Stem Cell Clinic

Coronavirus Researchers Discover How COVID-19 May Trigger Fatal Levels of Lung Inflammation – SciTechDaily

CT scan of patients lungs showing COVID-19 damage in red. Credit: Gerlig Widmann and team, Department of Radiology, Medical University of Innsbruck

Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, requires models that can duplicate disease development in humans, identify potential targets and enable drug testing. Specifically, access to primary human lung in vitro model systems is a priority since a variety of respiratory epithelial cells are the proposed targets of viral entry.

Now, a team of infectious disease, pulmonary and regenerative medicine researchers at Boston University, studying human stem cell-derived lung cells called type 2 pneumocytes, infected with SARS-CoV-2, have shown that the virus initially suppresses the lung cells ability to call in the help of the immune system with interferons to fight off the viral invaders and instead activates an inflammatory pathway called NFkB. The infected lung cells pour out inflammatory proteins. In the body of an infected person, those proteins drive up levels of inflammation in the lungs, explains corresponding author Darrell Kotton, MD, the David C. Seldin Professor of Medicine at BUSM and Director of the BU/BMC Center for Regenerative Medicine (CReM).

According to the researchers, the inflammatory signals initiated by the infected pneumocytes attract an army of immune cells into lung tissue laden with infected and already dead and dying cells. Our data confirms that SARS-CoV-2 blocks cells from activating one of the anti-viral branches of the immune system early on after infection has set in. The signal the cells would typically send out, a tiny protein called interferon that they exude under threat of disease, are instead delayed for several days, giving SARS-CoV-2 plenty of time to spread and kill cells, triggering a buildup of dead cell debris and other inflammation, added Kotton.

The data is based on experiments the research team performed in the laboratory of co-senior author Elke Mhlberger, PhD, associate professor of microbiology at BUSM and a researcher at BUs National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL). Kotton and other members of the CReM have developed sophisticated models of human lung tissuethree-dimensional structures of lung cells, called lung organoids, grown from human stem cellswhich theyve used at BU and with collaborators elsewhere to study a range of chronic and acute lung diseases.

The research team, led by co-first authors, Jessie Huang, PhD, Kristy Abo, BA, Rhiannon Werder, PhD and Adam Hume, PhD, adapted an experimental model previously used to study the effects of smoking cigarettes to study the coronavirus in lung tissue. Droplets of live coronavirus were then added on top of the lung cells, infecting them from the air the way the virus infects cells lining the inside of the lungs when air containing the virus is breathed into the body. This adaptation of human stem cell-derived pneumocytes to air, known as an air-liquid interface cell culture was a key advance that allowed us to simulate how SARS-CoV-2 enters cells deep in the lungs of the most severely affected patients, said co-senior author Andrew Wilson, MD, associate professor of medicine at BUSM. Type 2 pneumocytes are also infected and injured in patients with COVID-19, making this a clinically meaningful system to understand how the disease injures patient lungs.

Wilson and Kotton, are also pulmonary and critical care physicians taking care of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia at Boston Medical Center, while also leading their laboratories to produce the human lung cells that were then transported into the NEIDL. There Hume, a senior research scientist in the Mhlbergers lab, worked in a BSL-4 suit to perform the infections of the cells that the three collaborating teams then analyzed together through weekly zoom calls.

These cells are an amazing platform to study SARS-CoV-2 infection, adds Mhlberger. They likely reflect what is going on in the lung cells of COVID-19 patients. If you look at the damage SARS-CoV-2 inflicts on these cells, you definitely dont want to get the disease.

These findings appear online in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

Reference: SARS-CoV-2 Infection of Pluripotent Stem Cell-derived Human Lung Alveolar Type 2 Cells Elicits a Rapid Epithelial-Intrinsic Inflammatory Response by Jessie Huang, Adam J. Hume, Kristine M. Abo, Rhiannon B. Werder, Carlos Villacorta-Martin, Konstantinos-Dionysios Alysandratos, Mary Lou Beermann, Chantelle Simone-Roach, Jonathan Lindstrom-Vautrin, Judith Olejnik, Ellen L. Suder, Esther Bullitt, Anne Hinds, Arjun Sharma, Markus Bosmann, Ruobing Wang, Finn Hawkins, Eric J. Burks, Mohsan Saeed, Andrew A. Wilson, Elke Mhlberger and Darrell N. Kotton, 18 September 2020, Cell Stem Cell. DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2020.09.013

Funding for this study was provided by Evergrande MassCPR awards, the National Institutes of Health, a CJ Martin Early Career Fellowship from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, an I. M. Rosenzweig Junior Investigator Award from the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation, a Harry Shwachman Cystic Fibrosis Clinical Investigator Award, the Gilead Sciences Research Scholars Program, Gilda and Alfred Slifka and Gail and Adam Slifka funds, a Cystic Fibrosis Foundation grant, and a Fast Grants award.

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Coronavirus Researchers Discover How COVID-19 May Trigger Fatal Levels of Lung Inflammation - SciTechDaily

City of Hope Enters Licensing Agreement With Chimeric to Develop Its Pioneering Chlorotoxin CAR T Cell Therapy – Business Wire

DUARTE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--City of Hope, a world-renowned independent research and treatment center for cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases, today announced that it has licensed intellectual property relating to its pioneering chlorotoxin chimeric antigen receptor (CLTX-CAR) T cell therapy to Chimeric Therapeutics Limited, an Australian biotechnology company.

The therapy is currently being used in a phase 1 clinical trial at City of Hope to treat glioblastoma (GBM), a type of brain tumor. The first patient in the trial was recently dosed; Behnam Badie, M.D., chief of City of Hopes Division of Neurosurgery and The Heritage Provider Network Professor in Gene Therapy, is leading this innovative, first-of-its-kind trial.

Chimeric has acquired the exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize certain patents relating to City of Hopes CLTX-CAR T cells, as well as to further develop the therapy for other cancers.

City of Hope is excited to enter into this agreement with Chimeric as it supports our innovative research in CAR T cell therapy and our commitment to extend these therapies to more patients, particularly those with GBM and other solid tumors that are difficult to treat, said Christine Brown, Ph.D., The Heritage Provider Network Professor in Immunotherapy and deputy director of City of Hopes T Cell Therapeutics Research Laboratory. Chimeric shares our goal of providing effective CAR T cell therapies to more patients with current unmet medical needs.

Led by Brown and Michael Barish, Ph.D., chair of City of Hopes Department of Developmental and Stem Cell Biology, and Dongrui Wang, Ph.D., a recent graduate of City of Hopes Irell & Manella Graduate School of Biological Sciences, the team developed and tested the first CAR T cell therapy using CLTX, a component of scorpion venom, to direct T cells to target brain tumor cells. The research was published this past March in Science Translational Medicine.

Chimeric is excited to join City of Hope in its quest to find more effective cancer therapies. This is an exceedingly rare opportunity to acquire a promising technology in one of the most exciting areas of immuno-oncology today, said Paul Hopper, executive chairman of Chimeric. Furthermore, the CLTX-CAR T cell therapy has completed years of preclinical research and development, and recently enrolled its first patient in a phase 1 clinical trial for brain cancer.

CARs commonly incorporate a monoclonal antibody sequence in their targeting domain, enabling CAR T cells to recognize antigens and kill tumor cells. In contrast, the CLTX-CAR uses a synthetic 36-amino acid peptide sequence first isolated from death stalker scorpion venom and now engineered to serve as the CAR recognition domain.

In this recent study, City of Hope researchers used tumor cells in resection samples from a cohort of patients with GBM to compare CLTX binding with expression of antigens currently under investigation as CAR T cell targets. They found that CLTX bound to a greater proportion of patient tumors, and cells within these tumors.

CLTX binding included the GBM stem-like cells thought to seed tumor recurrence. Consistent with these observations, CLTX-CAR T cells recognized and killed broad populations of GBM cells while ignoring nontumor cells in the brain and other organs. The study team demonstrated that CLTX-directed CAR T cells are highly effective at selectively killing human GBM cells without off-tumor targeting and toxicity in cell-based assays and in animal models.

City of Hope, a recognized leader in CAR T cell therapies for GBM and other cancers, has treated more than 500 patients since its CAR T program started in the late 1990s. The institution continues to have one of the most comprehensive CAR T cell clinical research programs in the world it currently has 30 ongoing CAR T cell clinical trials, including CAR T cell trials for HER-2 positive breast cancer that has spread to the brain, and PSCA-positive bone metastatic prostate cancer. It was the first and only cancer center to treat GBM patients with CAR T cells targeting IL13R2, and the first to administer CAR T cell therapy locally in the brain, either by direct injection at the tumor site, through intraventricular infusion into the cerebrospinal fluid, or both. In late 2019, City of Hope opened a first-in-human clinical trial for patients with recurrent GBM, combining IL13R2-CAR T cells with checkpoint inhibitors nivolumab, an anti-PD1 antibody, and ipilimumab, blocking the CTLA-4 protein.

Both an academic medical center and a drug development powerhouse, City of Hope is known for creating the technology used in the development of human synthetic insulin and numerous breakthrough cancer drugs. Its unique research and development hybrid of the academic and commercial creates an infrastructure that enables City of Hope researchers to submit an average of 50 investigational new drug applications to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration each year. The institution currently holds more than 450 patent families.

"City of Hope is delighted to license this technology to Chimeric, said Sangeeta Bardhan Cook, Ph.D., City of Hope director of the Office of Technology Licensing. We are impressed with the ability of their executive team to push and bring therapies to market expeditiously. At City of Hope, our mission is to transform the future of health care. We believe Chimeric has the vision to offer innovative therapies to cancer patients.

About City of Hope

City of Hope is an independent biomedical research and treatment center for cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases. Founded in 1913, City of Hope is a leader in bone marrow transplantation and immunotherapy such as CAR T cell therapy. City of Hopes translational research and personalized treatment protocols advance care throughout the world. Human synthetic insulin and numerous breakthrough cancer drugs are based on technology developed at the institution. A National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center and a founding member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, City of Hope has been ranked among the nations Best Hospitals in cancer by U.S. News & World Report for 14 consecutive years. Its main campus is located near Los Angeles, with additional locations throughout Southern California. For more information about City of Hope, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Instagram.

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City of Hope Enters Licensing Agreement With Chimeric to Develop Its Pioneering Chlorotoxin CAR T Cell Therapy - Business Wire

Robert E. Windsor, MD, is being recognized by Continental Who’s Who – PRNewswire

ALPHARETTA,Ga., Sept. 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Robert E. Windsor, MD, is being recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Distinguished Leader for his remarkable contributions in the field of Medicine and for his dedication and commitment as the President, Medical Director, and Regenerative Medicine Specialist at Georgia RegenRX.

Located in the greater Atlanta area at 5755 North Point Pkwy, Suite #72, Alpharetta, Georgia, Georgia RegenRX offers expert, caring pain management and regenerative medical services to the Atlanta metropolitan area. Dr. Windsor plans to expand his practice into all aspects of regenerative medicine to include aesthetics and life extension. He believes that people do not need to age physiologically nearly as rapidly as they traditionally have and that they should remain mentally and physically vital and continue to look good while they age. An acclaimed physician, he has helped thousands of patients recover from the pain and improve their quality of life.

Backed by more than three decades of experience, Dr. Windsor is a top physician in Fulton County and will be expanding his practice into Forsyth and Gwinnett counties in 2021. His areas of expertise include interventional pain medicine, interventional orthopedics, regenerative medicine (e.g., stem cell therapy), integrative medicine, longevity medicine, and pain management for arthritis, chronic spinal pain, and sports injuries. In addition to his administrative and clinical experience, he has held numerous faculty positions. He has been a Pain Management Fellowship Director at Emory University, a leader at the American Academy of Physical Medicine, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University among others.

Pursuing a pain/rehabilitative/physical medicine career to help others, Dr. Windsor always keeps, "the patient first and foremost." He has been highly successful because he continues to learn and develops new and improved skill sets. He advises new doctors to, "Stay up to date on emerging technologies in the biological field (i.e.: Stem cells)". He loves his field, remaining in his career for so many years because of his fervor for improving the function and quality of life of injured, ill, and/or elderly people.

In preparation for his career, Dr. Windsor earned a medical degree from the Texas A&M University College of Medicine at the age of twenty-three. He went on to complete a competitive residency program in physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center at San Antonio. Then, he earned board certification in Physical Medicine, Electrodiagnostic Medicine, Pain Medicine, Pain Management, Age Management Medicine, and Regenerative Medicine and he is currently completing a fellowship in Aesthetic Medicine.

A frontrunner in his field, Dr. Windsor has been board certified by the American Board of Physical Medicine, American Board of Pain Medicine, American Board of Pain Management, American Board of Electrodiagnostic Medicine, American Board of Age Management Medicine, and the American Board of Regenerative Medicine. In appreciation of his service, Dr. Windsor was honored as America's Top Physician by the Consumers Research Council of America in 2014. The President of PASSOR, he has received the following PASSOR awards: Distinguished Clinician, Distinguished Committee, and Distinguished Member. He has been active in his field throughout his career, having previously served as the past-Executive Board Member of the AAPM&R.

A lifelong athlete, Dr. Windsor enjoys staying active. He likes lifting weights, snow skiing, scuba diving, boating, and skydiving. He is heavily involved with his family. He has many offspring, several of whom are engaged in the medical field.

Dr. Windsor dedicates this recognition to Stanley Herring, MD, Richard Derby, MD, Charles April, MD, and Daniel Dumitru, MD, Ph.D. For more information, please visit https://www.garegenrx.com

Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634 [emailprotected]

SOURCE Continental Who's Who

Georgia RegenRX, LLC

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Robert E. Windsor, MD, is being recognized by Continental Who's Who - PRNewswire

The Holistic Sanctuary Announces Exciting Plans to Expand Over Next 4 Years and Save More Lives – PRNewswire

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Sept. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Holistic Sanctuary is proud to announce its exciting plans to grow the number of cutting-edge luxury centers it has over the next four years, allowing it to help even more patients in need of its pioneering treatments.

After a decade of revolutionizing the holistic health field and saving lives, The Holistic Sanctuary, which currently has a state-of-the-art facility in Baja California (Mexico), plans to open another center in Tulum, Mexico, as well as an additional three centers in several other locations around the world.

Holistic Sanctuary Tulum is well on its way to opening its doors in 2021, which will be followed by plans to open other centers in Tulum (2021), Malibu (2022), London (2023) and Dubai (2024).

The Holistic Sanctuary is a world-class holistic medical spa that uses cutting-edge technology and advanced therapies from around the world to cure, heal, and reverse illnesses and diseases that Western medical professionals have said are incurable. By using a combination of natural therapies, they help people to recover from a variety of different conditions such as depression, addiction, PTSD, stress, anxiety, and more.

Johnny Tabaie, CEO and Founder of The Holistic Sanctuary, said:"We are incredibly excited that we will soon be able to help even more patients around the world. We've taken holistic healing to a whole different level, and our intention has always been to heal patients using natural, effective, holistic and other alternative therapies that give results in real-time, without having to medicate people with addictive drugs.

"We simplytransform people's lives; we give them a fighting chance at a good quality oflife. We get people off prescribed medications, heal the underlying cause of PTSD, depression, trauma and even addiction, then send them back home healthy, thriving, happy and whole again."

More information on The Holistic Sanctuary's luxury drug rehab centers can be found at https://www.theholisticsanctuary.com/luxury-rehab-centers/

In addition to its growth plans, the organization has also announced that by the end of 2020 it will have the first AIDS and cancer research center that will strive to cure diseases like this using revolutionary stem cell technology. It will also be able to treat other autoimmune conditions such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, Lyme disease, neuropathy, multiple sclerosis (MS) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

This kind of cutting technology has been around for the last 30 years, revolutionizing how illnesses like these are treated through the discovery of isolated stem cell genes that have been proven clinically to showit has cured two patients suffering from AIDS and cancer. One has been clear for 10 years now, with the other being cured last year. This is a new, paradigm-shifting approach that is pushing western medication treatment to the side.

To learn about how stem cell technology is used by the centers, more information can be found here: https://www.theholisticsanctuary.com/stem-cell-therapy/

Learn more about The Holistic Sanctuary's Mexico stem cell center here: https://www.theholisticsanctuary.com/stem-cell-therapy/mexico/

The Holistic Sanctuary has an 80% success rate at healing patients that are either on medications, alcohol, street drugs, or suffer from mental health disorders such as PTSD, depression, anxiety and trauma. See more information on what treatments are used for these:

"We've incorporated holistic medicine and methodically weaved it with sacred plant medicine to have a better synergistic never before seen outcome. In the last 10 years, we have therapeutically, safely and humanely given people sacred plant medicines like Ibogaine, DMT, Changa, 5-MEO, Kambo, Psilocybin, mushrooms, and much more,"added Tabaie.

The organization is looking for investors and partners to help finance and push this revolutionary vision forward. For more information about The Holistic Sanctuary and investor relations, please send an email or call +1-310-601-7805 or visit their website at http://www.theholisticsanctuary.com.

About The Holistic Sanctuary

The Holistic Sanctuary is a world-class holistic medical spa that uses cutting-edge and advanced therapies from around the world. It uses powerful modalities to cure, heal, and reverse illnesses and diseases that Western medical professionals have said are incurable. It is not a drug rehab, more along the lines of a luxury treatment center that transforms lives. It helps people to recover from depression, any type of addiction, PTSD, stress, anxiety, as well as other mental health problems. The centers use a combination of natural therapies to help people recover mentally, physically and emotionally. Unlike mainstream doctors, rehabs, and treatment centers, The Holistic Sanctuary avoids the use of outdated theories, ineffective therapies and addiction to toxic medications and drugs. Instead, it addresses the root causes of these illnesses, improves physical and mental health and alleviates the illnesses.

Media Contact

Company Name: The Holistic Sanctuary

Contact Person: Investor Relations

Email: [emailprotected]

Phone: +1-310-601-7805

Address: 1212 Wilshire Blvd.

City:Beverly Hills

State:California

Website: http://www.theholisticsanctuary.com

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the-holistic-sanctuary.png The Holistic Sanctuary Most Exclusive Healing Center In The World, The Holistic Sanctuary Healing Center Offers Holistic Stem Cells, Plant Medicine and Powerful Therapies for Lupus, Lyme, MS, ALS, Addiction, Depression, PTSD, Stem Cell Therapies to Heal Clients Naturally

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