Stem Cell Clinic

Stem cell agency eyes survival options – Capitol Weekly

By Stell Cell Research

News

by DAVID JENSEN posted 08.14.2017

Californias $3 billion stem cell research agency, which is facing its financial demise in a few short years, has formed a team of its directors to tackle transition planning and examine possible alternatives, including ones that would extend its life.

The first meeting of the group of directors is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 18.Jonathan Thomas, chairman of the governing board of theCalifornia Institute for Regenerative Medicine(CIRM), as the agency is formally known, said earlier this summer:

The legislature has asked that we put together and start thinking about a transition plan, which can contemplate a variety of factors.In response to a question last week, a spokesman for the agency,Kevin McCormack, said that a notice with more details would be posted 10 days prior to the meeting.

At a meeting in June, Thomas laid out the need for the transition team. He said all options are on the table including asking the legislature for cash or to place a measure on the ballot for more bond funding.

The agencys only real source of money is state bonds, authorized by voters in 2004. It has roughly $600 million left. The agency has projected it will run out of cash for new awards in mid 2020, althoughthat could vary, depending on whether it slows down the pace of awards.

Several directors at the board meeting in June expressed a sense of urgency about dealing with the fate of the agency. CIRM DirectorJeff Sheehy, a member of the San Francisco board of supervisors and an HIV/AIDS patient advocate, voiced concern about the uncertain nature of the agencys future.

Sheehy said,It seems to me that we will be talking about a substantial scaling back of the organization in2020.Weve kind of created this expectation that we were going to go to 2018 and come back with new money.

Sheehy referred to talk that a new bond initiative might be launched in 2018, a move that the boards former chairman,Robert Klein, has publicly advanced. Sheehy said, however, that he spoke with Klein, who told him that he wasnow considering 2020 instead.Kleins method would require the gathering of hundreds of thousands of valid voter signatures to place the proposal on the ballot and would bypass the legislature.

The year 2020 includes a presidential election, which has higher voter turnout and generally is considered a better time to win approval of bond measures. Presumably, the agency might be able to secure extra funding to span any financial gap or, alternatively, lower the frequency of awards to stretch out the cash.

The members of the transition group are Thomas, Sheehy,Art Torres, Steve Juelsgaard, Joe Panetta, Kristiina Vuori, Linda Malkas, Diane Winokur, Shlomo Melmed, Al RowlettandJudy Gasson.Short bios on each of them can be found via this page.

TheCalifornia Stem Cell Reportwill carry an item with the date and location of the September meeting when it becomes available. Eds Note:DavidJensenis a retired newsman who has followed the affairs of the $3 billion California stem cell agency since 2005 via his blog, the California Stem Cell Report,where this story first appeared.He has published more than 4,000 items on California stem cell matters in the past 11 years.

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Stem cell agency eyes survival options - Capitol Weekly

Deval Patrick’s 10-year, $1B life sciences plan bears fruit in Mass. – The Recorder

By Stell Cell Research

BOSTON In his offices at Boston Childrens Hospital, Leonard Zon is busily developing cutting-edge stem cell therapies surrounded by fellow researchers, lab equipment and 300,000 striped, transparent zebrafish.

Zons lab and the zebrafish are the results of an initiative begun nearly a decade ago to make Massachusetts one of the countrys premier life sciences incubators.

That 2008 initiative, signed by former Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick, committed Massachusetts to spending $1 billion over 10 years to jump-start the life sciences sector attracting the best minds, research facilities and the venture capital funding.

By most yardsticks, Patricks gamble has paid off. Massachusetts, and the greater Boston area in particular, are now seen as a top life sciences hub.

For Zon, and other life sciences leaders, the support has been transformative.

In 2013, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, which is charged with distributing the state funds, awarded a $4 million grant to Childrens Hospital to help establish the Childrens Center for Cell Therapy. Some of the money went toward replacing the original aquaculture facilities at Zons lab with state-of-the-art systems.

Zon said the changes helped him pursue stem cell therapies taking tissues grown from stem cells aimed at thwarting specific diseases and transplanting them into a diseased organ. Zon said his lab helped develop a drug for treating a blood disease known as Diamond Blackfan anemia in part by developing zebrafish models of the disease.

Massachusetts is the best place in the world for biotechnology, he said. Its been life-changing for us.

Zons experience isnt unique.

NxStage Medical, Inc., a medical technology company founded in 1998 in Lawrence focused on end-stage renal disease and acute kidney failure, received nearly $1.8 million in tax incentives through the program. In 2013, Woburn-based Bio2 Technologies received $1 million in loan financing, helping it develop bone graft substitute implants.

The states reputation as a magnet for life sciences also can be seen in the surge of construction in Boston and Cambridge, particularly around the Kendall Square area, where glass-lined office and research buildings have sprouted.

Travis McCready, CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, also pointed to the influx of grant money from the National Institutes of Health and funds from world-class academic and research institutions.

By pretty much any measure we are considered the leading life sciences ecosystem in the U.S., and among the leading ecosystems in the world, McCready said.

McCready said the 2008 initiative helped create a framework for that growth, even as he acknowledged that not every company or research effort that receives funding succeeds.

Some of these startups are going to fail, but ideas will be tested and intellectual property will be created, he said. Failure is not a negative.

McCready said a top goal of the program is to develop the next generation of researchers. The center funds over 500 life sciences internships each year with about a quarter of those landing full-time jobs at the company where they interned.

He said that talent pool is critical to the next stage in the life science revolution: bio-manufacturing and digital health.

Bio-manufacturing refers to the ability of research labs and life science companies to take their breakthroughs and start manufacturing them on a large scale. He pointed to a decision by Kendall Square-based Alnylam Pharmaceuticals to open a 200,000-square-foot manufacturing space in Norton, just 45 minutes away.

He said the state also is hoping to builds up the digital health sector, where large sets of scientific data are used to look for new therapies and how best to deliver those medicines inexpensively.

Today we are the undisputed global leader in the field, Patrick said this week in a statement to The Associated Press. Public investment not only catalyzed hundreds of millions of dollars in private investment and created thousands of jobs, but contributes meaningfully to the development of life changing treatments and cures for people around the world.

Republican Gov. Charlie Baker is hoping to building on the initiative.

In June, Baker announced a proposal to dedicate $500 million over five years to continue strengthening the life sciences sector with a focus on public infrastructure, research and development, workforce training and education.

Baker said hes committed to supporting the public-private partnerships and strategic investments that have made Massachusetts a global leader in the life sciences.

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Deval Patrick's 10-year, $1B life sciences plan bears fruit in Mass. - The Recorder

Vitamin C may encourage blood cancer stem cells to die – Medical Xpress

By Stem Cell Medical Center

August 17, 2017 Ball-and-stick model of the L-ascorbic acid (vitamin C) molecule, C6H8O6, as found in the crystal structure. Credit: public domain

Vitamin C may "tell" faulty stem cells in the bone marrow to mature and die normally, instead of multiplying to cause blood cancers. This is the finding of a study led by researchers from Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone Health, and published online August 17 in the journal Cell.

Certain genetic changes are known to reduce the ability of an enzyme called TET2 to encourage stem cells to become mature blood cells, which eventually die, in many patients with certain kinds of leukemia, say the authors. The new study found that vitamin C activated TET2 function in mice engineered to be deficient in the enzyme.

"We're excited by the prospect that high-dose vitamin C might become a safe treatment for blood diseases caused by TET2-deficient leukemia stem cells, most likely in combination with other targeted therapies," says corresponding study author Benjamin G. Neel, MD, PhD, professor in the Department of Medicine and director of the Perlmutter Cancer Center.

Changes in the genetic code (mutations) that reduce TET2 function are found in 10 percent of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), 30 percent of those with a form of pre-leukemia called myelodysplastic syndrome, and in nearly 50 percent of patients with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia. Such cancers cause anemia, infection risk, and bleeding as abnormal stem cells multiply in the bone marrow until they interfere with blood cell production, with the number of cases increasing as the population ages.

Along with these diseases, new tests suggest that about 2.5 percent of all U.S. cancer patients - or about 42,500 new patients each year - may develop TET2 mutations, including some with lymphomas and solid tumors, say the authors.

Cell Death Switch

The study results revolve around the relationship between TET2 and cytosine, one of the four nucleic acid "letters" that comprise the DNA code in genes. Every cell type has the same genes, but each gets different instructions to turn on only those needed in a given cellular context.

These "epigenetic" regulatory mechanisms include DNA methylation, the attachment of a small molecule termed a methyl group to cytosine bases that shuts down the action of a gene containing them.

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The back- and-forth attachment and removal of methyl groups also fine-tunes gene expression in stem cells, which can mature, specialize and multiply to become muscle, bone, nerve, or other cell types. This happens as the body first forms, but the bone marrow also keeps pools of stem cells on hand into adulthood, ready to become replacement cells as needed. In leukemia, signals that normally tell a blood stem cell to mature malfunction, leaving it to endlessly multiply and "self-renew" instead of producing normal white blood cells needed to fight infection.

The enzyme studied in this report, Tet methylcytosine dioxygenase 2 (TET2), enables a change in the molecular structure (oxidation) of methyl groups that is needed for them to be removed from cytosines. This "demethylation" turns on genes that direct stem cells to mature, and to start a count-down toward self-destruction as part of normal turnover. This serves as an anti-cancer safety mechanism, one that is disrupted in blood cancer patients with TET2 mutations, says Neel.

To determine the effect of mutations that reduce TET2 function in abnormal stem cells, the research team genetically engineered mice such that the scientists could switch the TET2 gene on or off.

Similar to the naturally occurring effects of TET2 mutations in mice or humans, using molecular biology techniques to turn off TET2 in mice caused abnormal stem cell behavior. Remarkably, these changes were reversed when TET2 expression was restored by a genetic trick. Previous work had shown that vitamin C could stimulate the activity of TET2 and its relatives TET1 and TET3. Because only one of the two copies of the TET2 gene in each stem cell is usually affected in TET2-mutant blood diseases, the authors hypothesized that high doses of vitamin C, which can only be given intravenously, might reverse the effects of TET2 deficiency by turning up the action of the remaining functional gene.

Indeed, they found that vitamin C did the same thing as restoring TET2 function genetically. By promoting DNA demethylation, high-dose vitamin C treatment induced stem cells to mature, and also suppressed the growth of leukemia cancer stem cells from human patients implanted in mice.

"Interestingly, we also found that vitamin C treatment had an effect on leukemic stem cells that resembled damage to their DNA," says first study author Luisa Cimmino, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Pathology at NYU Langone Health. "For this reason, we decided to combine vitamin C with a PARP inhibitor, a drug type known to cause cancer cell death by blocking the repair of DNA damage, and already approved for treating certain patients with ovarian cancer."

Researchers found that the combination had an enhanced effect on leukemia stem cells, further shifting them from self-renewal back toward maturity and cell death. The results also suggest that vitamin C might drive leukemic stem cells without TET2 mutations toward death, says Cimmino, given that it turns up any TET2 activity normally in place.

"Our team is working to systematically identify genetic changes that contribute to risk for leukemia in significant groups of patients," says corresponding author Iannis Aifantis, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Pathology at NYU Langone Health. "This study adds the targeting of abnormal TET2-driven DNA demethylation to our list of potential new treatment approaches."

Explore further: A tumor-suppressing gene can be harmful in some cancers

Journal reference: Cell

Provided by: NYU Langone Health / NYU School of Medicine

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Very interesting. And what about the way in which Dr. Linus Pauling was ostracized by the scientific community as a quack for investing his career into this idea? Where is the deeper discussion of the effects that this has had upon this research? Why would the journalist fail to mention that it appears that the scientific community may have made a huge mistake?

' If you want a quote from his original paper that shows this better than anything, here it is: "We believe that the ascorbate-treated patients represent a random selection of all the terminal patients in the hospital, even though no formal randomization process was used." Suffice it to say that, in a clinical trial, it is not sufficient to "believe" that your groups were properly randomized and matched. You have to show it.'

https://profiles....bbkz.pdf

Subsequent randomized clinical studies showed no benefit from high oral dosage of vitamin C in cancer. ' followed by two other randomized clinical trials, which when coupled with the first trial, involved 367 patients and failed to find a benefit from high-dose oral vitamin C in cancer. '

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Vitamin C may encourage blood cancer stem cells to die - Medical Xpress

Linking seizures, heart health and sleeping sickness to bacteria and shape-shifting parasites in the mouth and gut – UB News Center

By Stem Cell Medical Center

BUFFALO, N.Y. Four studies focused on improving our understanding of the human genome and microbiome were awarded funding through the third round of research pilots supported by the University at Buffalos Community of Excellence in Genome, Environment and Microbiome (GEM).

The projects, which total $150,000, will study how the relationship between the human body and the collection of microorganisms that reside on or within it affect our risk for certain diseases.

Understanding the connection these microorganisms have with our bodies may enable the development of precision medicine and empower individuals to have greater control over their health.

The pilot grants award researchers from a variety of disciplines up to $50,000 to develop innovative projects focused on the microbiome. The funds support up to one year of research.

The awards are provided through GEM, an interdisciplinary community of UB faculty and staff dedicated to advancing research on the genome and microbiome. GEM is one of UBs three Communities of Excellence, a $9 million initiative to harness the strengths of faculty and staff from fields across the university to confront the challenges facing humankind through research, education and engagement.

Changes in the genome our own or those of the microbes in, on or around us have a tremendous impact on human health and our environment, says Jennifer Surtees, PhD, GEM co-director and associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB.

With these newest projects, UB scientists from across disciplines have come together to dig deeper into these changes and to help establish the infrastructure necessary for advanced precision medicine.

Along with Surtees, GEM is led by Timothy Murphy, MD, executive director and SUNY Distinguished Professor in the UB Department of Medicine; and Norma Nowak, PhD, co-director, professor in the Department of Biochemistry, and executive director of UBs New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences.

The funded projects involve faculty teams from the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, the UB School of Public Health and Health Professions, and the UB School of Dental Medicine.

Can organisms in the gut increase vulnerability to seizures?

Inflammation in the central nervous system can increase susceptibility to seizures.

Given the role that the intestinal microbiome plays in shaping inflammation in the body, UB researchers believe that the tiny organisms may have an impact on the onset, strength and duration of seizures.

The study, led by Ira J. Blader, PhD, professor in the UB Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and Alexis Thompson, PhD, senior research scientist in the UB Research Institute on Addictions, will examine in mice the composition of the microbiome and which of its components affect seizures.

If correct, this may suggest the gut microbiome as a therapeutic target for the treatment of seizures and epilepsy.

Researchers lay groundwork for UB genomic research with Spit For Buffalo

To better understand how the human genome and microbiome interact to influence health, UB researchers will establish Spit For Buffalo, a project that will collect DNA samples from volunteer UBMD patients for use in future studies.

The researchers will collect saliva samples, anonymously link the samples to each patients electronic medical record, and sequence the genome and oral microbiome. By determining which genes are associated with which diseases, new connections between specific genes and diseases will be made.

Samples are currently being collected from patients in the UBMD Neurology, Internal Medicine and OBGYN clinics in the Conventus Center For Collaborative Medicine.

The project will provide an infrastructure resource for genome and microbiome investigations at UB.

The research is led by Richard M. Gronostajski, PhD, professor in the Department of Biochemistry and director of both the WNY Stem Cell Culture and Analysis Center and the Genetics, Genomics and Bioinformatics Graduate Program; Gil I. Wolfe, MD, professor and Irvin and Rosemary Smith Chair of the UB Department of Neurology; Michael Buck, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry and director of the WNY Stem Cell Sequencing/Epigenomics Center; and Nowak.

Solving how RNA provides a parasite with shape-shifting abilities

The parasite Trypanosoma brucei, the cause of Human African Trypanosomiasis commonly known as sleeping sickness radically alters its physiology and morphology as it moves between insect and mammal over the course of its life cycle.

These changes, researchers found, are caused by various RNA binding proteins, allowing the organism to survive in environments that range from the human bloodstream to the insect gut. UB researchers will examine how these proteins regulate the parasites transformations.

The study is led by Laurie K. Read, PhD, professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology; and Jie Wang, PhD, research assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry.

Pinpointing the potential effects of oral and gut bacteria on heart health

UB researchers will investigate the connection between oral and gut bacteria and the onset and progression of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD), or the buildup of plaque around the artery walls, eventually blocking blood flow.

The study will seek to understand how the microbes in the body contribute to plaque formation in the arteries, providing the basis for interventions that reduce the effects of the microorganisms on CVD.

Previous studies have found microbes present in arterial plaques, but have not provided conclusive links to the parts of the body where the microbes originate. Researchers will use next-generation sequencing and advanced bioinformatics analysis methods to identify and characterize microorganisms in the artery walls and compare the bacteria with those present in oral, gut and skin microbiomes.

Environmental factors such as smoking, blood cholesterol and periodontal disease status will also be examined as potential factors that influence the bacteria-CVD relationship.

The research is led by Robert J. Genco, DDS, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the UB Department of Oral Biology and Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and director of the UB Microbiome Center; and Michael J. LaMonte, PhD, research associate professor in the UB Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health.

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Linking seizures, heart health and sleeping sickness to bacteria and shape-shifting parasites in the mouth and gut - UB News Center

Young Patient With Autism Improves After Stem Cell Therapy Program – Digital Journal

By Stem Cell Medical Center

BANGKOK, THAILAND - 17 Aug, 2017 - Autism is a complex brain developmental disorder that is characterized by impaired social interactions, communication difficulties, obsessive attachment to routines and repetition, and often an extreme dislike of certain sounds, textures and tastes. Autism usually surfaces in the first three years of life and may vary in severity from mild to disabling.

Depending on degree of severity, some children with autism may develop into independent adults with full time employment & self-sufficiency however this is seldom the case. There is no known single cause but abnormalities in brain function are generally attributed to environmental, immunological and neurological factors.

Autism stem cell therapy is a therapeutically beneficial program. The administration of our stem cell therapy isproposed as a novel treatment for the two pathologies associated with autism:

Hypoperfusion to the brain and immune dysregulation, using stem cells may potentially heal both the brain and the gut.

The Patient

Baby Keean is 2 years old child with autism who was successfully treated with stem cell therapy through a 2 week program developed by Stem Cells 21 international medical center in Bangkok (Thailand). He is showing early signs of improvement in his condition as confirmed by his mother, Mrs. Carmen McCarthy. After the treatment she is happy to report:

Keean is doing really well. His walking has really improved. He now walks around everywhere and rarely falls over. His eye contact and interactions have continued to improve; he now initiates contact with us all the time. He will put down toys walk over to us and cuddle without us even asking him to come. This is something he never did before. His focus in play has also improved and he now presses buttons to make his toys play music. This he could not even understand how to do before. I am very happy with his progress and looking forward to even greater changes in him. I want to thank the whole team at Stem Cells 21 for giving my son such great care and most importantly for giving him a chance to become a normal happy little boy.

How the Autism Stem Cell program can help:

Angiogenesis The formation of collateral blood vessels is believed to be fundamental in neurological recovery.

A promising method of in- creasing angiogenesis into damaged areas is by administration of CD34+ stem cells. Consequently improved blood flow and oxygen to the brain should also improve nervous system functioning.

Dr. Thein Htut M.D., M.B.B.S., medical director at Stem Cells 21 explains: The treatment of immune dysregulation in autism is expected to profoundly influence neurological functions. The ability of mesenchymal stem cells to suppress pathological immune responses (e.g. inflammation) and to stimulate haematopoiesis (blood cell regeneration) leads to the possibility that these cells may also be useful for treatment of the defect in T cell numbers associated with autism.

Stem Cells 21 Autism Treatment Program:

Our Autism Stem Cell Therapyis aimed to attempt to lessen the deficits and abnormal behaviors associated with autism and other autism spectrum disorders (ASD)/ADD, and to increase the quality of life and functional in- dependence of autistic patient. Treatment is typically catered to the childs needs. Treatments fall into two major categories: educational interventions and medical management.

The treatment is also beneficial to:? 1. Improve cellular energy production marker 2. Improve cellular antioxidant production 3. Improve gastrointestinal system 4. To improve and clear any heavy metal in the blood circulation

YouTube Video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAnEnZHmY2A

Video Link: https://youtu.be/UAnEnZHmY2A

Media Contact Company Name: Stem Cells 21 Co. Ltd. Contact Person: Paul Collier Email: treatment@stemcells21.com Phone: +66 26507709 Country: United States Website: https://stemcells21.com/

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Young Patient With Autism Improves After Stem Cell Therapy Program - Digital Journal

Stem Cell Transplant Program Celebrates First Year – Newswise – Newswise (press release)

By Stem Cell Doctors

Newswise The University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center began helping New Mexicans with blood disorders a little more than one year ago. Since then, more than 30 New Mexicans have received treatment. Program Director Matthew Fero, MD, FACP, started the program after moving to New Mexico from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, Wash.

The UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center program is the states only bone marrow transplant program. It includes a nurse manager, nurse coordinator, a social worker, a pharmacist, infusion nurses, and an inpatient team. Bone marrow transplantation needs a multidisciplinary team because of the complexity in coordinating care, says Fero. The teams Nurse Manager, Maria Limanovich, says the team follows each person from the beginning of bone marrow transplant treatment through completion. According to Fero, the program is growing and is in the process of hiring two more doctors and an advanced practice provider.

The UNM Bone Marrow Transplant program offers treatment choices for people with lymphoma and myeloma and will expand to help people with other blood disorders. Almost 1,000 New Mexicans receive a blood cancer diagnosis each year, according to American Cancer Society estimates.

Fero and his team currently perform autologous transplants. Autologous bone marrow transplantation is the process of taking bone marrow stem cells out of a patient and then infusing them back in after the patient receives high dose therapy, says Fero. This allows us to use treatments that would otherwise harm the bone marrow.

Bone marrow, the soft reddish material that fills the inside of our bones, produces millions of new blood cells each second. These millions of cells come from a tiny number of bone marrow stem cells. These stem cells are special because they can mature into all of the different types of cells in the blood. These are the cells doctors collect for a transplant.

Because bone marrow is a liquid organ, Fero says, it can pass through an IV [intravenous] line. Doctors rarely need to take stem cells directly out of the bone, Fero explains. They use drugs to coax bone marrow stem cells into the bloodstream. From there, the blood travels through an IV line into an apheresis machine that sorts the stem cells out and returns the rest of the blood. The experience is like donating blood at a blood bank.

Once stem cells are safely stored out of the bloodstream, doctors use high-dose chemotherapy to eradicate the remaining cancer. When chemotherapy is out of their system, the patients stem cells are reinfused. The reinfusion process is similar to a blood transfusion. Once reinfused, stem cells find their way back to bone marrow where they begin to grow and make new blood cells.

Autologous bone marrow transplants are standard treatments for lymphoma and myeloma. This treatment works very well against aggressive lymphomas. In this case the goal is to cure the disease, says Fero. Autologous bone marrow transplants extend the lives of people with myeloma and gives them a better quality of life, too. Fero says, Were offering another option for their treatment.

Matthew Fero, MD, FACP, is a Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, at the UNM School of Medicine. He serves as Director of the Bone Marrow Stem Cell Program at the UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Fero received his medical degree from the University of California, Irvine, and completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine. He completed a medical fellowship in Medical Oncology at University of Washington and a research fellowship at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He is a member of the American Society of Hematology and the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation, and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. His research focuses on the molecular bases of cancer and translating new technologies into improved cancer diagnostics and novel therapies.

The University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center is the Official Cancer Center of New Mexico and the only National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center in a 500-mile radius. Its 125 board-certified oncology specialty physicians include cancer surgeons in every specialty (abdominal, thoracic, bone and soft tissue, neurosurgery, genitourinary, gynecology, and head and neck cancers), adult and pediatric hematologists/medical oncologists, gynecologic oncologists, and radiation oncologists. They, along with more than 500 other cancer healthcare professionals (nurses, pharmacists, nutritionists, navigators, psychologists and social workers), provided cancer care for nearly 60 percent of the adults and children in New Mexico affected by cancer. They treated 11,249 patients in 84,875 ambulatory clinic visits in addition to in-patient hospitalizations at UNM Hospital. These patients came from every county in the State. More than 12 percent of these patients participated in cancer clinical trials testing new cancer treatments and 35 percent of patients participated in other clinical research studies, including tests of novel cancer prevention strategies and cancer genome sequencing. The 130 cancer research scientists affiliated with the UNMCCC were awarded almost $60 million in federal and private grants and contracts for cancer research projects and published 301 high quality publications. Promoting economic development, they filed more than 30 new patents in FY16, and since 2010, have launched 11 new biotechnology start-up companies. Scientists associated with the UNMCCC Cancer Control & Disparities have conducted more than 60 statewide community-based cancer education, prevention, screening, and behavioral intervention studies involving more than 10,000 New Mexicans. Finally, the physicians, scientists and staff have provided education and training experiences to more than 230 high school, undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral fellowship students in cancer research and cancer health care delivery. Learn more at http://www.cancer.unm.edu.

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Stem Cell Transplant Program Celebrates First Year - Newswise - Newswise (press release)

Rare leukemia targeted by modifying patients’ immune cells – West Hartford News

By Stem Cell Doctors

NEW HAVEN >> Young patients with a particular type of leukemia who have relapsed after going into remission may find new hope through a treatment that involves modifying a patients own T cells, an important part of the immune system, to destroy cancer cells.

While the therapy, in which genes are inserted into a patients T cells, is expected to receive Food and Drug Administration approval soon for pediatric patients, researchers hope that it will be effective for adult patients as well and for more types of cancers, according to Dr. Steven Gore, director of hematologic malignancies at the Yale Cancer Center.

The cancer thats the focus of this T cell therapy is B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which is the most common leukemia in kids and its commonly cured in the 2- to 10-year-old age group, Gore said. He said about 70 percent of children with the cancer are cured.

However, the rest suffer a recurrence of the disease even after treatment with chemotherapy and stem cell transplants.

Its getting to be a difficult situation, Gore said.

There are 3,100 cases of children with B-lineage ALL each year, he said.

B cells, also known as B lymphocytes, are white blood cells that produce antibodies, which fight infection. A characteristic of B cells is that they have a protein on their surface called CD19, which is the key to the new treatment.

The new process, marketed by Novartis and first developed at the University of Pennsylvania, involves harvesting T cells from the patient. Novartis then introduces DNA into these T cells, introducing new genes into the T cells, [which] include a receptor that will recognize CD19, Gore said. The genes that are fused into the T cells are manufactured in the lab but are copies of normal human genes, Gore said. The new cell is called a chimeric antigen receptor T cell, or CAR-T cell.

Normal T cells fight disease, and we know that T cells can attack cancer cells as well, but getting them to do so in the host where the cancer has developed is tricky, Gore said. Cancer cells are very similar [to] normal cells from which they derive.

Turning the T cells into CAR-T cells helps by targeting the CD19 marker on the B cells. CD19 happens to be a pretty good target for cancer technology because its only on B cells, Gore said. These new CAR-T cells latch onto the leukemia cells.

Reproducing cells

Then, once they see that theyre needed, the CAR-T cells are going to make more of themselves. Theyre going to make a whole army-full beside what we gave the patient, Gore said. Other genes in the introduced DNA give the immune system the go-ahead to kill these leukemia cells.

The CAR-T cells target both healthy and malignant B cells, but people live all the time without B cells, Gore said, by relying on drugs such as rituximab.

The treatment is not easy on the patient, however. When this massive influx of these new T cells attack all these leukemia cells, youre basically setting up a jihad in your body, Gore said. People can get very critically ill after this therapy, even needing to be treated in the intensive care unit.

Despite the hardship, the FDAs Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee voted 10-0 on July 12 to recommend approval of CAR-T therapy, and it is very rare that an ODAC approval does not end up in an FDA approval, Gore said.

In one trial, 41 of 50 patients with relapsed or refractory B-lineage ALL each achieved complete remission after three months, Gore said, and 60 percent of those patients were still in remission six months later.

It will be rapidly opened up to adults as well, theres no question about it, he said. Some people think this therapy may replace stem cell therapy and doctors hope it can be given before a patient relapses, avoiding stem cell transplants.

We dont have long-term follow-up to know if these patients are cured, Gore said. Theyve certainly been rescued from otherwise-certain death.

Gore said the Yale School of Medicine has been approached by Novartis to be one of the rollout sites for this therapy.

While the new treatment targets a relatively rare cancer, its likely to be effective in other cancers involving B cells, including other types of leukemia and lymphoma, Gore said. (Not all lymphomas and leukemias are B cell cancers, however.) This rare leukemia has been the subject of all this investigation because CD19 is such a low-hanging fruit, because we can live without B cells, he said.

But the technology can theoretically be adapted to any kind of tumor, he said. Theoretically, you could make a CAR-T to target any particular kind of cancer provided that that cancer expresses certain proteins that are predominantly limited to the cancer and not important vital organs.

Call Ed Stannard at 203-680-9382.

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Rare leukemia targeted by modifying patients' immune cells - West Hartford News

‘I still have my brain’ – The Northwest Florida Daily News

By Stem Cell Doctors

Jack Massey of Niceville suffered a spinal cord injury in a pool accident in March and is paralyzed from the chest down. After months of rehab, he's eager to get back into a familiar routine.

NICEVILLE Jack Massey is ready to go back to school.

Only this time, the University of Florida senior will head back to campus with his mom and a new outlook on life.

Massey suffered a spinal cord injury in a pool accident in March and is paralyzed from the chest down. After months of rehab, he's eager to get back into a familiar routine.

"It's definitely boring," the 21-year-old said at his parents' home in Niceville. "There's not a lot to do. I want to go back to school. I still have my brain. I still have everything I need to be successful."

After the accident March 17, Massey was treated at the University of Florida Shands Hospital and then was transferred to Shepherd Center, a spinal cord and brain injury rehab center in Atlanta. At Shepherd Center he met with a peer mentor, counselors and physical therapists to help him find a new normal.

Jack has remained positive throughout the past six months.

"Jack has been a fighter through all of this," said his mother, Julie. "I think he's done well. I only saw him break down once."

Before the accident, Jack was a well-rounded athlete who playing baseball and basketball and ran. He was a star on the track and field team at Niceville High School, with his 4 X 800 relay winning state his senior year.

He says the biggest challenge now is not being able to do the same things he could before.

"I can't get up and go," he said. "It didn't really start to set in until after I got out of rehab."

Jack has had to find enjoyment in other things, like reading or playing with the dogs. His friends have learned to transfer him from his wheelchair to a car so they can take him to the movies or out to eat. When they recently took a trip to the beach, Julie said five of Jack's friends carried him out to the sand a lesson on how hard it is to navigate the world in a wheelchair.

Jack said he believes technology one day will advance enough that he won't be paralyzed forever. He also volunteered to do stem cell surgery to allow doctors to study the affects of stem cells on his spine for the next 15 years. Instead of wallowing in self pity, he's moving forward. But he'll need help.

"I'm appreciating everything in the now," he said.

Doctors have said Jack has adapted faster than expected, but there are still some everyday essential tasks that are out of his reach. He cannot write or cook. He can shower himself but can't dry himself or transfer himself in and out of his wheelchair. The Massey family hopes to secure a personal care attendant for Jack at school, but until then Julie will be in Gainesville to help him transition. An occupational therapy student from the university will also help Jack on a temporary basis.

Finding proper care for her son has proven to be a learning experience for Julie and her husband, Lance.

"I don't know how people do it," she said. "We have good health care, but then there's hidden costs. There's travel expenses. ... It's kind of humbling. Nobody should have to go to GoFundMe for medical help."

Jack wants to spend his final year as an undergrad as independent as possible. After months of helping him recover, Julie said it will be hard to let her son go. Jack is the oldest of three; his brother Lance is 19 and a student at UF and his sister Alina is 14 and attends Ruckel Middle School.

"It's like letting him go off to kindergarten again," she said.

As for life after college, Jack said he doesn't feel limited in career choices. One of his professors in the geology department encouraged him by saying that there were plenty of opportunities he could pursue in that field. Jack said he may also consider law school. One thing he's learned through this life-altering experience is that there are no limits to what he can achieve.

"I haven't done that much deep thinking. I just go with the flow," he said. "But I learned I have more perseverance. I'm more mentally tough than I thought I was. I'm appreciative for life in general. That's one of the big things."

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'I still have my brain' - The Northwest Florida Daily News

‘Keep a Close Eye On’ This Regenerative Medicine Firm – Streetwise Reports (registration)

By Uncategorized

In an update on this company's clinical cell therapy programs targeting blood cancers and osteoarthritis in the knee, Gabrielle Zhou of Maxim Group describes progress that sets the stage for "value inflection."

Zhou summed up Cellular Biomedicine Group Inc.'s (CBMG:NASDAQ) recent activities in an Aug. 9 research report. "CBMG's cell therapy programs continue to make progress," she wrote. "We expect to see data from both the CARD-1 and CALL-1 chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) studies by 2017E, setting the stage for a value inflection as CBMG becomes a Phase 2 CAR-T player."

The analyst also noted the company has enough cash to get to that stage. "CBMG ended the period with $27M in cash," Zhou noted. "At the current burn rate, we estimate CBMG has sufficient capital to fund through topline data releases (by 2017E) from its CARD-1 and CALL-1 studies, which should represent catalysts for the stock."

She reiterated what the company's two China-based Phase 1 studies consist of:

1. Initiated in Q1/17, CALL-1 is a "dose-escalation study (n=9) that uses the optimized proprietary C-CAR011 construct of CD19 CAR-T therapy in patients with relapsed or refractory CD19+ B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. . .Good data should translate into a larger Phase 2 trial," Zhou wrote.

2. CARD-1 is a "nine-patient, dose escalation study evaluating safety efficacy and C-CAR011 cell persistence in patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. . .Patient enrollment (n=9) is currently underway," said Zhou.

In other news, Cellular Biomedicine "received a $2.3M award from California Institute for Regenerative Medicine to support the company's allogeneic human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells AlloJoin for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis in the U.S.," indicated Zhou.

Looking forward, by the end of 2017, the biomedicine firm "expects to have a combined 70,000 square feet of GMP manufacturing space between Shanghai, an expanded Wuxi-based facility and the facility in Beijing," said Zhou. "These three facilities could simultaneously support clinical development of five CAR-T and stem cell therapy products, or up to 10,000 patient CAR-T treatments and 10,000 stem cell therapies per year."

These developments are the result of Cellular Biomedicine's previously announced collaboration with GE Healthcare Life Sciences China, Zhou added, "to co-develop industrial control processes in CAR-T and stem cell manufacturing."

Maxim Group has a Buy rating and 12-month target price of $18 per share on the company. Its stock currently trades at roughly $8.50 per share.

Want to read more Life Sciences Report articles like this? Sign up for our free e-newsletter, and you'll learn when new articles have been published. To see recent articles and interviews with industry analysts and commentators, visit our Streetwise Interviews page.

Disclosure: 1) Doresa Banning compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise reports as an independent contractor. She or members of her household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: none. She or members of her household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. 2) The following company mentioned in this article is a billboard sponsor of Streetwise Reports: None. Streetwise Reports does not accept stock in exchange for its services. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. 3) Comments and opinions expressed are those of the specific experts and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. 4) The article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports. 5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article, until one week after the publication of the interview or article.

Additional disclosures about the sources cited in this article

Disclosures from Maxim Group, Cellular Biomedicine Group, Company Update, Aug. 9, 2017

I, Gabrielle Zhou, attest that the views expressed in this research report accurately reflect my personal views about the subject security and issuer. Furthermore, no part of my compensation was, is, or will be directly or indirectly related to the specific recommendation or views expressed in this research report.

I, Jason Kolbert, attest that the views expressed in this research report accurately reflect my personal views about the subject security and issuer. Furthermore, no part of my compensation was, is, or will be directly or indirectly related to the specific recommendation or views expressed in this research report.

I, Jason McCarthy, Ph.D., attest that the views expressed in this research report accurately reflect my personal views about the subject security and issuer. Furthermore, no part of my compensation was, is, or will be directly or indirectly related to the specific recommendation or views expressed in this research report.

The research analyst(s) primarily responsible for the preparation of this research report have received compensation based upon various factors, including the firms total revenues, a portion of which is generated by investment banking activities.

Maxim Group provides non-investment banking securities-related services to Cellular Biomedicine Group for the execution of its employee stock purchase plan.

Maxim Group makes a market in Cellular Biomedicine Group.

Maxim Group expects to receive or intends to seek compensation for investment banking services from Cellular Biomedicine Group in the next 3 months.

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'Keep a Close Eye On' This Regenerative Medicine Firm - Streetwise Reports (registration)

Hypothermia after stroke reduces dynamin levels and neuronal cell death – Medical Xpress

By Uncategorized

August 16, 2017

A new study has shown that following brain ischemia caused by cerebral blockage in mice both immediate and delayed reduction in body temperature helped limit cell death and levels of a protein called dynamin. These results, which suggest that dynamin may have a role inand be a potential drug target forstroke-related neuronal cell death, are reported in Therapeutic Hypothermia and Temperature Management.

The article entitled "Hypothermia Identifies Dynamin as a Potential Therapeutic Target in Experimental Stroke" is coauthored by Jong Youl Kim, PhD, Nuri Kim, Jong Eun Lee, PhD, and Midori Yenari, MD, University of California, San Francisco and Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

The researchers demonstrated increased expression of dynamin and the cell surface receptor FAS in a mouse model of stroke. They assessed the effects of two cooling approaches on the survival of brain cells: cooling as soon as cerebral blockage occurs (early hypothermia) and cooling that began 1 hour later (delayed hypothermia). The results were compared to those in mice not subjected to hypothermia.

"These exciting results present new injury pathways to target for utilizing therapeutic hypothermia in acute as well as sub-acute time points after stroke," says W. Dalton Dietrich, III, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of Therapeutic Hypothermia and Temperature Management, Scientific Director of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, and Kinetic Concepts Distinguished Chair in Neurosurgery, University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine.

Explore further: New, faster therapeutic hypothermia techniques

More information: Jong Youl Kim et al, Hypothermia Identifies Dynamin as a Potential Therapeutic Target in Experimental Stroke, Therapeutic Hypothermia and Temperature Management (2017). DOI: 10.1089/ther.2017.0005

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