Stem Cell Clinic

The promise and hazards of stem cell research

By Stem Cell Treatment

Federal funding blocked mainly over opposition to use of blastocysts

PORTSMOUTH Dr. Amy Sievers, an oncologist at Portsmouth Regional Hospital, does stem cell transplants with great success for her patients and is a firm advocate for stem cell research.

Sievers is allowed to do stem cell blood transplants because she does not use the source of controversy, embryonic stem cells. Instead, she can use stem cells from bone marrow, where blood is made. The cells can become new blood for transfusion into patients with blood-related cancers like leukemia.

"When we get past the chemo and radiation, the hope is we can replace blood and give the patient healthy blood and a chance to build a good immune system," Sievers said.

Parents saving cord blood when they give birth is an option, but Dr. Alexandra Bonesho of Core Physicians in Epping said it is very costly for the patient, is not covered by insurance and is not something pediatricians recommend widely unless there is a reason.

"It's not something we use as a practical course of events," Bonesho said. "Cord blood banking is very expensive, less so if the blood stem cells are donated to the National Cord Blood Bank. In most cases, the chance that you will need it for your own child is unlikely, unless there is already a known condition in the family."

For example, if there is a history of leukemia in another child, it may be worthwhile. Bonesho said in a case like that, having the baby's own blood stem cells can be the perfect answer.

"However, chances are good that if there is a sibling, they may also be a good match if a bone marrow transplant is needed," Bonesho said. "However, transplants are not the normal course of treatment in children with leukemia."

That being said, the cord blood could eventually be used for research in the future to find a cure for diseases like sickle cell anemia, Bonesho said.

Federal funding for much stem cell research is blocked mainly over the opposition to using embryonic stem cells. The cells come from blastocysts (fertilized eggs) from an in-vitro facility. The blastocysts are excess and are usually donated by people who have already been successfully treated for fertility problems.

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The promise and hazards of stem cell research

New stem cell research retracted

By Stem Cell Medical Center

Almost five months after publication, Nature retracted two papers regarding new stem cell research. This retraction came after various errors were spotted, both in the papers presented and the attempted recreations of the experiments described. The research, which claimed that embryonic stem cells could be created by exposing normal skin cells to stress, appeared to be a medical breakthrough at the time of publication.

The lead author was found guilty of misconduct, while her employer was threatened numerous times with dismantlement, reports Scientific American. It appeared that parts of the methods were plagiarized from previous studies in the stem cell field, and the supposed 'different' cells and embryos described in the study were actually the same.

It was only after recreation of the described methods failed that the errors were brought forth and scrutinized by various outside sources, including one of the co-authors. The Riken Center for Developmental Biology in Japan began in-depth investigations into the studies in February 2014, and categorized some of the major errors that skewed the written results as misconduct, reports Uncover California.

Nature released a statement regarding the publication, saying, "The episode has further highlighted flaws in Natures procedures and in the procedures of institutions that publish with us."

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New stem cell research retracted

Johns Hopkins Researchers Locate Genetic Variant Associated With Schizophrenia

By Uncategorized

July 5, 2014

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports Your Universe Online

According to a new study appearing in the July 3 edition of the journal Cell Stem Cell, researchers from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have uncovered a new genetic variant that could result in certain people having a predisposition to schizophrenia.

While there are many genetic variants that could increase the risk of developing a psychiatric disorder, they are insufficient to cause these diseases, the researchers explained. Now, however, the Johns Hopkins researchers have described a new strategy that could reveal how these so-called subthreshold genetic risks could impact the development of a persons nervous system by interacting with other risk factors.

This is an important step toward understanding what physically happens in the developing brain that puts people at risk of schizophrenia, senior author Dr. Guo-li Ming explained in a statement Thursday. Dr. Ming is a professor of neurology and neuroscience in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicines Institute for Cell Engineering who worked on the study along with her husband, Dr. Hongjun Song.

In their study, Dr. Ming, Dr. Song and their colleagues explained that they used a multifaceted approach to find out why copy number variants in an area of the genome labeled 15q11.2 are prominent risk factors not just for schizophrenia, but for autism as well. Deletion of this part of a genome is associated with an increased risk of schizophrenia, but possessing extra copies results in an elevated risk of autism.

Their research focused on using a method which allows a patients skin cell to be reprogrammed into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which can in turn be coaxed into creating any other type of cell. Using this technology, the study authors obtained stem cells from people with schizophrenia who were missing part of 15q11.2 on one of their chromosomes, ultimately coaxing them into neural progenitor cells, which are found in the developing brain.

By observing the process, the researchers found deficiencies during nerve development that could be linked to the gene CYFIP1, which maintains the structure of a nerve cell. By blocking the expression of this gene in developing mouse embryos, they found defects in the formation of the brains cerebral cortex, which plays a key role in consciousness.

The next step was to determine how this gene could interact with other factors, and they discovered that mutations in a pair of genes within a particular cellular pathway linked to CYFIP1 resulted in a significant increase in schizophrenia risk. According to the study authors, their research supports the belief that multiple factors in a single pathway could interact with one another to impact a patients potential risk for psychiatric disorders.

The reason, the team found, is that CYFIP1 plays a role in building the skeleton that gives shape to each cell, and its loss affects spots called adherens junctions where the skeletons of two neighboring cells connect, the university explained. A lack of CYFIP1 protein also caused some of the mice neurons to wind up in the brains wrong layer.

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Johns Hopkins Researchers Locate Genetic Variant Associated With Schizophrenia

Mayo researching ALS stem cell treatment

By Stem Cell Treatment

Renee Tessman, KARE 1:26 p.m. EDT July 5, 2014

ALS study at Mayo Clinic(Photo: Mayo Clinic)

ROCHESTER, Minn. - Seventy-five years ago, Lou Gehrig was diagnosed with the rare, neurological disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) at the Mayo Clinic.

On July 4th, 1939, he gave his famous farewell speech to baseball fans.

Doctors now have a better understanding of the fatal disease but apart from medication that may give someone an extra couple of months, there is still no good way to extend someone's life.

Mayo Clinic researchers are working with stem cells to develop a new treatment. A New Brighton woman hopes to benefit.

Linda Leight spends every minute she can with her eight grandchildren. They visit her often at her home.

Time with grandchildren is always precious, but even more so for her because just like baseball legend Gehrig, Leight has ALS.

The disease that eventually paralyzes nearly all muscles in the body has started with her voice. Her speech was smooth and quick a few years ago. Now it is slow and slurred.

ALS causes neurons which control muscles to die, eventually making most ALS patients unable to breathe. Linda was diagnosed last September.

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Mayo researching ALS stem cell treatment

Brave cancer battler Ulrika in race against time to find stem cell donor

By Stem Cell Doctors

Brave Ulrika Dandekar needs a life saver.

The 21-year-old from Solihull was given the devastating news she had a rare type of blood cancer, called Anaplastic Lymphoma, just just three months ago.

And she knows without a stem cell transplant she will not survive.

Now a desperate search has been launched for a donor but the odds are stacked against Ulrika, with just one in 125,000 likelihood of finding a match because of her Asian background.

Her emotional plea for help comes at the start of National Transplant Week on Monday.

When you are in my position, desperately in need of a donor, and you are told the statistics its devastating, said Ulrika, who had dreams of becoming a doctor.

I have a six per cent chance of surviving. When I found this out I couldnt stop crying... you start wondering whether you will get better.

You hear your parents talking about your cancer to friends and how its growing faster than the drugs are working.

I am a 21-year-old who should be out studying, working, partying, holidaying and discovering myself. But Im not. Instead I am struggling, crying, hurting, forever waiting.

Solihull cancer patient Ulrika Dandeka

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Brave cancer battler Ulrika in race against time to find stem cell donor

Can stem cells really restore your youthful looks?

By Stem Cell Treatment

When an aging Hollywood action star or sex symbol reemerges after a long hiatus looking younger, with a great body and smoother, firmer facial skin, people now assume they have undergone stem cell therapy.

In my interview with doctors Eric and Anna Yalung of Regenestem Manila, they set me straight. While the actor/actress may have had stem cell therapy, the outward appearance is most likely a combination of Botox, plastic surgery, a strict diet and a personal trainer. So no doctor who only offers you stem cell can promise you outwardly beautifying results.

This is not to say though that there are no beauty benefits from it. For the beauty aspect, they do this for facial skin rejuvenation and hair growth. According to head dermatologist Anna Yalung, they inject the target area and, if necessary, combine it with services available at the clinic for best results and to speed up the process.

Shots are spaced a week to a month apart depending on treatment requirement for three sessions. The follow-up is scheduled the following year.

How is it done? Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) is a convenient and cell-based treatment. It is a simple procedure involving the extraction of blood, separation of platelets and administering the PRP to the desired area.

This is done in order to stimulate or promote healing, collagen synthesis for anti-aging, or to deliver proper oxygenation to muscles or tissues. A crucially important function of platelets is the release of various growth factors responsible for almost all repair processes that occur in the body.

Dr. Eric Yalung, who has conducted PRP treatments with Dr. Joseph Purita, world-renowned pioneer in stem cell orthopedic surgery, will spearhead PRP therapy for arthritis, sports injuries, anti-aging, hair growth, facial rejuvenation and pain management. Yalung clears that it is not a cure-all. It wont make you thinner or outwardly younger by itself. Its main purpose is improving the quality of ones life and the highest success rates are for those who are suffering from osteoarthritis; degenerative diseases like diabetes, multiple sclerosis, Parkinsons and Alzheimers; sports injuries and pain management.

Regenestems team of four physicians do not work with embryonic stem cells, only with adult stem cells. Adult stem cells are found in all tissues of the growing human being and, according to latest reports, also have the potential to transform themselves into practically all other cell types, or revert to being stem cells with greater reproductive capacity.

The clinic also provides the option for patient treatments in Regenestem clinics worldwide (US, Mexico, Argentina, and Dubai), and includes assistance in hotel and travel plans.

Regenestem Manila is at 2/F, Belson House, 271 Edsa, Mandaluyong City; tel. 2452200. Visit http://www.regenestemasia.com

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Can stem cells really restore your youthful looks?

Special Harvard Commentary: How Stem Cells Help Treat Human Disease

By Stem Cell Doctors

Last reviewed and revised on May 20, 2013

By Anthony L. Komaroff, M.D. Brigham and Women's Hospital

Both adult and umbilical cord stem cells already are used to treat disease.

Adult stem cells:

For many years, doctors have used adult stem cells successfully to treat human disease, through bone marrow transplantation (also known as hematopoietic stem cell transplantation). Most often, this treatment is used to treat cancers of the bloodlymphomas and leukemias. When all other treatments have failed, the only hope for a cure is to wipe out all of the patients blood cellsthe cancerous ones and the healthy onesand to give a patient an entirely new blood system. The only way to do this is to transplant blood stem cellscells that can reproduce themselves indefinitely and turn into all types of specialized blood cells.

Here's how it's done. First, the doctors need to collect blood stem cells from a patient's bone marrow, and let them multiply.

Second, the patient is given a dose of chemotherapy that kills all of the cancer cells a dose that, unfortunately, also kills the cells in the patient's bone marrow.

Third, the blood stem cellsthe cells designed to give the patient a whole new blood systemare given to the patient through an intravenous catheter. Hopefully, the blood stem cells then travel through the blood to the bone marrow, where they take up residence and start to make a new blood system.

Where do the blood stem cells come from? Most of the time, they come from the patient himself. They are sucked out of the patients bone marrow through a needle, or taken from the patients blood (some blood stem cells travel in the blood). So the blood stem cells are outside the patients body, growing in a laboratory dish, when the patient is given the chemotherapy that kills all the blood cells still inside the body.

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Special Harvard Commentary: How Stem Cells Help Treat Human Disease

Schizophrenia-associated gene variation affects brain cell development

By Stem Cell Medicine

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

3-Jul-2014

Contact: Shawna Williams shawna@jhmi.edu 410-955-8236 Johns Hopkins Medicine

Johns Hopkins researchers have begun to connect the dots between a schizophrenia-linked genetic variation and its effect on the developing brain. As they report July 3 in the journal Cell Stem Cell, their experiments show that the loss of a particular gene alters the skeletons of developing brain cells, which in turn disrupts the orderly layers those cells would normally form.

"This is an important step toward understanding what physically happens in the developing brain that puts people at risk of schizophrenia," says Guo-li Ming, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of neurology and neuroscience in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's Institute for Cell Engineering.

While no single genetic mutation is known to cause schizophrenia, so-called genomewide association studies have identified variations that are more common in people with the condition than in the general population. One of these is a missing piece from an area of the genome labeled 15q11.2. "While the deletion is linked to schizophrenia, having extra copies of this part of the genome raises the risk of autism," notes Ming.

For the new study, Ming's research group, along with that of her husband and collaborator, neurology and neuroscience professor Hongjun Song, Ph.D., used skin cells from people with schizophrenia who were missing part of 15q11.2 on one of their chromosomes. (Because everyone carries two copies of their genome, the patients each had an intact copy of 15q11.2 as well.)

The researchers grew the human skin cells in a dish and coaxed them to become induced pluripotent stem cells, and then to form neural progenitor cells, a kind of stem cell found in the developing brain.

"Normally, neural progenitors will form orderly rings when grown in a dish, but those with the deletion didn't," Ming says. To find out which of the four known genes in the missing piece of the genome were responsible for the change, the researchers engineered groups of progenitors that each produced less protein than normal from one of the suspect genes. The crucial ingredient in ring formation turned out to be a gene called CYFIP1.

The team then altered the genomes of neural progenitors in mouse embryos so that they made less of the protein created by CYFIP1. The brain cells of the fetal mice turned out to have similar defects in structure to those in the dish-grown human cells. The reason, the team found, is that CYFIP1 plays a role in building the skeleton that gives shape to each cell, and its loss affects spots called adherens junctions where the skeletons of two neighboring cells connect.

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Schizophrenia-associated gene variation affects brain cell development

Nature STAP stem cell studies retracted after more errors found

By Stem Cell Medicine

Following months of controversy, editors at the scientific journal Nature have retracted two high-profile studies that purported to demonstrate a quick and simple way of making flexible stem cells without destroying embryos or tinkering with DNA.

Several critical errors have been found in our Article and Letter, Nature wrote in a retraction statement issued Wednesday. We apologize for the mistakes.

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FOR THE RECORD

July 3, 7:53 a.m.: An article in the July 3 A section about two controversial stem cell studies that were retracted had stated that the decision was made by editors at the journal Nature. The retraction decision was made by the authors of the studies. Additionally, the comments in the retraction statement should have been attributed to the authors of the studies, not to the journal editors.

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The two reports described a new way of reprogramming blood cells so that they would revert to a developmentally primitive state and be capable of growing into any type of cell. Researchers from Japan and the United States said they accomplished this feat by soaking the cells in an acid bath for 30 minutes and then spinning them in a centrifuge for 5 minutes.

The resulting stem cells dubbed stimulus triggered acquisition of pluripotency, or STAP had the hallmarks of embryonic stem cells. When the researchers injected them into developing mice, the STAP stem cells grew into heart, bone and brain cells, among others, the research team reported in January.

Scientists in the field of regenerative medicine were giddy at the prospect of using the cells to grow new insulin-producing cells for people with Type 1 diabetes or central nervous system cells for people with spinal cord injuries, to name a few examples. Since these replacement tissues would be generated from a patients own cells, researchers believed they would not prompt the immune system to attack, eliminating the need for patients to take immune-suppressing drugs.

But it didnt take long for some researchers to suspect that STAP stem cells were too good to be true. Critiques posted online gained more currency when labs began reporting that they werent able to replicate the experiments. Then one of the senior researchers who worked on both of the studies called for the papers to be withdrawn until the results could be independently verified.

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Nature STAP stem cell studies retracted after more errors found

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