Treatment for copd using stem cells: Video Ripped Off
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Hoofcare Today - Episode 19 - MRI Findings Stem Cell Treatment
Hoofcare Today - Episode 19 - Featured on "The Horse Show" with Rick Lamb. Gene Ovnicek talks with Dr. Ross Rich about the use of MRI to help diagnosis lamen...
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Hoofcare Today - Episode 19 - MRI Findings
HIALEAH (CBSMiami) A team of Hialeah veterinarians performed a groundbreaking medical procedure on a dog to help him walk again.
Brando, a 9-year-old German shepherd, received an innovative two-part stem cell therapy at Paradise Animal Clinic in Hialeah on Wednesday. Its the first time this type of therapy has been performed in Florida.
The dog had been paralyzed from the waist down since January and used a doggie wheelchair to get around.
Vets said that he had a skin infection that paralyzed his lungs and then spread to a disc in his back. The infection caused 80 percent of Brandos leg muscles to weaken.
We were totally emotionally destroyed. Kids were crying, wife was upset, I was upset, said owner Manuel Bouza. Obviously the issue was he was so sick whether we put him down because hes paralyzed or whether we deal with it.
Bouza said that they wanted to do whatever they could to help him. One day, he stumbled across a video on YouTube about a dog in Great Britain who had received a stem cell treatment and he became interested.
With no proven options for recovery, they decided to try an experimental stem cell procedure never performed before in Florida.
This is a last ditch effort, said Bouza.
During the procedure, surgeons took fat from Brandos stomach and processed out the stem cells which were then re-injected into his spinal cord. They hope the cells will regenerate tissue and help Brando become more mobile.
The idea is that stem cells are able to go to a given place in the body and repair, said said animal surgeon Jose Gorostiza. Hopefully they will help the cells that are there function again, the new ones.
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Paralyzed Dog Receives Stem Cell Therapy
A Newport Beach nonprofit donated $150,000 toward stem cell research that could slow or reverse heart damage in patients, including those with a specific muscular dystrophy condition, the organization announced last week.
Coalition Duchenne gave the money to a Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute team developing a treatment that could help treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients who develop heart disease, according to a news release from the coalition.
Boys with Duchenne are born with damage to their hearts that worsens over time, according to Dr. Ron Victor, associate director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute.
"If we can use stem cells to slow or stop heart damage, it could help stall progression of the disease," he said in a prepared statement.
The institute's experimental treatment involves removing a raisin-size piece of heart muscle that is used to grow the stem cells.
Researchers have seen an average 50% reduction in muscle damage following a heart attack when those cells are injected back into the patient, according to the release.
"Each year, 20,000 boys are born with Duchenne," said Catherine Jayasuriya, who founded Coalition Duchenne in 2010 after her son was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy associated with the disease. "Many do not live into their 20s and we lose many to cardiac issues. We need to focus on changing the course of the disease. We hope that working with cardiac stem cells is one way we will eventually change that outcome."
Jeremiah Dobruck
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$150,000 donation to fund stem cell research
Public release date: 6-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Renatt Brodsky newsmedia@mssm.edu 212-241-9200 The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Liver transplantation is the mainstay of treatment for patients with end-stage liver disease, the 12th leading cause of death in the United States, but new research from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, published in the online journal Cell Stem Cell today, suggests that it may one day become possible to regenerate a liver using cell therapy in patients with liver disease. Investigators discovered that a human embryonic stem cell can be differentiated into a previously unknown liver progenitor cell, an early offspring of a stem cell, and produce mature and functional liver cells.
"The discovery of the novel progenitor represents a fundamental advance in this field and potentially to the liver regeneration field using cell therapy," said the study's senior author, Valerie Gouon-Evans, PharmD, PhD, Assistant Professor, in the Department of Developmental and Regenerative Biology, Black Family Stem Cell Institute, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "Until now, liver transplantation has been the most successful treatment for people with liver failure, but we have a drastic shortage of organs. This discovery may help circumvent that problem."
In conjunction with the laboratory of Matthew J. Evans, PhD, from the Department of Microbiology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, investigators demonstrated the functionality of the liver cells generated from the progenitors, as the liver cells can be infected by the hepatitis C virus, a property restricted to liver cells exclusively.
A critical discovery in this research was finding that the novel progenitor has a receptor protein on its cell surface called KDR, or vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2, which until now, was thought to be restricted to endothelial cells that form vessels, the progenitors for endothelial cells and the progenitors blood cells. The research team showed that activation of KDR on these novel liver progenitors differentiates them into mature liver cells. Additionally, work in a mouse model revealed similar cells, indicating that the progenitors are conserved from mouse to human, and therefore, they must be "important cells with promising potential for cell therapy in treating liver disease," explained Dr. Gouon-Evans.
Next, the research team will examine specifically whether these liver cells obtained from human embryonic stem cells in a dish help repair injured livers in preclinical animal models of liver disease.
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Funding for this study was provided by The Black Family Stem Cell Institute, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, the Robin Chemers Neustein Postdoctoral Fellowship, the American Cancer Society, and Pew Charitable Funds.
About the Black Family Stem Cell Institute
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Mount Sinai discovers new liver cell for cellular therapy to aid in liver regeneration
Javascript is currently disabled in your web browser. For full site functionality, it is necessary to enable Javascript. In order to enable it, please see these instructions. 3 hours ago The picture shows a 9.5-day-old mouse embryo including extra-embryonic tissue. The red region marks embryonic stem cells in the extra-embryonic yolk sac. Embryonic stem cells are not normally able to do this, but when cells are pushed backwards in development as described in Morgani et al. Credit: Sophie Morgani, University of Copenhagen.
Scientists at the Danish Stem Cell Center, DanStem, at the University of Copenhagen have discovered that they can make embryonic stem cells regress to a stage of development where they are able to make placenta cells as well as the other fetal cells. This significant discovery, published in the journal Cell Reports today, has the potential to shed new light on placenta related disorders that can lead to problematic pregnancies and miscarriages.
Embryonic stem cells can make all kinds of adult cells in the human body such as muscle, blood or brain cells. However, these embryonic stem cells are created at a point when the embryo has already lost the ability to make extra-embryonic tissue such as placenta and yolk sac. Extra-embryonic tissues are formed at the very earliest stage of development right after fertilization and are essential for the growth of the embryo and its implantation in the womb.
A team of scientists at the Danish Stem Cell Center, DanStem, at the University of Copenhagen have shown that it is possible to rewind the developmental state of embryonic stem cells. By maintaining mouse embryonic stem cells under certain conditions, they found that cells appear to regress and resemble extremely early embryo cells that can form any kind of cell including placenta and yolk sac cells.
"It was a very exciting moment when we tested the theory," says Professor Josh Brickman from DanStem. "We found that not only can we make adult cells but also placenta, in fact we got precursors of placenta, yolk sac as well as embryo from just one cell."
Sophie Morgani, PhD student at DanStem and first author of the paper, which was published in the scientific journal Cell Reports today adds: "This new discovery is crucial for the basic understanding of the nature of embryonic stem cells and could provide a way to model the development of the organism as a whole, rather than just the embryonic portion. In this way we may gain greater insight into conditions where extra-embryonic development is impaired, as in the case of miscarriages."
LIF protein plays a crucial role
Brickman and colleagues grew their embryonic stem cells in a solution containing LIF, which is a protein known to somehow support embryonic stem cells but also for its role in implantation of the embryo into the uterus. As implantation is stimulated by the cells that will become the placenta, not the embryo, these roles appeared to be contradictory. The DanStem study resolved this contradiction by revealing that LIF helps maintain the cells in their regressed, early stage of development.
"In our study we have been able to see the full picture unifying LIF's functions: What LIF really does, is to support the very early embryo state, where the cells can make both embryonic cells and placenta. This fits with LIFs' role in supporting implantation," Josh Brickman says.
Explore further: Sorting stem cells
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Rewinding development: A step forward for stem cell research
June 6, 2013 Liver transplantation is the mainstay of treatment for patients with end-stage liver disease, the 12th leading cause of death in the United States, but new research from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, published in the journal Cell Stem Cell today, suggests that it may one day become possible to regenerate a liver using cell therapy in patients with liver disease. Investigators discovered that a human embryonic stem cell can be differentiated into a previously unknown liver progenitor cell, an early offspring of a stem cell, and produce mature and functional liver cells.
"The discovery of the novel progenitor represents a fundamental advance in this field and potentially to the liver regeneration field using cell therapy," said the study's senior author, Valerie Gouon-Evans, PharmD, PhD, Assistant Professor, in the Department of Developmental and Regenerative Biology, Black Family Stem Cell Institute, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "Until now, liver transplantation has been the most successful treatment for people with liver failure, but we have a drastic shortage of organs. This discovery may help circumvent that problem."
In conjunction with the laboratory of Matthew J. Evans, PhD, from the Department of Microbiology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, investigators demonstrated the functionality of the liver cells generated from the progenitors, as the liver cells can be infected by the hepatitis C virus, a property restricted to liver cells exclusively.
A critical discovery in this research was finding that the novel progenitor has a receptor protein on its cell surface called KDR, or vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2, which until now, was thought to be restricted to endothelial cells that form vessels, the progenitors for endothelial cells and the progenitors blood cells. The research team showed that activation of KDR on these novel liver progenitors differentiates them into mature liver cells. Additionally, work in a mouse model revealed similar cells, indicating that the progenitors are conserved from mouse to human, and therefore, they must be "important cells with promising potential for cell therapy in treating liver disease," explained Dr. Gouon-Evans.
Next, the research team will examine specifically whether these liver cells obtained from human embryonic stem cells in a dish help repair injured livers in preclinical animal models of liver disease.
Funding for this study was provided by The Black Family Stem Cell Institute, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, the Robin Chemers Neustein Postdoctoral Fellowship, the American Cancer Society, and Pew Charitable Funds.
About The Black Family Stem Cell Institute The Black Family Stem Cell Institute is Mount Sinai's foundation for both basic and disease-oriented research on embryonic and adult stem cells. The therapeutic use of stem cells is a promising area of medicine for the decades ahead and researchers are examining why stem cells function in certain types of niches, microenvironments, and pockets of activity. Investigators are working to break the code in stem cell communication by determining how stem cells signal one another and other cells. The new knowledge that will result from this research holds the promise of diagnostic and therapeutic breakthroughs.
Studies show that it is possible to reprogram adult skin cells into cells that are very similar to embryonic stem cells. Once stem cells can be grown and differentiated in a controlled way to replace degenerated cells and repair tissues, medical science may then be able to diagnose and cure many intractable diseases at their earliest stages, such as type 1 diabetes, Parkinson's disease, various cardiovascular diseases, liver disease, and cancer.
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New liver cell for cellular therapy to aid in liver regeneration
4 June 2013 Last updated at 14:32 ET By David Cornock BBC Wales Parliamentary correspondent
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Mike Peters played at parliament as some MPs signed the donor register
Mike Peters is a survivor. Lead singer of The Alarm since 1981, he's had 15 UK Top 40 hits and sold more than five million records.
He's also a cancer survivor, twice, and in that role he came to parliament today as part of a drive to increase the number of stem cell donors.
A day after receiving chemotherapy treatment near his home in north Wales, he headed to Westminster for the launch of "Get On The List", a campaign to recruit potential donors.
MPs were targeted at a donor registration event in the hope that they would encourage others to register to help blood cancer patients.
The campaign sees Peters' Love Hope Strength Foundation join forces with Delete Blood Cancer UK charity, which says that half the people in Britain who need a life-saving stem cell donor don't actually find a suitable match.
People are realising that one day it could be someone that they know who needs a stem cell donor,
The register is open to anyone between the ages of 17 and 55, if they are in good general health. Fans of The Alarm have been recruited during the band's tours.
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Singer targets stem cell donors
Public release date: 3-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Simon Hunter Simon.Hunter@csiro.au 61-395-458-412 CSIRO Australia
CSIRO scientists have developed a test to identify unsafe stem cells. It is the first safety test specifically for human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) as published today in the international journal Stem Cells.
The breakthrough is a significant step in improving the quality of iPS cells and identifying unwanted cells that can form tumours. The test also determines how stable iPS cells are when grown in the lab. Dr Andrew Laslett and his team have spent the last five years working on the project. The research has focused on comparing different types of iPS cells with human embryonic stem cells. iPS cells are now the most commonly used pluripotent stem cell type for research.
"The test we have developed allows us to easily identify unsafe iPS cells. Ensuring the safety of these cell lines is paramount and we hope this test will become a routine screen as part of developing safe and effective iPS-based cell therapies," says Dr Laslett.
Using their test method, Dr Laslett's team has shown that certain ways of making iPS cells carry more risks. When the standard technique is used, which relies on viruses to permanently change the DNA of a cell, unwanted tumours are more likely to form. In comparison, cells made using methods which do not alter cell DNA, do not form tumours.
Dr Laslett hopes the study and the new test method will help to raise the awareness and importance of stem cell safety and lead to improvements in quality control globally.
"It is widely accepted that iPS cells made using viruses should not be used for human treatment, but they can also be used in research to understand diseases and identify new drugs. Having the assurance of safe and stable cells in all situations should be a priority," says Dr Laslett.
The test uses laser technology to identify proteins found on the surface of the cells. Based on the presence or absence of specific proteins the cells are then separated and monitored. Unsafe stem cell lines are easily identified because they form recognisable clusters of cells and the safe ones don't. This test could also be applied to assess the safety of the recently announced somatic cell nuclear transfer human embryonic stem cells.
Professor Martin Pera, Program Leader of Stem Cells Australia, said: "Although cell transplantation therapies based on iPS cells are being fast-tracked for testing in humans, there is still much debate in the scientific community over the potential hazards of this new technology."
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Test to improve stem cell safety
June 3, 2013 Scientists have taken a vital step forward in understanding how cells from skin tissue can be reprogrammed to become stem cells.
New research could pave the way to generate these stem cells efficiently to better understand and develop treatments for diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and muscular degeneration.
The study of how these cells -- known as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) -- were reprogramed was led by the University of Edinburgh and is published in the journal Nature.
Scientists found that the process by which iPSCs are created is not simply a reversal of how skin cells are generated in normal human development.
Researchers made the discovery by tracking the change of skin cells during the reprogramming process.
All cells in the human body begin life as a mass of cells, with the capacity to change into any specialised cell, such as skin or muscle cell.
By returning adult cells to this original state and recreating the cell type needed for treatment scientists hope to find ways of tackling diseases such as MS, in which cells become faulty and need to be replaced.
Scientists have been able to create stem cells in this way since 2006 but, until now, it has not been clear how adult cells 'forget' their specialised roles to be reprogrammed by scientists.
Experts say that current methods of iPSCs production are time consuming and costly. It takes around four weeks to make human stem cells and even then the process does not always work.
Researchers say that their new insight will enable them to streamline the stem cell production process. The finding may also shed light on how to create different cell types -- like muscle or brain cells -- that can be used to improve our understanding of diseases and treatment.
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Stem cell study could aid quest to combat range of diseases