Stem Cell Clinic

Progress in stem cell biology: This could change everything about the practice of medicine

By adminFebruary 4, 2014Uncategorized

Editors note: What follows is a guest post. Michael Zhang is an MD-PhD student studying at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. He is one of my go-to experts on matters of cell biology and stem cells. (His bio is below.)

As you may have heard, this week brought striking news in the field of stem cell biology. Researchers from Boston and Japan published two papers in the prestigious journal Nature in which they describe new and easy ways to transform mouse cells back into stem cells. (NPR coverage here.) Make no mistake, this is not mundane science news. This is big.

I follow cell biology because I believe it is the branch of science that will bring the next major advance in modern medicine. Rather than implant a pacemaker, future doctors may inject a solution of sinus node stem cells, and voila, the heart beats normally. Rather than watch a patient with a scarred heart die of heart failure or suffer from medication side effects, future doctors may inject stem cells that replace the non-contracting scar. And the same could happen for kidneys, pancreas, spinal nerves, etc.

When I heard the news, I emailed Michael the link with the following subject line: This is pretty cool, right? He wrote back. What he taught me is worth sharing.

***

Michael Zhang MD-PhD candidate Univ of Louisville

By Michael Zhang:

Japanese and American cell biologists have recently reported dramatic new findings that are likely to upend biological dogma.

For much of the past century, the prevailing consensus held that once animal cells move past the earliest embryonic stages, they are irreversibly committed to specialized roles in the adult brain cells, heart cells, lung cells etc. In the past decade, two Nobel-winning biologists each separately demonstrated that committed specialist cells (aka differentiated cells) could be reprogrammed back to a primordial, embryonic state (aka pluripotent stem cell) that could then morph into any new type of specialized cell.

Now, Professor Obokata and her colleagues describe new methods to induce this reprogramming of specialized cells to (pluripotent) stem cells. Whereas previous methods involved draconian procedures the transfer of entire nuclei between cells, or the transfer of multiple genes Obokatas group found that simply squeezing a terminally differentiated cell, or immersing it in an acidic solution, could induce reprogramming to an embryonic stem cell state.

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Progress in stem cell biology: This could change everything about the practice of medicine

stem cell therapy treatment for traumatic brain injury by dr alok sharma, mumbai, india – Video

By adminFebruary 4, 2014Uncategorized

stem cell therapy treatment for traumatic brain injury by dr alok sharma, mumbai, india
improvement seen in just 5 days after stem cell therapy treatment for traumatic brain injury by dr alok sharma, mumbai, india. Stem Cell Therapy done date 7 ...

By: Neurogen Brain and Spine Institute

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stem cell therapy treatment for traumatic brain injury by dr alok sharma, mumbai, india - Video

TiGenix : reaches major cell therapy milestone with 1000th.

By adminFebruary 4, 2014Uncategorized

REGULATED INFORMATION FEBRUARY 4, 2014

TiGenix reaches major cell therapy milestone with 1000th implant of ChondroCelect

Leuven (BELGIUM) - February 4, 2014 - TiGenix (NYSE Euronext: TIG), a leader in the field of cell therapy, announced today that it reached a major milestone with the performance of the 1000th ChondroCelect implantation for cartilage repair in the knee. ChondroCelect is the first cell therapy that was granted approval by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) as an Advanced Therapy Medicinal Product (ATMP). Today it is routinely used in orthopedic centers of excellence across several European countries.

"A 1000 patients have already benefited from this innovative therapy, further supporting its efficacy and safety profile," said Eduardo Bravo, CEO of TiGenix. "A milestone such as today's is a clear demonstration of how far the cell therapy field has progressed over recent years, and I have no doubt that it is on its way to become a mainstay in clinical practice. We will continue to work towards turning our ChondroCelect franchise into a cash flow positive asset, and to push the clinical development of our pipeline of stem cell programs to a successful conclusion."

About ChondroCelect An innovative treatment, ChondroCelect has been shown to result in long-term durable clinical benefits in patients with recent cartilage lesions. Five-year follow-up data confirm that the therapeutic effect and the clinical benefit of ChondroCelect gained over baseline is maintained up to at least five years after the cartilage repair intervention. In addition, the data confirm that early treatment with ChondroCelect results in a superior clinical benefit over microfracture, and a lower failure rate.

Cartilage lesions of the knee are a frequent cause of disability in the active population. Caused by repetitive microtraumata, or due to sports or traffic accidents, cartilage lesions rarely heal spontaneously. When untreated, they predispose to osteoarthritis, which causes disability and represents a major socioeconomic burden. A treatment that allows symptom relief and functional recovery is key. To meet this important medical need, TiGenix developed ChondroCelect, the first cell therapy that was granted approval by the EMA as an ATMP.

ChondroCelect is administered to patients in an autologous chondrocyte implantation procedure known as Characterized Chondrocyte Implantation. TiGenix has designed a sophisticated manufacturing process to preserve the cells' characteristics and biological activity, and to maintain their ability to produce high quality cartilage. This process meets the highest quality standards and has been approved by the EMA.

For more information: Eduardo Bravo Chief Executive Officer eduardo.bravo@tigenix.com

Claudia D'Augusta Chief Financial Officer claudia.daugusta@tigenix.com

About TiGenix

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TiGenix : reaches major cell therapy milestone with 1000th.

Stem cell treatment: Controversial for humans, but not for pets

By adminFebruary 4, 2014Stem Cell Treatment

PHOENIX, Ariz. -

Stem cell research and therapy on humans has traveled a long and often politically troubled path.

Not so for pets, where stem cell treatment has been used for nearly 10 years and now it is so routine, and so successful, it can be done in a day.

Ava is a 90 pound, 2-year-old Akita, who is about to undergo stem cell surgery. A little IV, a little anesthesia and Ava is out.

"It is used for arthritis mostly," said Dr. Velvet Edwards.

Ava is just beginning her day at Pecan Grove Veterinary Hospital in Tempe. Dr. Edwards oversees the stem cell procedure.

"Stem cells are healing cells, so they seek out area of injury damage or destruction," explained Edwards. "They accelerate healing and help the animal, the patient, the pet just use their own natural abilities to get better."

Veterinary stem cells are harvested from the animal's own fat cells. They are separated and processed by machinery right inside the vet's office and then injected back into the dog's trouble spots.

Thanks to new technology developed by Meti Vet, the process is completed in just a day.

"The pet comes in the morning, it's anesthetized and I collect about two to four grams of fat usually behind the shoulder blade," said Edwards. "Then I hand that fat over to my technicians to run it through a series of steps.. basically to dissolve the fat and get down to a little stem cell pellet... Then we take that pellet and we reconstitute it and make it injectable. I will put it back into the animal's body wherever I need it later that day."

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Stem cell treatment: Controversial for humans, but not for pets

Center for Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine – UTHealth

By adminFebruary 3, 2014Stem Cell Medical Center

Phone 713.500.3429; Fax 713.500.2424

Brian R. Davis, Ph.D., Associate Professor and DirectorQi Lin Cao, M.D., Associate Professor Charles S. Cox, Jr., M.D., Professor Radbod Darabi, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant ProfessorDong H. Kim, M.D., ProfessorMikhail G. Kolonin, Ph.D., Associate Professor Yong Li, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor Ying Liu, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor Nami McCarty, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Naoki Nakayama,Ph.D., Associate Professor Laura A. Smith Callahan,Ph.D., Assistant Professor Pamela L. Wenzel, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Jiaqian Wu, Ph.D., Assistant Professor

About the Center

A major focus of contemporary medicine is the development of effective therapies for the restoration of human tissues and organs lost to diseases and trauma. Regenerative Medicine is a rapidly emerging field that stands at the intersection of a variety of rapidly developing scientific disciplines: stem cell biology, tissue engineering, biomaterials, molecular biology, immunology and transplantation biology and clinical research. Implicit in the successful design, implementation and application of regenerative medicine/tissue engineering approaches to the repair of a damaged tissue or organ is the reliance on the unique biological properties of stem cells.

The mission statement of the Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at the IMM is: To study the fundamental properties of stem cells and to translate their unique biological properties into novel cellular therapies for graft engineering and tissue regeneration for currently intractable disorders. While it is therefore implicit that any such program would span basic-translational-clinical research, it is essential that such an endeavour is ultimately underpinned by excellence in fundamental stem cell research. The Director of the Center, Dr. Brian R. Davis is currently in the process of recruiting a multidisciplinary faculty with the appropriate breadth of expertise, innovation and scientific rigour in the discipline of stem cell biology with the dual intention to promote the excellence and innovation of research within the Center and secondly to ensure the quality and appropriateness of stem cell based translational research initiatives emanating from the Center. In addition, the Center is also envisioned as an educational resource, which in the medium to long-term will be the basis for the development of an academic program in stem cell biology on campus. Moreover, by interfacing effectively with other programs and institutions within the UTHSC, the Center will also act as a focus to stimulate the development and implementation of novel cellular therapies for a range of diseases and disorders.

Some of the current areas of research in the Center are highlighted below:

Brian R. Davis, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Molecular Medicine & Director, Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Annie and Bob Graham Distinguished Chair in Stem Cell Biology Ph.D. ~ California Institute of Technology / Pasadena, California

Qi Lin Cao,M.D. Associate Professor, The Vivian L. Smith Department of Neurosurgery & Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine M.D.~ Hunan Medical University / Hunan, China

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Center for Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine - UTHealth

Stem Cell Medical Research Center

By adminFebruary 3, 2014Stem Cell Medical Center

Functions of organism last properly depending on well organized and controlled reproduction, immigration, differentiation and maturation activities unions. It is possible when the cells in organ and tissues are produced regularly. Stem cells are at the top of this system in an organism. Stem cell is that are able to renew themselves by keeping on splitting for long time by remaining same (not differentiated) and they can differentiate according to needs of organism. Stem cells are major source of cell based treatments. Thus some of researches are using human or animal based stem cells from different kind of tissues.

In different kinds of stem cell researches state that mature stem cell have some significant advantage on the cure of damaged tissues. The advantage of using stem cell obtained from an adult is that stem cell can reproduce in patients own cultivation and then before facing regeneration, they can be given to the patient.

Stem cell researches and its treatments are still the very popular topic in the world

STEM CELLS AND WHY ARE THEY IMPORTANT?

Research of stem cell has gained much prominence in recent years for its therapeutic potential in dealing with diseases many of which are essentially incurable by normal therapies. These diseases are characterized by progressive cell loss which has no regenerative potential: e.g. neurodegenerative process leads to Alzheimer and Parkinson diseases. These have become serious health problems as people in advanced societies now live longer. There is great variability in the occurrence and onset of these diseases and the underlying environmental and genetic factors are unknown. The destruction of the beta cells of pancreatic islets is the main cause of diabetes, another serious health problem, can be caused by autoimmune reactions resulting in cell loss (1).

Stem cells are distinct from other cell types by two important characteristics. First, they are unspecialized cells capable of renewing themselves through cell division, sometimes after long periods of inactivity (in G0). Second, under certain physiologic or experimental setting, they can be induced to become tissue or organ specific cells with special functions (2). In some organs, stem cells regularly divide to repair and replace worn out or damaged tissues such as the gut and bone marrow. In other organs, however, such as the heart and the pancreas, stem cells only divide under special conditions. They have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body during early life and growth. On the other hand, they serve as a sort of internal repair system in many tissues, dividing essentially without limit to replenish other cells as long as the person or animal is still alive (2).

Scientists frequently worked with two kinds of stem cells from animals and humans: embryonic stem cells and non-embryonic somatic or adult stem cells. Researchers discovered ways to derive embryonic stem cells from early mouse embryos nearly 30 years ago, in 1981. In 1998, the detailed study of the biology of mouse stem cells led to the discovery of a method to derive stem cells from human embryos and grow the cells in the laboratory. These cells are called human embryonic stem cells. They are important for living organisms for many reasons. In the 3- to 5-day-old embryo, called a blastocyst, the inner cells give rise to the entire body of the organism, including all of the many specialized cell types and organs such as the heart, lung, skin, sperm, eggs and other tissues. In some adult tissues, such as bone marrow, muscle, and brain, discrete populations of adult stem cells generate replacements for cells that are lost through normal wear and tear, injury, or disease (2,3).

In 2006, researchers made another breakthrough by identifying conditions that would allow some specialized adult cells to be reprogrammed genetically to assume a stem cell-like state. This new type of stem cell was called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) (2).

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Stem Cell Medical Research Center

Stem Cell Clinic

By adminFebruary 3, 2014Stem Cell Clinic

With Focus on Adult Stem Cells to Treat Chronic Degenerative Diseases The Stem Cell Clinic is a multi-institutional center, dedicated to ensuring an uncompromising level of quality care.

Dr. Francisco Contreras, an extensively trained oncologist and surgeon, leads the Stem Cell Clinic in its effort to providing safe and effective regenerative therapies including the use of adult stem cell treatments, nutrition and immune building protocols.

Learn More...

The Stem Cell Clinic advocates and practices the use of adult stem cells, as there are no ethical or moral issues related to their use as compared to embryonic stem cells. There are also more successful treatments confirmed with the use of adult stem cells over embryonic.

Dr. Francisco Contreras demonstrates the procedure to harvest stem cells from the bone marrow.

Watch the Video

If you are searching for experienced surgeons that can provide the treatment and care you deserve, contact the Stem Cell Clinic today. Our clinic provides the highest quality of support to patients from around the world. If you would like to schedule a consultation, please fill out our request form, and a member of our staff will contact you shortly.

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Stem Cell Clinic

More Stem Cell Clinic Hype Press Releases for the New Year …

By adminFebruary 3, 2014Stem Cell Clinic

This week I saw yet another crazy press release. I usually see these from some university claiming a stem cell first that isnt close to a first. Yet now they also seem to be coming from doctors who are claiming firsts that are no where near firsts. This one was from an Orthopedic Sports doctor who claims to be the only orthopedic surgeon in the country using stem cells (we have a few in our network and bone marrow stem cells have been in common use by surgeons for at least a decade). The story was so riddled with inaccuracies (stem cells coming from blood, stem cells not being common practice because of the Bush Embryonic stem cell ban, that there is something unique about a little bedside centrifuge processing bone marrow), that I thought it was time to again differentiate what we do from the wild west of stem cell clinics cropping up.

When we first pioneered orthopedic stem cell therapy in 2005, we were the only physicians in the U.S. doing this type of work. This last few years has seen a bevy of clinics opening up and offering stem cell therapies for pretty much whatever ails you-from arthritis to ALS to COPD to MS. A few of these clinics are legitimately trying to do a good job, but most are not. How can you tell the difference? First, lets look at the clinic types that are popping up:

The Miracle Fat Stem Cell Clinic-These clinics offer treatments for a multitude of diseases that include knee and hip arthritis. They perform a small liposuction to get cells and as such, are usually run by a plastic surgeon who oversees a processing facility that distributes cells to other medical specialists. Some claim to be operating research studies, but when I have investigated these further, most of this is more sales than reality (i.e. one clinic system claimed to have a research IRB approval that turned out to have been rescinded). In addition, on the orthopedics side of the treatments, these are usually blind non-specific injections (without any guidance to ensure accurate placement) somewhere in the vicinity of the painful joint. They frequently will combine these local injections with an IV infusion of fat stem cells, 97% of which will end up in the lungs and never see the joint. As you know from previous blogs, fat stem cells dont work as well as marrow cells for orthopedic purposes, so the orthopedic side of the business seems to be an afterthought to drive revenue.

The Little Bedside Machine Clinic-These clinics are often more focused on orthopedic problems, but use an automated bedside one size fits all machine to process bone marrow cells and platelet rich plasma. Some of these clinics do offer guidance of the injection, but very little effort is placed on tracking patients or reporting outcome data. So the type of treatment registry data that youve read about on this site over the past month isnt going to be reported by these clinics, leaving the patient to fly blind on how well these procedures work or dont work. These machines also produce about 1/10-1/15th of the stem cells per unit volume as a Regenexx-SD procedure (based on our lab studies). They also only isolate one fraction in the bone marrow that contains stem cells and discard the other fraction (not knowing that it has valuable cells).

So what key components should a clinic have so you can feel comfortable?

Treatment Registry Tracking of Patients

Any new therapy that is yet standard of care needs to have data collected, even if it looks very promising from the standpoint of patient experience (i.e. a doctor says it has worked well in other patients). This means that standardized questionnaires are sent to the patient at set time points to see if they have less pain, more function, or had any complications with the procedure. This is a huge commitment on the part of the clinic and the doctor. As an example, right now we have a Clinical Research organization quality customized software to assist us in collecting data on the patients weve treated. We have two full-time employees to collect data, several part time supervisors, and a full time bio statistician to analyze this data. When we want to report the data, we must enlist the help of expensive physicians to call patients who havent responded to their questionnaires as this helps to make sure we have enough data to report. While we have a bio statistician, we must then use more expensive doctor time to help him decide whats clinically meaningful to analyze.

How can you tell if a clinic is doing this? They will have data from their patients that they have collected and reported, usually on an annual basis. As an example, the clinic mentioned above with the little bedside centrifuge that claimed magic, had no data and just began doing this procedure, so you wouldnt expect there to be any. Why is it important to see that clinics data? A procedure like this may produce very different results in a different doctors hands. In addition, the clinic will be able to tell you exactly how it collects its data, who collects it, how often, etc For example, a proper treatment registry collects data at set time points like 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, etc If all you get is a call from a nurse like you would after any common surgery, then this isnt nearly enough.

Guidance of the Injection

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More Stem Cell Clinic Hype Press Releases for the New Year ...

Arizona Pain Announces Positive Results in Revolutionary Stem Cell Study on Chronic Low Back Pain

By adminFebruary 3, 2014Stem Cell Clinic

Scottsdale, AZ. (PRWEB) February 03, 2014

The team at Arizona Pain (arizonapain.com), has received approval to announce the much anticipated Phase II results of a potential medical breakthrough on the use of stem cells for chronic low back pain. The study, which first garnered international attention two years ago as one of the first trials of its kind in the U.S., has produced positive, promising results.

"We are pleased to report that a clinical study has indicated that a single injection of adult, donor marrow stem cells into degenerating intervertebral discs has reduced low back pain and improved function in trial participants for at least 12 months, says Dr. Paul Lynch, M.D., Arizona Pain Co-Founder and double-board certified Pain Management physician. The results of this study, if confirmed, could change the way we treat low back pain.

Arizona Pain was the first clinic in the U.S. to have been selected for an FDA-cleared study on this advanced treatment. Since then, 100 qualified patients were offered an opportunity to participate in a controlled, double-blind study that monitored any changes in the patients degenerative lumbar discs throughout the trial. The stem cells were taken from the bone marrow of a young healthy adult donor, were culture expanded and were administered through a minimally invasive, single injection. Trial participants remained unaware of whether or not they received injections with stem cells or one of the control treatments.

Key findings at 12 months in the trial were reported as follows: improvement in chronic low back pain with reduction in mean pain score; increased proportion of patients achieving 50% reduction in pain score; increased proportion of patients achieving minimal residual back pain; reduced opioid use for pain relief; and reduced need for additional surgical and non-surgical interventions for persistent pain.

Arizona Pain is incredibly proud to have partnered with the trial sponsor Mesoblast, a world leader in regenerative medicine (http://www.mesoblast.com) on this sentinel research study, says Dr. Lynch. The results are promising and we are hopeful that these findings will be confirmed in a Phase III trial beginning this year."

On January 29, 2014, Mesoblast announced positive 12 month outcome results from the 100-patient Phase II clinical trial of its proprietary allogeneic, or off-the-shelf, Mesenchymal Precursor Cells (MPCs) in patients with chronic moderate to severe discogenic low back pain. The results showed that a single injection of MPCs into degenerating intervertebral discs reduced low back pain and improved function for at least 12 months. When compared with controls, MPC-treated patients used less opioids for pain relief, had greater radiographically-determined disc stability, and underwent less additional surgical and non-surgical treatment interventions. MPC treatments also appeared to be well tolerated during the study.

Mesoblast Chief Executive Silviu Itescu said, On the basis of these positive results, Mesoblast plans to meet shortly with regulatory authorities in major jurisdictions, including the United States Food and Drug Administration, to discuss product registration trials for the potential treatment of disc degeneration."

More than 6 million patients in the United States alone are currently dealing with chronic back pain that has persisted for at least three months, with around 3.5 million people affected by moderate or severe degenerative intervertebral disc disease. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Preventions National Center for Health Statistics reported in 2010 that low back pain was the leading cause of pain, affecting 28% of American adults, and the second most common cause of disability in American adults.

This study shows we are progressing toward major advances in pain medicine, says Dr. Tory McJunkin, M.D., co-founder of Arizona Pain and PainDoctor.com. Stem cell therapy focuses on addressing the source of the pain, rather than just the symptoms. We truly hope this will unlock a vital solution for people suffering from debilitating low back pain, says Dr. McJunkin.

Salk Institute and Stanford University to Lead New $40 Million Stem Cell Genomics Center

By adminFebruary 3, 2014Uncategorized

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Newswise LA JOLLAThe Salk Institute for Biological Studies will join Stanford University in leading a new Center of Excellence in Stem Cell Genomics, created through a $40 million award by California's stem cell agency, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

The center will bring together experts and investigators from seven different major California institutions to focus on bridging the fields of genomics the study of the complete genetic make-up of a cell or organism with cutting-edge stem cell research.

The goal is to use these tools to gain a deeper understanding of the disease processes in cancer, diabetes, endocrine disorders, heart disease and mental health, and ultimately to find safer and more effective ways of using stem cells in medical research and therapy.

"The center will provide a platform for collaboration, allowing California's stem cell scientists and genomics researchers to bridge these two fields," says Joseph Ecker, a Salk professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Investigator. "The Center will generate critical genomics data that will be shared with scientists throughout California and the rest of the world."

Ecker, holder of the Salk International Council Chair in Genetics, is co-director of the new center along with Michael Snyder, a professor and chair of genetics at Stanford.

Salk and Stanford will lead the center, and U.C. San Diego, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, the Scripps Research Institute, the J. Craig Venter Institute and Illumina Inc., all in San Diego, will collaborate on the project, in addition to U.C. Santa Cruz, which will also run the data coordination and management component.

"This Center of Excellence in Stem Cell Genomics shows why we are considered one of the global leaders in stem cell research," says Alan Trounson, president of the stem cell agency. "Bringing together this team to do this kind of work means we will be better able to understand how stem cells change as they grow and become different kinds of cells. That deeper knowledge, that you can only get through a genomic analysis of the cells, will help us develop better ways of using these cells to come up with new treatments for deadly diseases."

In addition to outside collaborations, the center will pursue some fundamental questions and goals of its own, including collecting and characterizing induced pluripotent stem cell lines from patients with familial cardiomyopathy; applying single-cell genomic techniques to better understand cellular subpopulations within diseased and healthy brain and pancreatic tissues; and developing novel computational tools to analyze networks underlying stem cell genome function.