Stem Cell Clinic

Could stem cells from your hip repair your heart after an attack?

By Stem Cell Treatment

Father-of-two James Cross, 55, suffered a heart attack in February Surgeons at the London Chest Hospital offered him a unique chance Experimental therapy involved injecting stem cells from Mr Cross's hip into his heart in the hope they would encourage the organ to repair itself It appears to have worked as Mr Cross's heart muscle function has increased from 21% after the attack to 37% and it is still improving Experts hope the new technique will increase survival rates by a quarter

By John Naish

Published: 20:38 EST, 8 September 2014 | Updated: 07:12 EST, 9 September 2014

James Cross, 55,was offered experimental treatment after suffering a heart attack in February

After James Cross had a heart attack in February, he was given a unique chance for a new life.

Surgeons at the London Chest Hospital offered the 55-year-old experimental therapy that involved injecting his own stem cells into the damaged organ.

This was done in the hope that it would encourage his heart to repair itself.

The injected stem cells should prevent the hearts muscle tissue from becoming increasingly damaged after suffering a lack of oxygen during the heart attack.

And it seems to have worked.

After the heart attack, I had 21 per cent of my heart muscle functioning, as opposed to the normal 61 per cent, says James.

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Could stem cells from your hip repair your heart after an attack?

Why age reduces our stem cells' ability to repair muscle

By Stem Cell Medicine

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

7-Sep-2014

Contact: Paddy Moore padmoore@ohri.ca 613-737-8899 x73687 Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Ottawa, Canada (September 7, 2014) As we age, stem cells throughout our bodies gradually lose their capacity to repair damage, even from normal wear and tear. Researchers from the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and University of Ottawa have discovered the reason why this decline occurs in our skeletal muscle. Their findings were published online today in the influential journal Nature Medicine.

A team led by Dr. Michael Rudnicki, senior scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and professor of medicine at the University of Ottawa, found that as muscle stem cells age, their reduced function is a result of a progressive increase in the activation of a specific signalling pathway. Such pathways transmit information to a cell from the surrounding tissue. The particular culprit identified by Dr. Rudnicki and his team is called the JAK/STAT signalling pathway.

"What's really exciting to our team is that when we used specific drugs to inhibit the JAK/STAT pathway, the muscle stem cells in old animals behaved the same as those found in young animals," said Dr. Michael Rudnicki, a world leader in muscle stem cell research. "These inhibitors increased the older animals' ability to repair injured muscle and to build new tissue."

What's happening is that our skeletal muscle stem cells are not being instructed to maintain their population. As we get older, the activity of the JAK/STAT pathway shoots up and this changes how muscle stem cells divide. To maintain a population of these stem cells, which are called satellite cells, some have to stay as stem cells when they divide. With increased activity of the JAK/STAT pathway, fewer divide to produce two satellite cells (symmetric division) and more commit to cells that eventually become muscle fibre. This reduces the population of these regenerating satellite cells, which results in a reduced capacity to repair and rebuild muscle tissue.

While this discovery is still at early stages, Dr. Rudnicki's team is exploring the therapeutic possibilities of drugs to treat muscle-wasting diseases such as muscular dystrophy. The drugs used in this study are commonly used for chemotherapy, so Dr. Rudnicki is now looking for less toxic molecules that would have the same effect.

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The full article titled "Inhibition of JAK/STAT signaling stimulates adult satellite cell function" was published online September 7, 2014, by Nature Medicine.

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Why age reduces our stem cells' ability to repair muscle

Scientists regenerate rat muscle tissue, with an eye toward human applications

By Stem Cell Medical Center

Muscle lost through traumatic injury, congenital defect, or tumor ablation may soon be regenerated from within. A team of researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center has shown how stem cells in the body of mice and rats can be mobilized to form new muscle in damaged regions.

"Working to leverage the bodys own regenerative properties, we designed a muscle-specific scaffolding system that can actively participate in functional tissue regeneration," explains Sang Jin Lee, senior author on the study. This scaffold was implanted in the rats' tibialis anterior muscle (which is found below the knee), serving as a kind of home for the muscle progenitor cells to grow and develop.

After four weeks, a significant population of host stem cells and a mature network of blood vessels had formed within the scaffolds, with the most effective scaffold holding up to four times the number of cells of plain scaffolds thanks to its myogenic factor a protein, in this case insulin-like growth factor 1, that binds to specific DNA sequences to encourage or accelerate the formation of muscular tissue (in a process called myogenesis).

Current treatment for large-scale muscle repair involves surgically moving a segment of muscle from one part of the body to another, resulting in reduced functionality at the donor site (and usually also at the implant site, compared to pre-injury or pre-tumor).

A new technique already under development involves taking a smaller number of healthy muscle cells from the body, expanding them in the lab, and then combining with a natural and/or synthetic biomaterial scaffold for later implantation. But this requires a donor tissue biopsy and it often results in a heterogenous (diverse) sample of cells that's difficult to standardize ahead of the extensive cell expansion process.

"Our aim was to bypass the challenges of both of these techniques and to demonstrate the mobilization of muscle cells to a target-specific site for muscle regeneration," Lee says.

Having achieved that goal, the scientists will now evaluate whether the regenerated muscle can restore function. They will also test the clinical feasibility of using the approach in humans and other large animals.

A paper describing the research appeared in the journal Acta Biomaterialia.

Source: Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center

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Scientists regenerate rat muscle tissue, with an eye toward human applications

Beverly Hills Orthopedic Institute Becomes R3 Stem Cell Center of Excellence

By Stem Cell Treatment

Beverly Hills, California (PRWEB) September 08, 2014

Beverly Hills Orthopedic Institute has become an R3 Stem Cell Center of Excellence. Patients are immediately able to benefit from the regenerative medicine procedures at the Center, including bone marrow or amniotic derived stem cells for arthritis, sports injuries, and all types of chronic pain issues. Call R3 Stem Cell for scheduling at (844) GET-STEM.

R3 Stem Cell works with the best Board Certified providers nationwide, bringing the latest cutting edge regenerative medicine procedures to those in need. The top Beverly Hills orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Raj, is the medical director of Beverly Hills Orthopedic Institute and has performed over 50 stem cell procedures to date. Patients have include elite athletes, celebrities, executives, students, manual laborers and senior citizens. In other words, every walk of life can benefit.

The procedures offered include stem cell therapy for arthritis, back pain, cartilage defects, tendonitis, migraines, fracture healing and ligament injuries. The procedures are often able to help patients avoid the need for surgery and provide excellent pain relief with increased function.

Said R3 CEO Bob Maguire, MBA, Dr. Raj is a highly respected, skilled and compassionate provider who is committed to providing cutting edge options to his patients. It can help them heal faster while achieving pain relief. Thats what R3 Centers of Excellence strive for and have been very successful with to date.

Several different types of regenerative medicine procedures are offered at the R3 Center of Excellence. Amniotic stem cell procedures have shown amazing benefits in small studies to date. The fluid is obtained from consenting donors after a scheduled c-section, with the material being processed at an FDA regulated lab. No fetal tissue is involved or embryonic stem cells.

Bone marrow aspirate stem cell therapy is also offered, with the same day procedure injecting the processed bone marrow into the problem area. A high concentration of stem cells and growth factors sparks an impressive healing process, which can often regenerate damaged tissue.

Platelet rich plasma therapy is also offered, which involves a simple blood draw from patients. Studies are beginning to show that the regenerative medicine procedures work well for helping patients avoid the need for joint replacement surgery and also assisting athletes to get back on the field faster than otherwise.

Financing is available for the procedures at all R3 Stem Cell Centers of Excellence. Call (844) GET-STEM for more information and scheduling with stem cell treatment Los Angeles trusts.

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Beverly Hills Orthopedic Institute Becomes R3 Stem Cell Center of Excellence

Rare stem cells hold potential for infertility treatments …

By Stem Cell Medical Center

Rare stem cells in testis that produce a biomarker protein called PAX7 help give rise to new sperm cells -- and may hold a key to restoring fertility, research by scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center suggests.

Researchers studying infertility in mouse models found that, unlike similar types of cells that develop into sperm, the stem cells that express PAX7 can survive treatment with toxic drugs and radiation. If the findings hold true in people, they eventually could lead to new strategies to restore or protect fertility in men undergoing cancer treatment.

"Unfortunately, many cancer treatments negatively impact fertility, and men who receive such treatments are at high risk of losing their fertility. This is of great concern among cancer patients," said Dr. Diego H. Castrillon, Associate Professor of Pathology and Director of Investigative Pathology. "The PAX7 stem cells we identified proved highly resistant to cancer treatments, suggesting that they may be the cells responsible for the recovery of fertility following such treatments."

Infertility, which the Centers for Disease Control estimates affects as many as 4.7 million men in the United States, is a key complication of cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

The new findings, presented in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, provide valuable insight into the process of sperm development. Known as spermatogenesis, sperm development is driven by a population of "immature" stem cells called progenitors in the testes. These cells gradually "mature" into fully differentiated sperm cells. Dr. Castrillon and his team tracked progenitor cells that express the protein PAX7 in mouse testes, and found that these cells gradually give rise to mature sperm.

"We have long known that male fertility is driven by rare stem cells within the testes, but the precise identity of these stem cells has been disputed," said Dr. Castrillon, who holds the John H. Childers, M.D. Professorship in Pathology. "Our findings suggest that these rare PAX7 cells are the key cells within the testes that are ultimately responsible for male fertility."

Importantly, even after exposure to toxic chemotherapy or radiation treatments, the PAX7-expressing cells continued to divide and thus could contribute to restoring sperm development.

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by UT Southwestern Medical Center. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Rare stem cells hold potential for infertility treatments ...

Stem Cell Therapy for Chronic Illness and So Called untreatable Diseases – Video

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Stem Cell Therapy for Chronic Illness and So Called untreatable Diseases
Stem Cell Therapy with Mesenchymal stem cells are pluripotent and adult cells with fibroblastoid morphology and plasticity, toward various cell lineages such as chondrocytes, osteocytes and...

By: enjades

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Stem Cell Therapy for Chronic Illness and So Called untreatable Diseases - Video

How to tell good stem cells from the bad

By Stem Cell Medicine

Sep 05, 2014 by Bill Hathaway Separating the good stem cells from the bad. Credit: Matthew Chock, NYC

The promise of embryonic stem cell research has been thwarted by an inability to answer a simple question: How do you know a good stem cell from a bad one?

Yale researchers report in the Sept. 4 issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell that they have found a marker that predicts which batch of personalized stem cells will develop into a variety of tissue types and which will develop into unusable placental or tumor-like tissues.

Scientists have been unable to capitalize on revolutionary findings in 2006 that adult cells could be made young again with the simple introduction of four factors. Hopes were raised that doctors would soon have access to unlimited supplies of a patient's own iPSCsinduced pluripotent stem cellsthat could be used to repair many types of tissue damage. However, efforts to direct these cells to therapeutic goals have proved difficult. Many attempts to use cells clinically have failed because they form tumors instead of the desired tissue.

The team of Yale Stem Cell Center researchers led by senior author Andrew Xiao identified a variant histonea protein that helps package DNAwhich can predict the developmental path of iPSC cells in mice. An accompanying paper in the same journal by researchers at the Whitehead Institute at MIT and Hebrew University in Israel also identifies at different marker that also appears to predict stem cell fate.

"The trend is to raise the standards and quality very high, so we can think about using these cells in clinic," Xiao said. "With our assay, we have a reliable molecular marker that can tell what is a good cell and what is a bad one."

Explore further: New reprogramming factor cocktail produces therapy-grade induced pluripotent stem cells

Journal reference: Cell Stem Cell

Provided by Yale University

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)adult cells reprogrammed back to an embryonic stem cell-like statemay hold the potential to cure damaged nerves, regrow limbs and organs, and perfectly model a ...

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How to tell good stem cells from the bad

Disease in a dish approach could aid Huntington's disease discovery

By Stem Cell Medicine

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

5-Sep-2014

Contact: Lisa Newbern lisa.newbern@emory.edu 404-727-7709 Emory Health Sciences

Creating induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells allows researchers to establish "disease in a dish" models of conditions ranging from Alzheimer's disease to diabetes. Scientists at Yerkes National Primate Research Center have now applied the technology to a model of Huntington's disease (HD) in transgenic nonhuman primates, allowing them to conveniently assess the efficacy of potential therapies on neuronal cells in the laboratory.

The results were published in Stem Cell Reports.

"A highlight of our model is that our progenitor cells and neurons developed cellular features of HD such as intranuclear inclusions of mutant Huntingtin protein, which most of the currently available cell models do not present," says senior author Anthony Chan, PhD, DVM, associate professor of human genetics at Emory University School of Medicine and Yerkes National Primate Research Center. "We could use these features as a readout for therapy using drugs or a genetic manipulation."

Chan and his colleagues were the first in the world to establish a transgenic nonhuman primate model of HD. HD is an inherited neurodegenerative disorder that leads to the appearance of uncontrolled movements and cognitive impairments, usually in adulthood. It is caused by a mutation that introduces an expanded region where one amino acid (glutamine) is repeated dozens of times in the huntingtin protein.

The non-human primate model has extra copies of the huntingtin gene that contains the expanded glutamine repeats. In the non-human primate model, motor and cognitive deficits appear more quickly than in most cases of Huntington's disease in humans, becoming noticeable within the first two years of the monkeys' development.

First author Richard Carter, PhD, a graduate of Emory's Genetics and Molecular Biology doctoral program, and his colleagues created iPS cells from the transgenic monkeys by reprogramming cells derived from the skin or dental pulp. This technique uses retroviruses to introduce reprogramming factors into somatic cells and induces a fraction of them to become pluripotent stem cells. Pluripotent stem cells are able to differentiate into any type of cell in the body, under the right conditions.

Carter and colleagues induced the iPS cells to become neural progenitor cells and then differentiated neurons. The iPS-derived neural cells developed intracellular and intranuclear aggregates of the mutant huntingtin protein, a classic sign of Huntington's pathology, as well as an increased sensitivity to oxidative stress.

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Disease in a dish approach could aid Huntington's disease discovery

DAP-funded stem cell research a wrong priority

By Stem Cell Treatment

From the perspective of a community physician, the stem cell research, at this point, is not a priority. Given the daunting task of not only curing the present crop of diseases but also preventing them, and of course, building the human resource as the backbone of the health care system these should be the priority. Joseph Carabeo, convenor, Rx Abolish Pork Barrel Movement

By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL Bulatlat.com

MANILA Eleazar Sobinsky, president of the Lung Center of the Philippines Employees Association-Alliance of Health Workers cannot decipher how the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) has helped the poor. Of the P115 million ($263,822) DAP funds received by LCP, P70 million ($160,587) was spent for the stem cell research project and the rest was spent for the procurement of equipment.

He said if the DAP has helped the poor, why are there more indigent patients waiting in line at the LCPs out-patient department?

Joseph Carabeo, convenor of the Rx Abolish Pork Barrel Movement and a community doctor for the past 28 years, said that the stem cell research project does not even help solve the longtime health problems of Filipinos.

The stem cell research in LCP is a mispriority, said Carabeo in an interview with Bulatlat.com. There are many problems in the health sector that has to be addressed. We think, the DOH is merely riding the bandwagon on the stem cell research intervention in health care, wellness and primarily rejuvenation, Carabeo said.

Eleazar Sobinsky, union president of the Lung Center Employees Union said if the DAP has helped the poor, why are there more indigent patients waiting in line at the LCPs out-patient department? (Photo by A. Umil/ Bulatlat.com)

Stem cells according to http://www.stemcellnetwork.ca are the precursors of all cells in the human body.

Stem cells are very special, powerful cells found in both humans and non-human animals. They have been called the centerpiece of regenerative medicine medicine that involves growing new cells, tissues and organs to replace or repair those damaged by injury, disease or aging, the website said.

In the Philippines, Carabeo said, the medical community is not even united in the use of stem cell therapy in curing diseases. He said it is still under research in the Philippines. The Philippine Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism (PSEM) for one has even warned the public on the use of stem cell therapy as treatment for diabetes.

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DAP-funded stem cell research a wrong priority

Stem Cells Star in Marriage of Art and Science

By Stem Cell Medical Center

By Daniella Walsh on September 04th, 2014

By Daniella Walsh | LB Indy

Leslies stem cell

Janet Dreyer earned a doctorate in molecular biology, but in her 50s enrolled at the Pasadena College of Art and Design and became hooked on art. After a hiatus from both science and art for travel, shes back to art, creating a work that combines her training in both fields, The Stem Cell Scientist.

Dreyers computer generated work came to life at the request of Laguna Beach glass and multi-media artist Leslie Davis, who organized The Art of Stem Cells. The show features conceptual works by 29 artists. Their themes address debilitating diseases and injuries and the work of scientists trying to find cures. The month-long exhibition opens Saturday, Sept. 6, at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art in Santa Ana.

Dreyer delved into history when she built a mosaic for the show. The work includes references to the regenerating powers of the Egyptian scarab god Khepri, showing him rolling a cell instead of the sun, among other images. I chose the mosaic format because the tiles create a sense of motion reminding me of developing cells, Dreyer said.

The exhibitions opening and closing receptions will not only showcase what results when artists interact with 23 scientists, but also introduce art patrons to researchers and examples of their state-of-the art stem cell pursuits. Half of all proceeds will benefit research at the center, led for the past eight years by Dr. Peter Donovan, to whom the show is dedicated.

With a keen interest in science and particularly stem cell therapy, Davis has forged a connection to UC Irvines Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center. But since 2005, Davis twin interests have yielded three other medical related art exhibitions, including one for Mission Hospital.

It was her brainpower that led to pairing center researchers with artists selected on the strength and nature of their work.

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Stem Cells Star in Marriage of Art and Science

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