Category Archives: Stem Cells

Just as archeologists try to decipher ancient tablets to discern their meaning, UT Southwestern Medical Center cancer biologists are working to decode the purpose of an ancient gene considered one of the most important in cancer research.

The p53 gene appears to be involved in signaling other cells instrumental in stopping tumor development. But the p53 gene predates cancer, so scientists are uncertain what its original function is.

In trying to unravel the mystery, Dr. John Abrams, Professor of Cell Biology at UT Southwestern, and his team made a crucial new discovery -- tying the p53 gene to stem cells. Specifically, his lab found that when cellular damage is present, the gene is hyperactive in stem cells, but not in other cells. The findings suggest p53's tumor suppression ability may have evolved from its more ancient ability to regulate stem cell growth.

"The discovery was that only the stem cells light up. None of the others do. The exciting implication is that we are able to understand the function of p53 in stem cells," said Dr. Abrams, Chair of the Genetics and Development program in UT Southwestern's Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. "We may, in fact, have some important answers for how p53 suppresses tumors."

The findings appear online in the journal eLife, a joint initiative of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Max Planck Society, and the Wellcome Trust.

p53 is one of the hardest working and most effective allies in the fight against cancer, said Dr. Abrams. It regulates other genes, marshaling them to carry out an untold number of preemptive attacks and obliterate many pre-cancerous cells before they ever pose a threat. In nearly every case where there's a tumor, p53 is damaged or deranged, strongly suggesting that it is a tumor suppressant.

Stem cells are one of the body's most useful cells because of their regenerative capabilities. Stem cells produce daughter cells, one that is a stem cell and another that can become virtually any kind of cell that's needed, such as a blood cell or a kidney cell. Stem cells have received tremendous attention in cancer research because of the stem cell hypothesis. That hypothesis maintains that malignant tumors are initiated and maintained by a population of tumor cells that have properties similar to adult stem cells.

"What this new finding tells us is that an ancient functionality of p53 was hard-wired into stem cell function," said Dr. Abrams, senior author. "From the standpoint of trying to decipher cancer biology, that's a pretty profound observation."

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by UT Southwestern Medical Center. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Read more from the original source:
Tumor suppressor gene linked to stem cells, cancer biologists report

TUESDAY, March 25, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Brain cells of patients with bipolar disorder act differently than those of people without the mental illness, according to scientists who conducted a stem cell study of the condition.

The investigators said their research might one day lead to a better understanding of bipolar disorder and new treatments for the disease, which causes extreme emotional highs and lows. About 200 million people worldwide have bipolar disorder.

"We're very excited about these findings. But we're only just beginning to understand what we can do with these cells to help answer the many unanswered questions in bipolar disorder's origins and treatment," said study co-leader Dr. Melvin McInnis, a professor of bipolar disorder and depression at the University of Michigan Medical School.

The study authors took skin stem cells from people with and without bipolar disorder and transformed them into neurons similar to brain cells. It's the first time that stem cell lines specific to bipolar disorder have been created, the researchers said.

They discovered distinct differences in how the two sets of neurons behave and communicate with each other. The cells also differed in their response to lithium, the most widely used treatment for bipolar disorder.

The study was published online March 25 in the journal Translational Psychiatry.

"This gives us a model that we can use to examine how cells behave as they develop into neurons," study co-leader Sue O'Shea, a professor in the department of cell and developmental biology and director of the University of Michigan Pluripotent Stem Cell Research Lab, said in a university news release.

"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," O'Shea said.

McInnis said it's possible the research could lead to new types of drug trials. If it becomes possible to test new drug candidates in these cells, patients would be spared the current trial-and-error approach that leaves many with uncontrolled symptoms, he said.

More information

Read the original here:
Scientists use stem cells to study bipolar disorder

Dallas, TX (PRWEB) March 26, 2014

The Repair Stem Cells Institute (RSCI http://www.repairstemcells.org) announces its new Double Benefits for SCI stem cell treatment program specifically to benefit sufferers of Spinal Cord Injuries (SCI). The Regenerative Center, headed by Dr. Melvin M. Propis, a well-known practitioner of stem cells science, is located in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.A. RSCIs program is by far the least expensive SCI treatment program available using real stem cells treatments within FDA regulations.

A Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) refers to any injury to the spinal cord caused by trauma rather than disease. Depending on where the spinal cord and nerve roots are damaged, the symptoms can vary widely, from pain to paralysis to incontinence. SCIs are described as "incomplete," which normally means a partial but significant paralysis, to a "complete" injury, which means a total loss of function. The number of people in the United States in 2014 who have SCI has been estimated at over a quarter million, with approximately 12,000 new cases each year.

The Repair Stem Cells Institute is the worlds only stem cell patients advocacy group whose mission is to Educate, Advocate, and Empower people to make educated choices about their medical conditions and treatments in order to lead longer and more fulfilling lives. The Double Benefits for SCI program marks a milestone in RSCIs seven years of educating thousands and guiding hundreds to adult stem cell therapies by the worlds most competent stem cells doctors at 14 affiliated international stem cell treatment centers.

Highlights of RSCIs stem cell treatment for Spinal Cord Injury include:

An RSCI Spinal Cord Injury patient, Graham Faught, who received treatment in 2013 at the Florida treatment clinic, said, This treatment literally got me back on my feet. In April, I was confined to a wheelchair with little hope. By December, I was upright again, making some progress on the treadmill and hopeful for the future. Late Flash: March 20, Graham walked 20 feet with a walker. We expect to have videos soon.

Don Margolis, founder and chairman of the Repair Stem Cells Institute (http://www.repairstemcells.org), stated, We at RSCI are very proud to offer this incredible program for SCI patients. We are confident that it will be in the forefront of many more such treatment breakthroughs. Our next target for the summer of 2014 is a double for Multiple Sclerosis, hopefully at the same price!

Currently, adult stem cell treatments are being used to help patients recover from over 150 debilitating chronic conditions previously thought to be untreatable, including the Big Three Heart Disease, Diabetes, and Cancer -- as well as Alzheimers, Parkinsons, Spinal Cord Injury, Liver Disease, Cerebral Palsy, Renal Failure, Arthritis, Autism, and Diabetes. A full list of diseases stem cells can help can be found on the RSCI website (http://www.repairstemcells.org). To date, commercial stem cell treatments have been used by over 30,000 patients with a 65% success rate.

For more information about adult stem cells, stem cell treatment, diseases stem cells can help, and the top international stem cell treatment centers, the the Repair Stem Cells Institute website offers a wealth of straightforward and unbiased information and solutions.

Contact: Don Margolis Repair Stem Cells Institute 3010 LBJ Freeway, Suite 1200 Dallas, TX 75234 Tel: (214) 556-6377 Email: info(at)repairstemcells(dot)org Website: http://www.repairstemcells.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/repairstemcells Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/repairstem

The rest is here:
The Repair Stem Cells Institute Announces Its Special Double Benefits for SCI Stem Cells Treatment Program to ...

Researchers have grown embryonic-like stem cells from patients with bipolar disorder and transformed them into brain cells that are already answering questions about the condition.

The cells, which carry the precisely tailored genetic instructions from the patients own cells, behave differently than cells taken from people without the disorder, the researchers report.

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," Sue O'Shea, a stem cell specialist at the University of Michigan who led the study, said in a statement.

The work, described in the journal Translational Psychiatry, helps fulfill one of the big promises of stem cells research using a patients own cells to study his or her disease.

Mental illness is especially hard to study. Getting into a living persons brain is almost impossible, and scientists cant deliberately cause it in people in order to study it.

Creating animals such as mice with what looks like human mental illness is imprecise at best.

The University of Michigan team turned instead to what are called induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells. These are ordinary skin cells taken from a patient and tricked into turning back into the state of a just-conceived embryo.

These cells, grown from skin cells taken from people with bipolar disorder, arose from stem cells and were coaxed to become neural progenitor cells -- the kind that can become any sort of nervous system cell. The research showed differences in cell behavior compared with cells grown from people without bipolar disorder.

They are pluripotent, meaning they can become any type of cell there is. In this case, the Michigan team redirected the cells to become neurons the cells that make up much of the brain. "This gives us a model that we can use to examine how cells behave as they develop into neurons, OShea said.

Bipolar disorder, once called manic-depression, is very common, affecting an estimated 3 percent of the population globally. It runs in families, suggesting a strong genetic cause, and is marked by mood swings from depression to feelings of euphoria and creativity thats considered the manic phase.

More:
Stem Cells Shed Light on Bipolar Disorder

Researchers have grown embryonic-like stem cells from patients with bipolar disorder and transformed them into brain cells that are already answering questions about the condition.

The cells, which carry the precisely tailored genetic instructions from the patients own cells, behave differently than cells taken from people without the disorder, the researchers report.

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," Sue O'Shea, a stem cell specialist at the University of Michigan who led the study, said in a statement.

The work, described in the journal Translational Psychiatry, helps fulfill one of the big promises of stem cells research using a patients own cells to study his or her disease.

Mental illness is especially hard to study. Getting into a living persons brain is almost impossible, and scientists cant deliberately cause it in people in order to study it.

Creating animals such as mice with what looks like human mental illness is imprecise at best.

The University of Michigan team turned instead to what are called induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells. These are ordinary skin cells taken from a patient and tricked into turning back into the state of a just-conceived embryo.

These cells, grown from skin cells taken from people with bipolar disorder, arose from stem cells and were coaxed to become neural progenitor cells -- the kind that can become any sort of nervous system cell. The research showed differences in cell behavior compared with cells grown from people without bipolar disorder.

They are pluripotent, meaning they can become any type of cell there is. In this case, the Michigan team redirected the cells to become neurons the cells that make up much of the brain. "This gives us a model that we can use to examine how cells behave as they develop into neurons, OShea said.

Bipolar disorder, once called manic-depression, is very common, affecting an estimated 3 percent of the population globally. It runs in families, suggesting a strong genetic cause, and is marked by mood swings from depression to feelings of euphoria and creativity thats considered the manic phase.

Read more from the original source:
Stem Cells Shed Light On Bipolar Disease

What a nerve! Skin cells taken from people with bipolar disorder have been turned into brain cells. These in turn are offering up clues about the changes in the brain that drive the disorder, and may also provide a way to test new treatments.

About three in every 100 people develop bipolar disorder a mental illness characterised by episodes of depression and euphoria. But the condition remains poorly understood.

That's because it would be too invasive to obtain and study viable nerve cells from the brains of people with the condition.

There are also no good animal models, because bipolar disorder although highly heritable has, for the most part, not been linked to any specific genes that can be studied using animals.

"People say the condition is probably the result of a lot of small contributions by multiple genes," says Sue O'Shea at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Now O'Shea and her colleagues may have found an ethical way to make a genetic model of the condition. First, they took skin samples from 22 people with bipolar disorder and 10 healthy volunteers. They induced these adult skin cells to return to a stem-cell-like state, creating what are called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and then encouraged these cells to mature into neurons.

O'Shea was surprised to find that neurons derived from people with bipolar disorder grew differently from those from people without the condition. "I was expecting it would take decades of careful science before we would find any real differences," she says.

The "bipolar" neurons expressed more genes involved in calcium signalling between cells. Interfering with this cellular communication can disrupt healthy brain activity, and calcium signalling has already been implicated as a likely factor in diseases like bipolar disorder. Treating the cells with lithium a common treatment for bipolar disorder reduced the abnormal signalling to normal levels.

Some of the genes which influenced activity of neurons were not previously known to be involved in bipolar disorder. "Some of the genes misdirect neurons to the wrong area in the brain," says O'Shea.

This could cause some neurons programmed to become part of one brain region the cortex, for example to express genes typical of a different brain region entirely. Such a genetic difference might provide clues as to why certain people are predisposed to developing bipolar disorder in later life, she says. What might trigger the condition is still unclear.

Original post:
Stem cells offer clue to bipolar disorder treatment

A new scaffold material based on a biocompatible silk-alginate hydrogel, which can be made soft or stiff, could provide the just right environment to culture stem cells for regenerative medicine, say researchers.

Stem cells could provide powerful new treatments for intractable autoimmune diseases, cancer, and other conditions. But the use of stem cells in the clinic requires a robust and reliable culture system that mimics the natural microenvironment of the cell. This microenvironment provides crucial direction to the function and viability of stem cells but is tricky to recreate artificially.

The complex make-up of the microenvironment, which includes a network of proteins like collagen or elastins forming an extracellular matrix (ECM), decides the fate of stem cells through a number of different, complementary mechanisms. For example, the stiffness of the matrix, determined by the orientation and elasticity of the fibers making up the ECM, as well as its fluid handling properties, the presence of signaling molecules and the creation of cytokine gradients all have a profound effect on the growing stem cells.

The new silk-alginate biocomposite developed by researchers at Stanford University and Queens University in Canada could provide a simple solution to tackle these complex problems. The hydrogel is formed from a mixture of alginate and silk in solution, which rapidly gels when immersed in CaCl2 [Ziv, et al., Biomaterials 35 (2014) 3736-3743, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2014.01.029%5D. But crucially, the stable hydrogel can be made soft and flexible or stiff by controlling the silk-alginate ratio and the concentration of crosslinking ions. Varying the silk-alginate ratio during fabrication changes the elasticity of the hydrogel, which can determine the yield of a particular differentiation path. The elasticity can be further fine-tuned in vitro by varying the CaCl2 concentration. Being able to modify the stiffness of the scaffold material to such a degree gives researchers a powerful means of guiding stem cell survival and differentiation.

The ability to change the elasticity [of the silk-alginate hydrogel] helps mimic the natural process that is happening in the stem cell niche and improves the stem cell commitment into desired differentiation paths, explains first author Keren Ziv, of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford.

Using the protein laminin to enhance cell adhesion and promote cell growth, the researchers cultured mouse embryonic stem cells in the new scaffold material and transplanted samples into live mice. The silk-alginate hydrogel appears to be better at maintaining the survival of stem cells once transplanted than the best current alternative, matrigel.

But there is a long way to go until the new scaffold material could be used in the clinic for stem cell applications, cautions Ziv. Ideally, such applications would require the injection of the hydrogel in liquid form followed by gelation but this is currently unfeasible in vivo. The long-term stability of the hydrogel also needs to be scrutinized, along with its effect on other cell types. These issues are tractable, however, say the researchers, and are the focus of on-going efforts.

Read the original here:
Adjustable scaffold tunes stem cell growth

As stem cells continue their gradual transition from the lab to the clinic, a research group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has discovered a new way to make large concentrations of skeletal muscle cells and muscle progenitors from human stem cells.

The new method, described in the journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine, could be used to generate large numbers of muscle cells and muscle progenitors directly from human pluripotent stem cells. These stem cells, such as embryonic (ES) or induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, can be made into virtually any adult cell in the body.

Adapting a method previously used to make brain cells, Masatoshi Suzuki, an assistant professor of comparative biosciences in the School of Veterinary Medicine, has directed those universal stem cells to become both adult muscle cells and muscle progenitors.

Importantly, the new technique grows the pluripotent stem cells as floating spheres in high concentrations of two growth factors, fibroblast growth factor-2 and epidermal growth factor. These growth factors "urge" the stem cells to become muscle cells.

"Researchers have been looking for an easy way to efficiently differentiate stem cells into muscle cells that would be allowable in the clinic," says Suzuki. The novelty of this technique is that it generates a larger number of muscle stem cells without using genetic modification, which is required by existing methods for making muscle cells.

"Many other protocols have been used to enhance the number of cells that go to a muscle fate," says co-author Jonathan Van Dyke, a post-doctoral fellow in Suzukis laboratory. "But what's exciting about the new protocol is that we avoid some techniques that would prohibit clinical applications. We think this new method has great promise for alleviating human suffering."

Last year, Suzuki demonstrated that transplants of another type of human stem cells somewhat improved survival and muscle function in rats that model amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, ALS destroys nerves and causes a loss of muscle control. The muscle progenitors generated with Suzukis new method could potentially play a similar role but with enhanced effect.

The new technique can also be used to grow muscle cells from iPS cells from patients with neuromuscular diseases like ALS, spinal muscular atrophy and muscular dystrophy. Thus, the technique could produce adult muscle cells in a dish that carry genetic diseases. These cells could then be used as a tool for studying these diseases and screening potential drug compounds, says Suzuki. "Our protocol can work in multiple ways and so we hope to provide a resource for people who are exploring specific neuromuscular diseases in the laboratory."

The new protocol incorporates a number of advantages. First, the cells are grown in defined supplements without animal products such as bovine serum, enhancing the clinical safety for the muscle stem cells. Second, when grown as spheres, the cells grow faster than with previous techniques. Third, 40 to 60 percent of the cells grown using the process are either muscle cells or muscle progenitors, a high proportion compared to traditional non-genetic techniques of generating muscle cells from human ES and iPS cells.

Suzuki and his group hope that by further manipulating the chemical environment of the spheres of stem cells, they may increase that number, further easing the path toward human treatment.

Read the original:
New way to make muscle cells from human stem cells

March 24, 2014

Image Caption: Muscle cells are stained green in this micrograph of cells grown from embryonic stem cells in the lab of Masatoshi Suzuki at the University of Wisconsin -- Madison. Cell nuclei are stained blue; the muscle fibers contain multiple nuclei. Nuclei outside the green fibers are from non-muscle cells. Suzuki has developed a new method of growing stem cells into muscle cells that could be more suitable for treating disease. Suzuki hopes to experiment next with animals that model muscular dystrophy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Credit: Masatoshi Suzuki

David Tenenbaum, University of Wisconsin-Madison

As stem cells continue their gradual transition from the lab to the clinic, a research group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has discovered a new way to make large concentrations of skeletal muscle cells and muscle progenitors from human stem cells.

The new method, described in the journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine, could be used to generate large numbers of muscle cells and muscle progenitors directly from human pluripotent stem cells. These stem cells, such as embryonic (ES) or induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, can be made into virtually any adult cell in the body.

Adapting a method previously used to make brain cells, Masatoshi Suzuki, an assistant professor of comparative biosciences in the School of Veterinary Medicine, has directed those universal stem cells to become both adult muscle cells and muscle progenitors.

Importantly, the new technique grows the pluripotent stem cells as floating spheres in high concentrations of two growth factors, fibroblast growth factor-2 and epidermal growth factor. These growth factors urge the stem cells to become muscle cells.

Researchers have been looking for an easy way to efficiently differentiate stem cells into muscle cells that would be allowable in the clinic, says Suzuki. The novelty of this technique is that it generates a larger number of muscle stem cells without using genetic modification, which is required by existing methods for making muscle cells.

Many other protocols have been used to enhance the number of cells that go to a muscle fate, says co-author Jonathan Van Dyke, a post-doctoral fellow in Suzukis laboratory. But whats exciting about the new protocol is that we avoid some techniques that would prohibit clinical applications. We think this new method has great promise for alleviating human suffering.

Last year, Suzuki demonstrated that transplants of another type of human stem cells somewhat improved survival and muscle function in rats that model amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Also known as Lou Gehrigs disease, ALS destroys nerves and causes a loss of muscle control. The muscle progenitors generated with Suzukis new method could potentially play a similar role but with enhanced effect.

Follow this link:
New Method Makes Muscle Cells From Human Stem Cells

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison discovered a new method for generating muscle cells from stem cells, according to a Friday news release.

The new procedure is unique in its ability to yield large quantities of muscle cells, as well as muscle progenitors, directly from pluripotent stem cells without the use of genetic modification, according to the release. Pluripotent stem cells have yet to undergo differentiation and can develop effectively into any adult cell in the body.

Masatoshi Suzuki, UW-Madison assistant professor of comparative biosciences and co-author of the research project, pioneered the discovery. His method calls for the placement of stem cells in high concentrations of growth factors that influence growth and cell differentiation.

Last year, Suzuki showed that transplanting another type of human stem cell to rats suffering from Lou Gehrigs disease improved longevity and muscle function. He said in the release muscle progenitors, which serve as prototype for the formation of muscles, could have a similar but heightened effect.

While various methods have been used to increase the number of stem cells that become muscles, Suzukis co-author Jonathan Van Dyke explained in the release these often cannot be worked within a clinical setting.

What's exciting about the new protocol is that we avoid some techniques that would prohibit clinical applications, Van Dyke said in the release. We think this new method has great promise for alleviating human suffering.

Additionally, the new technique could advance disease and drug research by allowing cells infected with certain genetic diseases to be grown in a dish.

Here is the original post:
UW-Madison researchers discover new way to turn stem cells into muscle cells