Stem Cell Clinic

Has The Holy Grail Been Found In Stem Cell Medicine?

Last week, the scientific world was intrigued by a study in Nature magazine showing that an acidic environment turned adult mouse cells into "pluripotent" stem cells. The researchers called these new pluripotent cells "stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency cells" (STAP). This could have rather game changing consequences in the stem cell field. Notice I said could! This is no doubt a tremendous scientific feat. However we still do not know what road blocks might arise in using these cells. First of all these cells were grown from mice. To take poetic justice from a familiar phrase "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" well sometimes what happens in mice sometimes stays in mice. Clinical translation from one species does not always relate to another species. One need look no further than cancer drugs. Sometimes we find some tremendously successful cancer drugs in an animal trial only to find that it has little or no effect on human tissue. I have some specific questions on these cells that I will mention later in this blog.

The simplicity of producing these cells is when a batch of cells was exposed to a "sub-lethal" acidic environment, with a pH of 5.7, for 30 minutes. I am more convinced than ever than stress will trigger many different reactions in cells. This seems to be a prevailing thread in the stem cell field. Stress will make a cell change its characteristics. The cell can become much more powerful accomplishing repair. In one of my blogs from a few months ago I talked about MUSE cells. MUSE cells are called Multilinage Stress Enduring Cells derived from adipose tissue. These are pluripotent like stem cells derived from adipose tissue. They have an uncanny ability to survive. You will remember that MUSE cells were produced when fat tissue was subjected to harsh environments. It sort of sounds familiar. If we substitute the word STAP cell for a MUSE cell we find strikingly similar aspects of these cells. We start seeing a similar pattern. Some type of stress seems to be a a precipitating event in producing these cells.

To investigate whether the STAP cells could occur in mammals some studies were performed by Vacanti, Obokata and their group. They used mice that were bred to carry a gene that glows green in the presence of Oct-4, a protein that is only found in pluripotent cells. The team took a blood sample from the spleen of these mice when they were one week old, isolated white blood cells called lymphocytes, and exposed them to various strong but fleeting physical and chemical stresses. The team then tried to grow the cells in the lab. Not much happened at first some cells died, and the rest still looked like white blood cells. But on the second day, a number of cells began to glow green, meaning they were producing Oct-4. By day 7, two-thirds of the surviving cells showed this pluripotent marker, together with other genetic markers of pluripotency many of which are also seen in embryonic stem cells. The researchers don't know whether the reprogramming they are seeing is initiated by the low pH or by some other type of stress, such as chemical changes happening further down the line. What we may be doing is turning on genes that were previously turned off. The process of genes being turned off is called gene silencing. As we age many of our genes become silenced. Silenced genes can cause disease. We know that young people have many genes that are turned on and thus they seem as a group to avoid disease. As we age these genes become silenced and disease rears its ugly head.

It might just be that the creation of STAP cells is tapping into a fundamental body-repair process of life. I have suspected for some time now that repair depends upon the severity of the injury. If you injure cells significantly enough, so that they almost die, than certain genes may get switched on or off. This may result in a change in the cell's overall controls, meaning all genes have the potential to be switched on again. This may be the essence of life. We may have stumbled onto the master switch of life. This could happen in all tissue in the body under different circumstances.

There are some reports that these cells are totipotent. A pluripotential stem cell can form almost any kind of tissue. Pluripotent cells, such as embryonic stem cells, can form any cell in an embryo but not a placenta. Totipotent cells, however, can form any cell in an embryo and a placenta. These totipotent stem cells have the ability to creat life. The only cells known to be naturally totipotent are in embryos that have only undergone the first couple of cell divisions immediately after fertilization. This may end up in a Pandora's box. Might humanity go down the slippery slope of cloning a human being. I think this is a place most of humanity does not and should not want to go.

The potential for these cells is great. Some of the questions I have about these cells is for instance what about their telomeres. We have taken an adult cell and reprogramed it but what about its telomeres? Would we have the short telomere length that we would expect it a typical mature cell or would the telomeres lengthen? We know that pluripotent and higher stem cells make telomerase. Telomerase is the enzyme that restores the ends of the DNA strains. Every time a cell reproduces it loses a little snippet of DNA. Once the DNA strand approaches a certain critical level the cell becomes programed to die in a process called apotheosis. Telomerase restores the telomere end. Could we potentially use these STAP cells to not only repair damaged cells but maybe reverse aging. It seems that the more we know the less we know.

Thanks Dr. P

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Has The Holy Grail Been Found In Stem Cell Medicine?

DaSilva Institute of Anti-Aging, Regenerative & Functional Medicine Offers Autologous Stem Cell Therapy for Men …

Sarasota, FL (PRWEB) March 12, 2014

Erectile dysfunction (ED) is the most commonly studied disorder when it comes to male sexual dysfunction. It is estimated that 18 million men in the US alone suffer from erectile dysfunction and that it appears to be affecting 1 in 4 males under age 40 according to a study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine.

While the emphasis of treatments for ED focuses on relieving the symptoms, they only provide a temporary solution rather than a cure or reversing the cause.

The DaSilva Institute is excited to announce the recruitment of males suffering from ED, in an IRB study, which will look at the safety, and efficacy of autologous, adipose derived stem cells (ADSCs) in regenerating the causes of ED.

The evidence shows that ADSCs reverses the pathophysiological changes leading to ED, rather than treating the symptoms of ED. Not only is the data in the literature compelling, but our own, in-house, results on our patients have been phenomenal, states Dr. DaSilva.

The many underlying causes for ED that are being investigated range from those secondary to aging, to injury of the cavernous nerve secondary to injury, surgery and/or radiation of the prostate, to diabetic ED and Peyronies Disease to name a few. According to Dr. DaSilva, the possibilities for ADSCs in reversing ED are limitless.

Currently, there is an expansive and growing body of evidence in the medical literature strongly indicating that ADSCs might be a potential cure for ED, rather than merely symptom relief, which is indicative of the increasing interest in ADSC-regenerative options for sexual medicine over the past decade. The DaSilva Institutes goal is to take this from pre-clinical studies to the clinical world offering it to all males that suffer from intractable ED under an IRB approved protocol.

More information about Dr. DaSilva and the DaSilva Institute Guy DaSilva, MD is currently the medical director of the DaSilva Institute of Anti-Aging, Regenerative & Functional Medicine, located in Sarasota, Florida. Dr. DaSilvas enthusiasm for using autologous stem cells in regenerative medicine comes from his early days as a pathologist in New York City back in 1987 and later as a fellow in hematology in1990 following his residency in internal medicine.

He later brought his expertise in molecular and cellular medicine to the University of Kansas Medical Center where he served as chief of Hematology & Hematopathology. He later became the CEO and medical director of HemePath Institute, a diagnostic leader in diagnosing the most difficult cases of leukemia and lymphomas. Most recently, Dr. DaSilva teamed up with one of the most influential stem cell scientist in the world to bring the highest quality and viability of the harvested stem cells, bar none, to the DaSilva Institute.

Dr. DaSilva is board certified and fellowship trained in Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine. For more information about Dr. DaSilva or the DaSilva Institute go to http://www.dasilvainstitute.com.

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DaSilva Institute of Anti-Aging, Regenerative & Functional Medicine Offers Autologous Stem Cell Therapy for Men ...

Advances in Stem Cell, Organ Printing, Tissue Engineering Changing Healthcare, Saving Lives

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Newswise COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Imagine a world where malfunctioning organs are replaced by new ones made from your own tissues, where infected wounds are cured with a signal from your smartphone, where doctors find the perfect medicine for whatever ails you simply by studying your stem cells.

Its a world thats inching closer to reality because of the work of some of the nations top scientists, many of whom will gather March 13-15 at The Ohio State University for the 7th Annual Translational to Clinical (T2C) Regenerative Medicine Conference to discuss their recent successes and challenges in coaxing the body to heal itself in extraordinary ways.

Regenerative medicine will change the way you and I experience sickness, health and healthcare, said Chandan Sen, director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine and Cell Based Therapies at Ohio States Wexner Medical Center. Because the field is so new, we as researchers are also changing the way we work to be synergistic not competitive, so patients are able to access the benefits more quickly.

And the benefits are desperately needed, says keynote speaker Dr. Anthony Atala, director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

From chronic diseases such as kidney failure that costs billions of dollars each year to the medical needs of our aging population and the significant injuries sustained by military troops in Afghanistan, developing new treatment paradigms is essential, said Atala, who was selected to lead the $75 million Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM), a consortium of 30 academic and industry partners in applying regenerative medicine techniques to battlefield injuries.

In theory, every tissue in the body has the ability to regenerate and heal itself. Its good to come to this meeting and exchange ideas that will enable us to harness that remarkable ability.

Other speakers include Elaine Fuchs, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and Rebecca C. Lancefield Professor at Rockefeller University in New York, who has advanced multiple areas of stem cell research through her work in skin cells and genetics; and Dr. Michael Longaker, director of the Hagey Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology for Pediatric Regenerative Medicine at Stanford University. Longaker is considered one of the nations experts in using a combination of stem cell- and bioengineering-based technologies for craniofacial reconstruction.

Several Ohio State College of Medicine and Wexner Medical Center clinician-scientists are also sharing research updates during pre-conference lectures and the meeting:

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Advances in Stem Cell, Organ Printing, Tissue Engineering Changing Healthcare, Saving Lives

Stem Cell Researcher Suggests Recalling His Own Study

By Maggie Fox

One of the worlds leading stem cell experts has suggested withdrawing a study that made global headlines last January, saying he has questions about some of the images and data in it.

The Japanese team, led by Teruhiko Wakayama, reported that they had created powerful stem cells by doing little more than soaking ordinary cells in an acid solution.

The report, published in the journal Nature, impressed other stem cell researchers and opened the possibility of an easy approach to regenerative medicine. But Japanese television quotes Wakayama as saying he wants to take a closer look.

"When conducting the experiment, I believed it was absolutely right, Reuters news agency quotes Wakayama as telling the television station NHK.

"But now that many mistakes have emerged, I think it is best to withdraw the research paper once and, using correct data and correct pictures, to prove once again the paper is right," he said.

"If it turns out to be wrong, we would need to make it clear why a thing like this happened."

But Charles Vacanti of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, who helped work on the study, said he disagreed. "Some mistakes were made, but they don't affect the conclusions," the Wall Street Journal quoted him as saying.

"Based on the information I have, I see no reason why these papers should be retracted."

Stem cell researchers may be more sensitive than other scientists. In 2006, Seoul National University fired Hwang Woo-Suk after the journal Science retracted two papers he wrote claiming to have cloned human embryos and extracted stem cells from them.

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Stem Cell Researcher Suggests Recalling His Own Study