Category Archives: Stem Cell Therapy

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1200+ scientists, patient advocates from 40 countries in town for summit

Posted YESTERDAY, 6:04 PM Updated YESTERDAY, 6:33 PM

SAN ANTONIO - More than a thousand scientists, industry leaders and patient advocates from 40 countries are headed to San Antonio for the World Stem Cell Summit.

Organizers are calling it the center of the universe when it comes to stem cells and regenerative medicine.

On Tuesday the summit kicked off with Public Education Day, where some of the smartest scientists in the field broke the topic down into bite-sized pieces.

"To be able to replenish our cells that die within a tissue on a daily basis, in order for us to be able to heal wounds, we have to have stem cells," said Elaine Fuchs, an investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

She started her research in the field in the 1970s with work on skin stem cells, and said she was fascinated with creating skin in a petri dish that could then be used for burn therapy.

Fuchs spoke at Public Education Day about the most basic biology of stem cells and said that knowledge is leading to a new world in medicine.

"The biology of stem cells is gong to be and is being extremely valuable in terms of developing new therapies and coming up with new drugs to treat various different devastating diseases," Fuchs said.

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World Stem Cell Summit kicks off in SA with Public Education Day

Background

We previously showed that consolidation therapy with thalidomide and prednisolone improved progression-free and overall survival in patients with multiple myeloma who had undergone autologous stem-cell transplantation. We aimed to assess whether these survival advantages were durable at 5 years.

The ALLG MM6 trial was a multicentre, open-label, randomised phase 3 trial done between Jan 13, 2002, and March 15, 2005, at 29 sites in Australia and New Zealand. Patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma were randomly assigned (1:1), via computer-generated randomisation charts, to receive indefinite prednisolone maintenance alone (control group) or in combination with 12 months of thalidomide consolidation (thalidomide group) after autologous stem-cell transplantation. Randomisation was stratified by treating centre and pre-transplantation concentrations of 2 microglobulin. Patients and treating physicians were not masked to treatment allocation. Primary endpoints were progression-free survival and overall survival. Analysis was by intention to treat. Secondary endpoints were overall response to salvage therapy, incidence of second primary malignancy incidence, and cost-effectiveness. This trial is registered with the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, number ACTRN12607000382471.

We randomly assigned 269 patients to the thalidomide (n=114) or control group (n=129). After a median follow-up of 54 years (IQR 3172), estimated 5-year progression-free survival was 27% (95% CI 2332) in the thalidomide group and 15% (1118) in the control group (hazard ratio [HR] 016, 95% CI 0044058; p=00054) and 5-year overall survival was 66% (95% CI 6170) and 47% (4251), respectively (HR 012, 95% CI 0028056; p=00072). There was no difference in overall response to salvage therapy, survival post-progression, or incidence of secondary malignancies between the two groups. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was AUS$26996 per mean life-year gained.

Consolidation therapy with thalidomide and prednisolone after autologous stem-cell transplantaion is an acceptable therapeutic approach when alternative drugs are not available.

Pharmion Corporation, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Amgen Australia, The Merrin Foundation, and Alfred Health.

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Thalidomide and prednisolone versus prednisolone alone as consolidation therapy after autologous stem-cell ...

Cell Therapy Limited on Crowdcube - Repairing Broken Hearts
HeartcelTM is a novel stem cell therapy that can regenerate the heart following heart failure - a Cell Therapy Ltd Medicine.

By: Cell Therapy Ltd

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Cell Therapy Limited on Crowdcube - Repairing Broken Hearts - Video

27.11.2014 - (idw) IMBA - Institut fr Molekulare Biotechnologie der sterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften GmbH

Scientists at IMBA Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna have made a major advancement towards a future therapy for butterfly children. A treatment with fibroblasts generated from induced pluripotent stem cells has been highly successful in mice. The next step is to establish this method in humans. Butterfly children suffer from Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), a debilitating skin disease. It is caused by a genetic defect that leads to a deficiency or complete lack of various structural proteins. In one particularly severe form, the protein collagen 7 is either missing or present only in insufficient amounts. If that bond is missing, the skin forms blisters or tears at the slightest mechanical pressure, leading to wounds and inflammation that require extensive treatment with creams and bandages. Often these constant lesions also lead to aggressive forms of skin cancer.

Presently there is no cure for this disease. But there are promising approaches that could lead to successful treatments in the future. One of them is a method called fibroblast injection. In this procedure, fibroblasts are injected between the layers of the skin, where they can produce the necessary collagen 7.

Researchers at IMBA under the leadership of Arabella Meixner have now been successful in developing this method to treat mice affected by EB. The individual steps of this treatment have been worked out and carefully tested in many years of laboratory work, and the results have now been published in the scientific journal Science Translational Medicine.

First the scientists returned skin cells of the diseased mice to the stem cell stage and then repaired the genetic defect, the root cause of the disease. Then the researchers transformed stem cells back into fibroblasts.

Before the repaired fibroblasts could be reintroduced into the organism, measures to prevent inflammation or rejection were necessary. In this study the researchers conducted a type of toxicity test, and the results were very promising. After several months of observation, no adverse immune reactions occurred, and the risk of skin cancer did not increase. That is an important consideration because butterfly children already have a greatly increased risk of skin cancer.

The next step is to establish this skin stem cell treatment in humans. To achieve that, the IMBA scientists intend to look for partners with clinical experience. For severe forms of Epidermolysis Bullosa, a systemic application needs to be developed to spread the cells throughout the entire body via the bloodstream to reach epithelial tissues that are more difficult to access, for example the mucous membranes in the mouth or bowels. Often in butterfly children with milder forms of the disease, only certain areas of the skin are affected. The skin stem cell therapy with local injections successfully tested on mice could lead to a valuable treatment method in the very near future.

The project conducted by IMBA scientists was initiated by the patient organization DEBRA Austria, and has had the financial support of the association and of other generous supporters since 2009. DEBRA's mission is to ensure that butterfly children receive competent specialized medical care and to promote research into options to relieve and cure EB. Further thanks also go to our funding and cooperation partners sterreichische Lotterien and FK Austria Wien.

Original publication: Wenzel et. al., iPSC-based cell therapy for Recessive Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa. Science Translational Medicine. 2014.

Scientific Contact: Dr. Arabella Meixner, Research Lead Tel. +43 664 2018084 arabella.meixner@imba.oeaw.ac.at Weitere Informationen:http://www.imba.oeaw.ac.at

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Tremendous progress in the development of skin stem cell treatments for butterfly children

MDAnderson's Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Center is one of the largest facilities in the world for stem cell transplants, performing more than 865 procedures for adults and children each year, more than any other center in the nation.

We treat a wide variety of cancers, hematologic diseases and autoimmune disorders, including:

Our center is recognized by the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) as a specialized center for matched unrelated donor stem cell transplants, and maintains an advanced cell processing laboratory dedicated to preparing safe and effective tissues for transplantation. The apheresis and stem cell collection unit performs over 1,000 blood stem cell collections annually.

In addition to inpatient and outpatient services, the Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular therapy center has a clinic that helps monitor and manage complications of graft versus host disease.

Patients can be referred to the Stem Cell Transplantation & Cellular Therapy Center for cancer treatment.

Please complete the Patient Self-Referral form. You will be contacted by a Referral Specialist to collect the additional information required for confirming your appointment.

Please complete the Physician Referral form. A Referral Specialist will contact your office for additional information and then contact your patient to confirm the appointment.

Take advantage of our online services, including myMDAnderson, the personalized site that helps you manage your cancer treatment:

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Stem Cell Transplantations: Cancer Treatment | MD Anderson ...