Stem Cell Clinic

Researchers study secrets of aging via stem cells – Harvard Gazette

Harvard Gazette

Researchers study secrets of aging via stem cells Harvard Gazette Much of stem cell medicine is ultimately going to be 'medicine,' he said. Even here, we thought stem cells would provide mostly replacement parts. I think that's clearly changed very dramatically. Now we think of them as contributing to our ability ... Stem Cell Research Products Industry Analysis, Growth, Trend, Opportunities, Tools and Technologies 2016Medgadget (blog) all 9 news articles »

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Researchers study secrets of aging via stem cells - Harvard Gazette

Second Immune Cell Found to Harbor HIV During Treatment – Voice of America

The challenge of finding a cure for AIDS may have gotten harder. Scientists have discovered another cell in the body where HIV the virus that causes AIDS hides from therapy designed to suppress it to undetectable levels in the blood.

The cells called macrophages are part of the immune system and are found throughout the body, including in the liver, lungs, bone marrow and brain. After other immune cells have done their job of destroying foreign invaders, these large white blood cells act as the cleanup crew. They surround and clean up cellular debris, foreign substances, cancer cells and anything else that is not essential to the functioning of healthy cells. In addition, they apparently can harbor HIV.

A new target

While antiretroviral drugs can drive the AIDS virus down to virtually undetectable levels, scientists know if therapy is interrupted, an HIV infection can come roaring back. That's because of a viral reservoir that until now has been thought only to inhabit immune system T-cells the cells that are attacked and destroyed by the AIDS virus. Much research is dedicated to trying to find ways to eradicate the T-cell reservoir.

This may mean researchers must find ways to eliminate HIV from macrophages, as well.

The finding was published in Nature Medicine by researchers in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

Investigators demonstrated in a mouse model that in the absence of humanized T-cells, antiretroviral drugs could strongly suppress HIV in macrophages. However, when the therapy was interrupted, the virus rebounded in one-third of the mice. This, say researchers, is consistent with persistent infection in the face of drug therapy.

Researchers say their work demonstrates that any possible therapies must address macrophages in addition to T-cells to eradicate viral reservoirs. Investigators say they now have more information pointing to the complexity of the virus, and that targeting the viral reservoir in T-cells in the blood will not necessarily work with tackling HIV persistence in macrophages, which reside in tissues and are harder to observe.

Senior author Victor Garcia said its possible there are other HIV reservoirs still to be discovered.

The lead author of the study, Jenna Honeycutt, called the discovery "paradigm changing" in the way scientists must now try to eliminate persistent infection in HIV-positive individuals.

Investigators say their next step is to figure out what regulates HIV persistence in infected macrophages. They are also interested in finding HIV interventions that completely eradicate the AIDS virus from the body.

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Second Immune Cell Found to Harbor HIV During Treatment - Voice of America

Novartis CAR-T cell therapy CTL019 receives FDA Breakthrough … – PR Newswire (press release)

CAR-T cell therapy is different from typical small molecule or biologic therapies currently on the market because it is manufactured for each individual patient. During the treatment process, T cells are drawn from a patient's blood and reprogrammed in the laboratory to create T cells that are genetically coded to hunt the patient's cancer cells and other B-cells expressing a particular antigen.

CTL019 was first developed by the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). In 2012, Novartis and Penn entered into a global collaboration to further research, develop and then commercialize CAR-T cell therapies, including CTL019, for the investigational treatment of cancers. Through the collaboration, Novartis holds the worldwide rights to CARs developed with Penn for all cancer indications. In March 2017, Novartis announced that the FDA accepted the company's Biologics License Application filing and granted priority review for CTL019 in the treatment of r/r pediatric and young adult patients with B-cell ALL.

The Breakthrough Therapy designation is based on data from the multi-center Phase II JULIET study (NCT02445248), which is evaluating the efficacy and safety of CTL019 in adult patients with r/r DLBCL. JULIET is the second global CAR-T trial, following the Novartis ELIANA study (NCT02435849) investigating CTL019 in r/r B-cell ALL. Findings from JULIET are expected to be presented at an upcoming medical congress.

"We are encouraged by the FDA's recognition in the potential of CTL019 for this indication, which follows our promising studies of this therapy for ALL and the FDA filing by Novartis in pediatric and young adult ALL that received priority review," said the Penn team's leader, Carl June, MD, director of the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. "Work with our collaborators at trial sites across the world is paving a path to bring personalized cell therapies to more patients with these devastating blood cancers."

According to FDA guidelines, treatments that receive Breakthrough Therapy designation are those that treat a serious or life threatening disease or condition and demonstrate a substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints based on preliminary clinical evidence. The designation also indicates that the agency will expedite the development and review of CTL019 in adults with r/r DLBCL. This marks the 14th Breakthrough Therapy designation for Novartis since the FDA initiated the program in 2013, underscoring an emphasis to develop innovative treatments in disease areas with significant unmet need.

DLBCL is the most common form of lymphoma and accounts for approximately 30 percent of all non-Hodgkin lymphoma cases1. Ten to 15 percent of DLBCL patients fail to respond to initial therapy or relapse within three months of treatment, and an additional 20 to 25 percent relapse after initial response to therapy2.

Because CTL019 is an investigational therapy, the safety and efficacy profile has not yet been established. Access to investigational therapies is available only through carefully controlled and monitored clinical trials. These trials are designed to better understand the potential benefits and risks of the therapy. Because of the uncertainty of clinical trials, there is no guarantee that CTL019 will ever be commercially available anywhere in the world.

DisclaimerThe foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by words such as "Breakthrough Therapy designation," "investigational," "potential," "expected," "eager," "look forward," "priority review," "upcoming," "encouraged," "promising," "yet," "will," or similar terms, or by express or implied discussions regarding potential marketing approvals for CTL019, or regarding potential future revenues from CTL019. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on the current beliefs and expectations of management regarding future events, and are subject to significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. There can be no guarantee that CTL019 will be submitted or approved for sale in any market, or at any particular time. Nor can there be any guarantee that CTL019 will receive regulatory approval or be commercially successful in the future. In particular, management's expectations regarding CTL019 could be affected by, among other things, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, including clinical trial results and additional analysis of existing clinical data; regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; the company's ability to obtain or maintain proprietary intellectual property protection; general economic and industry conditions; global trends toward health care cost containment, including ongoing pricing and reimbursement pressures; safety, quality or manufacturing issues, and other risks and factors referred to in Novartis AG's current Form20-F on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Novartis is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About NovartisLocated in East Hanover, NJ Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation is an affiliate of Novartis which provides innovative healthcare solutions that address the evolving needs of patients and societies. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis offers a diversified portfolio to best meet these needs: innovative medicines, cost-saving generic and biosimilar pharmaceuticals and eye care. Novartis has leading positions globally in each of these areas. In 2016, the Group achieved net sales of USD 48.5 billion, while R&D throughout the Group amounted to approximately USD 9.0 billion. Novartis Group companies employ approximately 118,000 full-time-equivalent associates. Novartis products are sold in approximately 155 countries around the world. For more information, please visit http://www.novartis.com.

Novartis is on Twitter. Sign up to follow @Novartis at http://twitter.com/novartis and @NovartisCancer at http://twitter.com/novartiscancer For Novartis multimedia content, please visit http://www.novartis.com/news/media-library For questions about the site or required registration, please contact media.relations@novartis.com

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Novartis CAR-T cell therapy CTL019 receives FDA Breakthrough ... - PR Newswire (press release)

Cell Therapy Report (2017-2026) – Markets & Future Prospects for … – Yahoo Finance

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets has announced the addition of Jain PharmaBiotech's new report "Cell Therapy - Technologies, Markets and Companies" to their offering.

This report describes and evaluates cell therapy technologies and methods, which have already started to play an important role in the practice of medicine. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is replacing the old fashioned bone marrow transplants. Role of cells in drug discovery is also described. Cell therapy is bound to become a part of medical practice.

Stem cells are discussed in detail in one chapter. Some light is thrown on the current controversy of embryonic sources of stem cells and comparison with adult sources. Other sources of stem cells such as the placenta, cord blood and fat removed by liposuction are also discussed. Stem cells can also be genetically modified prior to transplantation.

The cell-based markets was analyzed for 2016, and projected to 2026. The markets are analyzed according to therapeutic categories, technologies and geographical areas. The largest expansion will be in diseases of the central nervous system, cancer and cardiovascular disorders. Skin and soft tissue repair as well as diabetes mellitus will be other major markets.

The number of companies involved in cell therapy has increased remarkably during the past few years. More than 500 companies have been identified to be involved in cell therapy and 305 of these are profiled in part II of the report along with tabulation of 291 alliances. Of these companies, 170 are involved in stem cells. Profiles of 72 academic institutions in the US involved in cell therapy are also included in part II along with their commercial collaborations. The text is supplemented with 64 Tables and 22 Figures. The bibliography contains 1,200 selected references, which are cited in the text.

Key Topics Covered:

Part I: Technologies, Ethics & Regulations

0. Executive Summary

1. Introduction to Cell Therapy

2. Cell Therapy Technologies

3. Stem Cells

4. Clinical Applications of Cell Therapy

5. Cell Therapy for Cardiovascular Disorders

6. Cell Therapy for Cancer

7. Cell Therapy for Neurological Disorders

8. Ethical, Legal and Political Aspects of Cell therapy

9. Safety and Regulatory Aspects of Cell Therapy

10. Markets and Future Prospects for Cell Therapy

11. Companies Involved in Cell Therapy

12. Academic Institutions

13. References

For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/dw396t/cell_therapy

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170417005383/en/

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Cell Therapy Report (2017-2026) - Markets & Future Prospects for ... - Yahoo Finance

5 important ways Henrietta Lacks changed medical science – Stat – STAT

H

enrietta Lackss cells have long been familiar to scientists but it was the ethical controversy around those cells that made her famous to the wider world.

Her fame was thanks toan award-winning bookpublished in 2010that explored how, in the course of Lackss treatment for cancer, doctors isolated what becamethe first immortal human cells. The HeLa cells survived, thrived, and multiplied outside her body, so much so that they have been in continual use in labs around the world for 65 years, even though Lacks herself succumbed to cancer in 1951. But their use has raised challenging issuesabout medical samplestaken without consent and how individuals and their familiesshould be compensated for discoveries based on their tissues.

Now, that story is the subject ofan HBO movie coming out later this month, making it an opportune time to reflect on who Henrietta Lacks was and what her cells have contributed to science.Here are just a few of them.

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In the early 1980s, German virologist Harald zur Hausen found that HeLa cells contained multiple copies of human papillomavirus 18 (HPV-18), a strain of HPV later found to cause the type of cervical cancer that killed Lacks. HPV-18 was found to be one of the most dangerous strains of the virus, inserting its DNA into normal cells and forcing them to produce proteins that ultimately lead to cancer. In Lackss case, the virus entered the cells and turned off the gene that would normally have suppressed the formation of tumors. Years later, scientists used that knowledge to developHPV vaccines, which are now widely available and credited with reducing casesof HPV infection in teenage girls by almost two-thirds. Harald zur Hausen won a 2008Nobel prize for his discovery.

The Pap smear: groundbreaking, lifesaving and obsolete?

Because of the seemingly limitless lifespans of Lackss cells, we now understand better how some cells manage to stay young even with the passage of time. Usually, as cells divide either as a person grows or as the body repairs injuries eachdivision lops off the ends of chromosomes, called telomeres. Over time that means that the chromosomes become slightly shorter, which is thought to be a driver of cell aging.

In the 1980s, it was discovered that some animal embryoshad an enzyme called telomerase, whichprotects chromosomes from degrading, allowing the cellsto keep actively dividing. Then, in 1989, Yale scientist Gregg Morin used HeLa cells to isolate the same enzyme in human cells for the first time. Morin hypothesized that this enzyme, found in cancer cells, was also how embryonic cells were able to rapidly divide at the beginning of life. And in 1996, he was proven right, when scientists found telomerase in human embryos which is what allows them to grow so rapidly until birth, when human bodies stop making it.

At the time of Lackss death, polio was one of the worlds most devastating viral diseases. HeLa cells helped make the vaccine available sooner. In the early 1950s, Jonas Salk had already figured out how the vaccine worked; the problem was testing it. Ordinarily, Salk would have tested the vaccine on cells from monkeys. But monkeys and their cells were expensive, especially considering that testing the vaccine actually killed the cells in the process. Ideally, the best cells for testing would be susceptible to infection by the poliovirus, but wouldnt be killed by it. No such cells existed until researchers found HeLa cells. Not only were these cells more susceptible to the virus than the cells scientists previously used, the fast-growing cells were nearly impossible to kill. Scientists at the Tuskegee Institute built a factory to reproduce HeLa cells, allowing Salk to successfully test the vaccine, which in the last 60 years has effectively eliminated polio in most of the countries of the world.

Thousands of studies used the wrong cells, and journals are doing nothing

In in mid-1960s, HeLa cells were fused with mouse cells, creating the first documentedhuman-animal hybrid cells. Those cells, in turn,became important in the early days of gene mapping. Because every hybrid would have a different assortment of human and mouse genes, scientists could look at what proteins a cell did or didnt produce and deduce which human gene they were produced by. Those techniques evolved over time into the fine-scale map of the human genome thatemerged from the Human Genome Project.

European scientists laterpublishedLacks genome, but removed it from public view after her family protested. In 2013, the National Institutes of Health and Lackss descendants releaseda special set of rules for handling the Lacks genome.

Over the years, scientists have infected hardy HeLa cells with various viruses HIV, herpes, Zika, measles, and mumps, to name a few to better understandhow to battle them. They discovered, for instance, that the type of white blood cell called a T cell sports a surface protein called CD4, which is what HIV usesto enter the cell. When CD4 was added to HeLa cells they could be infected with HIV, allowing HIV drugs to be tested on HeLa cells.

Researchers also learned that the measles virusconstantly mutates when it infects HeLa cells, making the disease harder to fight. More recently, microbiologists found that Zika cannot multiply in HeLa cells. Digging further into why that is could produce a new treatment or vaccine for the disease.

Leah Samuel can be reached at leah.samuel@statnews.com Follow Leah on Twitter @leah_samuel

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5 important ways Henrietta Lacks changed medical science - Stat - STAT

Cell Therapy Report (2017-2026) – Markets & Future Prospects for Cell Therapy – Research and Markets – Business Wire (press release)

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets has announced the addition of Jain PharmaBiotech's new report "Cell Therapy - Technologies, Markets and Companies" to their offering.

This report describes and evaluates cell therapy technologies and methods, which have already started to play an important role in the practice of medicine. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is replacing the old fashioned bone marrow transplants. Role of cells in drug discovery is also described. Cell therapy is bound to become a part of medical practice.

Stem cells are discussed in detail in one chapter. Some light is thrown on the current controversy of embryonic sources of stem cells and comparison with adult sources. Other sources of stem cells such as the placenta, cord blood and fat removed by liposuction are also discussed. Stem cells can also be genetically modified prior to transplantation.

The cell-based markets was analyzed for 2016, and projected to 2026. The markets are analyzed according to therapeutic categories, technologies and geographical areas. The largest expansion will be in diseases of the central nervous system, cancer and cardiovascular disorders. Skin and soft tissue repair as well as diabetes mellitus will be other major markets.

The number of companies involved in cell therapy has increased remarkably during the past few years. More than 500 companies have been identified to be involved in cell therapy and 305 of these are profiled in part II of the report along with tabulation of 291 alliances. Of these companies, 170 are involved in stem cells. Profiles of 72 academic institutions in the US involved in cell therapy are also included in part II along with their commercial collaborations. The text is supplemented with 64 Tables and 22 Figures. The bibliography contains 1,200 selected references, which are cited in the text.

Key Topics Covered:

Part I: Technologies, Ethics & Regulations

0. Executive Summary

1. Introduction to Cell Therapy

2. Cell Therapy Technologies

3. Stem Cells

4. Clinical Applications of Cell Therapy

5. Cell Therapy for Cardiovascular Disorders

6. Cell Therapy for Cancer

7. Cell Therapy for Neurological Disorders

8. Ethical, Legal and Political Aspects of Cell therapy

9. Safety and Regulatory Aspects of Cell Therapy

10. Markets and Future Prospects for Cell Therapy

11. Companies Involved in Cell Therapy

12. Academic Institutions

13. References

For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/dw396t/cell_therapy

Continued here:
Cell Therapy Report (2017-2026) - Markets & Future Prospects for Cell Therapy - Research and Markets - Business Wire (press release)