Antibodies from rabbits improve survival of leukemia and myelodysplasia patients receiving stem cell transplant

ScienceDaily (July 6, 2012) Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Massey Cancer Center's Bone Marrow Transplant Program have demonstrated that the use of antibodies derived from rabbits can improve the survival and relapse outcomes of leukemia and myelodysplasia patients receiving a stem cell transplant from an unrelated donor.

Recently published in the journal Bone Marrow Transplantation, a study led by Amir Toor, M.D., hematologist-oncologist in the Bone Marrow Transplant Program and member of the Developmental Therapeutics program at VCU Massey Cancer Center, retrospectively compared the outcomes of 50 patients who received rabbit anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) before receiving a transplant of stem cells from an unrelated donor to the outcomes of 48 patients who received a transplant of stem cells from a related donor. While unrelated stem cell transplants typically have poorer outcomes than related stem cell transplants, the results from this study showed similar outcomes for each group in terms of mortality, relapse and the development of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), a common complication that can occur after a stem cell or bone marrow transplant in which the newly transplanted material attacks the transplant recipient's body.

"Unfortunately, we can't always find a related (genetically similar) donor for patients in need of stem cell transplantation," says Toor, who is also associate professor of internal medicine in the Department of Hematology, Oncology and Palliative Care at VCU School of Medicine. "Obtaining better outcomes with unrelated donor stem cell transplants could represent a significant advancement in extending the lives of more patients with blood cancers."

Unrelated donor stem cell transplants are generally considered a high-risk treatment due to historically higher rates of disease relapse and GVHD in comparison to stem cells transplanted from donors related to the patients. The results of the study indicated no survival differences between the two groups of patients regardless of age or diagnosis. Relapse rates and incidence of GVHD were also similar. Chronic GVHD, on the other hand, was diagnosed less frequently in patients in the ATG group. In addition, the researchers noticed a higher rate of infections in patients receiving the highest dose of ATG, but this risk was diminished in patients who received slightly lower doses.

This study is one of the first to use ATG in stem cell transplantation. ATG works by reducing the number of circulating T-lymphocytes, a key component of the immune system. It is primarily used in organ transplantation to prevent patients' immune systems from rejecting transplanted tissue. It is also used to treat aplastic anemia, a condition where the bone marrow does not create enough new cells. Currently, there are two types of ATG agents available for clinical use. The one used in this study is derived from rabbit antibodies while the other is derived from horse antibodies.

"Our study results should serve as a guide for designing future clinical trials using ATG to improve outcomes in unrelated donor stem cell transplants," says Toor. "Our findings are encouraging. If many of the risks commonly associated with unrelated donor stem cell transplants are reduced, transplantation becomes an option for more patients."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Virginia Commonwealth University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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Antibodies from rabbits improve survival of leukemia and myelodysplasia patients receiving stem cell transplant

Annabelle magpapa-stem cell na rin

Nakatanggap ako kahapon ng phone call mula kay Annabelle Rama dahil type na rin niya na sumailalim sa stem cell treatment sa Germany.

Sa totoo lang, happy ako dahil na-discover sa Germany ang stem cell treatmentdahil talagang worth it na dayuhin, kesehodang isang araw ang tagal ng biyahe mula sa Pilipinas.

Plano ni Bisaya na gawin ang stem cell treatment sa third week ng July at in-encourage ko siya na ituloy ang kanyang balak dahil maganda talaga ang epekto sa katawan.

Rubby waging 2012 CEO excel

Congrats sa aking friend na si Rubby Sy ng Flawless dahil isa siya sa mga awardee ng 2012 CEO Excel (Communication Excellence in Organizations) na pinili ng Board of Trustees ng International Association of Business Communicators (IABC).

Hindi nakakagulat na napili si Rubby na awardee dahil siya ang sikreto kaya very successful ang Flawless, ang leading facial clinic ng bansa.

Doble ang tagumpay ni Mama Rubby dahil kabilang siya sa mga tumanggap ng Go Negosyo Outstanding Entrepreneur citation. Pararangalan si Mama Rubby ng CEO EXCEL sa awarding ceremonies na gaganapin sa July 12 sa Intercontinental Hotel, Makati City.

Tuwang-tuwa siya siyempre sa parangal na matatanggap niya.

Very thankful siya dahil ang pakiramdam niya, blessed na blessed siya.

We are just really working hard at Flawless every day. This award is a bonus.I couldnt have done it without my equally hardworking team. This award is really for all of us, ang nagpapasalamat na statement ni Mama Rubby.

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Annabelle magpapa-stem cell na rin

Diabetes drug helps brain growth, makes mice smarter

SACRAMENTO, CA. - A drug used to treat diabetes encourages the brain to grow and repair itself, afinding with far-reaching implications for the treatment of Alzheimers and brain injury, a new study published in Cell: Stem Cell reports.

The widely used diabetes drug metformin comes with the unexpected side effect of causing the growth of new neurons in the brain and makes mice smarter, the July 6th issue of Cell Stem Cell, a Cell Press publication, said. The study has potentially wide-reaching implications for the treatment of Alzheimers in humans and brain related injury.

The discovery has important implications for brain repair because it works not by introducing new stem cells but rather by spurring those that are already present into action, said the study's lead author Freda Miller of the University of Toronto-affiliated Hospital for Sick Children. And since the drug is already so widely used and so safe it means doctors could quickly begin using the drug for brain therapy treatment.

Earlier work by Miller's team highlighted a pathway known as aPKC-CBP for its essential role in telling neural stem cells where and when to differentiate into mature neurons, the report said. Other researchers had found before them that the same pathway is important for the metabolic effects of the drug metformin, but in liver cells.

"We put two and two together," Miller says. If metformin activates the CBP pathway in the liver, they thought, maybe it could also do that in neural stem cells of the brain to encourage brain repairm, he said.

Mice taking metformin not only showed an increase in the birth of new neurons, but they proved to become smarter by being better able to learn the location of a hidden platform in a standard maze test of spatial learning. The new evidence lends support to that promising idea in both mouse brains and human cells.

While it remains to be seen whether the very popular diabetes drug might already be serving as a brain booster for those who are now taking it, there are early hints the drug may have cognitive benefits for people with Alzheimer's disease. Scientists had speculated those improvements were the result of better diabetes control, Miller says, but it now appears that metformin may improve Alzheimer's symptoms by enhancing brain repair.

Miller says they now hope to test whether metformin might help repair the brains of those who have suffered brain injury due to trauma or radiation therapies for cancer.

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Diabetes drug helps brain growth, makes mice smarter

New FDA-approved stem cell study gives hope to family

LABELLE, Fla.- Two-year old Madeline Conner was born with the inability to hear. But new advances in medical science could offer hope in the form of a stem cell research study.

"I really wanted her in it. It was our one shot," said her mother, Stephanie Conner.

Conner heard about a new FDA-approved stem cell study for hearing loss. She knew right away her little girl was the perfect candidate.

"It's a group of ten kids and she's the first one and the only one so far," she said.

The trial is a collaboration between Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston and the California-based Cord Blood Registry. "This is the first study FDA regulated looking at the safety and benefit of cord blood stem cells for treatment of acquired sensorineural hearing loss. Which is loss that has to do with the damage of the inner ear and nerve fibers that go to the brain," said Principal Investigator, Dr. Fakhri.

Stem cells, saved from Madeline's own umbilical cord, were injected into her arm.

"We expect that it will be safe. You are using your own blood stem cells as if it was your own transfusion," stated Dr. Fakhri. "It was actually a one-time treatment, just one infusion. Then we keep going, We go four times total, just so they can check her and compare all the testing they did before hand to see if there has been any improvement," said her mom.

In theory, the treatment will adjust Madeline's immune system and will help her body repair itself. In reality, researchers say they have no idea if it will work.

"We've definitely seen a lot of improvement. It's hard to say if it's 100 percent because of this or that. It's just our observation," said Madeline's parents.

"We can not expect what the results will be, but potentially it can repair and restore normal hearing," Fakhri said.

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New FDA-approved stem cell study gives hope to family

Critical process in stem cell development identified

ScienceDaily (July 5, 2012) Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have discovered that environmental factors critically influence the growth of a type of stem cell -- called an iPS cell -- that is derived from adult skin cells. This discovery offers newfound understanding of how these cells form, while also advancing science closer to stem cell-based therapies to combat disease.

Researchers in the laboratory of Gladstone Senior Investigator Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD, have for the first time shown that protein factors released by other cells affect the "reprogramming" of adult cells into stem cells known as induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells. The scientists -- who collaborated on this research with colleagues from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) -- announce their findings July 5 online in Cell Stem Cell.

In 2007, Dr. Yamanaka discovered a recipe of specific proteins to add to human skin cells as a way to induce them into becoming iPS cells -- which act very much like embryonic stem cells. Many see iPS cell technology as a new platform for drug discovery and the study of disease fundamentals -- while avoiding the ethical issues surrounding research involving embryonic stem cells. But questions remain about the most efficient way to cultivate iPS cells.

"We've reinforced our hypothesis that the cell's environment is vital to the reprogramming process," said Dr. Yamanaka, who did his postdoctoral studies at Gladstone in the 1990s, returning here in 2007 as a senior investigator. "We can now expand our understanding of cell development -- and use iPS cells to model conditions such as Alzheimer's and heart disease."

Normally when researchers convert skin cells into iPS cells, the cells rest on a special layer of materials in a petri dish. The layer includes "feeder" cells that provide nutrients required for the iPS cells to grow and reproduce. In this study, performed at the Roddenberry Center for Stem Cell Biology & Medicine at Gladstone, scientists generated human iPS cell lines by using a method in which the feeder layer secretes a protein called LIF. Dr. Yamanaka, who invented this so-called "Kyoto" method, also directs the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application at Kyoto University and is a professor at UCSF, with which Gladstone is affiliated. UCSF collaborators on this research include co-senior author Barbara Panning, PhD, and Karen Leung, PhD.

The researchers then analyzed LIF's importance in the growth of female iPS cells. Female iPS cells contain two copies of the X-chromosome, which is one of two sex chromosomes. While males carry one X and one Y-chromosome, females' two X-chromosomes could result in a potentially toxic double dose of genes -- except for a unique evolutionary mechanism whereby one of the two X's is silenced in a process known as "X-inactivation." This process, which occurs early during the development of the embryo, ensures that females, like males, have one functional copy of the X-chromosome in each cell. But exactly how X-inactivation happens is unknown.

To research this, Gladstone scientists generated female iPS cells on feeder layers without LIF and found that one of the X-chromosomes in each iPS cell remained silent. Those iPS cells that grew on a layer of cells with the LIF protein, however, grew with two activated X-chromosomes. Then, by taking a cell from a non-LIF cell layer and transferring it to a LIF-cell layer, the iPS cell's inactive X-chromosome switched on and became even more like embryonic stem cells. These results are crucial for future studies of how iPS cells grow and mature. And because this iPS technology lets scientists create stem cells from patients with a specific disease, this new finding could lead to a far-superior human model for studying disease and testing new drugs.

"These results will make it possible to readily generate stable, double-active, higher-quality X-chromosome iPS cells, and study the process more closely," said Gladstone Research Scientist Kiichiro Tomoda, PhD, who is the paper's lead author "Our findings also reinforce work from other Gladstone scientists showing that the cell environment is critical to the reprogramming process."

Other scientists who participated in this research at Gladstone include Kirsten Eilertson, PhD, Mark White, Salma Sami, Bruce Conklin, MD and Deepak Srivastava, MD. Funding came from a variety of sources, including the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the National Institutes of Health, the Roddenberry Foundation and the L.K. Whittier Foundation.

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Critical process in stem cell development identified

Mrs. Itana, a diabetic nephropathy from Papua New Guinean for Stem Cells and TCM Treatment – Video

02-07-2012 21:07 Mrs Itana was diagnosed with diabetic nephropathy 15 years ago and in February, 2012 she was told by her doctor her kidneys did not work well and dialysis was necessary. Before she came to China for STEM CELL and TRANDITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE TREATMENT, she was hospitalized in local couple of times because she was very weak and had short of breath, heart failure and so many. After the first stem cells transplant, she felt she was back 16 years old person and so energetic. Therefore, she wants to share his treatment experiences to all kidney disease patients and wish her words and successful experience can be widely spread out. And, more of the cancer patients can seek for the proper treatment in China. And yet, in her country Mrs Itana only has one choice -- kidney transplant.

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Mrs. Itana, a diabetic nephropathy from Papua New Guinean for Stem Cells and TCM Treatment - Video

Ireland could be stem cell research hub

Tuesday, July 03 16:25:12

Ireland has the capacity to be an international centre for commercialisation in the field of regenerative medicine, delegates at an international stem cell conference in NUI Galway heard today.

Reflecting this potential, new Irish company Orbsen Therapeutics is developing proprietary technologies designed to isolate stem cells. The NUI Galway spin-out is targeting the rapidly maturing and expanding regenerative medicine market, which is expected to grow to $118 billion next year.

Frank Barry is Professor of Cellular Therapy at NUI Galway, Director of Orbsen Therapeutics, and organiser of the Mesenchymal Stem Cell Conference, which opened yesterday.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a type of adult stem cell, and this event brings together the world's leading scientists in the field to discuss their latest ideas and findings. This is the first major stem cell conference to take place in Ireland, and is looking at all aspects of adult stem cells, from basic biology to manufacturing to clinical trials and therapeutics.

Stem cells hold great promise as an alternative to drugs and surgical procedures for treating a wide range of medical conditions including heart disease, arterial disease of the limbs, diabetes complications, arthritis and other inflammatory conditions. The treatment potential of stem cells is linked to their natural capacity to dampen inflammation and promote healing, repair and regeneration of damaged tissues.

According to Professor Barry: "Ireland has a strong research base in adult stem cell therapy and has the capcacity for advanced stem cell bioprocessing. There is huge potential in this market and we anticipate that there will be extraordinary growth over the next 5-10 years. There are currently over 400 regenerative medicine products on the market with many more in development." Orbsen Therapeutics has developed a clear pipeline of clinical indications which they hope, using their proprietary technologies, to bring through to clinical trial over the coming years. These include osteoarthritis, acute lung injury syndrome, diabetic foot ulcer, critical limb ischemia and others."

"Combining the utility, novelty and the value of its technologies, Orbsen is well placed to take advantage of the many opportunities in this fast moving and important emerging market", said Brian Molloy, CEO of Orbsen Theraepeutics."

Orbsen Therapeutics Limited was formed as a spin out company to develop and commercialise new intellectual property built up by researchers at the SFI-funded Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI) at NUI Galway.

Scientists at NUI Galway are investigating how adult stems cells might be used to develop new treatments for vascular disease, osteoarthritis and lung injury. The University has become a leading centre of translational research in adult stem cells involving its National Centre for Biomedical Engineering Science (NCBES) and REMEDI.

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Ireland could be stem cell research hub

Stem Cell Therapy Shown to be Effective in Treating Liver Cirrhosis

SHENZHEN, China, July 3, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia/-- A study conducted by Beike Biotechnology Company (http://www.beikebiotech.com) in conjunction with physicians and researchers at two Chinese hospitals, documents the effectiveness of cord blood-derived stem cells in treating primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). The study, which was published in the April 2012 issue of the Stem Cell Discovery, was the first of its kind. Researchers noted that additional clinical trials would be required before stem cells can become an accepted therapy for liver cirrhosis.

Prof. Jin-hui Yang, Director of the Department of Hepatology in the 2nd Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical College stated, "Given the severity of liver cirrhosis and its related conditions, and the limited number of options available to treat those who suffer from it, this finding represents an important, potentially significant breakthrough."

PBC is a chronic, progressive liver disease that leads eventually to fibrosis and cirrhosis of the liver. It affects 1 in 1,000 women over the age of 40.Approximately one-third of those who suffer from PBC and its related conditions do not respond well to Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) treatment, which is the only currently FDA-approved standard medical treatment for the condition. Many of those patients ultimately require liver transplantation.

Beike Chairman, Dr. Sean Hu, commented, "With a growing body of research that demonstrates the effectiveness of cord blood-derived stem cell therapies in treating a broad range of chronic conditions, this latest study is a milestone in the continuing effort to gain broad acceptance and recognition of regenerative medicine as a mainstream treatment option.We look forward to conducting more comprehensive clinical trials to attempt to validate the positive outcomes we have already observed."

The case study reported in the Stem Cell Discovery involved a 58 year old woman suffering from PBC who developed an incarcerated hernia and uncontrolled hydrothorax after undergoing UDCA treatment.One week after completing two stem cell transplantations with no observed adverse effects, the patient showed improvement in both liver function and in her general condition. She was released from the hospital but continued to receive twice-daily UDCA treatments. Six months after her discharge, doctors observed continued improvements in her liver function and overall condition.

To review the full text of the published study, please visit: http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?paperID=18710. Study authors included physicians and researchers from the 2nd Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical College, Beike Biotechnology Company, and the Yunnan Provincial 1st People's Hospital in Kunming, China.

About Beike Biotechnology Company

Shenzhen Beike Biotechnology Co., Ltd. is China's leading biotechnology company focusing on the production of adult stem cells for use in medical therapies. Headquartered in Shenzhen (near Hong Kong) with a flagship regenerative medicine facility at the China Medical City in Jiangsu province, Beike produces a full line of stem cell products derived from umbilical cord, cord blood and autologous bone marrow.

For any questions regarding this release, please call:

Contact Person: T. Gutmann Phone Number: +86-532-6677-6659

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Stem Cell Therapy Shown to be Effective in Treating Liver Cirrhosis

Researchers Block Pathway to Cancer Cell Replication

NOTCH1 Signaling Promotes T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Initiating Cell Regeneration

Newswise Research suggests that patients with leukemia sometimes relapse because standard chemotherapy fails to kill the self-renewing leukemia initiating cells, often referred to as cancer stem cells. In such cancers, the cells lie dormant for a time, only to later begin cloning, resulting in a return and metastasis of the disease.

One such type of cancer is called pediatric T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or T-ALL, often found in children, who have few treatment options beyond chemotherapy.

A team of researchers led by Catriona H. M. Jamieson, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Director of Stem Cell Research at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center studied these cells in mouse models that had been transplanted with human leukemia cells. They discovered that the leukemia initiating cells which clone, or replicate, themselves most robustly activate the NOTCH1 pathway, usually in the context of a mutation.

Earlier studies showed that as many as half of patients with T-ALL have mutations in the NOTCH1 pathway an evolutionarily conserved developmental pathway used during differentiation of many cell and tissue types. The new study shows that when NOTCH1 activation was inhibited in animal models using a monoclonal antibody, the leukemia initiating cells did not survive. In addition, the antibody treatment significantly reduced a subset of these cancer stem cells (identified by the presence of specific markers, CD2 and CD7, on the cell surface.)

We were able to substantially reduce the potential of these cancer stem cells to self-renew, said Jamieson. So were not just getting rid of cancerous cells: were getting to the root of their resistance to treatment leukemic stem cells that lie dormant.

The study results suggest that such therapy would also be effective in other types of cancer stem cells, such as those that cause breast cancer, that also rely on NOTCH1 for self-renewal.

Therapies based on monoclonal antibodies that inhibit NOTCH 1 are much more selective than using gamma-secretase inhibitors, which also block other essential cellular functions in addition to the NOTCH1 signaling pathway, said contributor A. Thomas Look, MD of Dana-Farber/Children Hospital Cancer Center in Boston. We are excited about the promise of NOTCH1-specific antibodies to counter resistance to therapy in T-ALL and possibly additional types of cancer.

In investigating the role of NOTCH1 activation in cancer cell cloning, the researchers showed that leukemia initiating cells possess enhanced survival and self-renewal potential in specific blood-cell, or hematopoietic, niches: the microenvironment of the body in which the cells live and self-renew.

The scientists studied the molecular characterization of CD34+ cells a protein that shows expression in early hematopoietic cells and that facilitates cell migration from a dozen T-ALL patient samples.

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Researchers Block Pathway to Cancer Cell Replication

Stem-cell research leaders to meet in NUIG

The Irish Times - Monday, July 2, 2012

LORNA SIGGINS

WORLD leaders in stem-cell technology are due to exchange knowledge of potential treatments at a conference opening in NUI Galway today.

Researchers from NUIG, University College Cork and NUI Maynooth will participate in the event, which has been billed as the first major conference on stem-cell therapy in Ireland.

Prof Anthony Hollander of the University of Bristol, England who was one of a team which successful created and then transplanted the first tissue-engineered trachea or windpipe is among a number of international speakers presenting findings.

The gathering will focus on the realities of stem-cell treatment, Prof Frank Barry, director of NUIGs National Centre for Biomedical Engineering Science has said.

The therapy is complex and controversial, and sometimes exaggerated claims are made, he said.

The researchers are specialists in Mesenchymal, or adult, stem cells, and will be concentrating on what is likely in the future, he added.

The list of conditions which could be treated successfully by stem cells is small, but growing, Prof Barry said.

Leukaemia and other diseases of the blood appear to respond best.

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Stem-cell research leaders to meet in NUIG