Stem Cell Clinic

Stem cell breakthrough in treating heart attacks

By Stem Cell Treatment

An implanted graft of cardiac cells derived from human stem cells (green) meshed with a monkey's own heart cells (red). Picture: Murry Lab/University of Washington/PA

Stem cell heart repair treatments could be tested on human patients within four years following a ground-breaking study of monkeys.

Scientists successfully restored damaged cardiac muscle in macaque monkeys suffering the after-effects of experimentally induced heart attacks, paving the way to clinical trials.

Researchers injected 1bn immature heart muscle cells derived from human embryonic stem cells into each animals heart.

Over several weeks, the new cells developed, assembled into muscle fibres, and began to beat in correct time. On average, 40% of the damaged heart tissue was regenerated.

It is the first time stem cell therapy for damage caused by heart attacks has been shown to work in a primate.

Lead scientist Prof Charles Murry, director of the Centre for Cardiovascular Biology at the University of Washington in Seattle, said: Before this study, it was not known if it is possible to produce sufficient numbers of these cells and successfully use them to remuscularise damaged hearts in a large animal whose heart size and physiology is similar to that of the human heart.

He expects the treatment to be ready for clinical trials in human patients within four years.

Heart attack symptoms were triggered in the monkeys by blocking the coronary artery the main artery supplying the heart with blood for 90 minutes.

In humans, the reduced blood flow caused by narrowing of the arteries has a similar effect. Lack of blood flow to the heart damages the heart muscle by depriving it of oxygen.

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Stem cell breakthrough in treating heart attacks

Stem cells from teeth can make brain-like cells

By Stem Cell Treatment

University of Adelaide researchers have discovered that stem cells taken from teeth can grow to resemble brain cells, suggesting they could one day be used in the brain as a therapy for stroke.

In the University's Centre for Stem Cell Research, laboratory studies have shown that stem cells from teeth can develop and form complex networks of brain-like cells. Although these cells haven't developed into fully fledged neurons, researchers believe it's just a matter of time and the right conditions for it to happen.

"Stem cells from teeth have great potential to grow into new brain or nerve cells, and this could potentially assist with treatments of brain disorders, such as stroke," says Dr Kylie Ellis, Commercial Development Manager with the University's commercial arm, Adelaide Research & Innovation (ARI).

Dr Ellis conducted this research as part of her Physiology PhD studies at the University, before making the step into commercialisation. The results of her work have been published in the journal Stem Cell Research & Therapy.

"The reality is, treatment options available to the thousands of stroke patients every year are limited," Dr Ellis says. "The primary drug treatment available must be administered within hours of a stroke and many people don't have access within that timeframe, because they often can't seek help for some time after the attack.

"Ultimately, we want to be able to use a patient's own stem cells for tailor-made brain therapy that doesn't have the host rejection issues commonly associated with cell-based therapies. Another advantage is that dental pulp stem cell therapy may provide a treatment option available months or even years after the stroke has occurred," she says.

Dr Ellis and her colleagues, Professors Simon Koblar, David O'Carroll and Stan Gronthos, have been working on a laboratory-based model for actual treatment in humans. As part of this research Dr Ellis found that stem cells derived from teeth developed into cells that closely resembled neurons.

"We can do this by providing an environment for the cells that is as close to a normal brain environment as possible, so that instead of becoming cells for teeth they become brain cells," Dr Ellis says.

"What we developed wasn't identical to normal neurons, but the new cells shared very similar properties to neurons. They also formed complex networks and communicated through simple electrical activity, like you might see between cells in the developing brain."

This work with dental pulp stem cells opens up the potential for modelling many more common brain disorders in the laboratory, which could help in developing new treatments and techniques for patients.

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Stem cells from teeth can make brain-like cells

Dr. Max Gomez: Scientists Use Stem Cells To Grow Functional Human Muscle

By Stem Cell Doctors

CBS New York (con't)

Affordable Care Act Updates: CBSNewYork.com/ACA

Health News & Information: CBSNewYork.com/Health

NEW YORK(CBSNewYork) Growing new muscle could be a huge boon to thousands of soldiers wounded in IED attacks. It could also help accident and trauma victims as well as those injured in sports.

As CBS 2s Dr. Max Gomez reported, scientists used stem cells to grow human muscle and thats just the start of a treatment that could restore function for thousands of seriously injured patients.

Nick Clarks lower leg was badly damaged in a skiing accident nearly a decade ago.

Because of complications of that sever break there was a lot of internal bleeding inside these muscle compartments and that caused swelling, Clark said.

As a result of the accident Clark lost a large amount of muscle.

I couldnt push off my left foot at all. I had no balance, he said.

Clark was one of five patients who took part in an experiment to test a new stem cell technique that starts with connective tissue from pigs.

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Dr. Max Gomez: Scientists Use Stem Cells To Grow Functional Human Muscle

Stem cell cloning may be aid treatment for diabetes – CBS News

By Stem Cell Medicine

Scientists have moved one step closer to creating and effective diabetes treatment by creating insulin-producing cells with the DNA of a diabetic woman.

The approach could someday aid treatment of the Type 1 form of the illness, which is usually diagnosed in childhood and accounts for about 5 percent of diabetes cases in the U.S. The disease kills insulin-making cells in the pancreas. People with Type 1 diabetes use shots or a small pump to supply the hormone, which is needed to control blood sugar.

The new work is a step toward providing genetically matched replacement cells for transplant, said Dieter Egli of the New York Stem Cell Foundation Research Institute in New York. He led the research, which was reported online Monday in the journal Nature.

Doug Melton of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, who was not involved with the work, called the paper an impressive technical achievement. But he said he believed the cells would be useful as a research tool rather than a source of transplants. They could help scientists uncover what triggers Type 1 diabetes, he said, which could in turn lead to better therapies.

Scientists had previously made insulin cells that match diabetic patients by another means, so the new work gives researchers another option for comparison. Researchers are also exploring transplants of insulin-producing cells from cadavers as a potential treatment.

The latest work used a technique that partially resembles the process used to clone animals. Basically, scientists put DNA from the woman's skin cells into donated human eggs. The eggs were grown into early embryos. From these, the scientists removed stem cells, which can grow into any cell type in the body. These stem cells were turned into the insulin-producing cells.

Egli told reporters that these cells have shown promise in animal tests, but that he could not estimate a timetable for human experiments. The new work is the third report of using the cloning approach to make human stem cells, and the first using the technique to create insulin-making cells.

Stem cells cloning is an area of research that's showing promise to treat a number of diseases. In January, Dr. Jon LaPook, chief medical correspondent for CBS News, reported an experimental stem cell treatment for patients with multiple sclerosis. Scientists have also been able to repair bones using the stem cells of fatty tissue and also use cloned cells can repair a damaged heart.

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Stem cell cloning may be aid treatment for diabetes - CBS News

Stem Cell Advance May Bring New Diabetes Treatments

By Stem Cell Medicine

A colony of an embryonic stem cell line derived from a person with type 1 diabetes. | Bjarki Johannesson, NYSCF

NEW YORK (AP) In a potential step toward new diabetes treatments, scientists used a cloning technique to make insulin-producing cells with the DNA of a diabetic woman.

The approach could someday aid treatment of the Type 1 form of the illness, which is usually diagnosed in childhood and accounts for about 5 percent of diabetes cases in the U.S.

The disease kills insulin-making cells in the pancreas. People with Type 1 diabetes use shots or a small pump to supply the hormone, which is needed to control blood sugar.

The new work is a step toward providing genetically matched replacement cells for transplant, said Dieter Egli of the New York Stem Cell Foundation Research Institute in New York. He led the research, which was reported online Monday in the journal Nature.

Doug Melton of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, who was not involved with the work, called the paper an impressive technical achievement. But he said he believed the cells would be useful as a research tool rather than a source of transplants. They could help scientists uncover what triggers Type 1 diabetes, he said, which could in turn lead to better therapies.

Scientists had previously made insulin cells that match diabetic patients by another means, so the new work gives researchers another option for comparison. Researchers are also exploring transplants of insulin-producing cells from cadavers as a potential treatment.

The latest work used a technique that partially resembles the process used to clone animals. Basically, scientists put DNA from the woman's skin cells into donated human eggs. The eggs were grown into early embryos. From these, the scientists removed stem cells, which can grow into any cell type in the body. These stem cells were turned into the insulin-producing cells.

Egli told reporters that these cells have shown promise in animal tests, but that he could not estimate a timetable for human experiments.

The new work is the third report of using the cloning approach to make human stem cells, and the first using the technique to create insulin-making cells.

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Stem Cell Advance May Bring New Diabetes Treatments

Stem cells used to repair animal hearts and human muscle

By Stem Cell Medicine

by Karen Weintraub, Special for USA TODAY

KING5.com

Posted on April 30, 2014 at 3:48 PM

Two new studies out today show both the incredible promise of stem cell research and its current limitations.

In one, published in the journal Nature, researchers showed that they could repair damaged hearts by injecting these versatile stem cells into macaque monkeys. Heart disease is the leading cause of death, and if the same process can work in people, it could benefit hundreds of thousands a year.

In the other study, published in Science Translational Medicine, five men were able to regrow leg muscles destroyed by accidents or military service. The researchers, from the University of Pittsburgh, inserted into the men's muscles a "scaffold" of muscle tissue from a pig. Through aggressive physical therapy right after the surgery, the men's own stem cells were encouraged to populate the scaffold and substantially rebuild their leg muscles.

Nothing had been able to help these men before, including multiple surgeries and years of physical therapy, said Stephen Badylak, the study's senior author.

"Frankly, most of these patients have been through hell," he said at a Tuesday news conference.

David Scadden, a physician and co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, said he was impressed with the rigor and promise of both studies.

It's long been a goal of stem cell research to figure out how to help the body regrow damaged tissue, he said, and both studies mark a significant step toward that goal.

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Stem cells used to repair animal hearts and human muscle

Saudi- Conference to shed light on latest stem cell applications

By Stem Cell Medicine

(MENAFN - Arab News) The king abdullah international medical research center (kaimrc) recently joined a conference on stem cell research and its application science and medicine the saudi press agency reported.

the conference which was organized by the health affairs at the national guard unveiled the latest discoveries and findings made by researchers at the stem cell and regenerative medicine unit at kaimrc the agency said.

the conference was attended by several experts on stem cell research representing saudi arabia the united states britain france sweden italy australia and new zealand.

ahmed al-askar ceo of kaimrc said stem cell research is a broad topic that sheds light on how to best exploit human cells to treat diseases for certain organs such as the liver kidney or nerves.

he said the current use of stem cells is centered on plantation for the treatment of certain types of leukemia cancer and genetic diseases.

since its inception three years ago the center has transplanted 200 cells following the creation of a program for transplanting stem cells in children and adults he said.

saudi arabia has the sole stem cell donation registry in arab countries compared with 60 cells donation registries globally he said.

'the saudi stem cell donation center is meant to attract potential donors from arab countries" he said. 'we have had 5000 donors so far."

he said some 400 scientists and experts are working at the center while another 40 physicians have been dispatched on scholarships to acquire training and specialization.

al-askar expressed optimism over the future of stem cell use and its contribution to the treatment of a variety of diseases such as diabetes cancer pulmonary and hepatic fibrosis and neurological and cardiovascular disorders.

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Saudi- Conference to shed light on latest stem cell applications

Former Osiris chief to lead Calif. stem cell agency

By Stem Cell Medicine

By Natalie Sherman, The Baltimore Sun

7:30 p.m. EDT, April 30, 2014

A California agency that oversees $3 billion in stem cell research funding Wednesday named former Osiris Therapeutics head C. Randal Mills to replace its outgoing CEO.

Mills, a Bethesda native and Baltimore resident, stepped down in December after almost 10 years at Osiris, citing personal reasons.

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine's governing board selected Mills from seven finalists after interviews in April, spokesman Kevin McCormack said. He will make $550,000 in his new position and a start date has not been determined, McCormack said.

The agency noted Mills's leadership of Osiris as it commercialized stem cell drug Prochymal in its announcement of his selection. Mills also served on the agency's grant review board for the past five years.

CIRM's current CEO announced his intention to leave in October.

"It is a tremendous honor to be selected to lead the world's largest stem cell institute during such an exciting and pivotal time for the technology," Mills said in a statement. "We are entering a new phase in regenerative medicine, where an increasing number of therapies are heading into clinical trials. It is our mission to do everything possible to accelerate the development of these treatments for the patients who need them."

nsherman@baltsun.com

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Former Osiris chief to lead Calif. stem cell agency

Stem cell therapy regenerates heart muscle damaged from heart attacks in primates

By Uncategorized

Heart cells created from human embryonic stem cells successfully restored damaged heart muscles in monkeys.

The results of the experiment appear in the April 30 advanced online edition of the journal Nature in a paper titled, "Human embryonic-stem cell derived cardiomyocytes regenerate non-human primate hearts."

The findings suggest that the approach should be feasible in humans, the researchers said.

"Before this study, it was not known if it is possible to produce sufficient numbers of these cells and successfully use them to remuscularize damaged hearts in a large animal whose heart size and physiology is similar to that of the human heart," said Dr. Charles Murry, UW professor of pathology and bioengineering, who led the research team that conducted the experiment.

A physician/scientist, Murry directs the UW Center for Cardiovascular Biology and is a UW Medicine pathologist.

Murry said he expected the approach could be ready for clinical trials in humans within four years.

In the study, Murry, along with Dr. Michael Laflamme and other colleagues at the UW Institute for Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine, experimentally induced controlled myocardial infarctions, a form of heart attack, in anesthetized pigtail macaques.

The infarcts were created by blocking the coronary artery of macaque for 90 minutes, an established model for the study of myocardial infarction in primates.

In humans, myocardial infarctions are typically caused by coronary artery disease. The resulting lack of adequate blood flow can damage heart muscle and other tissues by depriving them of oxygen. Because the infarcted heart muscle does not grow back, myocardial infarction leaves the heart less able to pump blood and often leads to heart failure, a leading cause of cardiovascular death.

The goal of stem cell therapy is to replace the damaged tissue with new heart cells and restore the failing heart to normal function.

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Stem cell therapy regenerates heart muscle damaged from heart attacks in primates

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