Category Archives: Stem Cells

Cancer Stem Cells: Achilles #39; Heel of Tumors
Faris Farasatti, PhD, PharmD, of the University of Kansas, speaks on the use of cancer stem cells in targeting and treating mesothelioma and cancer in general.

By: Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation

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Cancer Stem Cells: Achilles' Heel of Tumors - Video

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

31-Mar-2014

Contact: Beth Casteel bcasteel@acc.org 202-375-6275 American College of Cardiology

WASHINGTON (March 31, 2014) Patients with severe ischemic heart disease and heart failure can benefit from a new treatment in which stem cells found in bone marrow are injected directly into the heart muscle, according to research presented at the American College of Cardiology's 63rd Annual Scientific Session.

"Our results show that this stem cell treatment is safe and it improves heart function when compared to placebo," said Anders Bruun Mathiasen, M.D., research fellow in the Cardiac Catherization Lab at Rigshospitalet University Hospital Copenhagen, and lead investigator of the study. "This represents an exciting development that has the potential to benefit many people who suffer from this common and deadly disease."

Ischemic heart disease, also known as coronary artery disease, is the number one cause of death for both men and women in the United States. It results from a gradual buildup of plaque in the heart's coronary arteries and can lead to chest pain, heart attack and heart failure.

The study is the largest placebo-controlled double-blind randomized trial to treat patients with chronic ischemic heart failure by injecting a type of stem cell known as mesenchymal stromal cells directly into the heart muscle.

Six months after treatment, patients who received stem cell injections had improved heart pump function compared to patients receiving a placebo. Treated patients showed an 8.2-milliliter decrease in the study's primary endpoint, end systolic volume, which indicates the lowest volume of blood in the heart during the pumping cycle and is a key measure of the heart's ability to pump effectively. The placebo group showed an increase of 6 milliliters in end systolic volume.

The study included 59 patients with chronic ischemic heart disease and severe heart failure. Each patient first underwent a procedure to extract a small amount of bone marrow. Researchers then isolated from the marrow a small number of mesenchymal stromal cells and induced the cells to self-replicate. Patients then received an injection of either saline placebo or their own cultured mesenchymal stromal cells into the heart muscle through a catheter inserted in the groin.

"Isolating and culturing the stem cells is a relatively straightforward process, and the procedure to inject the stem cells into the heart requires only local anesthesia, so it appears to be all-in-all a promising treatment for patients who have no other options," Mathiasen said.

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New human trial shows stem cells are effective for failing hearts

Patients with severe ischemic heart disease and heart failure can benefit from a new treatment in which stem cells found in bone marrow are injected directly into the heart muscle, according to research presented at the American College of Cardiology's 63rd Annual Scientific Session.

"Our results show that this stem cell treatment is safe and it improves heart function when compared to placebo," said Anders Bruun Mathiasen, M.D., research fellow in the Cardiac Catherization Lab at Rigshospitalet University Hospital Copenhagen, and lead investigator of the study. "This represents an exciting development that has the potential to benefit many people who suffer from this common and deadly disease."

Ischemic heart disease, also known as coronary artery disease, is the number one cause of death for both men and women in the United States. It results from a gradual buildup of plaque in the heart's coronary arteries and can lead to chest pain, heart attack and heart failure.

The study is the largest placebo-controlled double-blind randomized trial to treat patients with chronic ischemic heart failure by injecting a type of stem cell known as mesenchymal stromal cells directly into the heart muscle.

Six months after treatment, patients who received stem cell injections had improved heart pump function compared to patients receiving a placebo. Treated patients showed an 8.2-milliliter decrease in the study's primary endpoint, end systolic volume, which indicates the lowest volume of blood in the heart during the pumping cycle and is a key measure of the heart's ability to pump effectively. The placebo group showed an increase of 6 milliliters in end systolic volume.

The study included 59 patients with chronic ischemic heart disease and severe heart failure. Each patient first underwent a procedure to extract a small amount of bone marrow. Researchers then isolated from the marrow a small number of mesenchymal stromal cells and induced the cells to self-replicate. Patients then received an injection of either saline placebo or their own cultured mesenchymal stromal cells into the heart muscle through a catheter inserted in the groin.

"Isolating and culturing the stem cells is a relatively straightforward process, and the procedure to inject the stem cells into the heart requires only local anesthesia, so it appears to be all-in-all a promising treatment for patients who have no other options," Mathiasen said.

Although there are other therapies available for patients with ischemic heart disease, these therapies do not help all patients and many patients continue to face fatigue, shortness of breath and accumulation of fluid in the lungs and legs.

Previous studies have shown mesenchymal stromal cells can stimulate repair and regeneration in a variety of tissues, including heart muscle. Mathiasen said in the case of ischemic heart failure, the treatment likely works by facilitating the growth of new blood vessels and new heart muscle.

The study also supports findings from previous, smaller studies, which showed reduced scar tissue in the hearts of patients who received the stem cell treatment, offering additional confirmation that the treatment stimulates the growth of new heart muscle cells.

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New human trial shows stem cells are effective for failing hearts: Bone marrow-derived stem cells injected directly ...

Charles Q. Choi

A virus that invaded the genomes of humanity's ancestors millions of years ago now plays a critical role in the embryonic stem cells from which all cells in the human body derive, new research shows.

The discovery sheds light on the role viruses play in human evolution and could help scientists better understand how to use stem cells in advanced therapies or even how to convert normal cells into stem cells.

Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent, meaning they are capable of becoming any other kind of cell in the body. Scientists around the world hope to use this capability to help patients recover from injury and disease.

Researchers have struggled for decades to figure out how pluripotency works. These new findings reveal that "material from viruses is vital in making human embryonic stem cells what they are," said computational biologist Guillaume Bourque at McGill University in Montreal, a co-author of the study published online March 30 in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.

Viral Invasion

To make copies of itself, a virus has to get inside a cell and co-opt its machinery. When one type of virus called a retrovirus does this, it slips its own genes into the DNA of its host cell. The cell is then tricked into assembling new copies of the retrovirus. The most infamous retrovirus is HIV, the virus behind AIDS.

In rare cases, retroviruses infect sperm or egg cells. If that sperm or egg becomes part of a person, their cells will contain retrovirus DNA, and they can pass that DNA on to their descendants. Past research suggests that at least 8 percent of the human genome is composed of these so-called endogenous retroviruses-leftovers from retroviral infections our ancestors had millions of years ago.

Scientists long thought that endogenous retroviruses were junk DNA that didn't do anything within the human genome, said study co-author Huck-Hui Ng, a molecular biologist at the Genome Institute of Singapore.

However, recent studies have revealed that might not be true for one class of endogenous retroviruses known as human endogenous retrovirus subfamily H. HERV-H DNA was surprisingly active in human embryonic stem cells but not in other regular types of human cells.

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Ancient Virus DNA Gives Stem Cells the Power to Transform

PHILADELPHIA -

Coronary artery disease is the most common cause of heart attacks and death in the world. Plaque builds up in the arteries, reducing blood flow to the heart.

Now, a new experimental treatment could help improve blood flow to the heart and even repair it after a heart attack, making those like Debbie Minch thankful for each day.

"Grace is what's carried me through this," Minch said.

Ten years ago, at just 49, the choir singer and her husband were told she would need a quadruple bypass.

"Now we are at the point where my heart is severely damaged and nothing is really helping," Minch said.

Doctors said a heart transplant was her only option, but she'll soon find out if she'll be accepted into a new trial that could use her own stem cells to help repair the once thought irreversible damage, "or even create new blood vessels within areas of the heart that have been damaged," said Dr. Jon George, interventional cardiologist, Temple University School of Medicine.

First, stem cells are taken from a patient's bone marrow. Then using a special catheter and 3D mapping tool, the cells are injected directly into the damaged tissue.

"We have results from animal data that show blood vessels regrow in the patients that actually get stem cell therapy," George said.

It's a possible answer to Minch's prayers.

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Health Beat: Stem cells to the rescue: Repairing the hearts

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SACRAMENTO (CBS13) The UC Davis Medical Center has the first lab in the country to find stem cells in an adult bladder.

Stem cells from humans have been turned into almost any other tissue in the body, said Dr. Eric Kurzrock from the UC Davis Institute for Regenerative Cures.

But Kurzrock says nobody has ever done it with a bladder and this research, now published in the Stem Cells Translational Medicine scientific journal, could be monumental for science.

You could potentially use bladder cells that we created to make a new bladder, Kurzrock said.

This could help children born with spina bifida, and adults with a diseased bladder or bladder cancer.

Before this revelation, a doctors only option was to use the intestine to make the bladder larger.

In this case, we could use an engineered bladder, Kurzrock said.

It took a team 10 years to publish the project, because as Kurzrock says roadblocks are just part of the research process.

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UC Davis Researcher Spearheads Groundbreaking Stem Cell Find

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1 hour ago Figure 1: Fluorescence microscopy image showing the differentiation of healthy thawed stem cells into distinct germ layers. Green shows labeled mesodermal proteins; blue shows cell nuclei. Credit: K. Imaizumi et al.

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) show great potential and versatility in regenerative medicine and new therapeutic approaches to fight disease. Patient-specific, individualized treatments using stem cells have even been generated for a number of diseases. Although further research into hPSCs is needed in order to harness their full potential, preserving the stem cells and storing them in the large numbers required for research has proved difficult.

Teruo Akuta and colleagues at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology, together with scientists from the Foundation for Biomedical Research and Innovation, have now developed a cost-effective, efficient and reliable slow-freezing method for preserving hPSCs in large numbers with a high survival rate.

Vitrification, which involves the use of cryoprotectants to chill cells to low temperatures without freezing, and conventional slow-freezing techniques are currently used for the cryopreservation of hPSCs. "Vitrification using liquid nitrogen is a highly skilled task," notes Akuta, "and is not suitable for stock freezing of hPSCs. Slow-freezing methods, on the other hand, typically have poor post-thaw recovery and low yields. We needed to find an easier, more efficient and robust method to preserve hPSCs."

A key problem in the cryopreservation of hPSCs is 'cell clumping', by which cells stick together during the freezing process and do not survive because the cryoprotectant is unable to penetrate the cell clumps. Akuta and his team hypothesized that loose cell adhesion could be encouraged through the use of freezing solutions containing cell detachment reagents.

The researchers modified a safe, cheap and readily available freezing agent called CP-1 to optimize it for use with hPSCs. They tested five different combinations of CP-1 and cell detachment reagents, avoiding expensive or animal-based products.

The most successful formula consisted of a mix of hydroxyethyl starch, a natural cryoprotectant from plants; dimethyl sulfoxide and ethylene glycol, used to prevent the formation of ice crystals inside cells; and a cell detachment agent called Pronase/EDTA, used for the first time in cryopreservation.

After freezing using the new freezing agent, CP-5E, and a conventional freezer at 80 C, followed by rapid thawing in a simple water bath, Akuta's team found that over 80% of the harvested hPSCs retained their ability to differentiate into different mature cell types (Fig. 1).

"We believe this is in part due to the loose connections between cells created by the Pronase solution, but the exact mechanisms need verification," says Akuta. "We hope to mass-produce CP-5E in the near future for use in research and clinical applications."

Explore further: Scientists succeed in manipulating stem cells into liver and pancreas precursor cells

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A safe, cheap and effective method for slow-freezing human stem cells

These neurons derived from stem cells made from the skin of people with bipolar disorder communicated with one another differently than neurons made from the skin of people without bipolar disorder.(Credit: University of Michigan)

Bipolar disorder is known to run in families, but scientists have yet to pinpoint the genes involved. Now they have a powerful new tool in the hunt: stem cells.

In a first-of-its-kind procedure, researchers from the University of Michigan have created stem cells from the skin of people with bipolar disorder, and then coaxed the cells into neurons. This has allowed scientists, for the first time, to directly measure cellular differences between people with bipolar disorder and people without.

In the future the cells could provide a greater understanding of what causes the disease, and allow for the development of personalized medications specific to each patients cells.

The team from Michigan took skin cell samples from 22 people with bipolar disorder and 10 people without the disorder. Under carefully controlled conditions, they coaxed adult skin cells into an embryonic stem cell-like state. These cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells, then had the potential to transform into any type of cell. With further coaxing, the cells became neurons.

This gives us a model that we can use to examine how cells behave as they develop into neurons. Already, we see that cells from people with bipolar disorder are different in how often they express certain genes, how they differentiate into neurons, how they communicate, and how they respond to lithium, study co-leader Sue OShea said in a news release.

Researchers published their findings Wednesday in the journalTranslational Psychiatry.

The research team discovered intriguing differences between stem cellsand neuronsfrom bipolar individuals and those from healthy people.

For one thing, bipolar stem cells expressed more genes associated with receiving calcium signals in the brain. Calcium signals play an important role in neuron development and function. Therefore, the new findings support the idea that genetic differences expressed early in life may contribute to the development of bipolar disorder later in life.

Once the stem cells turned into neurons, researchers tested how they reacted to lithium, a typical treatment for the disorder. The tests showed that lithium normalized the behavior of neurons from bipolar patients by altering their calcium signalingfurther confirmation that this cellular pathway should be of key interest in future studies of the disease.

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Stem Cells Shed Light on Treatments for Bipolar Disorder

11 hours ago Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) established from an interphase 2-cell SCNT blastocyst (magnification 40x). Credit: Mitalipov laboratory at OHSU

An Oregon Health & Science University scientist has been able to make embryonic stem cells from adult mouse body cells using the cytoplasm of two-cell embryos that were in the "interphase" stage of the cell cycle. Scientists had previously thought the interphase stagea later stage of the cell cyclewas incapable of converting transplanted adult cell nuclei into embryonic stem cells.

The findings by OHSU's Shoukhrat Mitalipov, Ph.D., and his team could have major implications for the science of generating patient-matched human embryonic stem cells for regenerative medicine. Human embryonic stem cells are capable of transforming into any cell type in the body. Scientists believe stem cell therapies hold promise for someday curing or treating a wide range of diseases and conditionsfrom Parkinson's disease to cardiac disease to spinal cord injuriesby replacing cells damaged through injury or illness.

Mitalipov's findings will be published March 26 in the online edition of Nature. If the new findings in mice hold true for humans, it could significantly help efforts to make rejection-proof human embryonic stem cells for regenerative therapies. That's because embryonic cells that Mitalipov's team used for reprogrammingcells in the "interphase" stageare more accessible than the traditional egg cells that are in short supply. Scientists previously had believed embryonic stem cells were capable of being produced only using the metaphase stage of egg cytoplasm.

Embryonic stem cells can be made using a process called somatic cell nuclear transfer, or SCNT, in which the nucleus from an adult cell is transferred into the cytoplasm of an unfertilized egg cell. The cytoplasmic machinery then "reprograms" that nucleus and cell into becoming an embryonic stem cell capable of transforming to any type of cell in the body.

"It has always been thought that this capacity for reprogramming ended with metaphase," said Mitalipov, senior scientist at OHSU's Oregon National Primate Research Center. "Our study shows that this reprogramming capacity remains in the later embryonic cell cytoplasm even during interphase. It looks like the factors continue working and they efficiently reprogram the cellsjust as they do in metaphase."

Many scientists have attempted to reprogram cells by interphase cytoplasm. Mitalipov and his team found success by carefully synchronizing the cell cycles of the adult cell nucleus and the recipient embryonic cytoplasm. Both had to be at an almost identical point in their respective cell cycles for the process to work, Mitalipov said.

"That was the secret," Mitalipov said. "When we did that matching, then everything worked."

Mitalipov said the next step to further his research will be to test the process in rhesus macaques.

Mitalipov has become a world scientific leader in embryonic stem cell research and in somatic cell nuclear transfer. He recently was named the director of a newly created research center at OHSUthe Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy. The center will help Mitalipov and his team accelerate their research, with expanded support from private philanthropy.

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Embryonic stem cells: Reprogramming in early embryos