Category Archives: Stem Cell Videos

Stem cells culled from the bone marrow of healthy donors work as well or even better as cells harvested from patients themselves as a treatment for damaged hearts and are more convenient to use, according to new research.

The 13-month trial was the first to compare the safety and effectiveness of so-called mesenchymal, or bone marrow-derived, stem cells taken from patients themselves versus those provided by donors.

Such adult stem cells that renew themselves and mature into specific cell types have been used for 40 years in bone marrow transplants.

Scientists are now exploring their use as treatments for ailments such as heart disease and inflammatory conditions, some of the biggest markets in medicine.

The rationale behind using patients' own stem cells to treat disease is that they do not trigger an attack by the body's immune system. Mesenchymal stem cells, however, are also not recognized as foreign tissue.

Researchers from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, funded by the National Institutes of Health, found that previously prepared cells from a healthy donor were comparatively safe and may offer the most convenience since it takes up to eight weeks to grow the amount of stem cells needed for the treatment.

The study involved 30 patients whose hearts were damaged by an earlier heart attack. Half received heart-muscle injections of their own cells, while the other half received donor cells.

Scar tissue was reduced by 33 percent in both groups, a result researchers called "very, very significant."

Improvements in heart function were seen in 28 percent of those receiving donor cells, and in 50 percent of patients receiving their own cells.

After a year, five patients in the donor cell group and eight who received their own cells suffered serious adverse events.

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Donated stem cells may work best for heart patients

Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012

The recent Nobel Prize recognition of work on artificially derived multipurpose stem cells by Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka is likely to further boost use of the technology in the country's biotech and related industries.

It is hoped that his research for engineering mature cells, such as skin and blood, to grow into any type of body tissue will help in the development of new drugs and spur business opportunities for regenerative medicine, free from the controversy associated with stem cells from human embryos.

Research company Fuji-Keizai Group says the Japanese market for regenerative medicine reached 51.4 billion in 2011 and is likely to top 100 billion in 2020 if more products are put on the market and their clinical applications are promoted.

The 50-year-old Kyoto University professor won this year's Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine jointly with John Gurdon of Britain, professor emeritus at Cambridge University, for the discovery that "mature, specialized cells can be reprogrammed to become immature cells capable of developing into all tissues of the body."

Major drugmaker Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co. in 2011 began research with Kyoto University's Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, headed by Yamanaka, to develop treatments of hard-to-cure rare diseases that affect a limited number of people.

The term iPS cell was coined by Yamanaka. It is short for induced pluripotent stem cell.

The research aims to pin down the mechanisms of these diseases using iPS cells and then work out procedures to suppress the progression of such diseases.

It is generally said a new drug takes at least 10 years and tens of billions of yen to develop, including costs and time needed for basic research and clinical trials.

Through the introduction of iPS cells, potent drug candidates can be narrowed down and development sped up, curbing R&D expenditures.

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Nobel for stem cell work boon for biotech industry

LOS ANGELES (AP) Researchers are reporting a key advance in using stem cells to repair hearts damaged by heart attacks. In a study, stem cells donated by strangers proved as safe and effective as patients own cells for helping restore heart tissue.

The work involved just 30 patients in Miami and Baltimore, but it proves the concept that anyones cells can be used to treat such cases. Doctors are excited because this suggests that stem cells could be banked for off-the-shelf use after heart attacks, just as blood is kept on hand now.

Results were discussed Monday at an American Heart Association conference in California and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study used a specific type of stem cells from bone marrow that researchers believed would not be rejected by recipients. Unlike other cells, these lack a key feature on their surface that makes the immune system see them as foreign tissue and attack them, explained the studys leader, Dr. Joshua Hare of the University of Miami.

The patients in the study had suffered heart attacks years earlier, some as long as 30 years ago. All had developed heart failure because the scar tissue from the heart attack had weakened their hearts so much that they grew large and flabby, unable to pump blood effectively.

Researchers advertised for people to supply marrow, which is removed using a needle into a hip bone. The cells were taken from the marrow and amplified for about a month in a lab at Baltimores Johns Hopkins University, then returned to Miami to be used for treatment, which did not involve surgery.

The cells were delivered through a tube pushed through a groin artery into the heart near the scarred area. Fifteen patients were given cells from their own marrow and 15 others, cells from strangers.

About a year later, scar tissue had been reduced by about one-third. Both groups had improvements in how far they could walk and in quality of life. There was no significant difference in one measure of how well their hearts were able to pump blood, but doctors hope these patients will continue to improve over time, or that refinements in treatment will lead to better results.

The big attraction is being able to use cells supplied by others, with no blood or tissue matching needed.

You could have the cells ready to go in the blood bank so when the patient comes in for a therapy theres no delay, Hare said. Its also cheaper to make the donor cells, and a single marrow donor can supply enough cells to treat as many as 10 people.

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Study: Stem cells from strangers can repair hearts

LOS ANGELES Researchers are reporting a key advance in using stem cells to repair hearts damaged by heart attacks. In a study, stem cells donated by strangers proved as safe and effective as patients own cells for helping restore heart tissue.

The work involved just 30 patients in Miami, but proves the concept that anyones cells can be used to treat such cases. Doctors are excited because this suggests that stem cells could be banked for off-the-shelf use after heart attacks, just as blood is kept on hand now.

Results were discussed Monday at an American Heart Association conference in California and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study used a specific type of stem cells from bone marrow that researchers believed would not be rejected by recipients. Unlike other cells, these lack a key feature on their surface that makes the immune system see them as foreign tissue and attack them, explained the studys leader, Dr. Joshua Hare of the University of Miami.

The patients in the study had suffered heart attacks years earlier, some as long as 30 years ago. All had developed heart failure because the scar tissue from the heart attack had weakened their hearts so much that they grew large and flabby, unable to pump blood effectively.

Researchers advertised for people to supply marrow, which is removed using a needle into a hip bone. The cells were taken from the marrow and amplified for about a month in a lab at Baltimores Johns Hopkins University, then returned to Miami to be used for treatment, which did not involve surgery.

The cells were delivered through a tube pushed through a groin artery into the heart near the scarred area. Fifteen patients were given cells from their own marrow and 15 others, cells from strangers.

About a year later, scar tissue had been reduced by about one-third. Both groups had improvements in how far they could walk and in quality of life. There was no significant difference in one measure of how well their hearts were able to pump blood, but doctors hope these patients will continue to improve over time, or that refinements in treatment will lead to better results.

The big attraction is being able to use cells supplied by others, with no blood or tissue matching needed.

You could have the cells ready to go in the blood bank so when the patient comes in for a therapy theres no delay, Hare said. Its also cheaper to make the donor cells, and a single marrow donor can supply enough cells to treat as many as 10 people.

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Stem cells from strangers can help fix hearts, study finds

LOS ANGELES - Researchers are reporting a key advance in using stem cells to repair hearts damaged by heart attacks. In a study, stem cells donated by strangers proved as safe and effective as patients' own cells for helping restore heart tissue.

The work involved just 30 patients in Miami and Baltimore, but it proves the concept that anyone's cells can be used to treat such cases. Doctors are excited because this suggests that stem cells could be banked for off-the-shelf use after heart attacks, just as blood is kept on hand now.

Results were discussed Monday at an American Heart Association conference in California and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study used a specific type of stem cells from bone marrow that researchers believed would not be rejected by recipients. Unlike other cells, these lack a key feature on their surface that makes the immune system see them as foreign tissue and attack them, explained the study's leader, Dr. Joshua Hare of the University of Miami.

The patients in the study had suffered heart attacks years earlier, some as long as 30 years ago. All had developed heart failure because the scar tissue from the heart attack had weakened their hearts so much that they grew large and flabby, unable to pump blood effectively.

Researchers advertised for people to supply marrow, which is removed using a needle into a hip bone. The cells were taken from the marrow and amplified for about a month in a lab at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University, then returned to Miami to be used for treatment, which did not involve surgery. The cells were delivered through a tube pushed through a groin artery into the heart near the scarred area. Fifteen patients were given cells from their own marrow and 15 others, cells from strangers. About a year later, scar tissue had been reduced by about one-third. Both groups had improvements in how far they could walk and in quality of life. There was no significant difference in one measure of how well their hearts were able to pump blood, but doctors hope these patients will continue to improve over time, or that refinements in treatment will lead to better results. The big attraction is being able to use cells supplied by others, with no blood or tissue matching needed. "You could have the cells ready to go in the blood bank so when the patient comes in for a therapy - there's no delay," Hare said. "It's also cheaper to make the donor cells," and a single marrow donor can supply enough cells to treat as many as 10 people.

Dr. Elliott Antman of Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston who heads the heart conference, praised the work. "That opens up an entire new avenue for stem cell therapy, like a sophisticated version of a blood bank," he said. There's an advantage in not having to create a cell therapy for each patient, and it could spare them the pain and wait of having their own marrow harvested, he said. The study was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. Hare owns stock in a biotech company working on a treatment using a mixture of cells. Juan Lopez received his own cells in the study, and said it improved his symptoms so much that at age 70, he was able to return to his job as an engineer and sales manager for a roofing manufacturer and ride an exercise bike. "It has been a life-changing experience," said Lopez, who lives in Miami. "I can feel day by day, week by week, month by month, my improvement. I don't have any shortness of breath and my energy level is way up there. I don't have any fluid in my lungs." And, he said happily, "My sex drive has improved!"

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Stem Cells from Strangers Can Repair Hearts

Study Highlights:

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 6, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cardiac stem cells may one day be an effective treatment for heart failure caused by muscle scarring after a heart attack, according to late-breaking clinical trial results presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2012.

In the Effect of Cardiac Stem Cells In Patients with Ischemic CardiOmyopathy (SCIPIO) trial, heart function and quality of life improved in 20 people treated with their own cardiac stem cells (CSCs).

"This is exciting," said Roberto Bolli, M.D., lead author of the trial, chief of Cardiovascular Medicine and director of the Institute of Molecular Cardiology at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. "The effect of these cells has continued for up to two years, and has gotten stronger. There was also a major reduction in heart scarring."

In 33 patients with heart failure who had undergone coronary artery bypass surgery, researchers removed a tiny piece of heart tissue and isolated heart stem cells called c-kit CSCs. Researchers then grew additional cells to infuse into 20 volunteers assigned to treatment.

Among outcomes found two years after treatment:

"We have not seen any deaths among the patients, or any adverse effects that can be ascribed to the stem cells," Bolli said.

About 6.6 million Americans suffer from heart failure, according to the American Heart Association. Life expectancy is about five years after diagnosis. Ischemic heart attacks cause most of the 57,000 U.S. deaths a year due to heart failure.

Larger, multi-center studies are needed to confirm the findings, Bolli said.

The Jewish Hospital, University of Louisville, and the National Institutes of Health funded the study. Co-authors' names are on the abstract.

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Cardiac Stem Cells May Help Treat Heart Failure

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

Contact: Deborah Mann Lake deborah.m.lake@uth.tmc.edu 713-500-3030 University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

HOUSTON (Nov. 7, 2012) Administering stem cells derived from patients' own bone marrow either three or seven days after a heart attack is safe but does not improve heart function six months later, according to a clinical trial supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The results of the trial, called Transplantation In Myocardial Infarction Evaluation (TIME), mirror a previous related study, LateTIME, which found that such cells (called autologous stem cells) given two to three weeks after a heart attack did not improve heart function. Both TIME and LateTIME were conducted by the Cardiovascular Cell Therapy Research Network (CCTRN), sponsored by the NIH's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

The findings were presented Nov. 6, 2012, at the American Heart Association 2012 Scientific Sessions in Los Angeles and appeared concurrently in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"These cells, while safe, were not better than placebo solution in providing benefit," said Lemuel Moy, III, M.D., Ph.D., principal investigator of the CCTRN and professor of biostatistics at The University of Texas School of Public Health, part of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). "While this one cell type showed little promise, there are several new cell types that are available and we will be studying them. Cell therapy can and likely will play a major role in the treatment of cardiovascular disease in the future."

"This study was extremely valuable even though it did not provide a demonstrated health benefit after six months," said Sonia Skarlatos, Ph.D., deputy director of NHLBI's Division of Cardiovascular Sciences and member of the CCTRN. "Heart stem cell therapy research is still in its infancy, and results from early trials have varied greatly due to differences in the numbers of stem cells injected, the delivery methods used, and the compositions of the study populations. With TIME and LateTIME, we have established both safety and baseline results in two large studies that followed the same procedures for growing and then administering stem cells. This standard will inform the next steps in research on the use of stem cells to repair damaged hearts."

Skarlatos noted that another advantage of the TIME study is that CCTRN is storing samples of the stem cells taken from the participants. Investigators can examine the relationship between people who showed significant improvement during the study and the characteristics of their stem cells. Such a comparison may offer insights on the cell traits that are associated with clinical improvement.

Between July 2008 and February 2011, TIME researchers enrolled 120 volunteers (average age 57, 87.5 percent male) who suffered from moderate to severe impairment in their left ventricles the part of the heart that pumps oxygen-rich blood to the body and had undergone stenting procedures following heart attacks. Those selected for the trial were assigned randomly to one of four groups: day three after heart attack stem cell injection, day three after heart attack placebo injection, day seven after heart attack stem cell treatment, or day seven after heart attack placebo treatment. The researchers developed a method of processing and purifying the stem cells to ensure that participants in the stem cell groups received a uniform dose of 150 million cells about eight hours after the cells were harvested from their bone marrow. This ensured that results would not be skewed by differences in the quantity or quality of stem cells administered.

Researchers assessed heart improvement six months after stem cell therapy by measuring the percentage of blood that was pumped out of the left ventricle during each contraction (known as the left-ventricular ejection fraction, or LVEF). The study found no significant differences between the change in LVEF readings at the six-month follow-up in either the day three or the day seven stem cell groups compared with placebo groups or with each other. Every group showed about a three percent improvement in LVEF.

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Bone marrow stem cells do not improve short-term recovery after heart attack

A small study suggests that stem cells can help repair the damage of a heart attack, and it doesn't matter if the cells originate with the patient or a stranger.

The study, which involved just 30 patients, is the first involving a certain type of cells, called mesenchymal stem cells, that compares outcomes depending on whether the cells came from the patient or a donor.

Across most measures -- including reductions in cardiac scar tissue, patient quality of life and safety -- people got the same benefit regardless of where the stem cells came from, researchers reported Monday at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association in Los Angeles. The study is also being published online Nov. 6 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"We believe the basic message of the study is that this procedure is safe and that future, larger studies are warranted," lead study author Dr. Joshua Hare, director of the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, said at a news briefing.

Millions of people around the world suffer from heart failure, often caused by a heart attack that severely damaged heart muscle at some point in the past. This can cause hearts to become enlarged and weakened, a condition called ischemic cardiomyopathy.

Unfortunately, progress against heart failure has been stalled for decades. But recently, scientists have been introducing stem cells, which can turn into cardiac cells, into the hearts of these patients, to see if they might repair the damage.

In most cases, the cells have been sourced from the patients themselves, but that presents its own problems. Speaking at the news briefing, Stefanie Dimmeler, head of the section of molecular cardiology at the University of Frankfurt, Germany, explained that it takes up to two months to grow the millions of stem cells needed for transplant. If a patient suffers a heart attack and needs them quickly, it is just not feasible to use his or her own cells.

"So," said Dimmeler, who was not involved in the new study, "it might be interesting to have cells 'off-the-shelf'" that were grown earlier, using an outside donor's cells.

But would these donor cells perform as well as the patient's own?

In the new study, Hare and his colleagues investigated that question with 30 patients who all had damaged, enlarged hearts due to a prior heart attack. Half received infusions of their own mesenchymal stem cells, while the other half received cells sourced from young, healthy donors. The patients were then tracked for 13 months.

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Stem cells from donor may help heal heart

cord blood | Cord Blood Banking Pros and Cons
http://www.cordbloodrecommendation.com On the other hand, for cesarean delivery, the bank will give the sterile kits. In fact, it helps in formation of organs, tissues etc. They may not have access to the donation later, but it can be used for children who are sick and are a genetic match. Whether you want to know the pricing, or you want to know how the process works, let #39;s take a look at what you #39;re going to get for your dollar. Initially it was thought that using a syringe to pull the blood out of the placenta would collect more blood. However, the umbilical cord stem cells of healthy people, the ones without genetic flaws, could be of great help to others. These two children were both born with severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome that is usually terminal, since the body #39;s immune system cannot fend off the germs that would otherwise be harmless to a healthy body. This can replace bone marrow in many instances, and is often preferable, due to the fact that it precludes having to locate a donor - many times not an easy task. It can take more than two months to find a matching bone marrow from a donor, and sometimes you might never be lucky enough to find one. 5) There are certain family situations that increase the likelihood of needing your own privately stored stem cell blood - those include:Ethnic or Mixed Ethnicity - Ethnic minorities and families of mixed ethnicity have greater difficulty finding stem cell donors when needed due to a lack of donors in many ethnic ...From:LosHotelesEnBogotaViews:2 0ratingsTime:01:31More inTravel Events

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cord blood | Cord Blood Banking Pros and Cons - Video

cord blood bank | Cryo-Cell - Cord Blood Banking Information For Parents
http://www.cordbloodrecommendation.com It is able to destroy the cells of disease in the body. It is ready-to-use, as it is stored frozen after collecting and testing it. In reality, no one is sure about how long a unit of cord blood can be saved without affecting its utility. I know this all sounds very technical and expensive. Swarms of people are visiting the hospital to know more about preservation and how it is going to be beneficial for them in times of medical emergencies. The latter comes under much scrutiny and debate. However, looking at the benefit your child or may be his siblings may get 20 years down the line, you can definitely think of it as an insurance premium. As for other applications, though promising, they are still in the research stage. Stem cells are early cells that are capable of developing into red and white blood cells, and platelets. Numerous study reports reveal that more than 50 per cent of the potential donors are not eligible to donate cord blood. There is no clear proof to validate that stem cells of a relative are more successful than those taken from a stranger. So, day-by-day man is trying to reach the ultimate knowledge. The fees for the setup and process are averagely thousand dollars. Cord blood collection methods, whether post or pre delivery do not expose the child or the mother to any risk and pain. You #39;re going to find that there are start up fees, administrative fees, and there will always be recurring storage costs that you will pay ...From:fivespanishViews:1 0ratingsTime:01:31More inTravel Events

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cord blood bank | Cryo-Cell - Cord Blood Banking Information For Parents - Video