Stemcell Therapy Technology News

NASCAR driver behind cord blood donation campaign

2008-02-20T03:02:00.000-08:00

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion Jimmie Johnson is the spokesman for a new campaign aimed at increasing public awareness about cord blood donation.

CORD:USE Cord Blood Bank's is behind the "Help Win the Race for Life" campaign. Johnson joins other sports celebrities -- NBA hall of famer Julius "Dr. J" Erving, NASCAR drivers Rusty Wallace and Michael Waltrip and New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez -- in attempting to increase awareness of cord blood donation.

Orlando-based CORD:USE is working to create a large, ethnically-diverse inventory of cord blood stem cells, which is used in the treatment of more than 70 blood cancers and diseases. The company has agreements with hospitals across the country to give mothers the option of donating their babies' cord blood.

article from:http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/2008/02/18/daily4.html

Stem cell transplants could help repair bones

2008-02-17T23:15:00.000-08:00

By Kate Devlin, Medical Correspondent

A Revolutionary new way to transplant bone-repairing stem cells into humans could help millions suffering from crippling arthritis, scientists believe.

Researchers hope the new technique could allow them to speed the recovery of damaged bones and cartilage.

If successful it could be used to help trauma victims as well as the more than two million Britons who suffer from osteoarthritis.

Caused by deterioration of cartilage, severe osteoarthritis can be treated only with surgery to replace hips and knees with artificial joints.

Reprogrammed stem cells work well in laboratories but struggle in the "adverse" conditions of the human body.

Scientists at Edinburgh University plan to use a "bioactive scaffold" to protect the cells when they are placed in a patient.

This new environment, which consists of a rigid mesh structure, coated or impregnated with drugs to aid the cells, allows them to grow at a faster rate, speeding recovery.

The technique will be particularly useful in the treatment of damaged cartilage, which never repairs fully itself, researchers say.

A significant proportion of those who damage their cartilage while young go on to develop arthritis.

Researchers hope to place bone and cartilage building stem cells, complete with their scaffolds, in up to 30 patients within the next two years and to move on to larger trials if these prove successful.

Dr Brendon Noble, of the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Regenerative Medicine, said: "We hope that this will kick start the body's natural healing processes, enabling cells to grow and carry out repair to the damaged area."

Dr Noble's team will work with surgeons to ensure the treatments they develop are suitable for practical use and will look to use reprogrammed cells derived from blood as well as bone marrow.

The £31.4 million project has been funded by the UK Stem Cell foundation, the Medical Research Council and Scottish Enterprise.

Dr Anna Krassowska, research manager for the UK Stem Cell Foundation, said: "In the UK hip fractures kill 14,000 elderly people every year - more than many cancers.

"This research has the potential not only to impact on a significant number of people's lives but to open up one of the largest stem cell markets in the industry."

More than 30,000 knee replacements and 50,000 hip replacement operations are carried out each year in England and Wales.

Original Fond on:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/18/nbones118.xml

Scientists Reprogram Human Skin Cells into Embryonic Stem Cells

2008-02-17T13:22:00.000-08:00

Newswise — UCLA stem cell scientists have reprogrammed human skin cells into cells with the same unlimited properties as embryonic stem cells without using embryos or eggs.

Led by scientists Kathrin Plath and William Lowry, UCLA researchers used genetic alteration to turn back the clock on human skin cells and create cells that are nearly identical to human embryonic stem cells, which have the ability to become every cell type found in the human body. Four regulator genes were used to create the cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells.

The UCLA study confirms the work first reported in late November of researcher Shinya Yamanaka at Kyoto University and James Thompson at the University of Wisconsin. The UCLA research appears Feb. 11, 2008, in an early online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences.

The implications for disease treatment could be significant. Reprogramming adult stem cells into embryonic stem cells could generate a potentially limitless source of immune-compatible cells for tissue engineering and transplantation medicine. A patient’s skin cells, for example, could be reprogrammed into embryonic stem cells. Those embryonic stem cells could then be prodded into becoming various cells types – beta islet cells to treat diabetes, hematopoetic cells to create a new blood supply for a leukemia patient, motor neuron cells to treat Parkinson’s disease.

“Our reprogrammed human skin cells were virtually indistinguishable from human embryonic stem cells,” said Plath, an assistant professor of biological chemistry, a researcher with the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research and lead author of the study. “Our findings are an important step towards manipulating differentiated human cells to generate an unlimited supply of patient specific pluripotent stem cells. We are very excited about the potential implications.”

The UCLA work was completed at about the same time the Yamanaka and Thomson reports were published. Taken together, the studies demonstrate that human iPS cells can be easily created by different laboratories and are likely to mark a milestone in stem cell-based regenerative medicine, Plath said.

These new techniques to develop stem cells could potentially replace a controversial method used to reprogram cells, somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), sometimes referred to as therapeutic cloning. To date, therapeutic cloning has not been successful in humans. However, top stem cell scientists worldwide stress that further research comparing these reprogrammed cells with stem cells derived from embryos, considered the gold standard, is necessary. Additionally, many technical problems, such as the use of viruses to deliver the four genes for reprogramming, need to be overcome to produce safe iPS cells that can be used in the clinic.

“Reprogramming normal human cells into cells with identical properties to those in embryonic stem cells without SCNT may have important therapeutic ramifications and provide us with another valuable method to develop human stem cell lines,” said Lowry, an assistant professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology, a Broad Stem Cell Center researcher and first author of the study. “It is important to remember that our research does not eliminate the need for embryo-based human embryonic stem cell research, but rather provides another avenue of worthwhile investigation.”

The combination of four genes used to reprogram the skin cells regulate expression of downstream genes and either activate or silence their expression. The reprogrammed cells were not just functionally identical to embryonic stem cells. They also had identical biological structure, expressed the same genes and could be coaxed into giving rise to the same cell types as human embryonic stem cells.

The UCLA research team included four young scientists recruited to UCLA’s new stem cell center in the wake of the passage of Proposition 71 in 2004, which created $3 billion in funding for embryonic stem cell research. The scientists were drawn to UCLA in part because of California’s stem cell research friendly atmosphere and the funding opportunities created by Proposition 71. In addition to Plath and Lowry, the team included Amander Clarke, an assistant professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology, and April Pyle, an assistant professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics.

The creation of the human iPS cells is an extension of Plath’s work on mouse stem cell reprogramming. Plath headed up one of three research teams that were able to successfully reprogram mouse skin cells into mouse embryonic stem cells. That work appeared in the inaugural June 2007 issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell.

The stem cell center was launched in 2005 with a UCLA commitment of $20 million over five years. A $20 million gift from the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation in 2007 resulted in the renaming of the center. With more than 150 members, the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research is committed to a multi-disciplinary, integrated collaboration of scientific, academic and medical disciplines for the purpose of understanding adult and human embryonic stem cells. The institute supports innovation, excellence and the highest ethical standards focused on stem cell research with the intent of facilitating basic scientific inquiry directed towards future clinical applications to treat disease. The center is a collaboration of the David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science and the UCLA College of Letters and Science. To learn more about the center, visit http://www.stemcell.ucla.edu.

Original from:http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/537552/

Stemcell transplantion a new born for patients

2008-02-17T13:14:00.000-08:00

batore (PTI): With a section of spinal surgeons expressing concern over the claim on the success of stemcell therapy in curing spinal cord injuries, leading surgeons on Sunday said it was a new boon for patients in major ailements.

The orthopaedicians and neurosurgeons, who attended a one day seminar 'stem cell and clinical applications,' told reporters here that breakthrough research in using stem cell for spinal cord imaging and ischaemic heart diseases, have made desperate patients happy.

There are clinics having such stem cell therapies in the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Russia, Singapore, Bangkok, Germany, which used feotus stem cells, umbilical cord cell, adult stem cells, Dr Samuel JK Abraham, Director, Japan-based Nichi-in Centre for Regenerative Medicine (NCRM), Chennai, said.

There were proven scientific pubications and literature on regenerative capability of mamolian brain was documented in 1969, he claimed, refuting the allegations of a section of surgeons, who contested a recent stemcell therapy for spinal cord injury on a woman, who met with an accident, Dr M Natarajan, Chief Neuro Surgeon of K G Hospital, who performed the surgery claimed.

Approach of treatment by an orthopaedic surgeon and neuro surgeon was different, Natarajan said.

Association of Spine Surgeons of India (ASSI) had recently expressed concern over media reports about the cure for spinal cord injuries through stem cell therapy and had demanded scientific proof.

Stating that the woman who had undergone the therapy has shown major improvement, Natarajan said the regenerative capability of the central nervous sytem of human beings has been well documented.

Treatment to patients suffering from Ischaemic stroke has been documented successfully by Dr Honmon of Sapporo University, Japan, he said.

Dr G Bakthavathsalam, Chairman of K G Hospital said the technology of stem cell transplatation was based on the proven probabilities given by Japan technical collaborator through NCRM.

Till date, multicentric study of stem cell application by the hospital in spinal cord injury, liver cerosis and peripheral vascular diseases has proven the safety in all and efficacy in select group of patients, who otherwise have not other option of treatment at the moment, he said.

The contention of ASSI was not in good taste and casting aspiration on fellow doctors and surgeons was against medical ethics, Dr J K B C Parthiban, neurosurgeon, Kovai Medical Center and Hospital, who himself is a member of ASSI, said.

The studies were done as per the ICMR guidelines with the patients' informed consent. "the association is blocking the public from coming for a future successful option,' he said.

"Those who criticise should go through the documents and journals, which publish success stories,+ Parthiban said.

Original:http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/008200802032121.htm

Stem cell therapy offers hope for pets dogged by pain

2008-02-12T22:33:00.000-08:00

By Sharon L. Peters, Special for USA TODAY

LITTLETON, Colo. — Maggie the German shepherd had become increasingly disabled and pain-racked with each passing year, despite the best efforts of owner Francine Hammer.

A crooked front wrist, evident when she was a puppy, was just the beginning. Eventually, arthritis ravaged every joint. "We tried everything" to relieve the pain and maintain her mobility, Hammer says. But by last fall, at age 11, Maggie was "creaky, creaky, didn't want to get up, couldn't go for walks." She kept her head low because of pain and wasn't very interested in food.

"Maggie was a mess," says Mary Anne Smith, the dog's veterinarian since puppyhood. "She had issues in all four legs and quite possibly in her back." She compares the dog to a car "with four low tires and, on some days, three lows and a flat."

DOGGY PADDLE: More aging, aching pooches hit the pool

Around Thanksgiving, on Smith's recommendation, Hammer took Maggie to Colorado Springs veterinarian James Gaynor, who specializes in pain management and is among about 250 veterinarians trained in a cutting-edge therapy using stem cells extracted from a dog's own fat. The process, patented and made commercially available by California-based Vet-Stem, has generated excitement in veterinary circles. Practitioners gave a session last month at the North American Veterinary Conference in Orlando; they'll speak at the Western Veterinary Conference in Las Vegas next week and give a symposium at the American Veterinary Medical Association's July conference in New Orleans.

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'She's a different dog'

Nearly 300 dogs have had the procedure, says Vet-Stem founder and veterinarian Bob Harman, and 85% of those the company has been able to follow up with experienced "slight to very substantial" improvement.

Within days of Maggie's procedure, she felt better; today, "she's a different dog," Hammer says. "She's able to walk, is pretty fast on her feet, and she wags her tail, something she hasn't been able to do for years."

The procedure, which runs $2,000 to $2,500, involves surgically removing about 2 tablespoons of fat from the dog and shipping it overnight to Vet-Stem, which isolates stem cells and returns them in syringes to the vet, who injects joints.

"This is probably the most exciting development I've seen in 25 years," says Beaverton, Ore., veterinarian Tim McCarthy, who has treated about 20 dogs, most in association with arthroscopic surgery; "only one didn't get any better."

Stem cells from fat and bone marrow have been investigated for both human and animal applications (several veterinary schools are engaged in studies) in recent years. It's known that stem cells are regenerative, take up residence around injured tissue and have anti-inflammatory properties, but much of how they work and why is unknown, Vet-Stem molecular biologist and veterinarian Linda Black says.

The approach doesn't require Food and Drug Administration approval because "minimally manipulated" cells are extracted and re-injected into the same animal, she says. And because animals receive their own cells, there's no rejection.

Apart from the normal risk attached to the anesthesia, Harman says, there seems to be no downside except for rare brief inflammation at the extraction site.

Half the veterinarians who have been credentialed (through attending a half-day session or completing a four-hour online course) to do the process on small animals practice in California; 25 states have no one trained in the process, according to a list posted on the Vet-Stem website, which names 200 of the 250.

Vet-Stem first began using the process in 2004 on horses with tendon, ligament and joint problems (455 large-animal vets are certified), and most improved. Critics say most of them would have healed on their own with time, a position many of the animals' trainers dispute. In canine applications, little criticism has emerged.

"Everything I've heard so far has been very positive," says Brenda Salinardi, a veterinarian at Oregon State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital. She has used the procedure on a dog with severe arthritis, which "is doing very well."

Gaynor has used stem cell therapy on 27 dogs "and all improved — some more than others," but he acknowledges many questions remain. It's unclear how long the positive effects will last, whether follow-up injections will improve results or which animals are unlikely to benefit.

A step for desperate owners

The unanswered questions are irrelevant to Gaynor's clients eager for help for their pets. Judy McCollam's Shetland sheepdog Cassie was so severely disabled by arthritis in her hips that "when we'd take her for walks, we'd wind up carrying her," she says. And "watching her get up from a nap was like watching a really old dog get up." Cassie was on strong painkillers, and she was not yet 2 years old. McCollam, of Fountain, Colo., opted for the stem cell procedure. Within days, Cassie was better, McCollam says, and two months later, "she seems not to be in any pain."

Owners who are desperate for an ailing dog to feel better can convince themselves interventions are helping when, in fact, by impartial measures, that's untrue. But veterinarians who have used the procedure say they've generally been able to chart measurable improvement.

Smith, who treated Maggie for more than a decade, says the dog is "hard to evaluate because she had multiple joint issues," but the veterinarian detected "marked improvement" soon after the procedure. "She is much more confident walking, her gait is much more fluid, and she has greater mobility getting up and down."

Vet-Stem is investigating a handful of additional dog and cat ailments and diseases that might benefit from stem cell therapy.

This Article From:http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-02-12-dog-arthritis_N.htm

Human stem cell tests could be near

2008-02-12T22:27:00.000-08:00

Geron CEO plans embryonic stem cell tests in humans this spring if the biotech meets the FDA's 'high bar.'

By Aaron Smith, CNNMoney.com staff writer

February 12 2008: 12:05 PM EST

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The first experiments using human embryonic stem cells in human subjects could begin within a few months, the chief executive of biotech Geron said Monday.

At the annual BIO CEO conference in New York, Dr. Thomas Okarma said Geron plans to start embryonic stem-cell studies in humans with spinal cord injuries toward the end of the second quarter. Okarma said the tests would involve up to 40 human patients, while all prior tests involved rats.

This assumes that the Food and Drug Administration gives Geron a green light to proceed with the human test. Okarma said the FDA will set a "high bar" in regulating this new type of science.

Ren Benjamin, analyst for Rodman & Renshaw, believes the regulatory process could be time-consuming, because it's unprecedented.

"This is the first time that a human embryonic stem cell application is being submitted to the FDA, so there's a good chance that some questions will arise," he said.

Geron (GERN), based in Menlo Park, Calif., is also in early-stage studies with stem cell-based drugs for diabetes and heart failure. All of these experimental treatments are years away from potentially entering the market.

Advanced Cell Technology Inc. and Novocell Inc. also use human embryonic stem cells, but Geron is the only one of the these companies that's traded on the Nasdaq. Advanced Cell plans to begin testing in humans this year, but Novocell is further behind.

Neuralstem (CUR) uses stem cells from aborted fetuses to research potential treatments for spinal cord injuries. Like Geron and Advanced Cell Technology, Neuralstem plans to begin testing in humans this year, assuming that the FDA gives it the go-ahead.

Cytori Therapeutics (CYTX) and Osiris Therapeutics (OSIR) use stem cells taken from adult human tissue, which insulates from the controversy surrounding the use of human embryonic stem cells, which are obtained through in vitro fertilization.

Human-based embryonic stem cells are prized by researchers for their ability to regenerate quickly and morph into different types of cells. Supporters believe their use could someday help people with spinal injuries walk again or cure patients with degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

But the pro-life contingent, including President Bush, opposes using human-derived stem cells, on the grounds that it creates embryos only to destroy them. Supporters of the science dispute that notion, saying that the blastocysts used as stem cell sources would be thrown out as medical waste if they weren't used in research.

In 2001, President Bush limited federal funding for human-derived stem cells to only those lines that existed at the time. In 2007, he vetoed a Congressional bill to lift those restrictions.

But in November, scientists unveiled a new type of experimental technology on Nov. 21 that sent Geron's stock into a volatile tailspin. Research teams from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and the University of Kyoto in Japan separately announced that they'd "reprogrammed" adult cells to act like embryonic stem cells.

Geron's stock has fallen more than 40 percent since then, though Okarma shrugged off the potential threat of reprogramming because it's still in the infantile stages.

"The natural human embryonic stem cell is the gold standard and we have yet to see anything else come close," Okarma said at the BIO CEO conference Monday.

But Benjamin of Rodman & Renshaw doesn't believe reprogramming poses an immediate threat to Geron.

"I think [reprogramming] is very intriguing and has a lot of potential, but it's at a nascent stage that I consider more noise than anything else," said Benjamin.

Mark Gross, a physics professor at California State University who was attending the BIO CEO conference as a potential investor, agreed that reprogramming technology is in too early of a stage to threaten Geron.

"[Reprogramming] is promising, but these things take time and we don't know which path will lead to fruition and which will lead to a dead end," he said

Article From CNNmoney.com

Cord Blood America Supports Trend From New YFrom New York

2008-02-10T07:12:00.000-08:00

Cord Blood America Supports Trend From New York, California for States to Inform Parents of the Advantages of Umbilical Cord Blood Storage
PR Newswire
Comtex
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SANTA MONICA, Calif., Feb 06, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Cord Blood America, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: CBAI), the umbilical cord blood stem cell preservation company (http://www.cordblood-america.com ) focused on bringing the life saving potential of stem cells to families nationwide and internationally, today said it believes the trend established in 2007 for states to legislate that consumers should be made aware of the advantages of umbilical cord blood storage will continue in 2008 and beyond.

New York State in 2007 became the first in the nation to sign into law an Umbilical Cord Blood Bill mandating that the state's Department of Health develop a program to make the public aware of the benefits of umbilical cord blood banking. California subsequently followed, enacting legislation encouraging the collection of umbilical cord blood stem cells.

"Many young couples and growing families do not yet know how important it is to consider storing umbilical cord blood after the birth of a child, even though storing umbilical cord blood could be a life saver if someone in the family develops certain serious diseases," said New York Assemblyman Joseph R. Lentol. "Pregnant women should be receiving information early so they can make an educated decision, especially since there are now more than 60 diseases that can be helped through cord blood transplantation, including leukemia, lymphomas and other cancers."

California Assemblyman Anthony Portantino stressed: "Why are we throwing something away that we know is such a healing product. It has the power to do miracles."

"We look forward to more states requiring their health department to inform families about the benefits of umbilical cord blood storage, which is safe and non-controversial," said Matthew Schissler, CEO, Cord Blood America. "We salute this Coast to Coast effort in providing solid, reliable information to potential new parents."

About Cord Blood America

Cord Blood America (OTC Bulletin Board: CBAI) is the parent company of CorCell, which facilitates umbilical cord blood stem cell preservation for expectant parents and their children. Its mission is to be the most respected stem cell preservation company in the industry. Collected through a safe and non-invasive process, cord blood stem cells offer a powerful and potentially life-saving resource for treating a growing number of ailments, including cancer, leukemia, blood, and immune disorders. To find out more about Cord Blood America, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: CBAI), visit our website at http://www.corcell.com. For investor information, visit http://www.cordblood-america.com.

from:http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/industries/health-care/article/cord-blood-america-supports-trend-new-york-california-states-inform-parents_467083_10.html

Scientists claim victory in blocking stem-cell law after letter in Times

2008-02-02T00:38:00.001-08:00

David Rose

The Government has agreed to back down on strict laws planned for embryonic stem-cell experiments after a “compelling case” was made by leading scientists in a letter to The Times.

The letter, published last week, expressed alarm that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill would delay potentially life-saving research by requiring all tissue used to create cloned embryonic stem cells to have the explicit consent of its donor.

The Bill, which is passing through Parliament, was set to outlaw access to most of the tissue banks that act as vast libraries of the genes that contribute to serious disorders.

More than 50 biomedical researchers and administrators, including four Nobel prizewinners, have told ministers that such strict measures would deny stem-cell scientists the use of tissue banks for studying diseases such as muscular dystrophy, Parkinson’s and diabetes.

Picture From:http://www.telegraph.co.uk

The tissue banks enable scientists to create cloned embryos that can be implanted with the genetic material of patients, assisting research into how the illnesses develop.

The Government’s justification for requiring “express consent” had been that some patients who agreed to donate cells may not have realised that their tissue could later be used for cloning. The letter in The Times said that the requirement jeopardised years of expensive research and the cultivation of unique tissue samples as raw material for cloning.

As tissue was collected before it became possible to clone embryos in this way, the scientists argued that it would have been impossible for anonymous donors to give permission for their DNA to be used in embryonic stem-cell models of diseases. Signatories included the Nobel medicine laureates Sir Martin Evans, Sir Paul Nurse, Sir John Sulston and Sir Tim Hunt, as well as leading stem-cell experts such as Sir Ian Wilmut, Dame Julia Polak and Professor Stephen Minger.

The Government is also considering changing a second measure in the Bill, which will further limit stem-cell research by blocking the use of any tissue from children even if their parents gave consent.

Ministers were reluctant to consider any changes to the Bill, but after a debate in the House of Lords last Tuesday the Department of Health conceded the need to allow exceptions.

In a letter sent this week to peers who took part in the debate in the Lords, the department concedes: “A compelling case has been made that the requirement for express consent could, in certain circumstances, impose a significant burden in this field.”

Evan Harris, the Liberal Democrat MP who organised the letter to The Times, said yesterday: “Plaudits to the scientists for speaking out and the Government for listening.”

The Bill is due to enter the Commons in the spring.

Article From:http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article3292055.ece

Stem-cell ballot language submitted

2008-01-30T14:54:00.000-08:00

By DAWSON BELL

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

LANSING -- A group seeking to expand medical research using embryonic stem cells in Michigan announced Tuesday that it has submitted language for a proposed constitutional amendment that would end the state's prohibition on the destruction of human embryos for research purposes.

The Stem Cell Ballot Question Committee in Michigan wants to authorize the use of excess or unsuitable embryos from fertility clinics that "would otherwise be discarded unless they are used for research." In contrast to legislation aimed at opening up research on stem cells, the ballot proposal affirms Michigan's law prohibiting human cloning.

Backers of the proposal would like to collect enough petition signatures -- 380,126 -- to put the issue before voters in November.

Opponents, led by the Michigan Catholic Conference and Right to Life organizations, are unlikely to soften their views, even without cloning issues.

Catholic Conference spokesman Dave Maluchnik said Tuesday that the measure is under review but that efforts to legalize research that destroys embryos is "terribly unfortunate," reversing 30 years of public policy in Michigan.

Advocates of embryonic stem-cell research say stem cells derived from embryos offer immense promise for treatment of chronic disease and injury. A state elections panel is to review the ballot proposal language Friday. The committee has a July 7 deadline to collect the signatures to qualify for the November ballot.

Contact DAWSON BELL at 313-222-6609 or dbell@freepress.com.

Article From:http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080130/NEWS06/801300392/1008

Embryonic Stem Cells Create Healthy Muscle in Mice

2008-01-21T04:19:00.000-08:00

By Madeline Vann
HealthDay Reporter
Sunday, January 20, 2008; 12:00 AM

SUNDAY, Jan. 20 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have coaxed embryonic mouse stem cells to grow into healthy muscle tissue, in a feat that creates new possibilities for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

DMD is the most common of nine types of muscular dystrophy, which is characterized by a lack of the protein dystrophin in voluntary muscles, such as those in the arms and legs. Dystrophin plays a key role in building and repairing muscle; without it, muscles deteriorate and lose function.

The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center team focused on developing embryonic stem cells containing the gene Pax3, which triggers cells to grow into muscle tissue that will produce dystrophin.

"Embryonic stem cells can make every tissue in the body. We instructed these cells to make more skeletal muscle, and from a crowd of cells," explained study author Rita Perlingeiro. "We found a way to pull out only the ones destined to make muscle. These two steps combined resulted in a cell population capable of making muscle in a mouse with muscular dystrophy and, very importantly, the new muscle is stronger."

This is one of the few studies to test the ability of embryonic stem cells to grow in adult muscle tissue, the researchers added. The method they used also managed to avoid the risk of tumor formation in the mice.

One expert lauded the study, which appears in the Jan. 20 online issue ofNature Medicine, as a strong first step.

"By way of experiments done with mice, the paper offers a compelling 'proof of principle,' that embryonic stem cells can be turned into muscle-producing cells in the laboratory and used to deliver healthy muscle to people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy," said Paul Muhlrad, research program coordinator for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

The researchers noted it was only necessary to regenerate a portion of the muscle tissue for the mice to regain some control. However, the process requires refining before it can be tried in humans, they added.

"At the present time, no one has yet demonstrated that genetic manipulation of human embryonic stem cells can be used to derive functional skeletal muscle progenitors from these cells, so it's far too early to tell whether this technique could lead to any potential clinical application," said Perlingeiro. "The main hurdle is to make sure we can indeed combine successfully these two approaches, and test these cells exhaustively in mouse models before we think about clinical trials."

Muhlrad also cautioned that this research is a long way from human use.

"While mice provide an excellent model system, experiments that work in mice don't always readily transfer to humans. Scientists would probably want to replicate the experiments in dog models of muscular dystrophy before moving on to human studies," Muhlrad said. Additionally, the mice had to take immunosuppressants to prevent their bodies from rejecting cells from another mouse. The ideal approach would be to use a body's own stem cells to avoid the issue of rejection.

More information

To learn more about the different types of muscular dystrophy, visit the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

SOURCES: Paul Muhlrad, Ph.D., research program coordinator, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Tucson, Ariz.; Rita Perlingeiro, Ph.D., assistant professor, developmental biology and molecular biology, Department of Developmental Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas; Jan. 20, 2008,Nature Medicineonline

from:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/20/AR2008012001004.html

Girl dies, had tried stem cell therapy

2008-01-20T01:09:00.000-08:00

BIOTECH COMPANY DEVELOPED BRAIN DISEASE TREATMENT
By Steve Johnson
Mercury News

One of six children with a brain disease who were given a stem-cell treatment developed by StemCells of Palo Alto in a groundbreaking study, has died apparently from her disease, the company said Friday.

The unidentified 9-year-old girl, who died earlier this week, had been given the nerve stem cells derived from fetal tissue in January last year to treat neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis, also known as Batten disease, the company said in a prepared statement. The disease is a rare and always fatal condition that affects children.

The girl, who received the treatment at Oregon Health & Science University's Doernbecher Children's Hospital, became critically ill from an apparent viral infection, seizures and respiratory distress, and was hospitalized nearly two weeks ago, the statement said.

Based upon an initial review by Doernbecher doctors, a committee of experts monitoring the study and StemCells' medical specialists, the girl's death was believed due to the natural progression of her disease rather than from the stem cells she received, the company said.

Children with Batten disease - which is caused by genetic mutations - suffer seizures and progressive loss of motor skills, sight and mental capacity, before eventually becoming blind, bedridden and unable to communicate. The stem-cell treatment was the first ever tried with children suffering from the malady.

StemCells initially asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December

2004 for permission to conduct the unprecedented test on children. After asking the company for more information about how the surgery would be done and whether it risked causing cancer, the federal agency gave its permission Oct. 20, 2005.

Batten disease is caused by a defective gene that fails to create an enzyme the brain needs. By injecting the fetal stem cells into the brains of the six children, researchers involved in the study said they hoped the cells would help the brains produce the missing enzyme.

StemCells' statement added that the company is continuing to investigate the death and has been in contact with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration about the matter.

"These patients are in the very late stage of the disease and that is one of the criteria of enrollment" in the study, which is designed to determine if the treatment has any unsafe side effects, said StemCells Chief Executive Officer, Martin McGlynn.

"Coming into the study they have no prospect of survival," he added. The fact that one of them has died is a reminder of "how important it is to find a therapy or even a cure for this devastating disease."

All of the children who received the treatment were under the age of 13, said McGlynn, who noted that the surviving youngsters will be monitored by medical officials until the early part of 2009, when the study is expected to be completed.

From:http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_8018506?nclick_check=1

US funds stem-cell therapy for radiation sickness

2008-01-20T01:04:00.000-08:00

Stem cells have yet to make it into mainstream civilian medicine, but that hasn't stopped the US military betting on them to save its personnel if there's a nuclear explosion or radiological attack.

On 3 January, the Department of Defense awarded a contract to two biotech firms to develop a treatment for radiation sickness based on stem cells extracted from the bone marrow of healthy adult donors. If the treatment, known as Prochymal, wins approval from the Food and Drug Administration, the Pentagon will purchase up to 20,000 doses at a total cost - including funding for development - of $224.7 million.

High doses of radiation kill by damaging the DNA of fast-dividing cells in the gut and bone marrow. If victims survive the diarrhoea, intestinal bleeding and loss of water caused by damage to their gut linings, they may succumb to fatal infections in the following weeks as ...

continune at:http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19726383.200-us-funds-stemcell-therapy-for-radiation-sickness.html

Cancer stem cells might hold clue to melanoma growth

2008-01-17T04:29:00.000-08:00

Cancer stem cells might hold clue to melanoma growth

Globe Staff / January 17, 2008

In a key step from theory to possible treatment for melanoma patients, scientists in Boston report today that they were able to beat back a deadly human skin cancer in mice by targeting and destroying stem cells in the tumors.

The findings on malignant melanoma add weight to the growing belief among scientists that many types of cancer recur after treatment because small, resilient groups of stem cells survive and start multiplying again.

The research, published in tomorrow's journal Nature, shows that attacking melanoma stem cells is enough to halt a tumor's growth, said Dr. Markus Frank of Children's Hospital Boston, senior author on the paper. It thus offers new hope that this strategy will also work in humans - perhaps, researchers say, within just a few years.

"If this works with melanoma, this may also work with other tumors that are notoriously difficult to treat" once they have spread, said Dr. George Murphy, an author of the paper and chief of skin pathology at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

For more than a decade, scientists have been researching the theory that stem cells might be the worst villains in cancer, and the work has gathered momentum as stem cell populations have been discovered in cancers ranging from brain tumors to leukemia. Under a microscope, stem cells look like other cancer cells, but they can drive the growth of cancerous tumors in much the same way that normal stem cells can regenerate the body's healthy tissues

The paper is exciting and well done, said Dr. Peter Dirks, researcher of stem cells and brain tumors at the University of Toronto who was not involved in the work.

He cautioned, however, that this latest study, as well as others on cancer stem cells, are only preliminary, and it remains to be seen how broadly applicable the results are. Also, much of the work still awaits replication by other labs, he said.

"It's relatively early stages," he said, though he says he understands why the whole idea of cancer stem cells has recently "hit prime time: Because if you could treat those cells, maybe we'd have more effective, more long-lasting, more definitive cures for cancer. This [new] study is definitely a step in that direction."

One other concern that must be addressed with future research: whether killing the cancer stem cells brings with it "unexpected toxicity," hurting normal cells that use the same protein, said John E. Dick, also at the University of Toronto.

The study, whose first author was Tobias Schatton, focused on a protein lying on the surface of melanoma stem cells called ABCB5. Frank and his team, including his wife, Natasha Frank, had already shown that ABCB5 was a telltale marker for cells that could resist chemotherapy.

They set out to see whether melanoma cells that test positive for ABCB5 not only resist attack from treatments such as chemotherapy, but also serve as the seeds that then develop into more cancer.

What would happen, they wondered, if those nefarious cells were knocked out? Using monoclonal antibodies - molecular weapons that can hit highly specific targets - they went after the ABCB5-positive cells in human melanoma tumors grafted onto mice.

Tumor growth was "significantly inhibited," they report. Only three out of 11 mice developed new tumors, compared with 28 out of 28 mice whose cancer stem cells were left alone.

ABCB5 is actually a molecule that helps stem cells get rid of toxins - such as chemotherapy drugs - and thus helps tumors survive, Murphy said. "It's the very molecule that helps protect them that we have used to identify them."

Even if further experiments continue to look promising, it will likely be at least two or three years before the stem-cell strategy could start being tested in humans with melanoma, Frank said. But his lab will immediately try to develop the best possible antibodies for attacking melanoma stem cells, and will also use their findings to try to understand more about the biology of cancer stem cells, he said.

Malignant melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer, but it is easily treatable if caught early. Once it spreads, the disease is usually fatal. It kills an estimated 8,000 Americans per year out of a total 60,000 diagnosed.

Article From:http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/01/17/cancer_stem_cells_might_hold_clue_to_melanoma_growth/

Stem cell banks gain acceptance

2008-01-16T04:30:00.000-08:00

Joe C Mathew / New Delhi January 16, 2008
HEALTH: Reliance, Lifecell and , have emerged leaders in the stem cell banking sector.
It was a keen desire to secure the future of his soon-to-be born baby that made Japin Sibal, a young IT professional from Gurgaon, do an Internet search for various savings schemes available before him.
Weeks after, he zeroed in on one option — which was suggested to him by a friend and reinforced by his online enquiry — to bank his child’s cord blood stem cell.
Across metros and major towns of India, hundreds of young parents are doing what Sibal has done — to harvest and preserve their child’s cord blood for possible use in stem cell therapies for the baby or its immediate relatives. With 25 million births happening annually, stem cell banking in India offers great growth potential.
“I decided to go for stem cell banking for my child as I was confident of its usefulness. I found a lot of material on the Internet that suggested possible therapeutic opportunities using cord blood stem cells. Even our doctor suggested to go ahead,” Sibal says.
Seizing the opportunity, entrepreneurs — ranging from India’s biggest corporate player Reliance to a local NGO — are making early investments in setting up umbilical cord blood banks across the country.
While Reliance, Lifecell and Cryobank have already established a national footprint in cord blood stem cell banking, regional players are seeing this as a futuristic business option.
Leading the race is Chennai’s Lifecell, which is known to have harvested over 10,000 units of such stem cells through its 20 regional centres in the last two years.
The company, which holds an accreditation from the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) for its facility, charges around Rs 70,000 for preserving each unit of cord blood component for a period of 21 years.
“Parents banking their baby’s umbilical cord blood stem cells with an AABB-accredited bank can be assured that the blood sample has been qualified, collected, tested, processed, and stored according to internationally approved and recognised standards. Moreover, this accreditation allows access to the banked cord blood from any part of the world, when needed,” Arasan, CEO, Lifecell, says.
Reliance Life Sciences (RLS), which offers stem cell banking services under the “Reli Cord” brand, is also in the process of getting a similar accreditation. RLS is known to have direct presence in at least 30 locations from where cord blood stem cells are harvested.
Cryobanks International India, a joint venture of Cryobanks of the United States and India’s largest franchise bottler RK Jaipuria Group, is the latest entrant having a national presence. Gurgaon-based Cryobanks, which started operations 18 months ago, has already managed to collect 1,500 units.
The company, which also operates in 30 cities, is looking at harvesting at least 5,000 units during 2008. While the prices offered by all three are the same, Cryobanks has introduced installment schemes. Sibal, for instance, opted for a five-year installment programme.
“We are in the process of signing contracts with some IT majors to introduce company-sponsored stem cell harvesting programmes for their employees. The employee with have to bear only 50 per cent of the expenses as the balance will be paid by the employer,” Aasim Ghazi, head (marketing), Cryobanks, says.
Interestingly, Cryobanks has tied up with the RK Jaipuria Group and polyester major Indo Rama Group to set up a cord blood bank facility in Thailand.
The latest to foray into the sector is the Chennai-based not-for-profit organisation Jeevan Blood Bank and Research Centre. The move is significant because of the organisation’s stress on public stem cell banking over “private banking” as practiced by other players.
While all three existing players have a “public banking” concept, the majority of the cases handled by them today are from the “private banking” segment.
Jeevan attempts to promote “public banking”, which means harvesting and preservation of cord blood samples received through donations. While the “donor” will have no rights over the stem cells, the “recipient” will have to pay for the expenses incurred by Jeevan in preserving the cells.
“We plan to provide stem cells for free to poor patients and charge Rs one lakh from the rich as cross subsidy,” P Srinivasan, chairman, Jeevan Blood Bank and Research Centre, says.
According to him, not many players will venture into “public banking” because it involves huge investment and a high maintenance cost.
Even though stem cell banking has started to pick up, the centres that could make use of these cells and offer treatments are few in number.
However, Lifecell offers solution for that problem. In November 2007, it announced the setting up of Tricell, its therapeutic unit attached to Ramachandra Medical University, Chennai.
“While Lifecell will go ahead with stem cell banking business, Tricell will offer the treatment,” a company spokesperson says.
According to a government official, stem cell banking will become a public health priority only after its benefits are proved.
“Of the 75 type of diseases that have been approved for stem cell research, only a handful are a proven success. Unless it becomes a necessity for masses, government initiatives may not happen,” he says.
The industry seems to be hopeful. So are the NGOs, and the patients.

Artilce From :http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=310816&leftnm=5&subLeft=0&chkFlg=

Adult Stem Cells May Hold Key to Ethical Heart Transplants

2008-01-15T08:16:00.000-08:00

By John Connolly

ORLANDO, Florida, January 14, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Scientists have created a beating heart using laboratory techniques that involve adult stem cells and that could revolutionize organ donation.

Scientists at the University of Minnesota reported their findings at the American Heart Association's annual meeting in Orlando, Florida. The highly experimental procedure involved removing all the cells from a rat's dead heart, and using its protein blueprint as a guide for live adult stem cells seeded on the old heart.

"We took nature's building blocks to build a new organ," said Harald Ott, who worked on the project. "When we saw the first contractions we were speechless."

The ethical questions concerning heart donation could be completely sidestepped by such a process. Furthermore a new heart, grown in this way, would not be rejected by the patient's immune system, which is a common problem with organ transplants.

The procedure, however, is still in an experimental state, and it will probably be years before it can be tried on humans. Professor Doris Taylor, director of the University of Minnesota's center for cardiovascular repair, is very hopeful that this new breakthrough is a significant step towards the ability to create custom-built hearts as well as other organs.

"The idea would be to develop transplantable blood vessels or whole organs that are made from your own cells," Taylor said. "It opens a door to the notion that you can make any organ - kidney, liver or pancreas. You name it and we hope we can make it. This is a proof of concept. Going forward, our goal is to use a patient's stem cells to build a new heart."

Adult stem cells have led to many breakthroughs in medical science in recent years, in stark contrast to the lack of progress with ethically unacceptable embryonic stem cell research. Adult stem cells may be used to treat everything from heart attacks to damaged teeth. Many experimental projects have shown and are increasingly showing great promise for use of adult stem cells on human subjects.

Article From:http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2008/jan/08011405.html

'Placenta juicer' developed to extract more stem cells

2008-01-14T18:17:00.000-08:00

Singapore - Inspired by an orange juicer, two Singapore academics have invented a device that they claim can extract more stem cells from a placenta than current methods from the umbilical cord, a news report said Tuesday. Professor Ng Soon Chye and Associate Professor Tan Kok Kiong at the National University of Singapore told the Straits Times that three companies from the city-state, Japan and Britain are interested in the invention.

During a coffee break, the duo considered an orange juicer.

"We then had an idea: squeeze as much as possible, like the juicer," Ng was quoted as saying.

Their brainstorming resulted in the placenta "juicer," which presses down and squeezes on the placenta to extract as much cord blood as possible.

Stem cells can be extracted from the umbilical cord after birth and used to treat patients with blood diseases or used in bone-marrow transplants.

Some parents have their newborns' cord blood stored. The umbilical cord would otherwise be discarded.

Current extraction methods use a syringe to suck up as much blood as possible from the umbilical cord.

Ng and Tan said their device can exact as much as 10 times the amount of cord blood, or 10 times the amount of stem cells.

Original Article:http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/173562,placenta-juicer-developed-to-extract-more-stem-cells.html

Stanford stem-cell studies get major boost

2008-01-12T02:32:00.000-08:00

INVESTMENT BANKER DONATES $20 MILLION

By Barbara Feder Ostrov
Mercury News
San Francisco investment banker John Scully and his wife, Regina, have donated $20 million to Stanford's medical school and hospital to help expand stem-cell research at the university, Stanford officials said Wednesday.

The money will go toward a new medical school building with laboratories for stem-cell and regenerative-medicine research. The university hopes to break ground on that building late this year. The donation also will be used to create space for stem-cell treatment of patients within a planned expansion of Stanford University Medical Center that is expected to be completed in 2015.

Scully, 63, said he was motivated to support stem-cell research because of its potential for treating diseases like cancer and because funding for such research has been severely limited by federal restrictions since 2001.

"I don't believe government should restrict scientific inquiry," said Scully, who graduated from Stanford's Graduate School of Business in 1968 and is managing director of SPO Partners & Co. in Mill Valley. "But . . . I'm highly confident those federal restrictions will go away. Perhaps gifts like mine will hasten that day by showing the potential for stem-cell therapies."

Stanford has been positioning
itself as a major player in stem-cell research. In March 2007, Business Wire founder Larry Lokey December donated $33 million to Stanford Medical School to promote stem-cell research. Then, last month, medical school researchers received nearly $11 million from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine to help advance the careers of young scientists in the field.

Article:http://www.mercurynews.com/greenenergy/ci_7930193?nclick_check=1

Stem cell treatment could work in decade: scientist

2008-01-09T03:43:00.000-08:00

TOKYO (AFP) — Stem cell technologies could be used to cure diseases and heal injuries within 10 years, a Japanese scientist who recently broke new ground in the field said Wednesday.

Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University, whose team reported in November they reprogrammed human skin cells to be indistinguishable from stem cells taken from human embryos, said the new technology is so simple that many laboratories are competing to make further breakthroughs.

Yamanaka, meeting reporters in Tokyo, said it was a matter of time before such stem cell technology was used in hospitals.

"I can tell for some patients and for some diseases it may be not, like, 10 years, but for some diseases I can imagine it can take longer than 10 years," Yamanaka said.

"That depends on diseases and injuries. There's no single answer," he said.

Stem cells are primitive cells that eventually turn into any of the 220 different types of cells in the human body.

Stem cells offer enormous potential for curing and treating disease because it is hoped they can replace damaged or diseased cells, tissues and organs.

But stem cell research has been highly controversial because -- until now -- viable embryos had to be destroyed to extract the stem cells.

The research by Yamanaka's team, who worked alongside US researchers led by James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, was praised by the Roman Catholic Church and other critics of embryo research.

The research has since accelerated. Yamanaka said that up to five laboratories in the United States and several in Japan have since also produced stem cells from human skin, known as pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells.

"This is because technology is very simple," he said. "All you need is a basic technology, cell biology" and "you don't need special technology or equipments."

Yamanaka said having lots of rivals in his research area has caused him a lot of stress but that he believes "it speeds up everything, the process, because of the competition."

"So I think it's very good for patients who are waiting" for treatment, he said.

"Virgin" birth stem cells may offer tissue bank

2007-12-20T13:59:00.000-08:00

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Human egg cells can be tweaked to give rise to valued stem cells that match the tissue types of many different groups of people, U.S. and Russian researchers reported on Wednesday.

They said the stem cells they have created from unfertilized human eggs look and act like embryonic stem cells.

And they have been carefully tissue-matched in the same way as bone marrow donations to prevent the risk of rejection if they are transplanted into people.

The team at California-based International Stem Cell Corp. hopes to create a bank of tissue-matched stem cells that could be used as transplants that a patient's immune system would accept.

"The process is efficient, it is relatively safe and it is ethically sound," Jeffrey Janus, president and director of research at the company, said in a telephone interview.

The cells are created by a process known as parthenogenesis, a word that comes from Latin and Greek roots meaning virgin beginning.

It involves chemically tricking an egg into developing without being fertilized by sperm.

Several teams have now created parthenogenetic human stem cells from eggs. Other teams have created similar cells using human skin cells or human embryos.

Continune at Reuters

Better Breasts Through Stem Cells

2007-12-19T04:19:00.000-08:00

Japanese researchers have used fat-derived stem cells to reconstruct breasts marred by cancer surgery.

The findings, presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, have not yet been peer-reviewed and should be considered preliminary. However, if the procedure proves safe and effective, it could help breast cancer victims and perhaps replace unreliable implants for women seeking cosmetic enhancement.

Kyushu Central Hospital doctor Keizo Sugimachi used liposuction to take fat from the thighs, lower back and hips of 19 breast cancer survivors from whom doctors had removed tumors and parts of their breasts. Some of the fat was processed with a system developed by Cytori Therapeutics, a San Diego-based regenerative medicine company who sponsored Sugimachi's study.

Cytori's processing system pulled stem cells capable of becoming new breast tissue from the fat; these were combined with the rest of the fat, then injected into the womens' breasts. The treated tissues soon swelled from an average thickness of 6 millimeters to 16 millimeters, shrinking by a couple millimeters over the next six months but remaining thicker than before the procedure.

Current breast enhancement procedures rely purely on fat grafts, which are prone to instability, scarring and collapse, or on implants filled with saline or silicone, which can break or cause disfigurement. Apart from a temporary hardening of the injection site, no side effects were reported in Sugimachi's study. Fifteen of the 19 women were reportedly satisfied with the results.

Cytori will conduct two clinical trials of the procedure in Europe in 2008. As mentioned before, it's too early to get excited, but it's worth mentioning that the latest results expand on earlier promise covered by Wired's now-defunct Bodyhack blog.

The study's location in Japan, birthplace of some of the strangest bodily conceptions (NSFW) yet produced by modern imaginations, also makes me wonder what a world of stem cell-based cosmetic procedures might look like. It's a somewhat disturbing thought, but to each his -- or her -- own.

Articel From:http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/12/better-breasts.html

Doctors have used stem cells to fix breast defects.

2007-12-16T00:57:00.000-08:00

Images From:Naturalbuy.com

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — For the first time, doctors have used stem cells from liposuctioned fat to fix breast defects in women who have had cancerous lumps removed.

The approach is still experimental, but holds promise for millions of women left with cratered areas and breasts that look very different from each other after cancer surgery. It also might be a way to augment healthy breasts without using artificial implants.

So far, it has only been tested on about two dozen women in a study in Japan. But doctors in the United States say it has great potential.

"This is a pretty exciting topic right now in plastic surgery," said Dr. Karol Gutowski of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "There are people all over the country working on this."

The Japanese study was reported Saturday at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. The company that developed the treatment, San Diego-based Cytori Therapeutics, plans larger studies in Europe and Japan next year.

More than 100,000 women have lumps removed each year in the United States. These operations, lumpectomies, often are done instead of mastectomies, which take the whole breast. But they often leave deformities because as much as a third of a woman's breast may be removed.

"It's almost a euphemism" to call it a lumpectomy, said Dr. Sydney Coleman, a plastic surgeon at New York University who has consulted for Cytori and is interested in the stem cell approach.

The defect "initially may not be as noticeable" but it often gets worse, especially if the woman also has radiation treatment, said Dr. Sameer Patel, a reconstructive surgeon at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia.

"There's a growing push to try to involve the plastic surgeon particularly for this reason — to try to avoid a defect," but once one develops, options to repair it are limited, Patel said.

The implants sold today are for reconstructing breasts after mastectomies. They aren't designed to fix odd-shaped deformities from lumpectomies or radiation.

"Each one is so different, there's no little thing you can just pop in there," Gutowski explained.

Doctors can try making the other breast smaller so they match, transplanting a back muscle to boost the flawed breast, or rearranging tissue to more evenly distribute what's left. But these involve surgery and leave scars.

Mini implants of fat tissue have been tried, but they often get resorbed by the body or die and turn hard and lumpy. The recent discovery that fat cells are rich in stem cells — master cells that can replenish themselves and form other tissues in the body — renewed interest in their use.

In the Japanese study, doctors liposuctioned fat from 21 breast cancer patients' tummies, hips or thighs. Half was reserved as the main implant material; the rest was processed to extract stem cells and combined with the reserved fat. This was injected in three places around a breast defect.

Doctors think the stem cells will keep the tissue from dying and form lasting mini implants.

Eight months after treatment, "about 80 percent of the patients are satisfied" with the results, said the lead researcher, Dr. Keizo Sugimachi of Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan.

There was a statistically significant improvement in breast tissue thickness at one and six months after treatment.

Doctors with no role in the research say longer study is needed to see if these results last.

The treatment is expected to cost $3,000 to $5,000, said Cytori's president, Dr. Mark Hedrick. The company sees potential for cosmetic breast augmentation of healthy breasts, but for now "our plan is to focus on an unmet medical need" in cancer patients, he said.

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons says doctors must be cautious about using fat cells for cosmetic purposes until more is known. Gutowski heads a task force the society formed to study the science. Coleman is a member.

"It's got great potential not only for breast but other cosmetic and reconstructive purposes," like filling in facial defects from cancer or trauma, Gutowski said. "Imagine the aging face."

Better cosmetic treatments may encourage more women to choose lumpectomies. Some have opted for mastectomies because they are concerned about being left with a defect, especially younger women.

Laurie Rapp, a 48-year-old restaurant manager in Philadelphia, was only 32 when she had a lumpectomy, and now has mismatched breasts.

"One is so much smaller than the other one," she said. "There's quite a bit of puckering, and as I'm getting older I feel it's getting worse."

She probably would not try the stem cell treatment now, but if it had been available when she had her surgery, "I definitely would have, especially because I wasn't even married then," she said.

Thank for AP

Banking on stem cells help econimic in Biotech area

2007-10-28T10:27:00.000-07:00

Banking on stem cells

Biotechnology’s potential includes economic benefits for area

By Lisa Eckelbecker TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
leckelbecker@telegram.com

Gary S. Stein, chairman of the University of Massachusetts Medical School Department of Cell Biology, says a stem cell bank could help the Worcester area. (T&G Staff/JIM COLLINS)Enlarge photo

WORCESTER— Some of the biggest hopes for economic development in Massachusetts lie in some very small cells.

Yet as Gov. Deval L. Patrick pushes for a 10-year, $1 billion investment in life science research and development, including money for a stem cell bank in Worcester, some university and business officials say they are still trying to project the economic impact of such an investment.

There could be intellectual property benefits and the formation of new companies, said Dr. Michael F. Collins, interim chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Medical School. But as for

numbers, he said, he’s still working on that.

“What I’m attempting to assess is really the impact on the statewide economy, because we view the medical school as a statewide resource,” Dr. Collins said.

Coming up with a projection could be no easy task. When California voters approved a 10-year plan to issue $3 billion in bonds to fund stem cell research, competing projections came up with different outlooks. One group suggested the state would reap income tax and sales tax revenues of at least $240 million from spending on research and facilities, additional tax revenues of $2.2 billion to $4.4 billion if the initiative brought additional private investment into California and up to $1.1 billion in royalty revenues from products developed through the initiative.

More:TeleGram

Stem cells bring sight to the blind in India

2007-10-24T14:58:00.001-07:00

An eye institute in India has developed a way to grow new corneas from adult stem cells and restore sight to the blind.

By David Ewing Duncan, Fortune
October 24 2007: 6:54 AM EDT

(Fortune Magazine) -- Eye surgeon Virendar Sangwan has perfected a procedure so cutting-edge that most who have tried it have failed. In an operating theater in the central Indian city of Hyderabad, he surgically implants corneas grown in a petri dish from stem cells by his colleague Geeta Vemuganti in patients with damaged eyes. Together they perform about 80 corneal regeneration procedures a year, making the L.V. Prasad Eye Institute where they work one of the most prolific facilities in the world using stem cells to regenerate tissue of any kind.

The Sangwan-Vemuganti team uses stem cells found in the tissues of living adults, not ones derived from embryos. Teams all over the world are working with adult stem cells, trying to coax them to regrow cells in hearts, brains, livers, and other organs, but progress is slow.

Besides corneas, scientists have had some success regrowing skin cells and bone tissue, but those procedures remain experimental. "A number of programs around the world have tried to perfect this treatment, but they have had bad outcomes," says University of Cincinnati eye surgeon and stem cell specialist Edward Holland.

"It's impressive what they are doing at Prasad." In addition to the Hyderabad project, only Holland's program and a half-dozen others in the world conduct operations using corneas grown from stem cells.

More

Use of umbilical cord blood pushed

2007-10-11T08:07:00.000-07:00

Usually discarded, cord blood is a rich source of stem cells

By Joe Fahy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

When she considered ways to honor the memory of her husband, Daniel, Carol Berger thought about a lecture or scholarship. But she and her family finally settled on a novel effort to promote the use of stem cells in treating disease.

Mr. Berger, a local attorney known for championing liberal causes, benefited from a stem cell transplant to treat his lymphoma. He died in July 2006 at age 73.

This morning, officials at Magee-Womens Hospital will announce the Dan Berger Cord Blood Program. It is aimed at expanding options for new mothers to bank umbilical cord blood, a rich source of stem cells that can be used to treat certain cancers, sickle cell anemia and immune deficiencies.

The program will inform women about storing cord blood for their family's use or donating it to others or for research. It also will educate patients and health professionals about cord blood banking.

"We believe this is a very unique program in the country in that it addresses the whole collection process," said Dr. Dennis English, Magee's vice president for medical affairs. He said officials hope to significantly increase cord blood collections at the hospital.

"No one else is doing it quite this way," said Mrs. Berger, whose family is making a financial pledge for the new program.

Additional support is expected from UPMC Health Plan and Highmark, Dr. English said.

Other partners in the effort include the Institute for Transfusion Medicine, the parent organization of the Central Blood Bank, and three private cord blood banks: Viacord, CorCell and CBR.

Cord blood can be collected from the umbilical cord and the placenta after a baby is born. Stem cells also can be extracted from bone marrow and the bloodstream.

Stem cell transplants from cord blood have been increasing, particularly in the past few years, Dr. English said. Yet cord blood is discarded following the vast majority of births.

Nationwide, cord blood is stored after about 4 percent of deliveries, he said. In Western Pennsylvania, the figure is just 1.5 percent.

One reason, he said, is that a public banking option hasn't been available locally. And many obstetricians have had little interest in advising patients to use private cord blood banks that store the blood for a fee -- usually, about $1,700 to $2,000 initially and another $100 to $200 per year.

Pennsylvania lawmakers likely will consider legislation that would require doctors to give women information about cord blood banking, Dr. English said. Similar legislation has been adopted in other states, he said.

The American Academy of Pediatrics encourages families to donate cord blood to public banks, if available in the area, to benefit others in need. But the group discourages parents from storing blood at private banks unless they have an older child with a condition that could potentially benefit from a transplant. Cord blood banked privately seldom is used, and therefore wasted, the group noted.

The new program at Magee calls for developing educational materials to inform mothers about cord blood banking several months before they give birth.

Mothers who are interested in storing cord blood for their families could choose to bank it, for a fee, through one of the private companies, Dr. English said.

They also could donate it to the Magee-Women's Research Institute, which focuses its studies on women and infants, or for public use through the Central Blood Bank. Dr. English said the blood bank will work to coordinate its donations through the National Marrow Donor Program, which operates a federally funded U.S. registry of adult donors and cord blood units.

As part of the new Magee program, technicians will be available to collect cord blood following deliveries, Dr. English said.

The program also will hire an educator to discuss public and private cord blood banking with obstetricians, family doctors and midwives, he said.

Efforts also will be made to speak to patients about cord blood banking at health fairs and similar events. Reaching minority populations is especially important, Dr. English said, because blacks are much less likely than whites to find a match through a public cord blood bank. Relatively few specimens for blacks are available.

Mary Halet, manager of cord blood operations for the National Marrow Donor Program, said the new program appears to be designed to educate women ahead of time about the various options available for storing or donating cord blood.

"I think that's really interesting and good advocacy for women's health," she said.

Mrs. Berger said her husband developed lymphoma in the 1990s. An avid Pirates fan and Yale Law School graduate, he had chaired the Western Pennsylvania presidential campaign of Sen. Eugene McCarthy in 1968 and had been general counsel to the Pittsburgh chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Chemotherapy held the cancer in check for about six years, Mrs. Berger said, and her husband was able to practice law with their son, Joshua, and to go horseback riding, ski and travel.

But when the therapy stopped working, the family frantically searched for other options.

An initial stem cell transplant at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston failed, but a second was successful, Mrs. Berger said.

Stem cells are "the way of the future in medicine," she said, noting that they are used to treat many serious diseases and show potential for curing others.

Original Article : http://www.post-gazette.com

Stem Cell Therapy Could Regrow Heart Cells

2007-10-07T11:03:00.000-07:00

Stem Cell Therapy Could Regrow Heart Cells

A new study conducted by University of Florida doctors attempts to treat patients with coronary artery disease by injected stem cells into the heart. The researchers believe that stem cell injections will restore more blood flow to the organ and encourage blood vessel growth, healing the heart.

This experimental treatment is being conducted on volunteers with severe coronary artery disease who have daily chest pains. Volunteers for the study have tried other methods such as medication or surgery procedures to restore blood flow but have not responded. The results of this study could affect almost half a million Americans with severe coronary artery disease.

Coronary artery disease occurs when the heart muscle becomes affected by plaque deposits or clots that prevent blood from reaching the heart. The blockages can initiate small heart attacks that can go undetected but cause damage to the heart that cannot be reversed. Over time, this can cause progressive heart failure or death.

In the study, researchers will use a person's own stem cells to try to improve the flow of blood to the heart. They hope that the treatment will prevent some of the symptoms of severe coronary artery disease, as well as increase the quality of life for the patient. The study will also measure exercise tolerance and heart function before and after treatment.

"The general idea is that by providing these cells of blood vessel origin, we hope to either generate new blood vessels from the growth of these implanted cells or stimulate the heart to regenerate new blood vessels from the cells that reside in it," said study investigator Carl J. Pepine, M.D., chief of cardiovascular medicine at UF's College of Medicine in a press release.

Despite their high hopes for the results of the study, researchers are unsure how this transformation will occur. "It's not completely clear whether it's the actual cell itself that would do this or whether it's just the milieu and the chemical signals that occur from the cells that would result in this," concluded Pepine in a press release.

Another trial is divided into three patient groups, one focusing on patients with heart attacks within the week preceding the treatment, one on people with heart attacks two or three weeks before treatment, and those patients with severe coronary disease that has not responded to any treatment. In those studies, stem cells removed from the bone marrow will be removed and injected into the heart.

"There's a lot of enthusiasm in the cardiovascular community about the potential of cell-based therapies for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases,"

aid Douglas E. Vaughan, M.D., chief of the division of cardiovascular medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in a press release, "and there is increasing experience around the world in using bone marrow-derived stem cells in patients with cardiovascular disease. There is growing confidence this is going to be a safe form of therapy, but there are continuing questions about how effective it will be and what its impact will be in individual patients."

Original Article :http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/404970/stem_cell_therapy_could_regrow_heart.html?page=2