Category Archives: Stem Cells

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

18-Dec-2014

Contact: Joshua Brickman joshua.brickman@sund.ku.dk 45-51-68-04-38 University of Copenhagen - The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

This latest research by Joshua Brickman and his research team from Danish Stem Cell Center (Danstem) at the University of Copenhagen specifically found that inhibiting or blocking stem cells ability to make a specific decision, leads to better cell growth and could lead to defined ways to differentiate stem cells.

This research is the first comprehensive analysis of a pathway important for stem and cancer cell decisions known as Erk. As a result this work could contain clues to cancer treatment as well as helping to establish a platform to make stem cell treatments for gut related disorders like the pancreas or the liver.

The research results have just been published in Cell Reports.

Blocking choices

"If you block all the choices they can make, they stay in the stem cell state. If you only allow them one door to exit from the stem cell state, you should be able to make particular cell types more efficiently. So if you only leave one door open then it's the path of least resistance and when you give them a push they really go," says Professor Joshua Brickman.

As embryonic stem cells can become any cell type in the body, they have to make choices. Based on this research, it appears that blocking these choices is the key to making them grow as stem cells. In other words, if these choices are removed the cells simply reproduce more stem cells.

Embryonic stem cells

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Stem cells born out of indecision

LUXEMBOURG: A human egg used to produce stem cells but unable to develop into a viable embryo can be patented, the European Court of Justice ruled on Thursday (Dec 18).

In a decision of huge interest for biotechnology companies investing in stem-cell research, the EU's top court decided such eggs did not meet the definition of what constituted a human embryo. "Accordingly, uses of such an organism for industrial or commercial purposes may, as a rule, be patented," the court said in a statement summary of the decision.

In July, Advocate General Pedro Cruz Villalon recommended to the European Court of Justice that stem cells do not come under EU rules which deny patents on eggs which could develop into a human embryo. The ECJ is Europe's top court on questions of EU law and mostly follows such recommendations.

The case was brought by International Stem Cell Corporation against the UK Intellectual Property Office for refusing to grant it two patents. The British authorities had argued that since the eggs involved were active and developing, even if not fertilised by male sperm, then European Union law meant the company could not secure a patent on them.

ISC contested the ruling, saying the eggs, activated by a chemical process known as parthenogenesis, could not develop into human beings as they lacked the full parental DNA required.

Human embryonic stem cells originally came from normally fertilised eggs but this caused serious ethical misgivings since the embryos were subsequently destroyed as the stem cells were collected. As a result, scientists welcomed the development of parthenogenesis as it met at least some of these concerns, allowing them a clearer conscience in one of the pioneer fields of healthcare research.

Cruz Villalon also recognised, however, that recent research had pointed to the possibility that such eggs might in the future be so modified that they could in effect be considered human embryos. In that case, European Union member states would still have the right under existing law to deny patents on ethical and moral grounds, he said.

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EU court clears stem cell patenting

Keith Vanderlinde/NSF

The BICEP2 telescope at the South Pole may have spied gravitational waves or dust.

This year may be best remembered for how quickly scientific triumph morphed into disappointment, and even tragedy: breakthroughs in stem-cell research and cosmology were quickly discredited; commercial spaceflight faced major setbacks. Yet landing a probe on a comet, tracing humanitys origins and a concerted push to understand the brain provided reasons to celebrate.

Asian nations soared into space this year. The Indian Space Research Organisation put a mission into orbit around Mars the first agency to do so on its first try. Japan launched the Hayabusa-2 probe, its second robotic voyage to bring back samples from an asteroid. And even as Chinas lunar rover Yutu (or Jade Rabbit) stopped gathering data on the Moons surface, mission controllers took the next step in the countrys lunar exploration programme by sending a test probe around the Moon and back to Earth.

But for commercial spaceflight, it was a bad year. Virgin Galactics proposed tourism vehicle SpaceShipTwo disintegrated during a test flight in California and killed one of its pilots. That came just three days after a launch-pad explosion in Virginia destroyed an uncrewed private rocket intended to take supplies to the International Space Station. The accident wiped out a number of research experiments destined for the station, whose managers are trying to step up its scientific output. Problems on the station also delayed the deployment of a flock of tiny Earth-watching satellites, nicknamed Doves, which are part of the general trend of using miniature CubeSats to collect space data.

On a bigger scale, the European Space Agency successfully launched the first in its long-awaited series of Sentinel Earth-observing satellites.

After a decade-long trip, the European Space Agencys Rosetta spacecraft arrived at comet 67P/ChuryumovGerasimenko in August and settled into orbit. Three months later, Rosetta dropped the Philae probe to 67Ps surface, in the first-ever landing on a comet. Philae relayed science data for 64hours before losing power in its shadowy, rocky landing site.

Meanwhile, a flotilla of Mars spacecraft probes from India, the United States and Europe had an unplanned close brush with comet Siding Spring, which zipped past the red planet in October at a distance of 139,500kilometres about one-third of the distance from Earth to the Moon. NASA rovers continued to trundle along on the Martian surface: Curiosity finally reached the mountain that it has been heading towards since landing in 2012, and Opportunity passed 40kilometres on its odometer, breaking a Soviet lunar rovers distance record for off-Earth driving.

The search for planets beyond the Solar System also got a huge boost. In February, the team behind the now mostly defunct Kepler spacecraft announced that it had confirmed the existence of 715extrasolar planets, the largest-ever single haul. Kepler data also revealed the first known Earth-sized exoplanet in the habitable zone of its star, a step closer to the long-sought Earth twin.

Considering that they have been dead for around 30,000 years, Neanderthals had a hell of a year. Their DNA survives in non-African human genomes, thanks to ancient interbreeding, and two teams this year catalogued humans Neanderthal heritage. Scientists learnt more about the sexual encounters between Homo neanderthalensis and early humans after analysing the two oldest Homo sapiens genomes on record from men who lived in southwest Siberia 45,000years ago and in western Russia more than 36,000years ago, respectively. The DNA revealed hitherto-unknown human groups and more precise dates for when H.sapiens coupled with Neanderthals, which probably occurred in the Middle East between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago. Radiocarbon dating of dozens of archaeological sites in Europe, meanwhile, showed that humans and Neanderthals coexisted there for much longer than was once thought up to several thousand years in some places.

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365 days: 2014 in science

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

17-Dec-2014

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

Like human patients, mice with a form of Duchenne muscular dystrophy undergo progressive muscle degeneration and accumulate connective tissue as they age. Now, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found that the fault may lie at least partly in the stem cells that surround the muscle fibers.

They've found that during the course of the disease, the stem cells become less able to make new muscle and instead begin to express genes involved in the formation of connective tissue. Excess connective tissue -- a condition called fibrosis -- can accumulate in many organs, including the lungs, liver and heart, in many different disorders. In the skeletal muscles of people with muscular dystrophy, the fibrotic tissue impairs the function of the muscle fibers and leads to increasing weakness and stiffness, which are hallmarks of the disease.

The researchers discovered that this abnormal change in stem cells could be inhibited in laboratory mice by giving the animals a drug that is already approved for use in humans. The drug works by blocking a signaling pathway involved in the development of fibrosis. Although much more research is needed, the scientists are hopeful that a similar approach may one day work in children with muscular dystrophy.

"These cells are losing their ability to produce muscle, and are beginning to look more like fibroblasts, which secrete connective tissue," said Thomas Rando, MD, PhD, professor of neurology and neurological sciences. "It's possible that if we could prevent this transition in the muscle stem cells, we could slow or ameliorate the fibrosis seen in muscular dystrophy in humans."

A paper describing the researchers' findings will be published Dec. 17 in Science Translational Medicine. Rando, the paper's senior author, is director of the Glenn Laboratories for the Biology of Aging and founding director of the Muscular Dystrophy Association Clinic at Stanford. Former postdoctoral scholar Stefano Biressi, PhD, is the lead author. Biressi is now at the Centre for Integrative Biology at the University of Trento in Italy.

A devastating disease

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a devastating disease that affects about 1 in every 3,600 boys born in the United States. Patients usually experience severe, progressive muscle weakness that confines them to a wheelchair in early adolescence and eventually leads to paralysis. It's caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene, which encodes the dystrophin protein. The dystrophin protein serves to connect muscle fibers to the surrounding external matrix. This connection stabilizes the fibers, enhancing their strength and preventing injury. Sufferers are nearly always boys because the dystrophin gene is located on the X chromosome. (Girls would need to inherit two faulty copies, which is unlikely because male carriers often die in early adulthood.)

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Stem cells faulty in Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Stanford researchers find

December 17, 2014

Credit: Thinkstock

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

In a new proof of concept experiment, scientists have managed to edit the genome of sperm-producing adult stem cells, creating a break in the DNA strands of a mutant gene in mouse cells then repairing it by replacing flawed segments with corrected ones.

The process utilized in the study is known as homologous recombination, and researchers from Indiana University, Stanford University and the University of Texas used spermatogonial stem cells (the building blocks for the production of sperm and the only adult stem cells that contribute genetic information to the next generation) to demonstrate their technique.

By repairing flaws in these cells, the study authors said that experts could prevent mutations from being passed onto to future generations. The technique, which is detailed in a recent edition of the journal PLOS One, has tremendous potential for gene therapy as well as basic research.

We showed a way to introduce genetic material into spermatogonial stem cells that was greatly improved from what had been previously demonstrated, co-author Christina Dann, an associate scientist in the Indiana University (IU) Department of Chemistry, said in a statement Monday. This technique corrects the mutation, theoretically leaving no other mark on the genome.

Dann, lead author and former IU research associate Danielle Fanslow, and their colleagues had to overcome a number of difficulties in their research including the fact that spermatogonial stem cells are difficult to isolate, culture and work with. They were only able to create the correct conditions in which to maintain and propagate the cells following years worth of work by scientists at multiple laboratories.

A primary hurdle was to find a way to make specific, targeted modifications to the mutant mouse gene without the risk of disease caused by random introduction of genetic material, the university explained. The researchers used specially designed enzymes, called zinc finger nucleases and transcription activator-like effector nucleases, to create a double strand break in the DNA and bring about the repair of the gene.

Stem cells that were modified in the laboratory were then transplanted into the testes of sterile mice where they grew or colonized, indicating that the stem cells were viable. However, the researchers were unable to breed the mice, though they are do not know if it was abnormalities in the transplanted cells or the recipient testes led to the rodents failure to produce sperm.

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Scientists take step forward in "editing" human genetic mutations

TULSA, Oklahoma -

It's a procedure that saved a Tulsa man from having knee surgery and his doctor says it's a revolution in medical care.

Doctors used Michael Conte's own stem cells to heal his damaged knee in a treatment that's only recently become available in Oklahoma.

To Michael Conte, breathing underwater is as much a part of his life as breathing fresh air. After all, he and his wife, both scuba instructors at Oral Roberts University were married under the sea in the Bahamas in 1992.

He works several jobs, is in the National Guard, mountain bikes, weight trains and walks. Michael is as active as a 49-year-old man as you'll find anywhere.

"I work at American, I'm in the military, I teach at ORU, I'm always on the go," said Michael Conte.

After a recent knee injury, you can imagine the disappointment when his doctor told Michael, he would have to slow down because he needed a knee replacement. So Michael started looking for other options.

"I'm definitely too I mean young to have a knee replacement. And they're only good for like ten years. So it doesn't really solve anything," said Michael Conte.

What he found was stem cell treatment and Dr. Venkatesh Movva in Tulsa. In a procedure, that until recently was only available in Europe, Regenexx uses a person's own stem cells to regenerate bad tissue in places like knees, hips, shoulders, ankles and elbows.

"We take your own stem cells, the patient's own stem cells from a reservoir of stem cells. Because we all have stem cells in different reservoirs," said Dr. Venkatesh Movva.

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New Procedure Gives Tulsan A Chance To Walk Using His Own Stem Cells

A MILLION-TO-ONE chance has seen a father donate stem cells which have helped to save a childs life.

Stephen Gibbons, 36, has spent this week in hospital donating about 85 million blood stem cells.

Although he is not allowed to knowanything about the person who will get his cells, dad-of-two Stephen has been told it is a very young child.

The recovery driver, who lives in Marks Tey, said: Knowing it was a child was more than enough incentive.

It just made it more important.

I like to think of myself as one of those people who will help people as much as I can.

Stephen was unable to donate blood, as he had carbon monoxide poisoning in the past.

Still keen to do something to help, he and his wife Michelle joined the stem cell register about six months ago.

Stephen got a call three months ago saying he was a potential match.

He went for a number of tests, which showed he was a 100 per cent match.

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My stem cells will help to save a tot

Source: Islamic Republic News Agency

Iranian researchers at Royan Institute are conducting clinical trials to treat chronic and acute kidney disease by using mesenchymal stem cells, an official said.

Royan Institute

Speaking on the sidelines of the 12th Asian Congress of Urology (ACU), Dr. Reza Moqaddas-Ali, the head of Kidney Group of Stem Cells Research Center affiliated to Royan Institute, added that the researchers have conducted animal trials successfully.

"Results of animal trials showed that mesenchymal stem cell treatment has been found to be a good treatment for acute kidney injury," he said.

"The treatment was not very effective in treating chronic kidney disease, but helps prevent progression of acute kidney injury to advanced chronic kidney disease."

Chronic kidney disease, also known as chronic renal disease, is a progressive loss in renal function over a period of months or years.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is an abrupt loss of kidney function that develops within seven days.

Kidney Diseases

The ACU took place on Kish Island in southern Iran from December 5 to 9.

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Royan using stem cells to treat kidney diseases

TORONTO A Canadian-led international team of researchers has begun solving the mystery of just how a specialized cell taken from a persons skin is reprogrammed into an embryonic-like stem cell, from which virtually any other cell type in the body can be generated.

The research is being touted as a breakthrough in regenerative medicine that will allow scientists to one day harness stem cells to treat or even cure a host of conditions, from blindness and Parkinsons disease to diabetes and spinal cord injuries.

Besides creating the reprogramming roadmap, the scientists also identified a new type of stem cell, called an F-class stem cell due to its fuzzy appearance. Their work is detailed in five papers published Wednesday in the prestigious journals Nature and Nature Communications.

Dr. Andras Nagy, a senior scientist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, led the team of 50 researchers from Canada, the Netherlands, South Korea and Australia, which spent four years analyzing and cataloguing the day-by-day process that occurs in stem cell reprogramming.

The work builds on the 2006-2007 papers by Shinya Yamanaka, who showed that adult skin cells could be turned into embryonic-like, or pluripotent, stem cells through genetic manipulation, a discovery that garnered the Japanese scientist the Nobel Prize in 2012.

Nagy likened the roughly 21-day process to complete that transformation to a black box, so called because scientists did not know what went on within the cells as they morphed from one cell type into the other.

It was just like a black box, Nagy said Wednesday, following a briefing at the hospital. You start with a skin cell, you arrive at a stem cell but we had no idea what was happening inside the cell.

Nagys team set about cataloguing the changes as they occurred by removing cells from culture dishes at set points during the three-week period, then analyzing such cellular material as DNA and proteins present at that moment.

The result is a database that will be available to scientists around the world, which the team hopes will spur new research to advance the field of stem cell-based regenerative medicine.

Co-author Ian Rogers, a scientist in Nagys lab, said the database will allow researchers to identify various properties of the developing stem cells, which could mean improving their ability to treat or cure disease.

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Canadian-led team of researchers shows how stem cells can be reprogrammed

Durham, NC (PRWEB) December 10, 2014

The medical world is excited about the potential that stem cells have demonstrated in aiding the recovery of patients who have suffered a heart attack. Now, a new study appearing in the January issue of STEM CELLS Translational Medicine indicates that stem cells may also benefit those who suffer from hardening of the arteries.

Hardening of the arteries or atherosclerosis occurs due to a buildup of fats, cholesterol and other substances in and on the artery walls. The arteries become hardened by fibrous tissue and calcification and, as the plaque grows, it clogs the artery tubes, reducing the oxygen and blood supply to the affected organ. If the artery becomes severely blocked, it can cause death of the tissue fed by the artery and lead to a heart attack or stroke.

Based on the success of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in treating a heart attack, Shih-Chieh Hung, M.D, Ph.D., of the Department of Medical Research, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan, led a team of researchers who wanted to learn if MSCs transplanted in a patient in the early stage of atherosclerosis might prevent the diseases development and/or progression. MSCs are stem cells that can be collected from many adult tissues and differentiate into various cell types, including cartilage, bone, tendons, muscle and skin.

The team began by examining the effects of MSCs on inhibiting atherosclerosis in human/mouse endothelial cells treated with oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) in a lab dish. The endothelium is the thin layer of cells that lines the interior surface of blood vessels and lymphatic vessels, forming an interface between circulating blood and the rest of the vessel wall.

Then we moved on to see how they might affect live mice that had been fed a high-fat diet, Dr. Hung said. We found that the MSCs transplantation improved endothelial function and reduced the plaque formation in the lab cells as well as in the high fat-diet fed mice. This leads us to believe that MSCs might prove useful someday in treating atherosclerosis in human patients, he noted.

Dr. Hung said that the next step is to identify ways to maintain the beneficial effect of MSCs for a long time, as well as learn more about the complex mechanism underlying the MSCs transplantation in different stages of atherosclerosis.

This study was aimed at intervening in the early stages of disease development to prevent further progression, said Anthony Atala, M.D., editor of STEM CELLS Translational Medicine and director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine. It is the first study to show that in animals, stem cells can treat atherosclerosis by repairing the blood vessel lining.

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The article, Mesenchymal Stem Cells Ameliorate Atherosclerotic Lesions Via Restoring Endothelial Function, can be accessed online at http://www.stemcellsTM.com

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Stem Cells Show Promise in Reducing Hardening of the Arteries