Lost stem cells are replaced by non-stem cells: Study

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Washington, Apr 18 : A new study has found that when a certain kind of stem cell is killed off experimentally, another group of non-stem cells can come out of retirement to replace them.

Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered the unexpected phenomenon in the organs that produce sperm in fruit flies.

The discovery sheds light on the tiny "environments" that stem cells occupy in animal bodies and may help explain how stem cells in tumors replenish themselves, the researchers said.

Damage of the kind duplicated in the laboratory occurs naturally after exposure to radiation and perhaps also after ingestion of toxic chemicals such as those used in chemotherapy.

The research group, led by Erika Matunis, Ph.D., a professor of cell biology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has been using the fruit fly as a model living system in which to study stem cells in their natural state.

Most stem cell research is done on cells grown in the laboratory, but in real life, stem cells reside in tissues, where they are sequestered in tiny spaces known as niches.

Adult stem cells keep dividing throughout life to make various kinds of cells, like new blood cells and germ cells.

Matunis' group studies such niches in fruit fly testes, the sperm-producing organs shaped like a coiled tube whose end houses a niche. In the niche are three kinds of cells: germ line stem cells, which divide to produce sperm; somatic cyst stem cells, which make a kind of cell that helps the sperm-producing cells out; and hub cells, which make signals that keep the other two kinds of cells going.

The hub cells are not stem cells; they have settled on their final form, incapable of dividing further or changing their function or so everyone thought.

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Lost stem cells are replaced by non-stem cells: Study

Scientists use cloning to make stem cells matched to two adults

Scientists have replicated one of the most significant accomplishments in stem cell research by creating human embryos that were clones of two men.

The lab-engineered embryos were harvested within days and used to create lines of infinitely reproducing embryonic stem cells, which are capable of growing into any type of human tissue.

The work, reported Thursday in the journal Cell Stem Cell, comes 11 months after researchers in Oregon said they had produced the world's first human embryo clones and used them to make stem cells. Their study, published in Cell, aroused skepticism after critics pointed out multiple errors and duplicated images.

In addition, the entire effort to clone human embryos and then dismantle them in the name of science troubles some people on moral grounds.

MORE: Medicines and machines, inspired by nature

The scientists in Oregon and the authors of the new report acknowledged that the clones they created could develop into babies if implanted in surrogate wombs. But like others in the field, they have said reproductive cloning would be unethical and irresponsible.

The process used to create cloned embryos is called somatic cell nuclear transfer, or SCNT. It involves removing the nucleus from an egg cell and replacing it with a nucleus from a cell of the person to be cloned. The same method was used to create Dolly the sheep in 1996, along with numerous animals from other species.

Human cloning was a particular challenge, in part because scientists had trouble getting enough donor eggs to carry out their experiments. Some scientists said SCNT in humans would be impossible.

Dr. Robert Lanza, the chief scientific officer for Advanced Cell Technology Inc. in Marlborough, Mass., has been working on SCNT off and on for about 15 years. He and his colleagues finally achieved success with a modified version of the recipe used by the Oregon team and skin cells donated by two men who were 35 and 75.

After swapping out the nucleus in the egg cell, both groups used caffeine to delay the onset of cell division a technique that has been called "the Starbucks effect." But instead of waiting 30 minutes to prompt cell division, as was done in the Oregon experiment, Lanza and his team waited two hours.

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Scientists use cloning to make stem cells matched to two adults

Researchers successfully clone adult human stem cells

20 hours ago by Bob Yirka Credit: Cell Stem Cell, DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2014.03.015

(Phys.org) An international team of researchers, led by Robert Lanza, of Advanced Cell Technology, has announced that they have performed the first successful cloning of adult human skin cells into stem cells. A paper by the team describing their work has been published in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

The achievement by the team is actually a replication of work done by another team just last yearin that effort the team did the same thing but used donor cells from infants. In this new experiment, two men aged 35 and 75 donated skin cells.

Technically called somatic-cell nuclear transfer aka "therapeutic cloning" the process is similar to that used to clone Dolly the sheep back in 1997. Since that time, researchers have run into a myriad of obstacles in achieving the same results in humans, though it should be noted that there is a major difference in objectivewith humans, the aim is to clone stem cells so that they can be used to treat diseases, not reproduce whole human beings.

To clone the stem cells, the researchers used unfertilized eggs donated by several unidentified women. After removing the DNA material inside the egg, new DNA material extracted from the skin cells of the male donors was injected inside and the resulting filled egg was exposed to a small dose of electricity to cause fusingthe egg was then allowed to "rest" for two hours. Afterwards each egg reprogrammed itself and grew into a blastocyst which eventually grew into a pluripotent stem cell that genetically matched the skin donor. Theoretically such stem cells could then be engineered to grow into various cells, e.g. heart, lung, liver, for transplant into a patient.

Funding for the research was provided by an unnamed foundation and the Korean Governmentthe experiments were conducted in a lab in California. The researchers point out that the process cannot be used to create a whole human being.

The team notes that despite their success, there is still a lot of work to do before cloned stem cells become a viable option for treating medical problems in people. They note that out of 77 eggs donated and used in the experiments, only two led to successful cloningone from each of the male donors. Their experiments do prove however, they add, that successful cloning of human stem cells is possible with donors of any age.

Explore further: Researchers discover ancient virus DNA remnants necessary for pluripotency in humans

More information: Human Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer Using Adult Cells, Cell Stem Cell, dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.stem.2014.03.015

Summary Derivation of patient-specific human pluripotent stem cells via somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) has the potential for applications in a range of therapeutic contexts. However, successful SCNT with human cells has proved challenging to achieve, and thus far has only been reported with fetal or infant somatic cells. In this study, we describe the application of a recently developed methodology for the generation of human ESCs via SCNT using dermal fibroblasts from 35- and 75-year-old males. Our study therefore demonstrates the applicability of SCNT for adult human cells and supports further investigation of SCNT as a strategy for regenerative medicine.

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Researchers successfully clone adult human stem cells

Scientists create stem cells from adult skin cells

A breakthrough in human stem cell research could lead to the treatment of countless diseases, invaluable scientific research and yes, human cloning.

According to a study in the journalCell Stem Cell, scientists have synthesized human embryonic stem cells from the cells of adults, creating two different lines from the skin of two donors.

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Using the nuclear transfermethod,scientists took DNA out of egg cells and replaced it with the donor DNA. The cells were basically reprogrammed, butof the 77 samplesonly two fully developed into cloned stem cells.

Lead researcher Robert Lanza says the 5 percent success rate isn't surprising."Reprogramming is more difficult for adult cells than for fetal [and] infant cells, presumably at least in part because their epigenetic landscape from the pluripotent state,"meaning the cells generally dont' have the right enzymes for change anymore.

The researchers reportedly tweaked a method made famous by the cloning of the sheep Dolly in 1996 and improved by scientists at Oregon Health & Science University just last year.

The nuclear transfermethod is the third discovered way to harvest or create stem cells. In the past, scientists have extracted cells from leftover embryos after in vitro fertilizations,a controversial practice. And in 2006 aJapanese researcher discovered a way to create themby injecting new genes. (ViaAsian Scientist)

Lanza's method could provide easy access to stem cells, opening up new research intodiseases like diabetes, Parkinsons and even leukemia. And according toNPR, the researcher wants to create a virtual library of cells using carefully selected DNA donors.

The implications of a real and viable approach for creating stem cells could be startling, andscientists have been wrestling with the ethical questions since the cloning of Dolly.

An official at Oregon Health & Science Universitythinks studying stemcells is necessary, tellingTime,They have become kind of like cursed cells. But we clearly need to understand more about them.

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Scientists create stem cells from adult skin cells

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Stem Cell Therapy treatment for Rhinophyma in Ottawa Illinois

Results are a leap for embryonic stem cells

Scientists have replicated one of the most significant accomplishments in stem cell research by creating human embryos that were clones of two men.

The lab-engineered embryos were harvested within days and used to create lines of infinitely reproducing embryonic stem cells, which are capable of growing into any type of human tissue.

The work, reported Thursday in the journal Cell Stem Cell, comes 11 months after researchers in Oregon said they had produced the world's first human embryo clones and used them to make stem cells. Their study, published in Cell, aroused skepticism after critics pointed out multiple errors and duplicated images.

In addition, the entire effort to clone human embryos and then dismantle them in the name of science troubles some people on moral grounds.

The scientists in Oregon and the authors of the new report acknowledged that the clones they created could develop into babies if implanted in surrogate wombs. But like others in the field, they have said reproductive cloning would be unethical and irresponsible.

The process used to create cloned embryos is called somatic cell nuclear transfer, or SCNT. It involves removing the nucleus from an egg cell and replacing it with a nucleus from a cell of the person to be cloned. The same method was used to create Dolly the sheep in 1996, along with numerous animals from other species.

Human cloning was a particular challenge, in part because scientists had trouble getting enough donor eggs to carry out their experiments. Some scientists said SCNT in humans would be impossible.

Dr. Robert Lanza, the chief scientific officer for Advanced Cell Technology Inc. in Marlborough, Mass., has been working on SCNT off and on for about 15 years. He and his colleagues finally achieved success with a modified version of the recipe used by the Oregon team and skin cells donated by two men who were 35 and 75.

After swapping out the nucleus in the egg cell, both groups used caffeine to delay the onset of cell division a technique that has been called "the Starbucks effect." But instead of waiting 30 minutes to prompt cell division, as was done in the Oregon experiment, Lanza and his team waited two hours.

It remains unclear exactly how the egg causes the cells in previously mature tissues in this case, skin to transform into a more versatile, pluripotent state.

See the original post:
Results are a leap for embryonic stem cells

Surprise: Lost stem cells naturally replaced by non-stem cells, fly research suggests

12 hours ago

Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered an unexpected phenomenon in the organs that produce sperm in fruit flies: When a certain kind of stem cell is killed off experimentally, another group of non-stem cells can come out of retirement to replace them.

The discovery sheds light on the tiny "environments" that stem cells occupy in animal bodies and may help explain how stem cells in tumors replenish themselves, the researchers report in the May 8 issue of the journal Cell Reports. Damage of the kind duplicated in the laboratory occurs naturally after exposure to radiation and perhaps also after ingestion of toxic chemicals such as those used in chemotherapy.

The research group, led by Erika Matunis, Ph.D., a professor of cell biology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has been using the fruit fly as a model living system in which to study stem cells in their natural state. Most stem cell research is done on cells grown in the laboratory, but in real life, stem cells reside in tissues, where they are sequestered in tiny spaces known as niches. Adult stem cells keep dividing throughout life to make various kinds of cells, like new blood cells and germ cells.

Matunis's group studies such niches in fruit fly testes, the sperm-producing organs shaped like a coiled tube whose end houses a niche. In the niche are three kinds of cells: germ line stem cells, which divide to produce sperm; somatic cyst stem cells, which make a kind of cell that helps the sperm-producing cells out; and hub cells, which make signals that keep the other two kinds of cells going.

The hub cells are not stem cells; they have settled on their final form, incapable of dividing further or changing their functionor so everyone thought.

However, in a bid to figure out what happens when the somatic cyst stem cells are killed off, Matunis suggested that graduate student Phylis Hti figure out how to best do away with them, thinking the task would be straightforward.

Instead, she says, "it took a lot of heroic, patient combinations" of different genes working together to kill the somatic cyst cells, Matunis says.

"When we finally figured out a way to kill all of the somatic stem cells, we thought that the rest of the tissue would probably just empty out," she says. In 35 percent of testes, that's just what happened. But in the rest, the somatic stem cells grew back.

This was a surprise, Matunis says, and left a puzzle: Where were the new somatic stem cells coming from?

Here is the original post:
Surprise: Lost stem cells naturally replaced by non-stem cells, fly research suggests

Lymphoma Research Foundation Convenes Scientific Meeting of World Leading Mantle Cell Lymphoma Experts

New York, NY (PRWEB) April 17, 2014

The Lymphoma Research Foundation (LRF) the nations largest non-profit organization devoted exclusively to funding innovative lymphoma research and serving the lymphoma community through a comprehensive series of education programs, outreach initiatives and patient services announced today the publication of its Recent Advances in Mantle Cell Lymphoma: Report of the 2013 Mantle Cell Lymphoma Consortium Workshop in the journal, Leukemia & Lymphoma.

The worlds leading mantle cell lymphoma researchers convened at the Lymphoma Research Foundations 10th Annual Mantle Cell Lymphoma Consortium (MCLC) Scientific Workshop in Atlanta, GA on April 24-25, 2013 to report on the latest research findings and exchange ideas on how to improve treatment options for people living with mantle cell lymphoma. Key topics discussed at the Mantle Cell Lymphoma Consortium Scientific Workshop included new findings regarding the biology of MCL, novel potential targets for MCL therapy, and results of recent and ongoing clinical trials in MCL. This years meeting also featured a debate in which several researchers at the forefront of MCL treatment discussed how to best use stem cell transplantation in mantle cell lymphoma.

The Lymphoma Research Foundations Mantle Cell Lymphoma Consortium provides a unique forum for the worlds leading MCL researchers to share scientific and clinical findings, exchange ideas, and plan new collaborations, said Elizabeth Thompson, Chief Executive Officer of the Lymphoma Research Foundation. Since its inception ten years ago, the MCLC Scientific Workshop has helped researchers make significant strides in understanding MCL biology, evaluating potential new therapies, and optimizing the use of currently available therapies; the Foundation is proud to convene this annual meeting so that advances in MCL can be accelerated.

Highlights from LRFs 2013 Mantle Cell Lymphoma Consortium Scientific Workshop have been published in Leukemia & Lymphoma. The authors of the report are members of the Foundations MCLC Executive Committee and include: Leo Gordon, MD, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (Chair); Steven Bernstein, MD, University of Rochester Medical Center; Pedro Jares, PhD, IDIBAPS, University of Barcelona; Brad Kahl, MD, University of Wisconsin, UW Carbone Cancer Center; Thomas Witzig, MD, Mayo Clinic; and Martin Dreyling, MD, PhD, University of Munich-Grosshadern. Traditionally accessible only to subscribers, Leukemia & Lymphoma is making this report available to the public for one month. To read the entire report, visit: http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/10428194.2013.876634.

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a rare and often aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), constituting about six percent of all NHL cases in the United States (more than 4,000 cases per year). In an effort to accelerate advances in the field of MCL, the Lymphoma Research Foundation established the Mantle Cell Lymphoma Consortium (MCLC) in 2003. To learn more about lymphoma or mantle cell lymphoma, visit lymphoma.org.

About the Lymphoma Research Foundation The Lymphoma Research Foundation (LRF) is the nations largest non-profit organization devoted to funding innovative research and serving the lymphoma community through a comprehensive series of education programs, outreach initiatives and patient services. To date, LRF has awarded more than $54 million in lymphoma-specific research.

For additional information on LRFs research, education and services, visit lymphoma.org

About Leukemia & Lymphoma Leukemia & Lymphoma in its fourth decade continues to provide an international forum for publication of high quality clinical, translational, and basic science research, and original observations relating to all aspects of hematological malignancies. The scope ranges from clinical and clinico-pathological investigations to fundamental research in disease biology, mechanisms of action of novel agents, development of combination chemotherapy, pharmacology and pharmacogenomics as well as ethics and epidemiology. The Journal is also dedicated to education in the form of reviews, commentaries, conference summaries and emerging drug profiles.

Leukemia & Lymphoma provides a premier reference source for physicians and scientists interested in clinical, translational, and laboratory research, as well as clinical diagnosis and treatment of patients with malignant hematological disorders.

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Lymphoma Research Foundation Convenes Scientific Meeting of World Leading Mantle Cell Lymphoma Experts