Stem Cell Clinic

#Shake4Mike: 'I wanted to be his rock in return'

By Stem Cell Doctors

He was still waiting to hear back from a job interview, so I assumed it was about that and I got really excited, she says. I tried to ring a few times, and eventually I got through over quite a patchy line. He said, 'I think Ive got leukaemia. When you hear those words, you know how serious it is. I just told him, 'Im going to get home as quickly as I can.

The news that followed was devastating. Mike, 29, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and is currently undergoing intense chemotherapy six times a week at Bristol Royal Infirmary. Such is the severity of his condition that doctors have said he needs a stem-cell transplant to save his life and time is running out.

As has been widely reported this week, his family, who live in Somerset, have only until the start of July, when his chemotherapy course ends, to find a suitable donor. Normally a third of people requiring the operation are able to find a sibling match. All of his three brothers have already been tested, but none has been successful.

He and his loved ones are now searching the Anthony Nolan stemcell donor register for a match with a stranger willing to help. The charity warns, however, that it can normally find a suitable donor for only around half the people who need a life-saving stem-cell transplant.

Kate, as a result, has taken matters into her own hands. This week, she launched a public campaign for people to sign up to the register, urging social media users to post silly videos of themselves shaking their faces from side to side something the couple used to film each other doing to promote the campaign she has called #Shake4Mike.

Her hope, of course, is that more signatories to the register will boost her fiancs chances of finding a donor and she has been inundated with responses. Some have been so funny theyve made me laugh out loud.

Indeed, in conversation, the Nottingham University graduate is strikingly upbeat and resilient. But optimism in the face of tragedy is a skill she has already been forced to master. In 2005, her 59-year-old father, David, died suddenly at the family home in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, after developing a blood clot following an operation on a hip he had broken skiing. He had just eaten his Sunday roast and walked on his crutches to the living room and died.

A few weeks later, her grandparents followed him. In 2008 her mother, Ali, invited her best friend, Simon Blackett, to move in to help support the family. Within two months, the 38-year-old suffered a fatal brain haemorrhage.

It was a year after this latest loss that the couple first met. Kate says her fianc has helped turn her life around and that, ever since she received that phone call in Burma, she has been determined to be his rock in return.

Still, the journey home was in itself enough to test her emotional strength. She remembers a horrendous 48-hour blur of buses and planes. Mum picked me up straight from Heathrow and drove me to the hospital. I thought when I saw her Id break down, but shes really strong and that helped so much. When I got to the hospital and saw him he looked pale, but other than that it was just a relief to be with him, says Kate.

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#Shake4Mike: 'I wanted to be his rock in return'

Epigenetic mechanisms distinguishing stem cell function, blood cancer decoded

By Stem Cell Medicine

Researchers at Dartmouth's Norris Cotton Cancer Center have published results from a study in Cell Reports that discovers a new mechanism that distinguishes normal blood stem cells from blood cancers.

"These findings constitute a significant advance toward the goal of killing leukemia cells without harming the body's normal blood stem cells which are often damaged by chemotherapy," said Patricia Ernst, PhD, co-director of the Cancer Mechanisms Program of the Norris Cotton Cancer Center and an associate professor in Genetics at the Geisel School of Medicine.

The study focused on a pathway regulated by a gene called MLL1 (for Mixed Lineage Leukemia). Ernst served as principal investigator; Bibhu Mishra, PhD, as lead author.

When the MLL1 gene is damaged, it can cause leukemia, which is a cancer of the blood, often occurring in very young patients. Researchers found that the normal version of the gene controls many other genes in a manner that maintains the production of blood cells.

"This control becomes chaotic when the gene is damaged or 'broken' and that causes the normal blood cells to turn into leukemia," said Ernst.

The researchers showed that the normal gene acts with a partner gene called MOF that adds small "acetyl" chemical modification around the genes that it controls. The acetyl modification acts as a switch to turn genes on. When this function is disrupted, MLL1 cannot maintain normal blood stem cells.

The researchers also found that a gene called Sirtuin1 (more commonly known for controlling longevity) works against MLL1 to keep the proper amount of "acetyl" modifications on important stem cell genes. Blood cancers involving MLL1, in contrast, do not have this MOF-Sirtuin balance and place a different chemical modification on genes that result in leukemia.

Blood stem cells also represent an important therapy for patients whose own stem cells are destroyed by chemotherapy. This study also reveals a new way to treat blood stem cells from donors that would expand their numbers.

"These finding suggest that drugs that block Sirtuin1 may be combined with MLL1 blocking drugs in certain leukemia to both preserve stem cells that make normal blood at the same time as killing leukemia cells," said Ernst.

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Epigenetic mechanisms distinguishing stem cell function, blood cancer decoded

Stem cell progeny tell their parents when to turn on

By Stem Cell Medical Center

May 09, 2014 A signal from Transit-Amplifying Cells (TACs) activates stem cells in the hair follicle, researchers have found. Both types of cells appear in green (top), with TACs clustered lower down. The researchers identified the signal as Sonic Hedgehog. In experiments, such as this one (bottom), they disabled the signal, interfering with hair growth and regeneration.

(Phys.org) Stem cells switch off and on, sometimes dividing to produce progeny cells and sometimes resting. But scientists don't fully understand what causes the cells to toggle between active and quiet states.

New research in Elaine Fuchs' Laboratory of Mammalian Cell Biology and Development focused on stem cells in the hair follicle to determine what switches them on. The researchers found cells produced by the stem cells, progeny known at Transit-Amplifying Cells or TACs, emit a signal that tells quiet hair follicle stem cells to become active.

"Many types of mammalian stem cells produce TACs, which act as an intermediate between the stem cells and their final product: fully differentiated cells in blood, skin and elsewhere," says Ya-Chieh Hsu, who conducted the research while as a postdoc in the lab and will soon move to Harvard University. "In the past, TACs were seen as a population of cells that sat by passively cranking out tissues. No one expected them to play a regulatory role."

Hsu and Fuchs went a step further to identify the signal sent out by the TACs. They pinpointed a cell-division promoting protein called Sonic Hedgehog, which plays a role in the embryonic development of the brain, eyes and limbs.

Stem cells are medically valuable because they have the potential to produce a number of specialized cells suitable for specific roles. Stem cells' production of these differentiated cells is crucial to normal maintenance, growth and repair. Many tissues have two populations of stem cells: one that divides rarely, known as the quiescent stem cells, and another that is more prone to proliferate, known as primed stem cells. Regardless of their proliferation frequency, most stem cells in humans do not directly produce differentiated progeny cells; instead, they give rise to an intermediate proliferating population, the TACs.

The hair follicle, the tiny organ that produces a hair, forms a narrow cavity down into the skin. It cycles between rounds of growth, destruction and rest. When entering the growth phase, the primed stem cell population is always the first to divide and generates the TACs clustered lower down in the hair follicle. Primed stem cell proliferation sets the stage for the next round of hair growth, a process which ensures hairs are replaced as they are lost over time. Proliferating TACs produce the hair shaft, as well as all the cells surrounding the hair underneath the skin, which make up the follicle itself.

At the outset, Hsu and Fuchs suspected a role for both the TACs and for Sonic Hedgehog in hair regeneration.

"We noticed that the primed stem cell population gets activated early and makes the TACs, while the quiescent stem cell population only becomes activated once TACs are generated. This correlation prompted us to look for a signal that is made by the TACs. Sonic Hedgehog is that signal, as we went on to demonstrate," explained Fuchs.

In experiments described this week in Cell, Hsu disabled TACs' ability to produce the Sonic Hedgehog protein by knocking out the gene responsible in the hair follicles of adult mice. As a result, the proliferation of hair follicle stem cells and their TACs are both compromised. They further showed that it is the quiescent stem cell population which requires Sonic Hedgehog directly for proliferation.

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Stem cell progeny tell their parents when to turn on

Production of synthetic SIRT1 as a dietary supplement may help prolong life, states Chemist Direct

By Uncategorized

(PRWEB UK) 9 May 2014

Over the course of the human life span the body ages and becomes less able to repair itself, allowing it to become more prone to disease and illness. In the ever developing field of scientific discovery researchers have become intrigued with the concept of finding a way to slow down age-related diseases and prolonging life through the use of medicine. Since the Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka (http://bit.ly/1kWb20u) first discovered iPS cells in adult tissue and pioneered mature cell regeneration, this field in medicine has become one of the most rapidly developing fields in biomedicine.

A research team at the National Institute on Ageing at the National Institutes of Health in the US has discovered a promising strategy to arrest ageing by looking at a chemical called SRT1720 which activates a particular protein called Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1). Previous research has demonstrated that activating SIRT1 can have health benefits in various organisms, and it has been proposed as an anti-ageing protein. This study, published in the March edition of Research Journal: Cell (http://bit.ly/1od2gS5) focused on comparing the lifespan, health and diseases of mice fed the same diet, but with or without the addition of a SRT1720.

Overall they found mice fed a normal diet but with the supplement had a longer natural lifespan on average (about five weeks longer). During their lifetime, additional tests also suggested they had improved muscle function and coordination, improved metabolism, improved glucose tolerance, decreased body fat and cholesterol. All in all this suggests that giving the mice this supplement could protect them from the equivalent of metabolic syndrome, a series of risk factors associated with conditions such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

A study published today in the journal Stem Cell Reports (http://bit.ly/1hBSDF6) and carried out by the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre's Telomeres and Telomerase Group, reveals that the SIRT1 protein is needed to lengthen and maintain telomeres during cell reprogramming. SIRT1 also guarantees the integrity of the genome of stem cells that come out of the cell reprogramming process; these cells are known as iPS cells (induced Pluripotent Stem cells).

The nature of iPS cells, however, is causing intense debate. The latest research shows that chromosome aberrations and DNA damage can accumulate in these cells. "The problem is that we don't know if these cells are really safe," says Mara Luigia De Bonis, a postdoctoral researcher who has done a large part of the work. http://bit.ly/1m5gRgb

Researchers did not look at whether SIRT1 may cause side effects or complications so it is currently unclear whether SIRT1 would be safe in humans, let alone effective, but this interesting research has opened doors to pharmaceutical companies to develop dietary supplements that can help provide anti-aging pills, especially those who suffer hereditary degenerative diseases. These ongoing scientific studies will help shed light on how cell reprogramming guarantees the healthy functioning of stem cells. This knowledge will help to overcome barriers that come out of the use of iPS cells so they may be used in regenerative medicine.

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Production of synthetic SIRT1 as a dietary supplement may help prolong life, states Chemist Direct

First stem cell trial for stroke shows lasting benefits

By Stem Cell Treatment

People who received the world's first stem cell treatment for strokes have shown measurable reductions in disability and handicap a year after the injection into their damaged brains.

Some can move limbs and manage everyday tasks that were impossible before they received an injection of neural progenitor stem cells, which were clones of cells originally taken from the cortex of a donated fetus.

Apart from physical rehabilitation, there are few treatments for people left severely disabled by a stroke. Demand for more options is high, with 800,000 new cases each year in the US and 150,000 in the UK.

"We're encouraged, and it's a nice progressive piece of news," says Michael Hunt, the chief executive officer of ReNeuron, the company in Guildford, UK, that developed the treatment. "We must be circumspect, but we are seeing what seems to be a general trend towards improvement in a disparate group of patients," he says.

ReNeuron presented its latest results on the first 11 patients on 7 May in Nice, France, at the 23rd European Stroke Conference. They build on interim findings released last year.

The patients in the PISCES trial (Pilot Investigation of Stem Cells in Stroke) had all suffered their strokes at least six months before treatment and were all chosen because their symptoms had plateaued, making any improvements more likely to be the result of treatment.

There were improvements in median scores on all five scales used to measure the patients' recovery.

On a score that measures quality of life from 0 to 100, patients began with a median score of 45, but within a year this had risen by 18 points, a 40 per cent improvement.

Rankin Scores, which grade disability and handicap from healthy (0) to dead (6) improved from a median of 3 at the start to 2 for four of the patients, although the rest remained the same. "That's equivalent to taking a patient down a whole level of dependency, and equates to a 20 per cent improvement," says Hunt. Scores on all the other three scales were higher at 12 than at three months, suggesting the improvements were continuing.

The company is now actively recruiting for a second, larger trial in 41 people. They will be recruited sooner after their strokes within two to three months in the hope that earlier treatment will prevent some of the irreversible scarring. It will also deploy a harder but more objective measure of improvement in which patients have to try lifting a wooden block onto a platform. Hunt expects full results by the end of 2015.

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First stem cell trial for stroke shows lasting benefits

Son's successful stem cell transplant best Mother's Day present

By Stem Cell Treatment

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Carrie Yokley and her family stayed at the Ronald McDonald House in Nashville while her son Ryan received lifesaving treatment.

On Friday afternoon, Yokley said her prayers were answered. Doctorssaid her sons stem cell transplant was a success, curing him of two diseases, Burton's and Crohn's.

She said that is the best Mothers Day gift she could have hoped for.

You think your kids are the best gift you can get, but then you get a gift like this, [he gets] a second chance to be a little boy, said Yokley.

Carrie Yokley will celebrate Mothers Day at the Ronald McDonald House, along with 32 other mothers going through a similar experience.

It's just a nice time for them to put aside the worries they have about their child's illness and celebrate being a mother and getting to be with their children, said Heather Powell, with the Ronald McDonald House Charities.

Ryan cannot be around other people until his immune system improves. Yokley said Ryan felt bad that he could not do more with his mother on the special day.

She assured him, this Mothers Day she received everything she wanted.

I said we're together, I have you all, that's the best Mother's Day present ever, said Yokley.

The Ronald McDonald House Charities of Nashville provides a home away from home for families of critically ill children receiving care at Nashville area hospitals.

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Son's successful stem cell transplant best Mother's Day present

Former Professional Football Player to Be a Spokesperson for Smartchoice Stem Cell Institute to Promote Adult Stem …

By Stem Cell Treatment

Jacksonville, FL (PRWEB) May 09, 2014

Tom McManus, former professional football player with the Jacksonville Jaguars is teaming up with SmartChoice Stem Cell Institute as a spokesperson. He and SmartChoice hope that the alliance will promote awareness of benefits and success of Adult Stem Cell procedures as non-surgical treatment for sports injuries, arthritis, joint and back pain.

McManus, who was a middle linebacker for the Jacksonville Jaguars, is a firm believer in the treatment. I think SmartChoice procedures are a great alternative to invasive surgery and want to let people know that this option exists in Jacksonville. Many athletes have been going to Germany for these types of treatments, and now they dont have to leave the United States.

SmartChoice Stem Cell Institute, SmartChoiceStemCell.com, located in Jacksonville, Florida, was founded by Dr. Hardesh Garg, M.D. Dr. G, as he is affectionately referred by his patients, has been practicing medicine for over 20 years but has focused his medical practice on Adult Stem Cells for almost five years. Regenerative Medicine and Adult Stem Cell treatments are the newest alternative to invasive orthopedic surgeries for joint problems and sports injuries. This is the future and we are honored to have Tom as our spokesperson as we move forward in this exciting medical field.

SmartChoice Adult Stem Cell Procedures use adult stem cells from a patients own body, harvested and injected in a same-day office procedure to regenerate and rejuvenate injured cells. These procedures are helpful not only for sports injuries, but also for arthritis and other joint and back problems.

Dr. Garg and McManus hope that this partnership will increase public awareness of SmartChoice Adult Stem Cell procedures. SmartChoice continues to help patients with a variety of sports injuries. McManus will use his NFL and public speaking experience to help Dr. Garg treat athletes with sports injuries, both amateur and professional, especially the ever-growing golf community in Florida and other states.

For more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Dr. Garg, please visit SmartChoiceStemCell.com or call Brooke Williams, Chief Clinical Consultant, at 904-997-6100 or email Brooke at consultant(at)smartchoicestemcell(dot)com

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Former Professional Football Player to Be a Spokesperson for Smartchoice Stem Cell Institute to Promote Adult Stem ...

New Vet-Stem Patent for Stem Cells Covers Sports Medicine Applications

By Stem Cell Medicine

Poway, California (PRWEB) May 08, 2014

Vet-Stem, Inc., announced that a major patent has been issued directly to Vet-Stem for New Zealand. This patent covers methods for extracting/preparing and using adipose tissue-derived stem cells for preventing or treating diseases in any mammal, including humans. This patent will provide coverage for the ongoing commercial and development programs at Vet-Stem and for its licensees in Australasia. This patent may be available for licensing for human applications to other companies interested in working in this field.

Of particular interest is the application to the rapidly evolving field of Regenerative Sports Medicine. This patent covers the preparation methods and use of adipose-derived stem cells in treating any type of disease, but specifically covers the use in injuries or diseases of the musculoskeletal system such as tendon tears, ligament injury and osteoarthritis.

This new patent issued to Vet-Stem adds to the many other patents in the Vet-Stem portfolio that cover methods of preparing and using regenerative cells from adipose. Vet-Stem has already had a similar patent issue in the EU and applications are pending in the US and other countries. In addition to these owned patents, Vet-Stem has exclusive worldwide rights to a portfolio of patents (over 50 issued and 70 pending patents) from Artecel, Inc. (including University of Pittsburgh patents) and the University of California, which further strengthens the companys intellectual property position in this rapidly developing field.

As the first company in the world to offer fat derived stem cell services for veterinary use, Vet-Stem has rapidly developed the market, providing treatments to over 10,000 horses, dogs, cat and exotic species. Intellectual property rights can be confusing in a rapidly developing market with evolving technology, said Bob Harman, DVM, MPVM, CEO of Vet-Stem. We needed to do everything possible to protect the market that we are creating in regenerative veterinary medicine and to ensure that the value of the company is optimized. The value of this technology has increased greatly since the founding of the company in 2002 as the business model, therapeutic activity of the cells, and ease of tissue collection have all been demonstrated.

About Vet-Stem, Inc. Vet-Stem, Inc. was formed in 2002 to bring regenerative medicine to the veterinary profession. The privately held company is working to develop therapies in veterinary medicine that apply regenerative technologies while utilizing the natural healing properties inherent in all animals. As the first company in the United States to provide an adipose-derived stem cell service to veterinarians for their patients, Vet-Stem, Inc. pioneered the use of regenerative stem cells in veterinary medicine. The company holds exclusive licenses to over 50 patents including world-wide veterinary rights for use of adipose derived stem cells. In the last decade over 10,000 animals have been treated using Vet-Stem, Inc.s services, and Vet-Stem is actively investigating stem cell therapy for immune-mediated and inflammatory disease, as well as organ disease and failure. For more on Vet-Stem, Inc. and Veterinary Regenerative Medicine visit http://www.vet-stem.com or call 858-748-2004.

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New Vet-Stem Patent for Stem Cells Covers Sports Medicine Applications

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