-like fusion protein that blocks the activity of CD47, a molecule that is upregulated on cancer stem cells in AML and several other tumors. The CD200 mAb is a fully human monoclonal antibody that blocks the activity of CD200, an immunosuppressive molecule that is overexpressed by many hematopoietic and solid tumors. SCT's clinical stage programs include the recently in-licensed program focused on the structure of tigecycline, which is currently being evaluated in a multi-centre Phase I study in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), as well as TTI-1612, a non-cancer stem cell asset that recently completed a 28-patient Phase I trial in interstitial cystitis ("IC") patients. For more information, visit: http://www.stemcellthera.com.

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Stem Cell Therapeutics Acquires an Exclusive Option to License Prostate Cancer Stem Cell Assets

Stem cell therapy shows promise in repairing brain damage

Stem cell therapy shows promise in repairing brain damage even hours after stroke occurs

Durham, NC Stroke is a major health concern and is a leading cause of death in the United States, according to the Center for Disease Control. Despite significant research efforts, developing treatments that ensure complete recovery for stroke patients poses an extreme challenge, especially when more than a few hours have passed between onset of the stroke and administration of treatment.

However, a new study released today in STEM CELLS Translational Medicine indicates that endothelial precursor cells, which are found in the bone marrow, umbilical cord blood, and as very rare cells in peripheral blood, could make a significant difference for these patients recovery even in the later stages of stroke. In animal studies, the treatment minimized the initial brain injury and helped repair the stroke damage.

Previous studies indicated that stem/progenitor cells derived from human umbilical cord blood (hUCB) improved functional recovery in stroke models, noted Branislava Janic, Ph.D., a member of Henry Ford Health Systems Cellular and Molecular Imaging Laboratory in Detroit and lead author of the study. We wanted to examine the effect of hUCB-derived AC133+ endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) on stroke development and resolution in rats.

Dr. Janic and his team injected rats that had suffered strokes with the stem cells. When they later examined the animals using MRI, they found that the transplanted cells had selectively migrated to the injured area and that the stem cells stopped the tissue damage from spreading, instigated regeneration, and also affected the time course for stroke resolution. A significant decrease in lesion size also was observed, at a dose of 10 million cells, as early as seven days after the strokes onset.

This led us to conclude that cord blood-derived EPCs can significantly contribute to developing more effective treatments that allow broader time period for intervention, minimize the initial brain injury and help repair the damage in later post-stroke phases, Dr. Janic said.

The early signs of stroke are often unrecognized, and many patients cannot take advantage of clot-busting treatments within the required few hours after stroke onset, said Anthony Atala, M.D., editor of STEM CELLS Translational Medicine and director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine. In this animal study, a combination of stem cells shows promise for healing stroke damage when administered 24 hours after the stroke.

###

The full article, Intravenous administration of human umbilical cord blood derived AC133+ endothelial progenitor cells in rat stroke model reduces infarct volume magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and histological findings, 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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Stem cell therapy shows promise in repairing brain damage

Blackburn resident launches campaign to help find Asian stem cell donors

Blackburn resident launches campaign to help find Asian stem cell donors

8:30am Thursday 8th August 2013 in News By Chloe Glover, Reporter

Saima Ashraf with her plea for Rayaan

A MAJOR drive to encourage the Asian community to donate stem cells has been launched in East Lancashire to help save the life of a young boy.

Blackburn resident Saima Ashraf, 30, has spearheaded the campaign to find a donor for six-year-old Rayaan Siddiqui after being shocked to find out that fewer than three per cent of Asian people in the UK were on the stem cell donor register.

Rayaan, from Welling, in Kent, who was diagnosed with a rare type of blood cancer, has a fight against time to find a donor to treat the condition called hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis.

With a need for stem cells almost identical to his own for treatment to be effective, the best chance of finding a suitable match lies within someone of his own ethnic background.

Ms Ashraf, who works as an auditor at Thornton General, was compelled to head the search in Lancashire after hearing about his condition on a radio show.

According to recent statistics, only 50 per cent of people with the disease ever manage to find a matching donor.

She will hold a drive in conjunction with Delete Blood Cancer UK in Blackburn on August 31 to register people who will then be checked to see if they provide a match for Raayan.

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Blackburn resident launches campaign to help find Asian stem cell donors

StemCells, Inc. Reports Second Quarter 2013 Financial Results and Provides Business Update

NEWARK, Calif., Aug. 7, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- StemCells, Inc. (STEM), a leading stem cell company developing and commercializing novel cell-based therapeutics and tools for use in stem cell-based research and drug discovery, today reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2013, and provided a business update.

"The data emerging from our clinical trials, including the two-year Pelizeaus-Merzbacher disease (PMD) data announced last week, continue to build our confidence that we are on the right track," said Martin McGlynn, President and CEO of StemCells, Inc. "Our operational priority right now is to accelerate patient enrollment, complete the ongoing Phase I/II trials and quickly initiate Phase II proof-of-concept trials. To that end, we took a number of important steps in the second quarter. First, we obtained authorization from Health Canada to expand our spinal cord injury trial into Canada and we are working diligently to initiate sites in the coming months. Second, we added the Byers Eye Institute at Stanford as a site in our dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) trial, and are working to add others. Third, we brought Eliseo Salinas, MD, on board as Executive Vice President and Head of Research and Development, as well as other executives with deep expertise in CNS product development.

"At the same time, we executed a number of creative financing transactions to augment our capital resources and provide us with additional financial flexibility. We remain committed to the strategy of building shareholder value by generating meaningful clinical data in a cash-efficient manner."

Second Quarter and Recent Business Highlights

Second Quarter Financial Results

Total revenue during the second quarter of 2013 was $282,000, compared to $249,000 in the same period of 2012. Revenue from product sales was approximately $250,000 in the second quarter of 2013, an increase of 19% compared to the same period in 2012 due primarily to higher unit volumes.

Total operating expenses in the second quarter of 2013 were $6,425,000, which was 16% higher than the same period in 2012. This increase was driven by higher research and development expenses, which increased 28% compared to the same period in 2012 primarily due to increased costs for preclinical studies of our HuCNS-SC cells and activities to conduct and support our clinical trials. The increase in R&D expenses was partially offset by an 11% decrease in selling, general and administrative expenses compared to the same period of 2012. Loss from operations in the second quarter of 2013 was $6,221,000, a 16% increase compared to the second quarter of 2012.

Other income in the second quarter of 2013 was $353,000, compared to other income of $6,183,000 in the second quarter of 2012. This decrease in other income was primarily related to changes in the estimated fair value of our warrant liability, with increases in the warrant liability shown as an expense and decreases shown as income.

For the second quarter of 2013, net loss was $5,869,000, or $(0.15) per share, compared with a net income of $834,000, or $0.03 per share, for the second quarter of 2012. Net cash used in operating activities in the second quarter of 2013 was $3,778,000. For the six months ended June 30, 2013, net cash used in operating activities totaled $10,430,000, which was 3% lower than the comparable period in 2012.

At June 30, 2013, our cash, cash equivalents and marketable debt securities totaled $24,179,000. If we include the $3.8 million loan proceeds received from CIRM in July, our pro forma cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities at June 30, 2013, would have been $28.0 million.

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StemCells, Inc. Reports Second Quarter 2013 Financial Results and Provides Business Update

European Commission Approves VELCADE® as a Frontline Induction Therapy before Stem Cell Transplantation

BEERSE, Belgium--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Janssen-Cilag International NV (Janssen) announced today that the European Commission (EC) has approved the use of VELCADE (bortezomib) as induction therapy (a first therapeutic option) in combination with dexamethasone (VD) or thalidomide and dexamethasone (VTD).1 This licence extension will apply to adult patients with previously-untreated multiple myeloma who are eligible for high-dose chemotherapy with haematological stem cell transplantation.

Until now, VELCADEs (bortezomib) indication has been limited to its use, in combination with melphalan and prednisone, in adult patients with multiple myeloma that are previously untreated and ineligible for stem cell transplant, and as a single agent in advanced multiple myeloma.2 Multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, currently affects around 60,000 people in Europe.3 This decision could mean significantly improved outcomes for many patients with this disease.

The approval by the EC was based on the analysis of data from two Phase III trials (IFM-2005-01, PETHEMA/GEM05) which demonstrated that treatment with VELCADE-based induction resulted in improvements in post-induction and post-transplant response rates and in progression-free survival (PFS); PFS and overall survival (OS) were secondary endpoints.

The trials studied the use of VELCADE-based regimens VD and VTD, compared to non-VELCADE-based regimens of vincristine plus doxorubicin and dexamethasone, or thalidomide and dexamethasone, respectively, as induction therapy prior to autologous stem cell transplant in adult patients with previously-untreated multiple myeloma.4,5

# ENDS #

Overview of the IFM-2005-01 and PETHEMA/GEM05 studies4,5

Study IFM-2005-01 evaluated VELCADE (bortezomib) in combination with dexamethasone (VD) compared to vincristine, plus doxorubicin and dexamethasone (VAD). The study included patients aged 65 or under with untreated symptomatic multiple myeloma, with measurable paraprotein in serum (over 10 g/L or urine over 0.2 g/24h).

Results demonstrated that complete response or near complete response rate was significantly improved in the VD group, with a 14.8 percent response rate compared to 6.4 percent [p = 0.004] in patients treated post induction therapy, and 35.0 percent compared to 18.4 percent [p

PFS was 36.0 months in the VD group compared to 29.7 months [p = 0.064] in the VAD group. The OS rate at the 3 year follow up was 81.4 percent in those receiving VD compared to 77.4 percent [p = 0.508] in those treated with VAD.

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European Commission Approves VELCADE® as a Frontline Induction Therapy before Stem Cell Transplantation

PRESS RELEASES

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Total views: 8708 August 2013 09:32:54 AM Writer: Jazmin S. Camero, Media Relations Service-PRIB Send Feedback

A bill establishing a government agency tasked to handle the accreditation and licensing of stem cell therapy practitioners has been filed at the House of Representatives.

Rep. Eufranio Eriguel (2nd District, La Union), author of House Bill 212, said with the proper government intervention, stem cell practice might be enhanced and made accessible to the public while also regulating the people and institutions involved in its practice.

Eriguel said the bill seeks to intensify stem cell research and therapy in the country by conducting research and studies under established standards of open scientific exchange, peer review, and public oversight.

Eriguel said the past decade has seen stem cell science reach new heights and has been allegedly proven effective in treating diseases such as strokes, autism, Parkinson's diseases, diabetes, spinal cord injuries and a host of other ailments.

"Stem cell science has been in existence for almost half a century and is already the standard of care in certain procedures such as bone marrow transplants. Diseases once considered as incurable are responding well to stem cell treatment and are restoring hope to patients who thought they had lost their lives forever," Eriguel said.

Eriguel said there should be more intensive research, including clinical trials, to further discover its uses and to develop novel techniques and more promising procedures.

"There is much to be learned from stem cell therapy, its benefits and application in the cure of some of the most devastating diseases and conditions. As of now, the full promise of stem cell treatment remains unknown," Eriguel said.

Eriguel said the benefits of stem cell treatment are a major breakthrough in the field of biotechnology, "but the cost far outweighs its benefits because it is very expensive and only a few physicians are trained to do stem cell procedures here in the Philippines."

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PRESS RELEASES

Hera Nalbandian – High School Stem Cell Research Intern – Summer 2013, Video Project 2 – Video

Hera Nalbandian - High School Stem Cell Research Intern - Summer 2013, Video Project 2
Visit our Through Their Lens page for photos and more videos from students and grantees: http://www.cirm.ca.gov/instagram-CIRMStemCellLab-feed Hera Nalbandia...

By: California Institute for Regenerative Medicine

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Hera Nalbandian - High School Stem Cell Research Intern - Summer 2013, Video Project 2 - Video