Category Archives: Stem Cells

Newswise (New York, NY June 13, 2013) By transferring four genes into mouse fibroblast cells, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have produced cells that resemble hematopoietic stem cells, which produce millions of new blood cells in the human body every day. These findings provide a platform for future development of patient-specific stem/progenitor cells, and more differentiated blood products, for cell-replacement therapy.

The study, titled, Induction of a Hemogenic Program in Mouse Fibroblasts, was published online in CELL STEM CELL on June 13. Mount Sinai researchers screened a panel of 18 genetic factors for inducing blood-forming activity and identified a combination of four transcription factors, Gata2, Gfi1b, cFos, and Etv6 as sufficient to generate blood vessel precursor cells with the subsequent appearance of hematopoietic cells. The precursor cells express a human CD34 reporter, Sca1 and Prominin1 within a global endothelial transcription program.

The cells that we grew in a petri dish are identical in gene expression to those found in the mouse embryo and could eventually generate colonies of mature blood cells, said the first author of the study, Carlos Filipe Pereira, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow of Developmental and Regenerative Biology at the Icahn School of Medicine.

Other leaders of the research team that screened the genetic factors to find the right combination included Kateri Moore, DVM, Associate Professor of Developmental and Regenerative Biology at the Icahn School and Ihor R. Lemischka, PhD, Professor of Developmental and Regenerative Biology, Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics and Director of The Black Family Stem Cell Institute at The Mount Sinai Medical Center.

The combination of gene factors that we used was not composed entirely of the most obvious or expected proteins, said Dr. Lemischka. Many investigators have been trying to grow hematopoietic stem cells from embryonic stem cells, but this process has been problematic. Instead, we used mature mouse fibroblasts, picked the right combination of proteins, and it worked.

This discovery is just the beginning of something new and exciting and can hopefully be used to identify a treatment for blood disorders, said Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at The Mount Sinai Medical Center.

According to Dr. Pereira, there is a critical shortage of suitable donors for blood stem cell transplants. Donors are currently necessary to meet the needs of patients suffering from blood diseases such as leukemia, aplastic anemia, lymphomas, multiple myeloma and immune deficiency disorders. Programming of hematopoietic stem cells represents an exciting alternative, said Pereira.

Dr. Lemischka and I have been working together for over 20 years in the fields of hematopoiesis and stem cell biology, said Dr. Moore, senior author of the study. It is truly exciting to be able to grow these blood forming cells in a culture dish and learn so much from them. We have already started applying this new approach to human cells and anticipate similar success.

Mount Sinai Innovation Partners is managing the intellectual property for this cell- replacement technology on behalf of the Mount Sinai researchers and is actively engaged with commercial collaboration opportunities.

About Mount Sinai Innovation Partners Mount Sinai Innovation Partners (Mount Sinai IP), as part of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, facilitates the transfer of discovery from the laboratory to the marketplace, acting as the interface with commercial entities. Mount Sinai IP is responsible for the full spectrum of commercialization activities required to bring the Icahn School of Medicines inventions to life. These activities include evaluating, patenting, marketing, and licensing new technologies, while also negotiating agreements for sponsored research, material transfer, and confidentiality. Blue Mountain Technologies is an IP program to enhance distribution of, and product development based on, Mount Sinais growing portfolio of novel reagents, diagnostics, and therapeutics. For more information on Mount Sinai IP, visit: http://www.mountsinai.org/innovation

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Researchers Succeed in Programming Blood Forming Stem Cells

Washington, June 13 : Some companies in the United States are offering people a chance to bank their stem cells for future use.

That way when treatments are available, there will be stem cells ready to go that came from the patient's own body, eliminating the issue of rejection of donor cells.

Meanwhile, the cells are presumably healthier, as they would have been collected from a younger, disease-free patient.

"With all these amazing advancements in the last few years, there will be stem cell therapies," Vin Singh, founder and CEO of Grand Forks, N.D.-based Next Healthcare, which offers stem cell banking, said.

According to a report from IBISWorld, stem cell banking was a 435-million-dollar business in 2012, Discovery News reported.

To bank the stem cells, a person visits a doctor's office, where tissue samples are taken.

Stem cells can theoretically come from anywhere, but usually a physician will take a small square of skin, a blood sample, a piece of fat via liposuction or even bone marrow.

Some companies offer to bank stem cells from children's teeth as they lose them, and many places offer banking blood from the umbilical cords of newborns.

The cells are sent to a facility where they are examined for any contamination or infection, and if nothing shows up they are put in cold storage.

When they are needed, the cells are taken out and cultured into the desired cell and used for the therapy.

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Now, you can bank your stem cells for future use

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Most cases of back pain are caused by problems with disks - the cushions between bones of the spine. Most treatments are not very successful, but what if you could rejuvenate a disk with your own stem cells?

Johna Lindell has had disk problems for several years. After her daughter, Abby was born, things got worse.

"That was very frustrating, because I wasn't able to carry her," she said. "Even as an eight-pound infant, I wasn't able to carry her for a long time in a carrier or anything like that."

Johna's husband is Buffalo Bills' kicker Rian Lindell. That's how she met Dr. Andrew Cappuccino, who had treated Kevin Everett for his spine injury. Dr. Cappuccino noted a typical abnormality on her MRO scan. Normal disks look white, because they contain water.

"You can see that those three disks have turned black, dark. They've lost their water content, so they are losing their ability to be a shock absorber, and they're beginning to bulge out into the spinal canal," Dr. Cappuccino explained.

He's been helping develop a technique of removing a patient's stem cells from the bone marrow and injecting them into damaged disks. Needles were used to inject stem cells into Johna's discs.

"The needles were removed, band-aids were placed, she went to the recovery room, and an hour and 15 minutes later, she was on her way home," Dr. Cappuccino said.

That was only nine days ago, but there's been daily improvement.

Johna said, "I feel better every day when I get up out of bed and I notice that I'm happier, because I can get up and I can function and I can go in and get my daughter and I can get her ready and I'm not shuddering with pain."

It will take months before the full benefit is achieved. Many patients have done very well.

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Stem cells being used to cure back pain

NEW YORK, June 13 (UPI) -- Stem cells under the base of a fingernail could one day be used to treat malformed nails or possibly amputated limbs, research by New York University suggests.

A study in mice indicated a chemical signal that triggers stem cells to develop into new nail tissue also attracts new nerves that promote nail and bone regeneration, ScienceNews.com reported Wednesday.

Mayumi Ito of New York University Langone Medical Center and her colleagues found stem cells that produce the hard nail and the soft tissue underneath. When they cut off the end of a mouse's toe, signals from the regrowing nail stimulated the tissue below to form new bone, the authors said.

Researchers said they found the digit bones can regenerate only if the stump has some nail stem cells remaining. However, they also found that cells alone weren't enough -- also necessary was an area of tissue that grows from the stem cells during normal nail growth, ScienceNews.com said.

After amputation, the tissue sends signals that attract nerves into the end of the stump and begin bone regeneration, researchers said. If the nail zone is removed or the signals are blocked, regeneration won't occur.

When the researchers genetically manipulated the mice to initiate the regeneration signals permanently, nail stem cells alone spurred regeneration even without the nail tissue zone, ScienceNews.com said.

The findings were published in Wednesday's edition of Nature.

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Research: Nail zone stem cells, tissue regrow fingertips

Camden, New Jersey (PRWEB) June 12, 2013

Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center and The Heart House are participating in a clinical study to determine whether a patients own (autologous), adult, stem cells are safe and can relieve chronic chest pain caused by coronary artery disease, as well as increase their ability to walk/exercise.

The RENEW study, sponsored by Baxter Healthcare Corporation and endorsed by the FDA to support a Biologic License Application for investigational CD34+ cell therapy, is a Phase III clinical trial to test the safety and efficacy of CD34+ stem cells. The study is being conducted at only 50 sites in North America and will involve approximately 440 patients.

The Principal Investigator, Vijay Verma, MD, FACC, and Sub-Investigator Andrew Zinn, MD, both interventional cardiologists with Cardiovascular Associates of the Delaware Valley (The Heart House), performed the first procedure at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center on April 25, 2013. The patient suffers from severe refractory angina, with two of the three arteries that supply oxygen to the heart completely blocked and is unable to undergo conventional revascularization.

The patient suffers chest pain every day due to the blockages, said Dr. Verma. She has exhausted all other optimal therapies, including angioplasty, bypass surgery and enhanced external counter pulsation (EECP) to relieve the persistent chest pain.

Patients enrolled in the study are randomly assigned to undergo the procedure or receive the standard of care. Patients in the procedure group are blindly randomized to receive either the stem cells or a placebo.

Forty-eight hours prior to the procedure, Dr. Verma conducted Apheresis procedure to selectively withdraw cells from the patients bloodstream. These cells were sent to a special lab where CD34+ cells were extracted and sent back to the hospital for injection into the patients heart. Derived from bone marrow, CD34+ cells are comprised of endothelial progenitor cells, which may be able to regenerate heart tissue and develop into new blood vessels. Previous Phase I & Phase II clinical trials have shown that the administration of the CD34+ cells were safe, and a reduction in chest pain and increased ability to exercise was noted in people with myocardial ischemia, or lack of oxygen flow to the heart tissue.

During the nearly four-hour procedure, Dr. Verma and his team created an electrical map of the patients heart to locate the damaged area they believed might be causing the chest pain. Using a catheter threaded through the patients groin area to the heart, Dr. Verma injected the patients CD34+ stem cells into areas of heart muscle with poor blood circulation. Neither Dr. Verma nor the patient knows if the stem cells or a placebo were injected until after the trial is completed and data has been obtained and evaluated.

We will follow her for the next two years to see whether the injections improve her chest pain and her tolerance to exercise, said Dr. Verma.

To learn if you are eligible to participate in the study, visit http://www.renewstudy.com.

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Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center & The Heart House Participating in Research Study Using Adult Stem Cells for ...

Stem cells, the precursors to other kinds of cells in the human body, promise near-miracle medical treatments such as regenerating organs or repairing nerves.

But stem cell medicine is still in the early stages. Culturing the right kind of cell remains difficult and so far only a few procedures are FDA-approved. Odds are it will be several years before a wide range of ailments can be treated with stem cells.

For those who want to be ready for that day, some companies in the United States are offering people a chance to bank their stem cells for future use. That way when treatments are available, there will be stem cells ready to go that came from the patient's own body, eliminating the issue of rejection of donor cells. Meanwhile, the cells are presumably healthier, as they would have been collected from a younger, disease-free patient.

"With all these amazing advancements in the last few years, there will be stem cell therapies," said Vin Singh, founder and CEO of Grand Forks, N.D.-based Next Healthcare, which offers stem cell banking.

Next Healthcare is not the only bank out there. Other consumer stem cell banks which differ from the banks used by scientific institutions -- include Biolife Cell Bank of Dallas, NeoStem Inc., of New York, BioEden of Austin, LifeBank of Burnaby, British Columbia. There are many more: stem cell banking was a $435 million business in 2012, according to a report from IBISWorld.

Stem cells can become any kind of cell in the body; they are generalists. In the womb, embryonic stem cells turn into the cells that make up the organs, nerves, blood and bone. After birth, these cells exist in a person's body as so-called adult stem cells and can be found in all kinds of tissue as they play an important role in repair.

Certain medical therapies make use of a stem cell's unique ability to transform into other cells. For example, stem cells from umbilical cord blood are used to create healthy blood cells in order to treat certain forms of leukemia and stem cells collected from a patient's cornea are used in some types of corneal transplants. Doctors have used patients' own stem cells to partially rebuild tracheas.

To bank the stem cells, a person visits a doctor's office, where tissue samples are taken. Stem cells can theoretically come from anywhere, but usually a physician will take a small square of skin, a blood sample, a piece of fat via liposuction or even bone marrow. Some companies offer to bank stem cells from children's teeth as they lose them, and many places offer banking blood from the umbilical cords of newborns.

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Bank Your Stem Cells for Future Use

Published 1:43pm Monday, June 10, 2013

ROCHESTER Every year, about 1,000 babies are born in the United States with half a heart a rare defect that requires a series of risky surgeries and, even then, leaves the infants with a strong likelihood that their hearts will wear out prematurely.

Now, the Mayo Clinic has received federal approval for a first-of-its kind clinical study to see if stem cells from the babies own umbilical cords can strengthen their underdeveloped hearts and extend their lives.

If it works, the new technique could buy these children time as scientists scramble for a cure for the congenital defect called hypoplastic left heart syndrome.

The Mayo study, which will begin as soon as 10 eligible candidates can be enrolled, could also pave the way for additional breakthroughs in stem cell treatments that would help the 19,000 children born each year with other heart defects. But for the time being, the doctors at Mayo are keeping their focus on those babies who need the most help now.

We are not here to build an academic career out of science and technology, said Dr. Timothy Nelson, director of Mayos HLHS research program. Were really here to make a difference in childrens lives who are living today with unmet needs.

Christina DeShaw of Clive, Iowa, was pregnant with fraternal twins when she learned during an ultrasound procedure that the left side of her daughters heart was not developing properly.

The world just started spinning, DeShaw said. Our lives were forever changed from that moment on.

DeShaw and her husband, Brad Weitl, sought help from the Mayo Clinic for the baby they named Ava Grace.

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Mayo puts stem cells to the test on infant’s heart defect

Released: 6/11/2013 2:00 PM EDT Source Newsroom: Mayo Clinic

June 11, 2013

MULTIMEDIA ALERT: Animation of the surgical procedure as well as audio and video of Drs. Nelson and Burkhart are available for download from the Mayo Clinic News Network.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/news2013-rst/7521.html

Newswise ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Mayo Clinic has announced the first U.S. stem cell clinical trial for pediatric congenital heart disease. The trial aims to determine how stem cells from autologous umbilical cord blood can help children with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), a rare defect in which the left side of the heart is critically underdeveloped.

The trial will test the safety and feasibility of delivering a personalized cell-based therapy into the heart of 10 infants affected by HLHS. Today, treatment for babies born with HLHS involves three heart surgeries to redirect blood flow through the heart, or transplantation. The surgeries -- designed to provide adequate blood flow in and out of the heart, allowing the body to receive the oxygen-rich blood it needs -- are typically performed over the first few years of life. For this study, stem cells from newborns with HLHS will be collected from the umbilical cord following birth. The cord blood will be sent to a Mayo Clinic lab for processing, where the stem cells will be separated from the other cells in the blood. The stem cells will then be frozen for preservation. During the babys second surgery for HLHS -- typically performed at 4 to 6 months of age -- the stem cells will be injected into the heart muscle.

We want to see if these stem cells will increase the volume and strength of the heart muscle to give it greater durability and power to pump blood throughout the body, says Harold Burkhart, M.D., a pediatric cardiovascular surgeon with the Mayo Clinic Childrens Center.

About 960 babies are born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome each year in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates. In this syndrome, the left side of the heart cant properly supply blood to the body because the lower left chamber (left ventricle) is too small or, in some cases, may not exist, Dr. Burkhart says. In addition, the valves on the left side of the heart (aortic valve and mitral valve) dont work properly, and the main artery leaving the heart (aorta) is smaller than normal, he says.

The care of these children with HLHS has been continuously improving since the first surgical procedure became available three decades ago, yet cardiac transplantation continues to be the limiting factor for far too many individuals, says Timothy Nelson, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Todd and Karen Wanek Family Program for HLHS in Mayo Clinics Center for Regenerative Medicine. Applying stem cell-based regeneration may offer a viable solution to help these children develop new tissues and grow stronger hearts.

# # # About Mayo Clinic Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit worldwide leader in medical care, research and education for people from all walks of life. For more information, visit http://www.mayoclinic.com and http://www.mayoclinic.org/news.

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Mayo Clinic First in US to Test Stem Cells in Pediatric Congenital Heart Disease Patients