Stem Cell Clinic

Stem cell therapy offers new treatment options for pets — and humans

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Stem cell therapy offers new treatment options for pets -- and humans

Cellular Dynamics Launches MyCell™ Services

MADISON, Wis., June 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Cellular Dynamics International, Inc. (CDI), the world's largest commercial producer of human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell lines and tissue cells, today announced the launch of its MyCell Services. These services include novel iPS cell line reprogramming, genetic engineering and differentiation of iPS cells into commercially available iCell terminal tissue cells (for example, heart or nerve cells).

"CDI's mission is to be the top developer and manufacturer of standardized human cells in high quantity, quality and purity and to make these cells widely available to the research community. Our MyCell Services provide researchers with unprecedented access to the full diversity of human cellular biology," said Bob Palay, CDI Chief Executive Officer. "The launch of MyCell Services furthers CDI founder and stem cell pioneer Jamie Thomson's vision to enable scientists worldwide to easily access the power of iPSC technology, thus driving breakthroughs in human health."

Over the past 2 years, CDI has launched iCell Cardiomyocytes, iCell Neurons and iCell Endothelial Cells for human biology and drug discovery research. MyCell Services leverage CDI's prior investment in building an industrial manufacturing platform that can handle the parallel production of multiple iPSC lines and tissue cells, manufacturing billions of cells daily.

Chris Parker, CDI Chief Commercial Officer, commented, "Not all studies requiring human cells can be accomplished by using cells from a limited set of normal, healthy donors. Researchers may need iPS cells or tissue cells derived from specific ethnic or disease populations, and MyCell Services enable them to take advantage of our deep stem cell expertise and robust industrial manufacturing pipeline to do so. Previously, scientists had to create and differentiate iPS cells themselves. Such activities consume significant laboratory time and resources, both of which could be better applied to conducting experiments that help us better understand human biology. CDI's MyCell Services enable scientists to re-direct those resources back to their experiments."

CDI pioneered the technique to create iPS cells from small amounts of peripheral blood, although iPS cells can be created from other tissue types as well. Additionally, CDI's episomal reprogramming method is "footprint-free," meaning no foreign DNA is integrated into the genome of the reprogrammed cells, alleviating safety concerns over the possible use of iPS cells in therapeutic settings. These techniques have been optimized for manufacture of over 2 billion human iPS cells a day, and differentiated cells at commercial scale with high quality and purity to match the research needs.

Modeling Genetic Diversity

CDI has several projects already underway using MyCell Services to model genetic diversity of human biology. The Medical College of Wisconsin and CDI received a $6.3M research grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), announced July 2011, for which CDI's MyCell Services will reprogram an unprecedented 250 iPS cell lines from blood samples collected from Caucasian and African-American families in the Hypertension Genetic Epidemiology Network (HyperGEN) study. In addition, MyCell Services will differentiate these iPS cells into heart cells to investigate the genetic mechanisms underlying Left Ventricular Hypertrophy, an increase of the size and weight of the heart that is a major risk factor for heart disease and heart failure.

Researchers are also using CDI's MyCell Services to generate iPS cells and liver cells from individuals with drug induced liver injury (DILI), toward an eventual goal of identifying genetic factors linked to idiosyncratic liver toxicity. "The most problematic adverse drug event is sudden and severe liver toxicity that may occur in less than one in one thousand patients treated with a new drug, and thus may not become evident until the drug is marketed. This type of liver toxicity is not predicted well by usual preclinical testing, including screening in liver cultures derived from random human donors," said Paul B. Watkins, M.D., director of with The Hamner - University of North Carolina Institute for Drug Safety Sciences. "The ability to use iPS cell technology to prepare liver cultures from patients who have actually experienced drug-induced liver injury, and for whom we have extensive genetic information, represents a potential revolution in understanding and predicting this liability."

Screening Human Disease

While most diseases are multi-systemic, focus typically centers on only one organ system. For example, congenital muscular dystrophy (CMD) is a group of rare genetic diseases with a focus on skeletal muscle, yet other systems, including heart, eye, brain, diaphragm and skin, can be involved. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying complex disease phenotypes requires access to multiple tissue types from a single patient. While some systems are readily accessible for taking a biopsy sample, for example skin, other organs are not.

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Cellular Dynamics Launches MyCell™ Services

Stem cells may be to blame for clogged arteries

A newly discovered type of stem cell may be one of the major driving forces behind heart attacks and other killer vascular diseases, according to a new study. The finding may provide a brand new target for future heart disease treatments, the researchers said.

While doctors have long thought that it was the smooth muscle cells within the blood vessel walls that combined with cholesterol and fat to clog the arteries--and developed treatments accordingly--the new research indicates the guilty party may actually be a previously unknown type of stem cell, called a multipotent vascular stem cell.

In a study conducted in mice, researchers found it was these stem cells, rather than muscle cells, that formed the scar tissue that blocks the flow of blood in the arteries and causes them to harden.

According to the researchers, because multipotent stem cells are capable of becoming multiple types of cells, including smooth muscle, nerve, cartilage, bone and fat cells, the ability of the stem cells to form bone or cartilage could explain how a soft artery calcifies and hardens.

We are very confident that vascular stem cells play a much more important role than what was thought previously, principal investigator Dr. Song Li, professor of bioengineering and researcher at the Berkeley Stem Cell Center, told FoxNews.com.

Li said these stem cells appear to be involved in most major vascular diseases such as atherosclerosis and restenosis, or the clogging of the arteries. The researchers also believe the stem cells are involved the repair and diseases of all blood vessels.

The study could potentially lead to an entirely new area of heart disease treatment, as there are no therapies or medications that currently target stem cells.

Previous therapies focused on cholesterol metabolism and killing smooth muscle cells, Li said. This new finding opens a door to new therapies that target the vascular stem cells, not only to block the proliferation of the stem cells but also stop their differentiation into bone, cartilage, and even fat cellsIt will be a new area for vascular biology, medicine and the pharmaceutical industry.

However, Li said it was important to note the stem cells arent all bad they appear to not only be involved with disease development but also in the regeneration of blood vessels after certain surgeries, such as bypass procedures.

The stem cells can do good and bad things, and the fate needs to be controlled after we understand the mechanisms, Li said.

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Stem cells may be to blame for clogged arteries

Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation increases survival in systemic sclerosis patients

Public release date: 7-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Candice Debleu eularpressoffice@cohnwolfe.com 44-789-438-6425 European League Against Rheumatism

Berlin, Germany, June 7 2012: Initial results from an international, investigator-initiated, open label phase III trial were presented at EULAR 2012, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism. Data indicate that haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) results in better long term survival than conventional treatment for patients with poor prognosis early diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis.

The ASTIS (Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation International Scleroderma) trial enrolled more than 150 patients between 2001 and 2009, and randomised patients to the HSCT arm or to intravenous pulse cyclophosphamide treatment. As of May 1, 2012, significantly more deaths have occurred in the conventional treatment group. Half of the deaths in the HSCT group occurred early and were deemed treatment-related according to an independent data monitoring committee. In the conventional treatment group in contrast, none of the deaths were deemed to be treatment-related; but more deaths occurred later and most were related to progressive disease.

"Systemic sclerosis is a debilitating disease that can lead to heart, lung or kidney failure and premature death, especially in patients who have the diffuse cutaneous form of the condition, where skin thickening is more generalised and involvement of vital organs more common. The ASTIS study shows that such patients may benefit from early intensive immunosuppressive treatment," said Professor Jaap van Laar from Newcastle University, Professor Dominique Farge, Assistance Publique Hopitaux de Paris (Sponsor in France, Paris 7 University) and Professor Alan Tyndall from Basel University, on behalf of their colleagues from the EBMT EULAR Scleroderma Study Group. "These initial results are very encouraging and will help identify patients who benefit from stem cell transplantation."

The ASTIS trial was a unique collaborative project of 27 multidisciplinary teams from 10 countries conducted under the auspices of two leading organisations in the respective fields, the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT; http://www.ebmt.org) and the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR;www.eular.org). The primary endpoint of the trial was event-free survival, defined as survival until death or development of major organ failure.

Systemic sclerosis is a rare but severe autoimmune systemic connective tissue disease*. Increased fibroblast activity results in abnormal growth of connective tissue which causes vascular damage and fibrosis of the skin, gastrointestinal (GI) tract and other internal organs**. Characteristics of systemic sclerosis include vasomotor disturbances; fibrosis; subsequent atrophy of the skin, subcutaneous tissue, muscles, and internal organs and immunologic disturbances*. Systemic sclerosis is estimated to occur in 2.3-10 people per one million*. Diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis cases make up 30% of all systemic sclerosis cases and involve the upper arms, thighs and trunk**. Lung fibrosis and pulmonary hypertension are important causes of mortality in these patients and there is no curative treatment available so far*.

###

Abstract Number: LB0002

*Schwartz R A. (2011) Medscape Reference: Systemic Sclerosis. [Online] Available from: http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1066280-overview [Accessed 8 May 2012]

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Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation increases survival in systemic sclerosis patients

Neil Riordan PhD – Stem Cell Therapy for Spinal Cord Injury (Part 3 of 5) || Stem Cell Treatments – Video

06-06-2012 13:09 Mesenchymal stem cell homing to tissue damage, umbilical cord stem cells historically used for anti-aging, mesenchymal stem cells role in immune system modulation, inflammation reduction and stimulating tissue regeneration, donor stem cell safety and testing, the role of HLA matching in donated umbilical cord-derived stem cells, umbilical cord blood safety data and historical use in blood transfusions, allogeneic stem cell persistence in human mothers. Treatment information at More information on Dr. Riordan at

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Neil Riordan PhD - Stem Cell Therapy for Spinal Cord Injury (Part 3 of 5) || Stem Cell Treatments - Video

Treatment eases arthritis pain in dogs

A local veterinary clinic recently added a cuttingedge treatment.

Dr. Tina Gemeinhardt, owner of Tsawwassen Animal Hospital, is excited to be offering stem cell therapy to animals suffering from arthritis and joint issues.

"I'm excited about trying to bring some relief to dogs that are living in pain," she said.

The therapy, which uses stem cells harvested from fat that is surgically removed from the dog, is, in most cases, able to offer relief from the pain and stiffness associated with

Gemeinhardt said once it's determined the therapy is the right course of treatment for an animal, body fat is surgically removed and sent to a lab in California where the stem cells are harvested. The harvested stem cells are then sent back to the vet clinic within 48 hours and injected into the joints in question.

Gemeinhardt, who added the treatment to the clinic's list of services earlier this year, said it's not quite clear exactly how the stem cells work.

"Stem cells seem to inherently know what needs to be done in that area," she said.

The treatment is not a cure-all - the arthritis is still there but the symptoms are lessened - and it does not work instantly. The vet said most animals start to notice a difference in a month or so, and some might require follow up injections.

She said about 85 per cent of animals receiving stem cell therapy have had a beneficial response, while 15 per cent saw no response.

Beatrice, a seven-yearold chow chow, has seen remarkable results. Owner Rose McClelland said Beatrice had been having problems with arthritis in her hips for years and medication wasn't working any more.

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Treatment eases arthritis pain in dogs

ChoiceCenter’s Garrett Tanner: 1 Year after Stem Cell Treatments 2012 – Video

04-06-2012 21:49 In November 2007, gymnast Garrett Tanner had an accident while training that left him a quadriplegic. In 2010, he came to ChoiceCenter Leadership University (LV102) where he met fellow student Maynard Howe (LV100), Vice Chairman of Stemedica, a stem cell company. In May 2011, Garrett received his first stem cell treatment in Moscow. Stemedica donated the cells and ChoiceCenter students donated money for his rehabilitation therapy, transportation, food and housing. This video documents Garrett's progress as of May 2012. He will receive his second treatment later this summer.

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ChoiceCenter's Garrett Tanner: 1 Year after Stem Cell Treatments 2012 - Video