Stem Cell Clinic

Be the Match event gives hope to former Grinnell graduate

By Stem Cell Doctors

Sam Coster of St. Louis has Stage IV Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and is in need of a stem cell transplant

J.O. PARKER joparker@registermedia.com

Family, friends, neighbors and former classmates at Grinnell High School are working the frontlines in the fight against cancer that is raging a battle in Sam Costers body.

Coster, 25, a 2008 graduate of GHS, was diagnosed in the fall of 2013 with Stage IV Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.

Id been sick and tired for a few months and was lucky to get diagnosed when I did, Coster said. Mine is particularly aggressive, so at the time of discovery, my insides bones, organs, everything were covered in cancer.

Since that time, Coster has been in and out of the hospital and outpatient clinics too numerous times to count.

Sam Coster, second from left, is surrounded by his girlfriend, Diana Zeng, and brothers, Adam Coster and Seth Coster during his first cancer treatment in St. Louis in November 2013. Coster, who develops computer games with his two brothers, is in need of a stem cell transplant. Coster, along with Nichole Bushong, will be in Grinnell on Wednesday, April 22 to meet with local and area resident to talk about donating and signing up for the National Bone Marrow Registry. Courtesy Photo

Hes undergone six rounds of R-CHOP chemotherapy, two rounds of high-dose Methotrexate, three rounds of R-ICE chemotherapy, three surgeries, a needle biopsy, three bone marrow biopsies, a spinal tap and nine Neulasta shots, which cause crippling bone pain for a few days, he said.

When mentioning the three surgeries, Coster said they were on his left chest wall through one incision point to remove lymph nodes for biopsy purposes.

Ive been thinking about getting a tattoo of a zipper on it, he said with a chuckle.

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Be the Match event gives hope to former Grinnell graduate

Encapsulated stem cells accelerate wound healing

By Stem Cell Medicine

Mesenchymal stem cells captured in microcapsules. Each microcapsule is roughly 40 micrometers across.

A team of Cornell scientists has shown that stem cells confined inside tiny capsules secrete substances that help heal simulated wounds in cell cultures, opening up new ways of delivering these substances to locations in the body where they can hasten healing.

The capsules need to be tested to see if they help healing in animals and humans, but they could eventually lead to living bandage technologies: wound dressings embedded with capsules of stem cells to help the wound regenerate.

Microencapsulated equine mesenchymal stromal cells promote cutaneous wound healing in vitro appeared in the April 10Stem Cell Research & Therapy.

The encapsulation seems to increase the stem cells regenerative potential, said Gerlinde Van de Walle of the Baker Institute for Animal Health in the College of Veterinary Medicine, adding that the reasons why are not yet known. It's possible that putting them in capsules changes the interactions between stem cells or changes the microenvironment.

To her knowledge, Van de Walle said, this is the first time encapsulated stem cells have been used to treat wounds. Her team used horse stem cells and cell cultures because, unlike mice, the healing process in horses shares important similarities with the healing process in humans and because wound healing in horses is a particularly difficult problem in veterinary medicine.

Mesenchymal stem cells are adult stem cells that can be isolated from different parts of the body, and its long been known that they secrete substances that aid in tissue healing. Problems arise when trying to use these stem cells in real patients, Van de Walle said, because they often wont stay put in the healing area and can occasionally form tumors or develop into unwanted cell types. She and her team began exploring the possibilities of encapsulating these cells as a way of avoiding these pitfalls. The capsules help cells stay in place while they secrete substances into the wound and can be removed easily if the stem cells would develop in an adverse way.

The researchers collaborated with Mingling Ma of the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering and his laboratory to create the coreshell hydrogel microcapsules around the stem cells

Van de Walle says she was excited to see that the capsules did not abolish the stem cell properties but instead appeared to enhance the beneficial effects the stem cell secreted products have on tissue cultures. This suggests that encapsulating the stem cells for wound healing not only avoids certain problems, it can boost the effectiveness of treatment.

With their mesenchymal stem cell work, Van de Walle and her colleagues are trying to understand the basic science behind the regenerative abilities of these cells.

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Encapsulated stem cells accelerate wound healing

One type of lung cell can regenerate as another type of lung cell, study finds

By Stem Cell Medicine

April 13, 2015

Adult lung cells regenerating: Type 1 cells are green. Type 2 cells are red. New Type 2 derived from Type 1 cells are yellow. Nuclei are blue. (Credit: Jon Epstein, MD & Rajan Jain, MD, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and Christina Barkauskas & Brigid Hogan, Duke University)

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com @ParkstBrett

When we think of tissue regeneration, we typically think of stem cells and their capacity to develop into a wide range of different cell types.

However, a team of scientists from Duke University and the University of Pennsylvania have shown that certain cells in the lungs are able to give rise to other lung cell types, according to a new study in the journal Nature Communications.

Its as if the lung cells can regenerate from one another as needed to repair missing tissue, suggesting that there is much more flexibility in the system than we have previously appreciated, said study author Dr. Jon Epstein, chair of the department of Cell and Developmental Biology at Penn. These arent classic stem cells that we see regenerating the lung. They are mature lung cells that awaken in response to injury.

We want to learn how the lung regenerates so that we can stimulate the process in situations where it is insufficient, such as in patients with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), he added.

A mind of its own

There are two types of cells in the air sacs of the lung known as alveoli. Long, slender Type 1 cells are where inhaled gases are exchanged. Type 2 cells release surfactant, a soapy compound that assists in keeping airways open. Sometimes, premature babies need to be given surfactant to assist them with breathing.

In the study, the team used mouse models to find that both of these kinds of cells are derived from a standard precursor stem cell in the embryo. Next, the researchers used other mouse models involving part of the lung that was removed for cell cultures to examine the plasticity of cell types throughout lung regeneration. The team saw that Type 1 cells can give rise to Type 2 cells, and vice-versa.

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One type of lung cell can regenerate as another type of lung cell, study finds

Regenerative Medicine Symposium set for April 24 at GRU

By Stem Cell Medical Center

AUGUSTA, Ga. - Scientists and physicians from the region interested in regenerative and reparative medicine techniques, such as helping aging stem cells stay focused on making strong bone, will meet in Augusta April 24 to hear updates from leaders in the field and strategize on how to move more research advances to patients.

The daylong Regenerative Medicine and Cellular Therapy Research Symposium, sponsored by the Georgia Regents University Institute for Regenerative and Reparative Medicine, begins at 8 a.m. in Room EC 1210 of the GRU Health Sciences Building.

"We think this is a terrific opportunity for basic scientists and physicians to come together and pursue more opportunities to work together to get better prevention and treatment strategies to patients," said Dr. William D. Hill, stem cell researcher and symposium organizer.

Dr. Arnold I. Caplan, Director of the Skeletal Research Center at Case Western Reserve University and a pioneer in understanding mesenchymal stem cells, which give rise to bone, cartilage, muscle, and more, will give the keynote address at 8:45 a.m. Mesenchymal stem cell therapy is under study for a variety of conditions including multiple sclerosis, osteoarthritis, diabetes, emphysema, and stroke.

Other keynotes include:

The GRU Institute for Regenerative and Reparative Medicine has a focus on evidence-based approaches to healthy aging with an orthopaedic emphasis. "As you age, the bone is more fragile and likely to fracture," Hill said. "We want to protect bone integrity before you get a fracture as well as your bone's ability to constantly repair so, if you do get a fracture, you will repair it better yourself."

Bone health is a massive and growing problem with the aging population worldwide. "What people don't need is to fall and wind up in a nursing home," said Dr. Mark Hamrick, MCG bone biologist and Research Director of the GRU institute. "This is a societal problem, a clinical problem, and a potential money problem that is going to burden the health care system if we don't find better ways to intervene."

The researchers are exploring options such as scaffolding to support improved bone repair with age as well as nutrients that impact ongoing mesenchymal stem cell health, since these stem cells, which tend to decrease in number and efficiency with age, are essential to maintaining strong bones as well as full, speedy recovery.

Dr. Carlos Isales, endocrinologist and Clinical Director of the GRU institute, is looking at certain nutrients, particularly amino acids, and how some of their metabolites produce bone damage while others prevent or repair it. Isales is Principal Investigator on a major Program Project grant from the National Institutes of Health exploring a variety of ways to keep aging mesenchymal stem cells healthy and focused on making bone. "I think the drugs we have reduce fractures, but I think there are better ways of doing that," Isales said. "We are always thinking translationally," said Hill.

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Regenerative Medicine Symposium set for April 24 at GRU

U-M researchers find new gene involved in blood-forming stem cells

By Stem Cell Medical Center

ANN ARBOR--Research led by the University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute has identified a gene critical to controlling the body's ability to create blood cells and immune cells from blood-forming stem cells--known as hematopoietic stem cells.

The findings, scheduled for online publication in the Journal of Clinical Investigation April 13, provide new insights into the underlying mechanics of how the body creates and maintains a healthy blood supply and immune system, both in normal conditions and in situations of stress--like the body experiences following a bone marrow transplant.

Along with helping scientists better understand the body's basic processes, the discovery opens new lines of inquiry about the Ash1l gene's potential role in cancers known to involve other members of the same gene family, like leukemia, or those where Ash1l might be highly expressed or mutated.

"It's vital to understand how the basic, underlying mechanisms function in a healthy individual if we want to try to develop interventions for when things go wrong," said study senior author Ivan Maillard, an associate research professor at the Life Sciences Institute, where his lab is located, and an associate professor in the Division of Hematology-Oncology at the U-M Medical School.

"Leukemia is a cancer of the body's blood-forming tissues, so it's an obvious place that we plan to look at next. If we find that Ash1l plays a role, then that would open up avenues to try to block or slow down its activity pharmacologically," he said.

Graduate students Morgan Jones and Jennifer Chase were the study's first authors.

Dysfunction of blood-forming stem cells is well known in illnesses like leukemia and bone marrow failure disorders. Blood-forming stem cells can also be destroyed by high doses of chemotherapy and radiation used to treat cancer. The replacement of these cells through bone marrow transplantation is the only widely established therapy involving stem cells in human patients.

But even in the absence of disease, blood cells require constant replacement--most blood cells last anywhere from a few days to a few months, depending on their type.

Over more than five years, Maillard and his collaborators identified a previously unknown but fundamental role played by the Ash1l gene in regulating the maintenance and self-renewal potential of these hematopoietic stem cells.

The Ash1l (Absent, small or homeotic 1-like) gene is part of a family of genes that includes MLL1 (Mixed Lineage Leukemia 1), a gene that is frequently mutated in patients who develop leukemia. The research found that both genes contribute to blood renewal; mild defects were seen in mice missing one or the other, but lacking both led to catastrophic deficiencies.

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U-M researchers find new gene involved in blood-forming stem cells

To fight nasty digestive bugs, scientists set out to build a better gut — using stem cells

By Stem Cell Medical Center

New $6.4M federal grant support will fuel the development of 'guts in a dish' to study interaction between cells & microbes in both health and disease

IMAGE:These HIO structures, each about the size of a BB and grown from stem cells, allow scientists to study the interaction between the cells of the gut lining and microbes... view more

Credit: University of Michigan Medical School

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- If you got hit with any of the 'intestinal bugs' that went around this winter, you've felt the effects of infectious microbes on your digestive system.

But scientists don't fully understand what's going on in gut infections like that - or in far more serious ones that can kill. Many mysteries remain in the complex interaction between our own cells, the helpful bacteria that live inside us, and tiny invaders.

Now, a team of University of Michigan scientists will tackle that issue in a new way. Using human stem cells, they'll grow tiny "guts in a dish" in the laboratory and study how disease-causing bacteria and viruses affect the microbial ecosystem in our guts. The approach could lead to new treatments, and aid research on a wide range of diseases.

This work was started as part of the U-M Medical School's self-funded Host Microbiome Initiative and Center for Organogenesis, and the U-M Center for Gastrointestinal Research, funded by the National Institutes of Health. It also received funding from the U-M's MCubed initiative for interdisciplinary work.

Now, the project has received a $6.4 million boost with a new five-year NIH grant.

It will allow the U-M team to expand their effort to grow human intestinal organoids, or HIOs - tiny hollow spheres of cells into which they can inject a mix of bacteria. They'll work with researchers at other institutions, as part of the Novel, Alternative Model Systems for Enteric Diseases, or NAMSED, initiative sponsored by the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Balls of cells become mini-guts

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To fight nasty digestive bugs, scientists set out to build a better gut -- using stem cells

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