Category Archives: Stem Cell Videos

Stem cells for neck injury: $20 million July 27th, 2012, 3:45 pm posted by Pat Brennan, science, environment editor

Human neural stem cell. Image courtesy StemCells Inc.

The states stem-cell institute has awarded $20 million to UC Irvine researchers, along with a private company, to prepare the way for human testing of a treatment for spinal-cord injuries in the neck region one that could restore movement and independence for some of the 1.3 million spinal-cord injury sufferers in the United States.

The treatment, developed by the husband and wife research team, Aileen Anderson and Brian Cummings, along with StemCells Inc. of Newark, Ca., would involve injecting versatile human neural stem cells into the neck area.

The cells, capable of transforming themselves based on cues from the body, could then migrate to the injured area and perhaps repair the protective sheaths, known as myelin, around nerve cells. If the treatment works as expected, it would restore movement and body control for patients with debilitating injuries.

While the treatment has the potential to allow the paralyzed to walk again, more modest gains are more likely and well worth the effort, Anderson said Friday.

UC Irvine husband-wife research team, Brian Cummings and Aileen Anderson. Courtesy UC Irvine.

Obviously that would be, of course, what we in our wildest dreams would see in a clinical trial, she said. But likely what youre going to see for any spinal cord injury is much more incremental improvement in function. For people with spinal cord injuries, that could be a huge thing. It could help with health care costs, the ability to function independently. If you can type on a computer, versus not, or write with a pen it changes an awful lot.

The $20 million was among $150 million authorized on Thursday by the board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, a stem-cell funding body created by a California voter initiative in 2004.

Anderson and Cummings are among a cadre of stem-cell scientists at UCIs Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center, and have already pushed the field forward.

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Stem cells for neck injury: $20 million

Award to Fund IND-Enabling Activities for the Company's HuCNS-SC(R) Neural Stem Cells in Cervical Spinal Cord Injury

Decision on Funding Alzheimer's Program Deferred to CIRM's September Board Meeting

NEWARK, Calif., July 26, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- StemCells, Inc. (STEM) today announced that the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has approved an award to the Company and its collaborators for up to $20 million under CIRM's Disease Team Therapy Development Award program (RFA 10-05). The award is to fund preclinical development of StemCells' proprietary HuCNS-SC(R) product candidate (purified human neural stem cells) as a potential treatment for cervical spinal cord injury. The award will provide funding over a maximum four-year period, with the goal of filing an investigational new drug (IND) application to begin clinical testing in that time. CIRM deferred a decision on the Alzheimer's disease application submitted by StemCells and referred the application back to CIRM's Grants Working Group for further consideration. CIRM is expected to review the application again at the next meeting of its governing board currently scheduled for September 6th.

"We understand that this was a very competitive process and we are extremely grateful to CIRM for its support," commented Martin McGlynn, President and CEO of StemCells, Inc. "We view this decision by CIRM as a strong vote of confidence in our neural stem cell technology and the world class team of scientists and clinicians who will be collaborating to translate this exciting research into potential treatments and cures for patients with spinal cord injury. We are currently conducting a Phase I/II trial in thoracic spinal cord injury. This funding now allows us the opportunity to expand testing of our cells for cervical spinal cord injury, the most common form of spinal cord injury."

StemCells will evaluate its HuCNS-SC cells as a potential treatment for cervical spinal cord injury in collaboration with a team led by Aileen Anderson, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Departments of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Anatomy and Neurobiology at University of California, Irvine. Dr. Anderson's laboratory has a long history of collaboration with StemCells in spinal cord injury, including the studies which led to the world's first clinical trial for a neural stem cell therapeutic in chronic spinal cord injury. This Phase I/II clinical trial, currently underway in Zurich, Switzerland, recently reported positive safety data from the first cohort of treated patients, and continues to enroll patients from Europe, the United States and Canada.

About Spinal Cord Injury

Spinal cord injury affects approximately 1.3 million people in the United States, for which there are no effective treatment options. Moreover, spinal cord injuries are a significant financial drain on the public health system. Cervical spinal cord injuries represent approximately half of all spinal cord injuries, for which lifetime healthcare costs range from $1.8 to $3.3 million per patient, depending upon severity of the injury.

About CIRM

CIRM was established in November 2004 with the passage of Proposition 71, the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Act. The statewide ballot measure, which provided $3 billion in funding for stem cell research at California universities and research institutions, was overwhelmingly approved by voters, and called for the establishment of an entity to make grants and provide loans for stem cell research, research facilities, and other vital research opportunities. A list of grants and loans awarded to date may be seen here: http://www.cirm.ca.gov/for-researchers/researchfunding.

The two applications submitted by StemCells, Inc. under CIRM's RFA 10-05 for cervical spinal cord injury and for Alzheimer's disease, as well as the feedback on each application from CIRMS's grants working group, can be viewed on the CIRM website at http://www.cirm.ca.gov/research-summaries-rfa-10-05-cirm-disease-team-therapy-development-awards.

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StemCells, Inc. Awarded $20 Million From the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine

Thirteen-year-old Ciaran Finn-Lynch, the teenager who made medical history in 2010 by having his throat rebuilt with his own stem cells, is making a successful recovery according to his doctors, BBC News reported.

Finn-Lynch, from Castleblayney in North Ireland,was hailed as the first child to undergo the novel tracheal transplant.

Born with a condition known as long-segment tracheal stenosis when more than two-thirds of the tracheas cartilage are misshapen and do not grow Finn-Lynch had a very difficult time breathing. He underwent the surgery in a desperate attempt to save his life, BBC News said.

Since undergoing the operation at Londons Great Ormond Street Hospital, Finn-Lynch has grown more than four inches and has returned to school, according to his doctors. Since the stem cells used to build the trachea were his own, he is able to live a normal life without having to take medication to prevent rejection of his transplant.

A follow-up report in the Lancet detailed the procedure and explained how the new organ had strengthened over the years.

The original procedure involved seeding stem cells taken from Finn-Lynchs bone marrow into a collagen skeleton of windpipe from a donor, BBC news reported. These stem cells formed a brand new trachea that was then implanted into his body, allowing its cells to grow and mature naturally.

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First ever child recipient of novel stem cell trachea 'doing well'

SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Researchers from San Diego State University's Heart Institute rejuvenated damaged cardiac tissue removed from older heart-failure patients, using modified stem cells, the university announced Thursday.

University officials said the research could eventually lead to new treatments for heart-failure patients.

"Since patients with heart failure are normally elderly, their cardiac stem cells aren't very healthy," said Sadia Mohsin, a post-doctoral research scholar and one of the study's authors. "We modified these biopsied stem cells and made them healthier. It's like turning back the clock so these cells can thrive again."

Researchers used stem cells modified with a protein called PIM-1 to increase the activity of the enzyme telomerase, which can lengthen telomeres.

Telomeres --- DNA sequences on the ends of chromosomes -- keep the chromosomes from losing DNA base pairs during cellular replication but lose base pairs themselves during the process. If telomeres become too short, the chromosome can't replicate.

According to Moshin, modifying aged cardiac cells added to the cells' ability to regenerate damaged heart muscle.

"This is an especially exciting finding for heart failure patients," Moshin said in a statement. "Right now we can only offer medication, heart transplantation or stem cell therapies with modest regenerative potential. But PIM-1 modification offers a significant advance for clinical treatment."

While the research involved human cells, the work was limited to the laboratory.

"Researchers have tested the technique in mice and pigs and found that telomere lengthening leads to new heart tissue growth in just four weeks," according to a university statement.

The study, supported by the National Institutes of Health, was presented this week at the American Heart Association's Basic Cardiovascular Sciences 2012 Scientific Sessions and published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

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SDSU researchers use stem cells to repair damaged heart tissue

By Jason Napodano, CFA

Last month we published a NOTE outlining the pioneering efforts of Neuralstem (NYSE MKT:CUR) in the use ofhuman neural stem cells ("hNSC") for the treatment of central nervous system diseases and neurodegenerative disorders.Neuralstems lead development program is for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrigs disease, named after the famous New York Yankee first baseman who was diagnosed with the disease in 1939, and passed in 1941 at the age of only 37.

The hippocampus is critically important to the control of memory and is severely impacted by the pathology of AD.Specifically, hippocampal synaptic density is reduced in AD and correlates with memory loss.Cam/Tet-DT mice mimic the substantial loss of hippocampal neurons that occur in advanced AD. StemCells Inc's data shows that one month after transplantation, HcCNS-SC engraft, migrate locally, and have begun to differentiate into neuronal and glial lineages in both models.

This resulted in observed increased synaptic density and improved memory post transplantation. Importantly, these results did not require reduction in beta amyloid or tau that accumulate in the brains of patients with AD and account for the pathological hallmarks of the disease, suggesting a new mechanism of action for the treatment of AD.

We think the data above presented by StemCells Inc. is interesting, and bodes well for Neuralstem's similar efforts focusing on hippocampal atrophy inneurodegenerativediseases. The different between StemCells Inc. and Neuralstem is that management at Neuralstem is attempting to recreate these highly encouraging results, only with a small molecule, NS-189, that the company discovered while testing preclinical candidates onstable neural stem cells lines derived from the human hippocampus.

A new hypothesis on major depressive disorder, implicates brain physiology ratherthan brain chemistry alone on disease progression. For example, research shows that depressed patients havereduced hippocampal volume. Accordingly, shrunken hippocampal volume observed in depressed patients could beattributable to a reduction in normal new neuronal generation and/or atrophying hippocampal neural stem cells.

The trial, which is designed to evaluate the safety and preliminary efficacy of BrainStorm's proprietary NurOwn cell therapy (bone marrow-derived, autologous, differentiated mesenchymal stromal cells) is being conducted at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, Israel. The company submitted the positive interim safety report to the Israeli Ministry of Health. NurOwn has been granted Orphan-Drug designation by the U.S. FDA.

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CUR - Hope In Neurodegenerative Diseases

Liposuction may yield more than just a leaner figure it can potentially produce stem cells for tissue reconstruction.

Researchers from the University of Oklahoma, in Norman, Okla., have successfully extracted adult stem cells during liposuction and used them to generate healthy blood vessels.

These newly formed blood vessels can be used in heart bypass surgery and other complicated procedures requiring healthy vessels, according to the researchers, who presented their findings at the American Heart Associations Basic Cardiovascular Sciences 2012 Scientific Sessions.

While stem cells are typically derived from other sources in the body, the researchers said liposuction-derived stem cells could be useful for an elderly demographic.

For doing coronary artery bypass graft surgery, people who get that are typically elderly, frequently diabetic and usually pretty sick, Matthias Nollert, associate professor at the University of Oklahoma School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering and the studys lead author, told FoxNews.com. The more typical way for getting stem cells from adults for transplantation is to extract cells from the bone marrow.

However, you cant extract bone marrow very easily, Nollert explained. Its a very invasive procedure and patients dont tolerate it well, so we were looking for alternate source of adult stem cells for older, sicker patients.

Extracting adipose-derived stem cells or stem cells derived from fat tissue would be less invasive and also gets rid of unnecessary body fat in the process. According to Nollert, creating tissues from fat stem cells is a fairly new science, having only been experimented with in the past decade. Nollert and his team are the first to create a vascular graft out of fat stem cells with muscle cells making up the blood vessels wall.

To create the vascular graft, the researchers turned the stem cells into smooth muscle cells in the lab and seeded them onto a thin collagen membrane. They then rolled them into tubes with the same diameter as small blood vessels, and three to four weeks later, usable blood vessels were formed.

According to Nollert, utilizing liposuction-derived blood vessels could eliminate complications surrounding heart bypass operations when a healthy blood vessel is necessary for the procedure.

In normal cases, [doctors] would take a vein from your leg or arm to use as a bypass around the blockage, Nollert said. Well it turns out that of allthe people who are considered candidates for bypass, a third of them would like to do a bypass graft, but they have lousy vessels. So theyll do a different procedure that will last only four to five years, and then theyll be back here with same problems.

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Fat stem cells from liposuction used to form functioning blood vessels

MARLBOROUGH, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. (ACT; OTCBB: ACTC), a leader in the field of regenerative medicine, announced today that it has been issued a patent in Australia, patent number 2005325753, Improved modalities for the treatment of degenerative diseases of the retina. The patent broadly covers the use of human retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells generated from pluripotent stem cells in the manufacture of pharmaceutical preparations of RPE cells, and the use of those preparations to treat patients with degenerative diseases of the retina such as Age-related Macular Degeneration. The patent covers the pharmaceutical formulation of human RPE cells made from a range of pluripotent stem cells, including both human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells.

We continue to make great progress with our patent estate covering RPE therapies, said Gary Rabin, chairman and CEO of ACT. Our ongoing success in securing broad patent protection around the world, including this newly-issued Australian patent, is a testament to our innovative chief scientific officer, Dr. Robert Lanza, and the rest of our scientific team.

The efficient production of highly pure RPE cell preparations represents a critical step in the creation of renewable sources of transplantable cells that can be used to target degenerative diseases of the eye such as Stargardts Macular Dystrophy (SMD) and dry Age-related Macular Degeneration (dry AMD).

Our current embryonic stem cell trials pave the way for other pluripotent stem cell therapies, commented Dr. Lanza. ACTs cellular reprogramming technologies using iPS cells are in an advanced stage of development, and we hope to be in a position to move toward clinical translation in the not-too-distant future. Since iPS cells can be made from the patients own cells such as skin or blood cells they may allow us to expand our cell therapies beyond immune-privileged sites such as the eye without the risk of immune rejection.

Mr. Rabin concluded, We are aggressively pursuing patent protection for a variety of aspects of our programs. Our intellectual property strategy includes both vigilance in pursuing comprehensive coverage from our initial patent filings, such as this new Australian patent, and filing for protection around our scientific teams various innovations. At the same time we are paying close attention to including within our patent coverage those ways others may wish to adapt our technology for commercial use, such as through the choice of stem cell source, or the use of solid supports or cell suspensions for delivery. Following this strategy, we are establishing both formidable barriers-to-entry for potential competitors, as well as strong potential licensing opportunities for others, translating into solid revenue generation possibilities for the company.

About Advanced Cell Technology, Inc.

Advanced Cell Technology, Inc., is a biotechnology company applying cellular technology in the field of regenerative medicine. For more information, visit http://www.advancedcell.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this news release regarding future financial and operating results, future growth in research and development programs, potential applications of our technology, opportunities for the company and any other statements about the future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans, or prospects expressed by management constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements that are not statements of historical fact (including statements containing the words will, believes, plans, anticipates, expects, estimates, and similar expressions) should also be considered to be forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements, including: limited operating history, need for future capital, risks inherent in the development and commercialization of potential products, protection of our intellectual property, and economic conditions generally. Additional information on potential factors that could affect our results and other risks and uncertainties are detailed from time to time in the companys periodic reports, including the report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, opinions, and expectations of the companys management at the time they are made, and the company does not assume any obligation to update its forward-looking statements if those beliefs, opinions, expectations, or other circumstances should change. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, opinions, and expectations of the companys management at the time they are made, and the company does not assume any obligation to update its forward-looking statements if those beliefs, opinions, expectations, or other circumstances should change. There can be no assurance that the Companys clinical trials will be successful.

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ACT Issued Broad Patent for Human RPE Cells Derived From All Types of Pluripotent Stem Cells

26 July 2012 Last updated at 01:35 ET

Doctors say a County Monaghan teenager who made medical history by using his own stem cells to rebuild his throat is making a successful recovery.

Ciaran Finn-Lynch, 13, from Castleblayney, made medical history as the first child in the world to undergo the pioneering tracheal transplant.

He was born with a condition called Long Segment Tracheal Stenosis which meant he found it difficult to breathe.

Doctors say he has grown 11 centimetres in height and returned to school.

The surgery was a desperate attempt to save his life after earlier treatment failed.

Since the operation, Ciaran has been able to live a normal life free from medication to prevent his immune system rejecting the transplant.

He underwent the procedure at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital in March 2010.

It involved seeding stem cells taken from Ciaran's bone marrow into the collagen "skeleton" of a donor windpipe stripped of its own cells.

Once the structure was implanted, the stem cells were allowed to mature in his body, rather than the usual laboratory "bioreactor".

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Boy's windpipe transplant success

The family immediately agreed and the operation took place at Great Ormond Street Hospital in March 2010.

Since then Ciaran, from County Down in Northern Ireland, has grown almost four-and-a-half inches (11cm) and he has returned to school. He has also been able to develop his musical interest as a drummer. A medical update is published in The Lancet today.

His family has declined to be interviewed, but at the time of the operation his mother Colleen said she and her husband Paul had got our boy back.

The procedure involved taking a windpipe from a 30-year-old Italian woman who had died and stripping it of living cells down to the inert collagen scaffold.

Four weeks later, Ciarans windpipe was removed. Sections of its lining were taken off and kept and the rest discarded. Bone marrow from Ciaran was harvested and the stem cells isolated.

The same day, the donor windpipe was inserted into Ciarans neck and his stem cells sprayed on to it.

Tiny sections of lining from his original windpipe were patched on to the replacement. These prompted the stem cells to turn into the right kind of tissue and kick-started growth of the windpipe lining.

Finally, the graft was injected with proteins to stimulate cell growth and differentiation, called cytokines.

The operation was the first attempt to grow stem cells in place in the body of a child, rather than growing an organ in a laboratory bioreactor.

It came only two years after the first windpipe replacement using stem cells in an adult, although in that case, carried out in Barcelona, the organ was grown in the lab.

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Pioneering windpipe boy growing into healthy teenager

The first child in history to receive a trachea fashioned by his own stem cells has shown remarkable progress since the initial transplant two years ago, marking a new record for the novel procedure.

Ciaran Finn-Lynch, the now 13-year-old boy from the UK who the world's first child to receive the stem cell trachea transplant, is breathing normally and no longer needs anti-rejection medication, researchers reported in a paper published Wednesday in the journal Lancet.

The organ itself is strong, has not shown signs of rejection, and has even grown 11 centimeters since it had been transplanted, according to the researchers.

Ciaran was born with a rare condition known as Long Segment Tracheal Stenosis, marked by a small windpipe that does not grow and can restrict breathing. He underwent the stem cell transplant in March 2010 after a standard trachea transplant did not work.

Researchers at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and the University College London, stripped cells from a donor trachea and then used Ciaran's own bone marrow stem cells to rebuild the airways in the body. They also infused growth proteins to generate the tissue lining.

Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity

Using a patient's own stem cells not only could help to rebuild the fragile tissue, but also potentially could bypass the risk of having the organ rejected. A trachea is considered a difficult tissue to grow and transplant since it has a limited blood supply, according to Dr. Bill Putnam, professor and chair of the department of thoracic surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, who was not involved in the research.

"I don't think there's anything standard about a tracheal transplant," said Putnam. "The fact that this single patient has survived for two years is worthy of notice."

Once the trachea was transplanted, the researchers continued to infuse growth proteins into the organ to continue stem cell generation. This technique allowed for researchers to transplant the organ faster instead of having to wait for the organ to grow outside of the body.

"Because the protocol used in this study was devised in an emergency, we applied empirically a new combination of technologies on the basis of previous clinical successes in non-airway settings," the researchers wrote, citing bioengineering techniques previously used to regenerate bone, nerves, and skin.

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Stunning Recovery for First Child to Get Stem Cell Trachea