Category Archives: Stem Cell Therapy

Breast cancer strikes more than 200,000 American women each year.1

About 40,000 die from metastatic disease, leaving 160,000 women alivebut with missing or disfigured breasts.2

For most women, the principal options to reverse the mutilating impact of conventional therapy (lumpectomy or mastectomy plus radiation) are reconstructive surgery using synthetic breast implants or, for women who don't want artificial implants, surgical stripping of abdominal or back muscles which are then used to reconstruct the breast.

Both of these reconstructive procedures can involve side effects such as chronic pain and discomfort not only in the breast area, but from hernias and weakness from the donor site of the body, including muscles in the back or abdomen that are surgically removed.3-6

Seldom do any of these conventional reconstruction choices restore the desired sensation, mobility, comfort, and appearance of the original healthy breast.

There is, however, another option used by some plastic surgeons in the past called autologous fat grafting, or fat transplantation. This procedure utilizes the patient's own subcutaneous fat tissue from other regions of the body and implants it into the breast. A major concern with this kind of breast restoration is that scientific studies have failed to show clear evidence of long-term viability of the fat transplanted into the breast.7 That's why the concept of enriching transplanted fat with concentrated stem cells offers such incredible potential.

Actress Suzanne Somers was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001. She had a lumpectomy to remove the tumor, followed by intense radiation therapy.

For those who don't know, the destructive effects of surgery combined with high-dose radiation can cause severe disfigurement to breast tissues. Even breast conserving/reconstruction surgeries don't always restore and maintain post-treatment breasts anywhere near their original appearance.

Those who know Suzanne Somers understand that she does not make important medical decisions in a conventional way. Rather than submitting to traditional breast reconstructive surgery, she scoured the world to identify researchers who were using advanced techniques to improve autologous fat transplantation as a long-term restorative procedure for the breast.

Though preliminary, the results thus far have been impressive. Using an advanced technique conceived by Dr. Kotaro Yoshimura in Japan, Suzanne's American surgeon utilized a novel strategy known as Cell-Assisted Lipotransfer.8 Dr. Yoshimura's protocol utilizes autologous adipose-derived stem cells in combination with liposuction techniques.

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Suzanne Somers Uses Novel Stem Cell Therapy During Breast ...

An Australian-based biomedical company has been given approval from the AFL to use stem-cell therapy on players recovering from injury.

Sydney-based Regeneus has revealed it was recently given permission for its HiQCell treatment on players suffering from such issues as osteoarthritis and tendinopathy.

The treatment is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency if it is performance-enhancing but allowed if it is solely to treat injuries.

Regeneus commercial development director Steven Barberasaid the regenerative medicine company had sought approval from the AFL for what the company says is "innovative but not experimental" treatment.

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"In 2013, Regeneus sought and received clearance from ASADA [Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority] for its proprietary HiQCell therapy for use with athletes who participate in sporting competitions subject to the WADA Anti-Doping Code. The AFL is one of many professional sports bodies which applies the WADA Anti-Doping Code within its regulations for players," he said.

"In March this year, the AFL introduced a Prohibited Treatments List as an additional level of scrutiny over and above the WADA code for player treatments. In light of this, Regeneus made a submission to the AFL to confirm that our specific treatment is not prohibited under that list. Subsequently, the chief medical officer of the AFL has recently communicated with our primary Melbourne-based HiQCell medical practitioner that the treatment is not prohibited and can be administered on a case-by-case basis to players.

"We anticipate documented confirmation of this outcome in the near future from the AFL.

"To our knowledge, the permission is specific to HiQCell and not necessarily to cell-based therapies in general."

The AFL confirmed it had given approval on a "case-by-case" basis.

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AFL approves stem-cell therapy treatment

US regenerative medicine company ViaCyte Inc said Thursday it had signed a rights deal with Janssen Research & Development LLC, part of US Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), under which Janssen gets a future right to assess a transaction associated with ViaCyte's VC-01 candidate cell replacement therapy being developed for Type 1 diabetes.

This right will be valid during the initial assessment of the clinical efficacy of VC-01.

ViaCyte has also obtained USD 20 million (EUR 15.1m), including a rights fee and a note convertible into equity at a later date, from Janssen and Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation (JJDC), which is an investor in ViaCyte.

This payment, along with a recent private equity financing transaction of USD 5.4 million, provides further resources for the additional development of VC-01 for insulin-dependent diabetes. ViaCyte intends to utilise the proceeds mainly to expedite the clinical development of the product candidate.

As reported earlier this week, the US FDA accepted the company's Investigational New Drug (IND) application to start a Phase I/II study of VC-01 in Type 1 diabetes. The firm intends to commence soon the trial, which will investigate the safety and efficacy of the product.

VC-01 contains pancreatic progenitor cells, named PEC-01 cells, which are derived from a proprietary human embryonic stem cell line, encapsulated in the company's Encaptra device. Upon implantation under the skin, the PEC-01 cells are intended to mature and additionally differentiate into insulin-producing beta and other endocrine cells regulating blood glucose in a similar or identical way to the islets that are normally present in the endocrine pancreas.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.754)

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ViaCyte, Janssen ink deal over stem cell-derived islet replacement therapy for type 1 diabetes

(PRWEB UK) 21 August 2014

Sally Bee TV personality and advocate of all things health, recently launched a competition to draw attention to the benefits of stem cell therapy and why having your own stem cells available is vital.

Lucky winner Sarah Johnson, could not believe her luck when she received the call from specialist stem cell bank BioEden. Sarah has gifted her prize to her nephew George, whose stem cells will be taken from one of his baby teeth once a tooth has fallen out naturally.

Sarah said, "We have experienced family members with cancer, alzheimers and parkinsons disease in recent years, so to have the opportunity to store my nephew George's stem cells, in case of any illness in later life is such a peace of mind to us."

A spokesman for BioEden said Sarah had been selected at random from hundreds of entries, and were delighted that Sally Bee's support of stem cell banking has already started to help many people, including Sarah.

Originally posted here:
Winner of Stem Cell initiative and competition launched by TV personality Sally Bee, speaks out about her family ...

Paul Laikind, CEO of ViaCyte, which is making a treatment for diabetes from human embryonic stem cells.

San Diego-based ViaCyte has received FDA permission to try its stem cell-based diabetes therapy. The Phase 1/2 combination trial will look for both safety and early signs of efficacy.

ViaCyte grows replacement insulin-producing cells from human embryonic stem cells, which are placed in a semipermeable pouch. The pouch will be implanted into patients, allowing insulin and other hormones to enter the patient's bloodstream.

The combination product of pouch and cells is called VC-01. ViaCyte says the product has the potential to provide a "virtual cure" for Type 1 diabetes. The company announced last month it had applied to begin the clinical trial.

Animal trials have shown that the replacement cells successfully duplicate the function of the insulin-producing beta cells. These cells secrete not only insulin, which lowers blood sugar, but hormones such as glucagon, which raises it. Providing a range of hormones as in the natural pancreas is expected to provide better control of blood sugar than with insulin alone.

The green light is not only good news for privately held ViaCyte, but for California's stem cell agency, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. The agency has granted ViaCyte more than $38 million to research and develop the treatment. CIRM has been under pressure in recent years to show that its $3 billion in state bond funding is leading to therapies.

CIRM was created to help develop stem cell treatments for diseases that are currently incurable with traditional approaches, C. Randal Mills president and CEO of the stem cell agency, said in an agency statement. Working in collaboration with CIRM for the past 6 years, ViaCyte has developed a particularly novel approach to overcome the challenges of treating type 1 diabetes. Anytime a product, particularly one as innovative as this one, progresses from the lab and into clinical trials its very encouraging news, particularly for the patients suffering from the disease.

The ViaCyte team is very pleased to have received FDA acceptance for our clinical trial protocol and look forward to initiating this study shortly, ViaCyte president and CEO Paul Laikind said in the statement. The commencement of this trial marks a significant milestone that could not have been achieved without the support we have received and continue to receive from CIRM.

Inadequate control of blood sugar increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney failure and other complications of diabetes.

The ViaCyte product contains immature beta cells, grown from the embryonic stems cells. After implantation, the cells mature and begin to release the appropriate hormones in response to blood sugar levels.

Originally posted here:
In search of a 'virtual cure' for diabetes

Australian scientists studying zebrafish have stumbled upon what they say is one of the most significant discoveries in stem cell research.

In research published on Thursday in the journal Nature, the Monash University scientists revealed that they uncovered how one of the most important stem cells in blood and bone marrow, the haematopoietic stem cell (HSC), is formed.

Professor Peter Currie, from Monash University's Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, said the discovery brought researchers closer to growing HSCs in a lab.

"HSCs are the basis of bone marrow transplantations as a therapy, so when a leukaemia patient receives bone marrow, it's really these HSCs that do the heavy lifting," Professor Currie said.

"So when clinicians do bone marrow transplants, they need to find a matching donor recipients and we know that's a hit-or-miss procedure.

"So for many years people have been trying to make HSCs in the dish, and they've had very little success in doing this."

Professor Currie, who led the study, said the discovery brought scientists much closer to achieving that aim.

"It's the discovery of a completely new cell type that basically is required to give instructions to the HSC to make it become what it needs to become," he said.

"It means we now understand how HSC form in the body better, we can use that information to try to grow these cells in the dish and we hope that will lead to better treatment for people with leukaemia and blood disorders."

Professor Currie said he specialises in muscle stem cell biology and accidentally came across the discovery while studying muscle stem cells in zebrafish.

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Stem cell discovery: Australian scientists make significant find while studying zebrafish