Category Archives: Stem Cells

DETROIT, Jan. 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --Physicians at Henry Ford Hospital are the first in Michigan in a new national research study to investigate treating a recent heart attack with a patient's own stem cells to preserve heart muscle function.

(Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130107/DE37975 )

"Stem cell therapy offers new potential approaches in the treatment of acute heart attack patients to prevent further damage to heart muscle and improve function," says Gerald Koenig, M.D., Ph.D., a cardiologist and researcher at Henry Ford. "Current standard treatment options only limit the weakening of the heart. This is why we are studying stem cell therapy, which looks very promising, but it is still an investigation, not an established treatment."

The body has a mechanism to repair itself. When a heart attack occurs, the heart sends a distress signal to the body, which then sends repair cells to the injury site. In some cases, depending on the severity of damage, the repair is insufficient, with a poor prognosis for the patient. A dead zone of tissue develops in the heart, while the surrounding healthy heart cells are stressed as they work harder to pump blood.

The American Heart Association, with the assistance of the National Institutes of Health, reports that an average of 16 years of life may be lost due to a heart attack.

"Previous studies using adult stem cells to limit heart muscle damage and improve function have had mixed success," says Dr. Koenig. "Some studies have tried to do this too soon after a heart attack, and some tried the procedure at a later time.

"It has been determined that there's a window of opportunity one week to 10 days after a heart attack which is the optimum time for stem cell treatment."

The type of stem cell used to treat heart muscle is critical for success, according to Dr. Koenig, as well as the number of cells infused. When the correct amount of the right cells are used in the specified timeframe, the possibility of preserving heart function is much higher.

"We look for a specific stem cell that has the capability to improve the function of the heart, potentially by regenerating tissue, or as in this case, preventing the loss of heart muscle that typically continues for weeks after the heart attack," he says.

"An acute heart attack can severely weaken heart muscle. Today's therapies, including balloon angioplasty and stents to reopen blocked blood vessels, and medication, have raised the survival rate for patients. However, one third of heart attack survivors has a significant amount of damage to the heart, and is at high risk to develop congestive heart failure over several years."

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First in Michigan: Stem Cells to Preserve Heart Function

Featured Article Academic Journal Main Category: Stem Cell Research Also Included In: Immune System / Vaccines;Cancer / Oncology Article Date: 05 Jan 2013 - 0:00 PST

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The researchers, from the RIKEN Research Centre for Allergy and Immunology in Yokohama, describe how they created cancer-specific killer T lymphocytes from iPSCs, in a paper published online on 3 January in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

Hiroshi Kawamoto and colleagues started with mature T lymphocytes specific for a certain type of skin cancer and reprogrammed them into IPSCs with the help of "Yamanaka factors". The iPSCs cells then generated fully active, cancer-specific T lymphocytes.

Yamanaka factors are named after Shinya Yamanaka, who with British scientist John B. Gurdon, won the 2012 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discovering that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent stem cells.

Yamanaka discovered that treating adult skin cells with four pieces of DNA (the Yamanaka factors) makes them revert back to their pluripotent state, where they have the potential, almost like embryonic stem cells, to become virtually any cell in the body.

"We have succeeded in the expansion of antigen-specific T cells by making iPS cells and differentiating them back into functional T cells."

Previous attempts using conventional methods to make cancer-killing T lymphocytes in the lab have not been very successful. The cells failed to kill the cancer cells, mainly because they did not live long enough.

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Cancer-Killing Stem Cells Could Be Used To Treat Cancer

Dec. 27, 2012 Researchers from the RIKEN Research Centre for Allergy and Immunology in Japan report today that they have succeeded for the first time in creating cancer-specific immune system cells called killer T lymphocytes from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells). To create these killer cells, the team first had to reprogram T lymphocytes specialized in killing a certain type of cancer, into iPS cells. The iPS cells then generated fully active, cancer-specific T lymphocytes. These lymphocytes regenerated from iPS cells could potentially serve as cancer therapy in the future.

Previous research has shown that killer T lymphocytes produced in the lab using conventional methods are inefficient in killing cancer cells mainly because they have a very short life-span, which limits their use as treatment for cancer. To overcome these problems, the Japanese researchers led by Hiroshi Kawamoto and presenting their results in the journal Cell Stem Cell online today, reprogramed mature human killer T lymphocytes into iPS cells and investigated how these cells differentiate.

The team induced killer T lymphocytes specific for a certain type of skin cancer to reprogram into iPS cells by exposing the lymphocytes to the 'Yamanaka factors'. The 'Yamanaka factors' is a group of compounds that induce cells to revert back to a non-specialized, pluripotent stage. The iPS cells obtained were then grown in the lab and induced to differentiate into killer T lymphocytes again. This new batch of T lymphocytes was shown to be specific for the same type of skin cancer as the original lymphocytes: they maintained the genetic reorganization enabling them to express the cancer-specific receptor on their surface. The new T lymphocytes were also shown to be active and to produce the anti-tumor compound interferon .

"We have succeeded in the expansion of antigen-specific T cells by making iPS cells and differentiating them back into functional T cells. The next step will be to test whether these T cells can selectively kill tumor cells but not other cells in the body. If they do, these cells might be directly injected to patients for therapy. This could be realized in the not-so-distant future." explains Dr Kawamoto.

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Cancer-specific killer T cells created from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC)

Public release date: 3-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Juliette Savin pr@riken.jp 81-048-462-1225 RIKEN

Researchers from the RIKEN Research Centre for Allergy and Immunology in Japan report today that they have succeeded for the first time in creating cancer-specific, immune system cells called killer T lymphocytes, from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells). To create these killer cells, the team first had to reprogram T lymphocytes specialized in killing a certain type of cancer, into iPS cells. The iPS cells then generated fully active, cancer-specific T lymphocytes. These lymphocytes regenerated from iPS cells could potentially serve as cancer therapy in the future.

Previous research has shown that killer T lymphocytes produced in the lab using conventional methods are inefficient in killing cancer cells mainly because they have a very short life-span, which limits their use as treatment for cancer. To overcome these problems, the Japanese researchers led by Hiroshi Kawamoto and presenting their results in the journal Cell Stem Cell online today, reprogramed mature human killer T lymphocytes into iPS cells and investigated how these cells differentiate.

The team induced killer T lymphocytes specific for a certain type of skin cancer to reprogram into iPS cells by exposing the lymphocytes to the 'Yamanaka factors'. The 'Yamanaka factors' is a group of compounds that induce cells to revert back to a non-specialized, pluripotent stage. The iPS cells obtained were then grown in the lab and induced to differentiate into killer T lymphocytes again. This new batch of T lymphocytes was shown to be specific for the same type of skin cancer as the original lymphocytes: they maintained the genetic reorganization enabling them to express the cancer-specific receptor on their surface. The new T lymphocytes were also shown to be active and to produce the anti-tumor compound interferon .

"We have succeeded in the expansion of antigen-specific T cells by making iPS cells and differentiating them back into functional T cells. The next step will be to test whether these T cells can selectively kill tumor cells but not other cells in the body. If they do, these cells might be directly injected into patients for therapy. This could be realized in the not-so-distant future." explains Dr Kawamoto.

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For more information please contact: Juliette Savin Global Relations Office RIKEN Tel: +81-(0)48-462-1225 / Fax: +81-(0)48-463-3687 Mail: pr@riken.jp

Reference

Raul Vizcardo, Kyoko Masuda, Daisuke Yamada, Tomokatsu Ikawa, Kanako Shimizu, Shin-ichiro Fujii, Haruhiko Koseki, Hiroshi Kawamoto "Regeneration of human tumor antigen-specific T cells from iPS cells derived from mature CD8+ T cells." Cell Stem Cell, 2013

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Japanese team creates cancer-specific killer T cells from induced pluripotent stem cells

Jan. 3, 2013 When an embryonic stem cell is in the first stage of its development it has the potential to grow into any type of cell in the body, a state scientists call undifferentiated. A team of researchers from Scotland has now demonstrated a way to easily distinguish undifferentiated embryonic stem cells from later-stage stem cells whose fate is sealed.

The results are published in the American Institute of Physics' (AIP) journal Biomicrofluidics.

The researchers used an electric field to pull stem cells through a fluid in a process called dielectrophoresis. They varied the frequency of the voltage used to generate the electric field and studied how the cells moved, a response that was affected by the cell's electrical properties. The researchers found that differentiated stem cells could store a significantly greater charge on their outer membranes, a characteristic that might be used to effectively identify and separate them from undifferentiated cells.

The researchers write that the wrinkling, folding, and thinning of a cell's membrane as it differentiates may explain why the later-stage cells can store more charge. The sorting method may prove useful in separating cells for biomedical research or ultimately for treatments of diseases such as Parkinson's.

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Sorting stem cells: Scientists propose a new way to isolate early stage embryonic stem cells

Public release date: 3-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Catherine Meyers cmeyers@aip.org 301-209-3088 American Institute of Physics

When an embryonic stem cell is in the first stage of its development it has the potential to grow into any type of cell in the body, a state scientists call undifferentiated. A team of researchers from Scotland has now demonstrated a way to easily distinguish undifferentiated embryonic stem cells from later-stage stem cells whose fate is sealed. The results are published in the American Institute of Physics' (AIP) journal Biomicrofluidics. The researchers used an electric field to pull stem cells through a fluid in a process called dielectrophoresis. They varied the frequency of the voltage used to generate the electric field and studied how the cells moved, a response that was affected by the cell's electrical properties. The researchers found that differentiated stem cells could store a significantly greater charge on their outer membranes, a characteristic that might be used to effectively identify and separate them from undifferentiated cells. The researchers write that the wrinkling, folding, and thinning of a cell's membrane as it differentiates may explain why the later-stage cells can store more charge. The sorting method may prove useful in separating cells for biomedical research or ultimately for treatments of diseases such as Parkinson's.

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Article: "Dielectrophoresis based discrimination of human embryonic stem cells from differentiating derivatives" is published in the journal Biomicrofluidics.

Link: http://bmf.aip.org/resource/1/biomgb/v6/i4/p044113_s1

Authors: Srinivas Velugotla (1), Steve Pells (2), Heidi K. Mjoseng (2), Cairnan R. E. Duffy (2), Stewart Smith (1), Paul De Sousa (2) and Ronald Pethig (1).

(1) Institute for Integrated Micro and Nano Systems, School of Engineering, The University of Edinburgh, Scotland (2) Centre for Regenerative Medicine, College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, The University of Edinburgh, Scotland

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Sorting stem cells

Public release date: 3-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Krista Conger kristac@stanford.edu 650-725-5371 Stanford University Medical Center

STANFORD, Calif. When a young athlete dies unexpectedly on the basketball court or the football field, it's both shocking and tragic. Now Stanford University School of Medicine researchers have, for the first time, identified the molecular basis for a condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy that is the most common cause for this type of sudden cardiac death.

To do so, the Stanford scientists created induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, from the skin cells of 10 members of a family with a genetic mutation that causes the condition. The researchers then coaxed the cells to become heart muscle cells so they could closely study the cells' behavior and responsiveness to the chemical and electrical signals that keep a heart beating normally. They also used these bioengineered heart cells to quickly pinpoint the drugs most likely to be effective in human patients and to study their potential as preventive medications.

"For obvious reasons, it's difficult to get primary human heart tissue from living patients for study," said cardiologist and stem cell researcher Joseph Wu, MD, PhD. "Moreover, animal hearts are not ideal substitutes either because they contract differently and have a different composition than human hearts. As a result, it has been difficult to show the specific cause of heart failure, whether it's due to enlargement of the organ or if it's caused by abnormalities at the single-cell level."

The research highlights what many experts consider to be some of the main advantages of iPS cells the ability to quickly create patient-specific cells of nearly any tissue type for study, as well as to allow rapid and safe drug screening.

Wu, an associate professor of medicine and the co-director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, is the senior author of the research, which will be published Jan. 3 in Cell Stem Cell. Postdoctoral scholars Feng Lan, PhD, and Ping Liang, PhD, and graduate student Andrew Lee are co-first authors of the work.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which affects about 0.2 to 0.5 percent of the population, is a condition in which the muscle of the heart is abnormally thickened without any obvious physiological cause. It is also a leading cause of sudden cardiac death in young, seemingly healthy athletes. Clinical symptoms, including arrhythmia and chest pain when exercising, typically emerge in late teenage years or young adulthood, but can occur at nearly any age.

Although clinicians have known for some time that the disorder can be caused by any one of several genetic mutations, until now it has not been clear how these mutations cause the thickening and eventual failure of the heart muscle.

The Stanford team compared cells from family members of a newly diagnosed 53-year-old woman with a mutation in the MYH7 gene, which partially encodes for a protein in the heart called beta myosin. Mutations in this gene have previously been associated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Four of the woman's eight children had inherited the mutant copy of the gene from their mother; the other four carried two healthy copies of the gene.

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Stanford researchers use stem cells to pinpoint cause of common type of sudden cardiac death

Washington, January 4 (ANI): In a new study, researchers claim to have succeeded for the first time in creating cancer-specific, immune system cells called killer T lymphocytes, from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells).

To create these killer cells, the team from the RIKEN Research Centre for Allergy and Immunology first had to reprogram T lymphocytes specialized in killing a certain type of cancer, into iPS cells.

The iPS cells then generated fully active, cancer-specific T lymphocytes. These lymphocytes regenerated from iPS cells could potentially serve as cancer therapy in the future.

Previous research has shown that killer T lymphocytes produced in the lab using conventional methods are inefficient in killing cancer cells mainly because they have a very short life-span, which limits their use as treatment for cancer.

To overcome these problems, the Japanese researchers led by Hiroshi Kawamoto reprogrammed mature human killer T lymphocytes into iPS cells and investigated how these cells differentiate.

The team induced killer T lymphocytes specific for a certain type of skin cancer to reprogram into iPS cells by exposing the lymphocytes to the 'Yamanaka factors'.

The 'Yamanaka factors' is a group of compounds that induce cells to revert back to a non-specialized, pluripotent stage. The iPS cells obtained were then grown in the lab and induced to differentiate into killer T lymphocytes again.

This new batch of T lymphocytes was shown to be specific for the same type of skin cancer as the original lymphocytes: they maintained the genetic reorganization enabling them to express the cancer-specific receptor on their surface. The new T lymphocytes were also shown to be active and to produce the anti-tumour compound interferon.

"We have succeeded in the expansion of antigen-specific T cells by making iPS cells and differentiating them back into functional T cells. The next step will be to test whether these T cells can selectively kill tumour cells but not other cells in the body. If they do, these cells might be directly injected into patients for therapy. This could be realized in the not-so-distant future." Dr Kawamoto said.

The study has been recently published online in the journal Cell Stem Cell. (ANI)

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Cancer-killing technology from induced stem cells created