Stem Cells Whistle up a Windpipe

The story involved a woman named Claudia Castillo, a 30-year-old mother of two from Barcelona, Spain. Castillo's windpipe was badly damaged by long-term tuberculosis. Her left lung had collapsed and she faced the possibility of having the lung removed, a dangerous option that would have severely restricted her quality of life.
But then her doctors decided upon a different, pioneering approach to Claudia's problem: they grew a new windpipe using stem cells. The entire procedure, which included doctors working in three different countries - Spain, Italy and England - was almost too fantastic to believe.
First, the doctors got a windpipe from an organ donor. That windpipe was used as a kind of scaffold upon which the stem cells would be placed and where they would be manipulated to grow a new windpipe.
Of course, stem cell research has been a hot-button political topic for years because much of it has involved the use of embryonic stem cell tissue, which is typically derived from aborted fetuses. But in this procedure, doctors used adult stem cells to grow the new windpipe.
And here's the best part: the stem cells weren't just from any adult; they were from Claudia's own body. The doctors in England took a sample of Claudia's bone marrow from her hip, and after millions of cells had been produced, injected various chemicals to induce the cells to turn into highly specialized cells that would create the new windpipe grown on the scaffolding provided by the donated one.
All of which is very good news, and not just because it avoids the ethical and moral implications that accompany embryonic stem cells. The truly great benefit here is that the new windpipe in Claudia's throat contains her own DNA because it was constructed using her own stem cells. Thus, rejection by the body isn't an issue as it is in typical organ transplants.
By the time her story was published, in mid-November, Claudia was already home and, in her own words, "enjoying life and ... very happy that my illness has been cured."
While the early results are encouraging, the doctors and scientists involved cautioned that this is only a halting first step. But it's a promising step, and some of the doctors voiced real optimism, saying that this technique might even be adapted to other organs. And another said that while it's still years away, one day we may be able to produce organs in the laboratory using a patient's own stem cells, without the need of donor organs to use as templates.
So, as it stands, really significant advancement in growing new organs from stem cells that could cure many of our diseases is still well in the future, if it happens at all. But if does happen, this story - which was barely noticed amidst the political turmoil, economic upheaval and deadly natural disasters of 2008 - may end up being like the little ray of hope that flew out of the Pandora's box of 2008.

The Cruelty of Clinical Trials for Crohn’s Disease

Right now there are millions of individuals whose lives are directly dependent on the rate at which new drugs come to market. I'm one of them. I'm fighting for my life.
To date, half of my intestine has been removed to manage Crohn's disease. Last year, at age 23, I enrolled in a clinical trial for a treatment that could save my life: an adult stem-cell therapy that helps damaged intestinal tissue regenerate from the relentless inflammation and scarring caused by Crohn's.
The sponsor, Osiris Therapeutics, reported that Crohn's patients in the therapy's Phase II trial all experienced clinical improvement after receiving the cells. A Phase III trial for the treatment is now nearing completion, but Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval could be years away, despite its FDA "fast track" designation.
In accordance with antiquated FDA policies, the Phase III trial is randomized with three groups of patients, and double-blinded, which means neither the doctors nor patients are told what treatment is being administered. One group received full-strength stem cells, another received half-strength, and a third got a placebo (the proverbial "sugar pill"). It appears I got the placebo.
Foregoing all other treatments, I received the four scheduled infusions, and yet my disease progressed with a vengeance. In a matter of weeks, I became dangerously malnourished. I've since been readmitted to the hospital countless times, as my doctors continue to plead with Osiris for information. But Osiris has refused, citing adherence to FDA protocol.
I am now a lab rat. I have no right to know what happened to me in the study, nor do I have a right to try the promising treatment as my health deteriorates. It doesn't have to be this way.
Under the Fifth Amendment's guarantee that "No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law," a critically ill patient should have access to a potentially lifesaving drug that has been deemed safe for human consumption, if the patient agrees to bear the risks involved. But earlier this year, the Supreme Court refused to hear a case on the issue, denying countless patients their right to pursue life.
Thankfully, some members of Congress have stepped in to ensure our rights as patients. In May, Sen. Sam Brownback (R., Kan.) and Rep. Diane Watson (D., Calif.) introduced the Access, Compassion, Care and Ethics for Seriously Ill Patients Act. If passed, this bipartisan legislation will begin to restore the rights of millions of patients by widening access to promising investigational drugs.
Human clinical research is an intricate scientific and moral process, but it does not justify taking immoral advantage of patients. Tragically, FDA and Osiris think it does.
Typical approval protocols almost always guarantee patients taking the placebo access to the actual drug -- at the very least -- after the study has ended. But in what appears to me a deliberate act of cruelty, Osiris hung its patients out to dry without any recourse, refusing to confirm which patient got what. The FDA has endorsed Osiris's decision by enabling it to proceed with the study.
Withholding a potential cure is just as bad -- if not worse -- than the potential death sentence of a serious illness. If patients like myself have the audacity to put their lives on the line for the betterment of science and those in their predicament, their decision should not only be embraced, it should be rewarded.
Furthermore, trials without ethical recourse can lead to inadequate and incomplete data, compromising the integrity of the study. If trial patients are treated like lab rats, they won't feel obliged to cooperate unconditionally and report accurate data -- something the FDA and the drug industry rely on heavily, but have failed to consider.
Everyone agrees it is a fundamental right for patients to dictate their course of treatment with FDA-approved drugs. So why do the rules evaporate at the most critical moment, when the only life-preserving options are highly promising investigational drugs?
Mr. Sofer is a student at the University of California, Berkeley.

The “Wrong” Cure

Adult stem cells get the shaft.

By Wesley J. Smith

Copied from google blogs today - yet another example of how the public are being denied access to the wonders of adult stem cell therapy. Shame on you Larry King.

Members of the liberal media elite have become rather choosy when it comes to advocating stem-cell cures for degenerative medical conditions. To these commentators, cures using adult stem cells just aren't the "right" cures. For stem-cell therapy to really count, it has to come from embryos. Indeed, even the most astonishing research advances using adult cells are ignored by these arbiters of public policy as if they never happened. And since liberal elites dominate public discourse in the stem-cell debate, the American people remain generally unaware of these astonishing scientific advances.

No media personality epitomizes the elite liberal media mindset more than CNN's Larry King. It thus came as no surprise that King cared nothing about adult-stem-cell research breakthroughs when the noted artist, evangelist, and disability-rights activist Joni Eareckson Tada raised the issue in an August interview.

Tada has been quadriplegic since breaking her back in a diving accident at age 17. In recent years, she has become an outspoken opponent of human cloning and of federally funded embryonic-stem-cell research. It was in this context that Tada accepted King's offer to introduce her to Christopher Reeve, the paralyzed former movie star who has become the world's most famous advocate for using human cloning and embryonic stem cells to find cures:

King: He [Reeve] thinks he's going to walk.

Tada: That may very well happen using incredible therapies...using adult stem cell research. It is absolutely amazing what is happening. Dr. Carlos Lima in Lisbon, Portugal, has helped restore bladder and muscle control to people with paralysis using stem cells from their own nasal tissue.

Take a moment and think about what Tada told King. Paralyzed people with serious spinal injuries like those afflicting Tada and Reeve have regained feeling in their bodies using adult-tissue therapies. Assuming that King was unaware of these advances — always a good assumption, given that King prides himself on not preparing for interviews — he should have been thunderstruck by this big news. Tada's assertion should have prompted an immediate follow-up question demanding more details. Had King done this, Tada might have then told him that one of the paralyzed women treated by Dr. Lima with her own olfactory tissue had recently appeared before a Senate subcommittee and presented videos of herself walking with braces!

But King never even attempted to follow up. Indeed, he wasn't the least bit curious about the tremendous news that human patients with serious spinal-cord injury may be able to walk again if these early human trials using adult tissue pan out. Instead, almost reflexively, he promoted embryonic-stem-cell research, stating, "Everyone says it will be faster if embryonic is also used. Nancy Reagan is going to campaign strongly for that."

Tada told King patiently that she opposes embryonic-stem-cell research, in part because she advocates channeling scarce resources "into [adult] therapies which have the most promise, which are the most effective." She then told King about the dangers associated with embryonic stem cells of which he might be unaware, such as tissue rejection and tumors.

King shrugged this off, asserting that problems always happen in the beginning of research studies. "That's true," Tada acknowledged. And then she tried again to get King to just hear how far adult-tissue research has already advanced. "Right now," she said, "incredible therapies" are happening "with their own stem cells, whether dental pulp or nasal tissues, or bone-marrow tissues."

For a second time in two minutes Tada had presented King with the opportunity to provide his audience with a wonderful educational opportunity. Had he followed up, even skeptically, by demanding that Tada give examples of these incredible breakthroughs, she could have told him about human heart patients who have already benefited from treatment with their own bone marrow or blood stem cells. She could have given great hope to people with Parkinson's disease by describing the successes already achieved treating patients with adult cells and their derivatives. Perhaps she would have mentioned the wonderful news that in an early human trial, a patient with multiple sclerosis so advanced that he experienced bouts of blindness appears to have been put into almost total remission using his own stem cells.

But King's viewing audience was not allowed to learn any of this, because King did not inquire. Instead, he demanded to know who is harmed by embryonic-stem-cell research and asked whether she would agree to debate Christopher Reeve. Then, it was quickly on to other matters. Clearly, for King, stem-cell medical advances only count if they come from embryonic sources.

King is not alone in this incredibly myopic approach to the stem-cell debate. Other elite liberal commentators are just as narrow in their views about adult-stem-cell research. For example, Laura Bush's recent defense of her husband's stem-cell policy sent several elite liberal commentators into apoplectic orbit. Cynthia Tucker's August 13 syndicated column, "Bush's Policy on Stem-Cell Research Has No Good Defense," was especially nasty — and typically ignorant of the current state of the science.

Charging that only religious extremism stands in the way of stem-cell advances, Tucker accused the president of limiting research "that could...lead to cures for Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis and even some cancers. Some of those cures could be decades away. But we can't get there until we get started."

Tucker either didn't take the time to discover, or doesn't care, that we are already well under way to finding such cures! As stated above, human patients with the very diseases Tucker mentioned have already benefited from adult-tissue therapies. Animal studies have advanced even further. For example, mice with advanced-stage juvenile diabetes have been cured with adult cell therapies. Yet instead of embracing these advances, Tucker complained, "I certainly don't understand a 21st-century superpower that devotes billions to building smart bombs to destroy life efficiently but refuses to fund the research that could save or enhance the lives of millions of its citizens."

Ignorance, thy name is Tucker. Apparently she is unaware that the federal government poured more than $200 million into adult-stem-cell research and about $25 million into embryonic-stem-cell research in 2003. In addition, private investors have abundantly invested in adult-stem-cell research, while generally shunning embryonic and human cloning research, largely because adult therapies are so much closer to fruition than embryonic approaches.

Apparently, Tucker would put her political views before the current state of the science and reverse this funding ratio. But this would be most unwise. It could delay bringing regenerative cures to the American people by diverting resources away from adult-cell cures already in early human trials and toward embryonic research that can't even be done safely in humans — a point made by Joni Eareckson Tada that bounced off Larry King's forehead.

Amazingly, the ideological fervor in favor of using nascent human life in stem-cell treatments is so intense that it prevents even liberal media elites who suffer from these diseases from embracing emerging treatments that use adult cells. Michael Kinsley, the editorial page editor of the Los Angeles Times, is a puzzling case in point. Kinsley has Parkinson's. One would think he would be extremely interested in the successful experiment involving fellow Parkinson's patient Dennis Turner, who five years ago received an 83 percent reversal of his symptoms after a treatment using his own brain stem cells. Kinsley should also find great hope in the results of another human trial in which five Parkinson's patients, treated with a natural body chemical known as glial cell-line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), improved so significantly that three regained their senses of taste and smell.

But Kinsley is blind to this wonderful news. In a diatribe against Laura Bush and the president, Kinsley claimed that "stem cell research has been drastically slowed" by the president's stem-cell policy (again, apparently, the only real stem-cell research is embryonic-stem-cell research). Working himself into a blind rage, Kinsley accused President Bush of "ensuring there is no hope at all" for people like him who suffer from Parkinson's disease — a statement exhibiting sheer indifference to the very facts that hold out true hope for Kinsley's own health problems.

Media opponents of President Bush's stem-cell policy often accuse the president of deciding science questions based on religious beliefs. But they are the ones whose ideological predilections and personal antipathy for political opponents are making them incapable of appreciating the evidence. As the old saying goes, none are so blind as those who will not see.

Clinical Data of VesCell Used On Heart Disease Patients

Dr. Zannos Grekos, a cardiologist who uses VesCell Adult Stem Cells to treat his heart disease patients, was a featured speaker at the 16th Annual World Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine & Regenerative Biomedical Technologies in Las Vegas that ran from December 11th-14th. He presented clinical data showing that Vescell Stem Cell therapy definitely helps patients with congestive heart failure.

Dr. Grekos also announced that his work "has spurred a project entailing growing organs for transplant from patients' own stem cells using technology developed by National Aeronautic Space Association (NASA)." That is something to look forward to in the hopefully near future.

However, let's concentrate now on Dr. Grekos' results: He reported that the average patient had his ejection fraction increase 21 percentage points and had reversed heart muscle damage

Dr. Grekos also stated that his patients on average had gone from Stage IV Heart Failure (End Stage Heart Failure) and then improved to Stage II Heart Failure in approximately 6 months! And for you cardiologists out there- the clinical data from PET scans confirmed that VesCell Adult Stem Cells do indeed "engraft themselves into areas damaged by myocardial infarction (heart attacks) and turn into viable new heart muscle."

Hector Rosario, MD, chief of Interventional Cardiology for the Dominican Republic division of Regenocyte, is thrilled with the clinical outcomes to date. "It is personally very gratifying to alter the prognosis in patients who have exhausted all other options,"

Well said Dr. Rosario. VesCell stem cell therapy can give patient's a new lease on life with minimal risk since the patient's use their own Adult Stem Cells to help heal their heart disease or peripheral artery disease

Help is available right now.

Stroke Breakthrough With Stem Cell Therapy

The sudden onset of stroke is devastating and leads to temporary and/or permanent disability to speech, sensation, memory and motor neuron damage. The damage is caused by a bleeding or blocked cerebral blood vessel leading to local brain damaged areas with loss of neurons and glial cells.An effective stem cell therapy exists that may offer improvement. With the discovery of stem cell therapy abroad, there comes new hope.

Although there are niches and reservoirs of stem cells in the adult brain their numbers are not sufficient to restore neurological function. Umbilical cord blood has stem cells that are pluripotent in their ability to be transformed into many precursor cells of various organs in the body including the brain.

Umbilical cord blood stem cells when placed into culture with nerve growth factor, brain neurotrophic factor and nutrients can form precursor progenitor brain stem cells.

Patients with post stroke syndrome (even for many years) can be given intravenous brain stem cells, oligodendrocytes to replace myelin and neuron stem cells. These cells will home (migrate) to areas of damaged brain tissue with hopes of functional recovery with stem cell treatment abroad.

Disclaimer: This blog or article is for information purpose only, and should not be treated as professional advice or price protection guarantee.

The dangers of injecting animal stem cells

The therapy is illegal in the West, but according to the Thai newspaper The Nation patients are willing to pay between £2,000 to £20,000 in Bangkok to receive the treatment which is claimed to remove facial wrinkles.
"Some patients might go into [anaphylactic] shock after receiving several doses of animal stem cells, especially those who have hyper sensitive reactions," warned Dr Tanom Bunaprasert, a medical professor at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.
Dr Tanom also pointed out that there is no proven medical benefit to the procedure. "The feeling of a younger face is caused by the placebo effect, not stem cells that are injected into their faces," he said.
Because the stem cells from an alien organism stimulate an antibody response from the human immune system, doctors say they massively increase the likelihood that the patient would reject a donor organ if they ever require a transplant in the future.
Other stem cell therapies are also practised in Thailand. Experimental adult stem cell therapy for failing hearts and for peripheral artery disease caused by diabetes are both available in Bangkok, and some doctors have questioned whether the procedures are a medical breakthrough.
Thailand is a popular destination for "medical tourists" seeking often high-quality medical care that may be unavailable or more expensive in other countries.
Cosmetic surgery is a particular speciality and is widely advertised.
Advertisements claim that a full sex change procedure can be obtained for only around £3000.
Dr Tanom also warned against other supposedly stem cell based cosmetic treatments which are widely advertised in print and on the internet.
He said that animal stem cell based creams and lotions are of no possible benefit because the stem cells would die long before they are applied to the skin and, besides, stem cells are too large to penetrate the skin and have any effect.
Likewise, food products purporting to be beneficially enriched with animal stem cells are a fraud, he said.
"Stem cell food has very poor nutritious ingredients," according to Dr Tanom. "You eat numerous stem cells every day for a long time from meat, chicken, fish and pork but you don't know it."

Stem Cells Deliver Top Christmas Present for ALS Sufferer

A newly retired Norwegian woman, Mrs Inger Marie Larsen, was looking forward to taking it easy in her new home in Sweden, enjoying life and indulging in her passion for travel. It was not to be.

Around October 2007 she noticed her voice was becoming hoarse, she experienced back pains and over a six month period lost some 20kg. After a battery of inconclusive tests her doctor appeared to her to have given up and after all she could still speak! By June 2008 she had a new doctor, further tests in Norway and finally a diagnosis of ALS. By then she was getting worse daily and troubled by spasticity in her hands. By July she was unable to speak at all. Told that there was no treatment in the whole world that could help her she froze, thanked the doctor and walked out.

From her hospital room in Bangkok where she had spent 28 days intensive therapy - including multiple injections of stem cells, physical and occupational therapy, lung and oral therapy and acupuncture – Mrs Larsen was all smiles.

Her journey to Bangkok started with serendipity – her daughter Kristine had a work colleague whose mother had the same condition and this colleague had done a lot of research into ALS and the latest in treatment for it. Despite their shock, fear and depression the snowball started to roll. They were running out of time as Inger continued to lose weight, had swallowing difficulties and needed to be fed by gastric tube. Kristine acted and got in touch with the company in Bangkok that her colleague had found. The decision was rapidly made in spite of them being given no guarantees that the patient would improve.

The day before her return home Mrs Larsen was delighted with her stay in Bangkok. Her oxygen capacity had leapt from 60 to 99 percent, she could breathe easier, her muscles felt stronger and she was now taking 400 ml of her liquid diet four times daily, versus only 250ml previously. Overall, she just felt much better. Asked if she would recommend stem cell therapy to others with ALS she smiled, gave the thumbs up and wrote, “Without hesitation”.

It takes more than a little courage to try what is still an experimental therapy, even though thousands of patients have been safely treated with adult stem cells to date for a wide variety of diseases. Some 75 percent experience some or significant relief and can return to a far better quality of life than they would have dreamed possible.

It is a small miracle for Mrs Larsen, delivered at the very best time of the year for miracles.

(For further information contact www.StemCells21.com)

What is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis?
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), sometimes called Lou Gehrig's disease, is a rapidly progressive, invariably fatal neurological disease that attacks the nerve cells (neurons) responsible for controlling voluntary muscles. The disease belongs to a group of disorders known as motor neuron diseases, which are characterized by the gradual degeneration and death of motor neurons.
Motor neurons are nerve cells located in the brain, brainstem, and spinal cord that serve as controlling units and vital communication links between the nervous system and the voluntary muscles of the body. Messages from motor neurons in the brain (called upper motor neurons) are transmitted to motor neurons in the spinal cord (called lower motor neurons) and from them to particular muscles. In ALS, both the upper motor neurons and the lower motor neurons degenerate or die, ceasing to send messages to muscles. Unable to function, the muscles gradually weaken, waste away (atrophy), and twitch (fasciculations) . Eventually, the ability of the brain to start and control voluntary movement is lost.
ALS causes weakness with a wide range of disabilities. Eventually, all muscles under voluntary control are affected, and patients lose their strength and the ability to move their arms, legs, and body. When muscles in the diaphragm and chest wall fail, patients lose the ability to breathe without ventilatory support. Most people with ALS die from respiratory failure, usually within 3 to 5 years from the onset of symptoms. However, about 10 percent of ALS patients survive for 10 or more years.
Although the disease usually does not impair a person's mind or intelligence, several recent studies suggest that some ALS patients may have alterations in cognitive functions such as depression and problems with decision-making and memory.
ALS does not affect a person's ability to see, smell, taste, hear, or recognize touch. Patients usually maintain control of eye muscles and bladder and bowel functions, although in the late stages of the disease most patients will need help getting to and from the bathroom.
Who gets ALS?
As many as 20,000 Americans have ALS, and an estimated 5,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with the disease each year. ALS is one of the most common neuromuscular diseases worldwide, and people of all races and ethnic backgrounds are affected. ALS most commonly strikes people between 40 and 60 years of age, but younger and older people also can develop the disease. Men are affected more often than women.

Leading journal names the top 10 scientific breakthroughs of 2008

From The Guardian

Skin cells can be regressed to make stem cells, which in turn can be grown into a range of replacement tissues and organs.

A feat of biological alchemy that offers scientists the hope of growing replacement organs from patients' own skin cells has been named the scientific breakthrough of the year.

Cellular reprogramming allows scientists to rewind the developmental clock of adult cells to produce stem cells, which can then be grown into completely different tissues, such as neurons and beating heart cells.

The technique is already being used to gain unprecedented insights into debilitating and incurable diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, but ultimately scientists hope they will be able to treat patients by reprogramming their cells to make healthy replacement tissues and organs.

The discovery leads a top ten of major advances announced by the prestigious US journal Science. It was chosen because it "opened a new field of biology almost overnight and holds out hope of life-saving medical advances," said Robert Coontz, an editor on the publication.

Scientists first showed they could transform adult cells into stem cells in experiments on mice two years ago. This year, they built on the work and made spectacular progress in humans.

In July, researchers at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute in Boston plucked skin cells from an 82-year-old woman with motor neurone disease and reprogrammed them into stem cells, before turning these into spinal cord nerves. By watching the nerves grow in the lab, the scientists can see how the disease takes hold and progresses, which is impossible to observe in a living patient.

Only a week later, another team created stem cells from patients with 10 other medical conditions, including muscular dystrophy, type 1 diabetes and Down's syndrome. Researchers are now focusing on boosting the safety and efficiency of the technique.

Second place on the list of breakthroughs was awarded for the first direct observation of a planet beyond our own solar system. Scientists first confirmed that there were worlds orbiting other stars in the 1980s, though they did so indirectly. The majority of the more than 300 "extrasolar planets" now known were spotted by watching the tiny wobble in stars' position as enormous, Jupiter-sized planets swung around them.

This year, scientists announced that they had seen shimmers of light from the planets themselves. They are just faint pinpricks of light in space, but they will give astronomers clues to what those distant planets are made of and how they formed.

The remaining eight breakthroughs are not ranked in any particular order but cover the breadth of science from the genetics of cancer and renewable sources of energy, to an unprecedented understanding of "good fat", and a way of calculating the mass of the universe.

Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany, made the top 10 list for developing a laser microscope to capture the dance of cells inside a fertilised egg as it grows into an embryo. By rewinding the video of a zebrafish embryo, the researchers were able to trace the origin of cells that formed specific tissues, such as the retina at the back of the eye.

The year saw a flurry of genomes published, from that of the woolly mammoth to individual cancer patients, a feat aided by a surge in new genetic sequencing techniques, which also made the top ten. Joining them was research on two of the deadliest cancers, pancreatic and brain tumours, which revealed dozens of mutations that had made the cells go awry.

Another notable breakthrough involved research into brown fat tissue, which burns "bad" white fat to generate heat for the body. Scientists found that brown fat is remarkably similar to muscle, a discovery that could lead to new treatments for obesity.

The remaining top 10 scientific discoveries included a new family of superconductors that can carry electricity without resistance; a way to watch proteins at work; a catalyst that can split water into hydrogen and oxygen, and so provide renewable energy; and a calculation that predicts the mass of two of the building blocks of matter, the proton and neutron.

Stem Cells may end the need for heart transplants

British scientists have developed a new technique that can rebuild a severely damaged heart, and one day, might replace the need for transplantation.
Researchers at Imperial College London revealed that stem cell heart surgery can help repair damaged hearts using progenitor cells derived from patients’ own cardiac muscle.
They have discovered a way to extract, grow in the laboratory and then graft on a patient’s own muscle-building cells which then can be used to patch up the heart and increase its pumping power
Moreover, it can increase the quality of life for people who suffer a heart attack.
“This could transform the care for patients who have had heart attacks or have heart disease,” the Telegraph quoted Dr Nicholas Boon, President of the British Cardiovascular Society as saying.
“Because the cell therapy uses a patient’s own cells, it negates the risks or complications associated with other treatment options such as rejection linked to transplantation,” Boon added.
Researchers led by American Professor Michael Schneider have discovered a way to rejuvenate hearts using specialist versions of heart stem cells - known as “progenitor” cells - found in small quantities in human hearts.
The research team isolated the special cells from human hearts and cloned them in the lab. They then used a proprietary, non-toxic technique to multiply them.
The technique was found to be effective in trials conducted using mouse model and it did lead to the formation of new heart tissue.
“It’s very exciting - and we could be doing human trials within three years,” said Professor Schneider.
“This is pretty cutting edge stuff, in an ideal world, we could have a situation where patients with heart disease have their disease reversed as healthy tissue grows back.
“We hope that at the very least this will make the lives of those suffering from heart disease easier - allow them to get up stairs and do more things in their daily lives.
“The more ambitious hope is that will eventually keep people out of hospital and make them live longer,” he added. (ANI)

Vatican issues major new bioethics document

Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican raised its opposition to embryonic stem cell research, the morning-after pill, in vitro fertilization and human cloning to a new level Friday in a major new document on bioethics.

But in the document, the Vatican also said it approved of some forms of gene therapy and encouraged stem cell research using adult cells. And it said parents could in good conscience inoculate their children with vaccines produced with cells derived from aborted fetuses.

The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued "The Dignity of a Person" to answer bioethical questions that have emerged in the two decades since its last such document was published.

With it, the Vatican has essentially confirmed in a single, authoritative instruction the opinions of the Pontifical Academy for Life, a Vatican advisory body that has debated these issues for years.

The Vatican's overall position is formed by its belief that human life begins at conception, and must be afforded all the consequent respect and dignity from that moment on. The Vatican also holds that human life should be created through intercourse between husband and wife, not in a petri dish.

As a result, the Vatican said it opposed the morning-after pill, even if it doesn't cause an abortion, because an abortion was "intended." In the use of drugs such as RU-486, which causes the elimination of the embryo once it is implanted, the "sin of abortion" is committed; their use is thus "gravely immoral."

The Vatican also said it opposed in vitro fertilization because it involves separating conception from the "conjugal act" and often results in the destruction of embryos. The Vatican supports, however, techniques that help couples overcome obstacles to getting pregnant.

In the document, the Vatican elaborated on a host of issues surrounding assisted fertility, saying it:

_Opposed the selective reduction of embryos often used in in vitro procedures since it essentially is abortion.

_Opposed pre-implantation diagnosis of embryos since it may be followed by the destruction of those embryos deemed defective or otherwise undesirable.

_Opposed freezing embryos, since it is "incompatible with the respect owed to human embryos" and also means they were created in vitro.

It said that, while freezing eggs is not in itself immoral, it becomes unacceptable when it occurs for the sake of artificial procreation.

The Vatican lauded as "praiseworthy" the suggestion by some to let infertile couples "adopt" the thousands of frozen embryos that have been produced in vitro over the years. But it said such adoptions present a host of medical, psychological and legal problems.

The instruction also weighed in on research involving stem cells, cloning and gene therapy.

The Vatican stressed that it fully supported research involving adult stem cells. But it said obtaining stem cells from a living embryo, even for the sake of effective therapies, was "gravely illicit."

It said gene therapy on regular cells in the body other than reproductive ones was in principle morally licit since it sought to "restore the normal genetic configuration of the patient or to counter damage caused by genetic anomalies."

But it said that cell therapy which seeks to correct genetic defects with the aim of transmitting the therapy onto offspring was more problematic.

"Because the risks connected to any genetic manipulation are considerable and as yet not fully controllable, in the present state of research, it is not morally permissible to act in a way that may cause harm to the resulting progeny," the document said.

In the document, the Vatican also:

_Repeated its opposition to human cloning for both medical therapies and reproduction. Such techniques could result in an individual being subjected to a form of "biological slavery from which it would be difficult to free himself."

_Said parents could in good conscience use a vaccine for their children that was developed using cell lines from an "illicit origin." Religious groups in the United States have pressed the Vatican to issue a statement concerning the morality of using vaccines developed using cell lines derived from aborted fetuses.

"Grave reasons may be morally proportionate to justify the use of such 'biological material,'" the instruction said, adding that the parents would have to make known their disagreement with the way the vaccines were developed and press for alternatives.

But the document was very strong in stressing that researchers using such material were in a different position and had a greater degree of responsibility. It said they had a moral duty to remove themselves from the "evil aspects" of the original, illicit act — even if they and their institutions had nothing to do with it.

Making Stem Cells More Therapeutically Effective

Simple chemical procedure augments therapeutic potential of stem cells - 2008-12-09
FINDINGS: Researchers have developed a simple method for making a certain class of adult stem cells more therapeutically effective. By attaching a molecule called SLeX to the surface of human cells extracted from bone marrow, researchers have altered how the cells travel through vessels. This might enable the cells to more effectively reach sites of injury and replace damaged tissue.

RELEVANCE: The cultured cells include mesenchymal stem cells, which can form fat cells, cartilage, bone, tendon and ligaments, muscle cells, and even nerve cells. When injected into the bloodstream of patients, mesenchymal stem cells can home to the site of an injury and replace damaged tissue. But just a fraction of the mesenchymal stem cells currently reach their target in clinical trials. One problem is that the cells lose their ability to roll along the walls of blood vessels when they grow and divide in a dish. The new technique should prevent cultured cells from drifting passively through the bloodstream, potentially enabling more of them to migrate out of the vessels into the surrounding tissue.

Adult stem cells resemble couch potatoes if they hang out and divide in a dish for too long. They get fat and lose key surface proteins, which interferes with their movement and reduces their therapeutic potential. Now, via a simple chemical procedure, researchers have found a way to get these cells off the couch and over to their therapeutic target.

To do this, they simply added a molecule called SLeX to the surface of the cells. The procedure took just 45 minutes and restored an important biological function. “Delivery remains one of the biggest hurdles to stem cell therapy,” explains senior author Jeffrey Karp, an instructor at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. “The blood stream offers a natural delivery vehicle, but stem cells don’t move through blood vessels normally after being expanded in culture. Our procedure promises to overcome this obstacle.”

These findings will be published online in the journal Bioconjugate Chemistry on Oct. 31. In order for cells injected into the blood stream to be therapeutically useful, they need to take initiative to reach target tissues. But instead, cultured stem cells go with the flow. They move through the body quickly, carried by the current, which means they seldom contact the sides of blood vessels. Thus, they have fewer opportunities to escape into the surrounding tissue by squeezing between cells of the vessel wall. Adult stem cells must escape before they can colonize surrounding tissue and rebuild damaged structures.

In February of 2008, HMS associate professor Robert Sackstein (at Brigham and Women’s Hospital) and colleagues showed they could correct this problem by adding a particular molecule to the surface of adult stem cells. This molecule—a cousin of SLeX—formed temporary connections with proteins on the blood vessel wall, serving as a kind of weak tape. But Sackstein’s method involved enzymes, which made the chemistry complicated. Karp’s team achieved the same result without enzymes.

Karp lab postdoc Debanjan Sarkar simply flooded a dish of cells with three molecules—biotin, streptavidin, and SLeX—one after the other. The biotin and streptavidin anchored SLeX to the cell surface. Sarkar tweaked the concentrations of each molecule to maximize the cell’s ability to roll along the interior of the blood vessel, rather than getting lost in the flow. He also confirmed that the altered cells were still viable.

“The method is very simple,” says Sarkar, who is first author on the paper. “Plus, biotin and streptavidin work with many molecules, so labs can use this universal anchor we discovered to tackle other problems. They’re not limited to sticking SLeX on cells.” The team worked with human cells extracted from the bone marrow. The cultures included mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which can form fat cells, cartilage, bone, tendon and ligaments, muscle cells, and even nerve cells. When injected into the bloodstream of patients, MSCs can home to the site of an injury and replace damaged tissue. But just a fraction of cultured MSCs currently reach their target in clinical trials. Karp’s procedure might improve their homing abilities.

Karp cautions that his lab’s discovery must be validated in animals, before doctors can apply it in the clinic. He’s collaborating with another lab to test the homing ability of the SLeX-dotted cells in mice. “We need to confirm that this rolling behavior translates into increased homing and tissue repair,” explains Karp. “We may need to tweak the cells further.”

“This is definitely an approach that should be tried,” adds Pamela Robey, chief of the Craniofacial and Skeletal Diseases Branch of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. Robey is working to reconstruct three-dimensional tissues with MSCs. “Jeff hasn’t tested the altered MSCs inside animals, and that’s really the gold-standard, but his in vitro data looks promising.” This research is supported by Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The authors report no conflicts of interest.































































Simple chemical procedure augments therapeutic potential of stem cells - 2008-12-09
FINDINGS: Researchers have developed a simple method for making a certain class of adult stem cells more therapeutically effective. By attaching a molecule called SLeX to the surface of human cells extracted from bone marrow, researchers have altered how the cells travel through vessels. This might enable the cells to more effectively reach sites of injury and replace damaged tissue.

RELEVANCE: The cultured cells include mesenchymal stem cells, which can form fat cells, cartilage, bone, tendon and ligaments, muscle cells, and even nerve cells. When injected into the bloodstream of patients, mesenchymal stem cells can home to the site of an injury and replace damaged tissue. But just a fraction of the mesenchymal stem cells currently reach their target in clinical trials. One problem is that the cells lose their ability to roll along the walls of blood vessels when they grow and divide in a dish. The new technique should prevent cultured cells from drifting passively through the bloodstream, potentially enabling more of them to migrate out of the vessels into the surrounding tissue.

Adult stem cells resemble couch potatoes if they hang out and divide in a dish for too long. They get fat and lose key surface proteins, which interferes with their movement and reduces their therapeutic potential. Now, via a simple chemical procedure, researchers have found a way to get these cells off the couch and over to their therapeutic target.

To do this, they simply added a molecule called SLeX to the surface of the cells. The procedure took just 45 minutes and restored an important biological function. “Delivery remains one of the biggest hurdles to stem cell therapy,” explains senior author Jeffrey Karp, an instructor at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. “The blood stream offers a natural delivery vehicle, but stem cells don’t move through blood vessels normally after being expanded in culture. Our procedure promises to overcome this obstacle.”

These findings will be published online in the journal Bioconjugate Chemistry on Oct. 31. In order for cells injected into the blood stream to be therapeutically useful, they need to take initiative to reach target tissues. But instead, cultured stem cells go with the flow. They move through the body quickly, carried by the current, which means they seldom contact the sides of blood vessels. Thus, they have fewer opportunities to escape into the surrounding tissue by squeezing between cells of the vessel wall. Adult stem cells must escape before they can colonize surrounding tissue and rebuild damaged structures.

In February of 2008, HMS associate professor Robert Sackstein (at Brigham and Women’s Hospital) and colleagues showed they could correct this problem by adding a particular molecule to the surface of adult stem cells. This molecule—a cousin of SLeX—formed temporary connections with proteins on the blood vessel wall, serving as a kind of weak tape. But Sackstein’s method involved enzymes, which made the chemistry complicated. Karp’s team achieved the same result without enzymes.

Karp lab postdoc Debanjan Sarkar simply flooded a dish of cells with three molecules—biotin, streptavidin, and SLeX—one after the other. The biotin and streptavidin anchored SLeX to the cell surface. Sarkar tweaked the concentrations of each molecule to maximize the cell’s ability to roll along the interior of the blood vessel, rather than getting lost in the flow. He also confirmed that the altered cells were still viable.

“The method is very simple,” says Sarkar, who is first author on the paper. “Plus, biotin and streptavidin work with many molecules, so labs can use this universal anchor we discovered to tackle other problems. They’re not limited to sticking SLeX on cells.” The team worked with human cells extracted from the bone marrow. The cultures included mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which can form fat cells, cartilage, bone, tendon and ligaments, muscle cells, and even nerve cells. When injected into the bloodstream of patients, MSCs can home to the site of an injury and replace damaged tissue. But just a fraction of cultured MSCs currently reach their target in clinical trials. Karp’s procedure might improve their homing abilities.

Karp cautions that his lab’s discovery must be validated in animals, before doctors can apply it in the clinic. He’s collaborating with another lab to test the homing ability of the SLeX-dotted cells in mice. “We need to confirm that this rolling behavior translates into increased homing and tissue repair,” explains Karp. “We may need to tweak the cells further.”

“This is definitely an approach that should be tried,” adds Pamela Robey, chief of the Craniofacial and Skeletal Diseases Branch of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. Robey is working to reconstruct three-dimensional tissues with MSCs. “Jeff hasn’t tested the altered MSCs inside animals, and that’s really the gold-standard, but his in vitro data looks promising.” This research is supported by Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The authors report no conflicts of interest.

















































Simple chemical procedure augments therapeutic potential of stem cells - 2008-12-09
FINDINGS: Researchers have developed a simple method for making a certain class of adult stem cells more therapeutically effective. By attaching a molecule called SLeX to the surface of human cells extracted from bone marrow, researchers have altered how the cells travel through vessels. This might enable the cells to more effectively reach sites of injury and replace damaged tissue.

RELEVANCE: The cultured cells include mesenchymal stem cells, which can form fat cells, cartilage, bone, tendon and ligaments, muscle cells, and even nerve cells. When injected into the bloodstream of patients, mesenchymal stem cells can home to the site of an injury and replace damaged tissue. But just a fraction of the mesenchymal stem cells currently reach their target in clinical trials. One problem is that the cells lose their ability to roll along the walls of blood vessels when they grow and divide in a dish. The new technique should prevent cultured cells from drifting passively through the bloodstream, potentially enabling more of them to migrate out of the vessels into the surrounding tissue.

Adult stem cells resemble couch potatoes if they hang out and divide in a dish for too long. They get fat and lose key surface proteins, which interferes with their movement and reduces their therapeutic potential. Now, via a simple chemical procedure, researchers have found a way to get these cells off the couch and over to their therapeutic target.

To do this, they simply added a molecule called SLeX to the surface of the cells. The procedure took just 45 minutes and restored an important biological function. “Delivery remains one of the biggest hurdles to stem cell therapy,” explains senior author Jeffrey Karp, an instructor at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. “The blood stream offers a natural delivery vehicle, but stem cells don’t move through blood vessels normally after being expanded in culture. Our procedure promises to overcome this obstacle.”

These findings will be published online in the journal Bioconjugate Chemistry on Oct. 31. In order for cells injected into the blood stream to be therapeutically useful, they need to take initiative to reach target tissues. But instead, cultured stem cells go with the flow. They move through the body quickly, carried by the current, which means they seldom contact the sides of blood vessels. Thus, they have fewer opportunities to escape into the surrounding tissue by squeezing between cells of the vessel wall. Adult stem cells must escape before they can colonize surrounding tissue and rebuild damaged structures.

In February of 2008, HMS associate professor Robert Sackstein (at Brigham and Women’s Hospital) and colleagues showed they could correct this problem by adding a particular molecule to the surface of adult stem cells. This molecule—a cousin of SLeX—formed temporary connections with proteins on the blood vessel wall, serving as a kind of weak tape. But Sackstein’s method involved enzymes, which made the chemistry complicated. Karp’s team achieved the same result without enzymes.

Karp lab postdoc Debanjan Sarkar simply flooded a dish of cells with three molecules—biotin, streptavidin, and SLeX—one after the other. The biotin and streptavidin anchored SLeX to the cell surface. Sarkar tweaked the concentrations of each molecule to maximize the cell’s ability to roll along the interior of the blood vessel, rather than getting lost in the flow. He also confirmed that the altered cells were still viable.

“The method is very simple,” says Sarkar, who is first author on the paper. “Plus, biotin and streptavidin work with many molecules, so labs can use this universal anchor we discovered to tackle other problems. They’re not limited to sticking SLeX on cells.” The team worked with human cells extracted from the bone marrow. The cultures included mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which can form fat cells, cartilage, bone, tendon and ligaments, muscle cells, and even nerve cells. When injected into the bloodstream of patients, MSCs can home to the site of an injury and replace damaged tissue. But just a fraction of cultured MSCs currently reach their target in clinical trials. Karp’s procedure might improve their homing abilities.

Karp cautions that his lab’s discovery must be validated in animals, before doctors can apply it in the clinic. He’s collaborating with another lab to test the homing ability of the SLeX-dotted cells in mice. “We need to confirm that this rolling behavior translates into increased homing and tissue repair,” explains Karp. “We may need to tweak the cells further.”

“This is definitely an approach that should be tried,” adds Pamela Robey, chief of the Craniofacial and Skeletal Diseases Branch of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. Robey is working to reconstruct three-dimensional tissues with MSCs. “Jeff hasn’t tested the altered MSCs inside animals, and that’s really the gold-standard, but his in vitro data looks promising.” This research is supported by Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The authors report no conflicts of interest.























































Simple chemical procedure augments therapeutic potential of stem cells - 2008-12-09
FINDINGS: Researchers have developed a simple method for making a certain class of adult stem cells more therapeutically effective. By attaching a molecule called SLeX to the surface of human cells extracted from bone marrow, researchers have altered how the cells travel through vessels. This might enable the cells to more effectively reach sites of injury and replace damaged tissue.

RELEVANCE: The cultured cells include mesenchymal stem cells, which can form fat cells, cartilage, bone, tendon and ligaments, muscle cells, and even nerve cells. When injected into the bloodstream of patients, mesenchymal stem cells can home to the site of an injury and replace damaged tissue. But just a fraction of the mesenchymal stem cells currently reach their target in clinical trials. One problem is that the cells lose their ability to roll along the walls of blood vessels when they grow and divide in a dish. The new technique should prevent cultured cells from drifting passively through the bloodstream, potentially enabling more of them to migrate out of the vessels into the surrounding tissue.

Adult stem cells resemble couch potatoes if they hang out and divide in a dish for too long. They get fat and lose key surface proteins, which interferes with their movement and reduces their therapeutic potential. Now, via a simple chemical procedure, researchers have found a way to get these cells off the couch and over to their therapeutic target.

To do this, they simply added a molecule called SLeX to the surface of the cells. The procedure took just 45 minutes and restored an important biological function. “Delivery remains one of the biggest hurdles to stem cell therapy,” explains senior author Jeffrey Karp, an instructor at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. “The blood stream offers a natural delivery vehicle, but stem cells don’t move through blood vessels normally after being expanded in culture. Our procedure promises to overcome this obstacle.”

These findings will be published online in the journal Bioconjugate Chemistry on Oct. 31. In order for cells injected into the blood stream to be therapeutically useful, they need to take initiative to reach target tissues. But instead, cultured stem cells go with the flow. They move through the body quickly, carried by the current, which means they seldom contact the sides of blood vessels. Thus, they have fewer opportunities to escape into the surrounding tissue by squeezing between cells of the vessel wall. Adult stem cells must escape before they can colonize surrounding tissue and rebuild damaged structures.

In February of 2008, HMS associate professor Robert Sackstein (at Brigham and Women’s Hospital) and colleagues showed they could correct this problem by adding a particular molecule to the surface of adult stem cells. This molecule—a cousin of SLeX—formed temporary connections with proteins on the blood vessel wall, serving as a kind of weak tape. But Sackstein’s method involved enzymes, which made the chemistry complicated. Karp’s team achieved the same result without enzymes.

Karp lab postdoc Debanjan Sarkar simply flooded a dish of cells with three molecules—biotin, streptavidin, and SLeX—one after the other. The biotin and streptavidin anchored SLeX to the cell surface. Sarkar tweaked the concentrations of each molecule to maximize the cell’s ability to roll along the interior of the blood vessel, rather than getting lost in the flow. He also confirmed that the altered cells were still viable.

“The method is very simple,” says Sarkar, who is first author on the paper. “Plus, biotin and streptavidin work with many molecules, so labs can use this universal anchor we discovered to tackle other problems. They’re not limited to sticking SLeX on cells.” The team worked with human cells extracted from the bone marrow. The cultures included mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which can form fat cells, cartilage, bone, tendon and ligaments, muscle cells, and even nerve cells. When injected into the bloodstream of patients, MSCs can home to the site of an injury and replace damaged tissue. But just a fraction of cultured MSCs currently reach their target in clinical trials. Karp’s procedure might improve their homing abilities.

Karp cautions that his lab’s discovery must be validated in animals, before doctors can apply it in the clinic. He’s collaborating with another lab to test the homing ability of the SLeX-dotted cells in mice. “We need to confirm that this rolling behavior translates into increased homing and tissue repair,” explains Karp. “We may need to tweak the cells further.”

“This is definitely an approach that should be tried,” adds Pamela Robey, chief of the Craniofacial and Skeletal Diseases Branch of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. Robey is working to reconstruct three-dimensional tissues with MSCs. “Jeff hasn’t tested the altered MSCs inside animals, and that’s really the gold-standard, but his in vitro data looks promising.” This research is supported by Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The authors report no conflicts of interest.






















































FINDINGS: Researchers have developed a simple method for making a certain class of adult stem cells more therapeutically effective. By attaching a molecule called SLeX to the surface of human cells extracted from bone marrow, researchers have altered how the cells travel through vessels. This might enable the cells to more effectively reach sites of injury and replace damaged tissue.

RELEVANCE: The cultured cells include mesenchymal stem cells, which can form fat cells, cartilage, bone, tendon and ligaments, muscle cells, and even nerve cells. When injected into the bloodstream of patients, mesenchymal stem cells can home to the site of an injury and replace damaged tissue. But just a fraction of the mesenchymal stem cells currently reach their target in clinical trials. One problem is that the cells lose their ability to roll along the walls of blood vessels when they grow and divide in a dish. The new technique should prevent cultured cells from drifting passively through the bloodstream, potentially enabling more of them to migrate out of the vessels into the surrounding tissue.

Adult stem cells resemble couch potatoes if they hang out and divide in a dish for too long. They get fat and lose key surface proteins, which interferes with their movement and reduces their therapeutic potential. Now, via a simple chemical procedure, researchers have found a way to get these cells off the couch and over to their therapeutic target.

To do this, they simply added a molecule called SLeX to the surface of the cells. The procedure took just 45 minutes and restored an important biological function. “Delivery remains one of the biggest hurdles to stem cell therapy,” explains senior author Jeffrey Karp, an instructor at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. “The blood stream offers a natural delivery vehicle, but stem cells don’t move through blood vessels normally after being expanded in culture. Our procedure promises to overcome this obstacle.”

These findings will be published online in the journal Bioconjugate Chemistry on Oct. 31. In order for cells injected into the blood stream to be therapeutically useful, they need to take initiative to reach target tissues. But instead, cultured stem cells go with the flow. They move through the body quickly, carried by the current, which means they seldom contact the sides of blood vessels. Thus, they have fewer opportunities to escape into the surrounding tissue by squeezing between cells of the vessel wall. Adult stem cells must escape before they can colonize surrounding tissue and rebuild damaged structures.

In February of 2008, HMS associate professor Robert Sackstein (at Brigham and Women’s Hospital) and colleagues showed they could correct this problem by adding a particular molecule to the surface of adult stem cells. This molecule—a cousin of SLeX—formed temporary connections with proteins on the blood vessel wall, serving as a kind of weak tape. But Sackstein’s method involved enzymes, which made the chemistry complicated. Karp’s team achieved the same result without enzymes.

Karp lab postdoc Debanjan Sarkar simply flooded a dish of cells with three molecules—biotin, streptavidin, and SLeX—one after the other. The biotin and streptavidin anchored SLeX to the cell surface. Sarkar tweaked the concentrations of each molecule to maximize the cell’s ability to roll along the interior of the blood vessel, rather than getting lost in the flow. He also confirmed that the altered cells were still viable.

“The method is very simple,” says Sarkar, who is first author on the paper. “Plus, biotin and streptavidin work with many molecules, so labs can use this universal anchor we discovered to tackle other problems. They’re not limited to sticking SLeX on cells.” The team worked with human cells extracted from the bone marrow. The cultures included mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which can form fat cells, cartilage, bone, tendon and ligaments, muscle cells, and even nerve cells. When injected into the bloodstream of patients, MSCs can home to the site of an injury and replace damaged tissue. But just a fraction of cultured MSCs currently reach their target in clinical trials. Karp’s procedure might improve their homing abilities.

Karp cautions that his lab’s discovery must be validated in animals, before doctors can apply it in the clinic. He’s collaborating with another lab to test the homing ability of the SLeX-dotted cells in mice. “We need to confirm that this rolling behavior translates into increased homing and tissue repair,” explains Karp. “We may need to tweak the cells further.”

“This is definitely an approach that should be tried,” adds Pamela Robey, chief of the Craniofacial and Skeletal Diseases Branch of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. Robey is working to reconstruct three-dimensional tissues with MSCs. “Jeff hasn’t tested the altered MSCs inside animals, and that’s really the gold-standard, but his in vitro data looks promising.” This research is supported by Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Adult Stem Cells Triumph Over Leukemia

Lifewatch: Stem cell cancer treatment

Reported by Claire Hosmann - email
Posted by Debra Worley - email
(WECT) - A little boy's parents were told he wasn't going to make it to his third birthday.
There are some types of childhood leukemia where chemotherapy and radiation don't work. These cancers are often fatal, even with aggressive treatment.
Now, doctors are turning to experimental stem cell therapies to give kids a fighting chance.
Adolfo Gonzalez will never forget the day his 2-year-old son was born. The excitement turned to devastation one year later when a doctor diagnosed little Adolfo with a rare form of leukemia called JMML.
"He said with or without treatment, your son will not survive," said Gonzalez.
Instead of giving up, the family found Dr. Gary Kleiner.
"Most of the cases are fatal by the time the child is three years old," said Dr. Kleiner.
Dr. Kleiner enrolled Adolfo in a trail testing umbilical cord blood transfusions.
"The stem cells from the cord blood started to grow in his own bone marrow and his white count started to increase back to normal, "said Dr. Kleiner.
The new blood created by the stem cells replaced all of Adolfo's blood and eliminated the leukemia cells in his body.
"Once 100 percent of your blood is converted over to the cord blood, it's rare to see a relapse of leukemia," said Dr. Kleiner.
But, Adolfo's troubles weren't over. His new cells began to attack his body. Standard drugs didn't help, so doctors turned to stem cells, once again.
As part of another experimental treatment, Adolfo received eight infusions of adult stem cells to stop the destruction.
It worked. Today there is no evidence of cancer in his body.
Adolfo may not remember the tough first years of his live, but that's okay by his dad.
"He's going to be a great little boy. He's going to be just a normal little kid," said Gonzalez.
The cord blood for Adolfo's transfusion came from a public cord blood bank. Parents can choose to donate their babies cord blood shortly after birth.

BACKGROUND: Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) is a rare form of childhood leukemia. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society says JMML represents only 1.5 percent of childhood leukemias and occurs most often in infants and children under four years of age. The adult form of the disease is called chronic myelomonocytic leukemia. Both JMML and CMML originate in a marrow cell that normally forms blood cells.
Children with JMML are lethargic and have fever, persistent infections and exaggerated bleeding in the skin, mouth or nose. Enlargement of the spleen and lymph nodes are common symptoms. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society says over half of children with JMML have skin rashes, small, yellow-colored skin tumors, and multiple brown spots. The brown spots point to neurofibromatosis, which causes the growth of tumors in nerve cells.
TREATMENT: The American Cancer Society says there is no standard treatment for the disease, and an allogeneic, or donor, stem cell transplant offers the best chance to cure JMML. The JMML Foundation says this kind of therapy has about a 50 percent survival rate, and the risk of relapsing after the transplant is as high as 50 percent; however, experts still recommend a patient have a bone marrow transplant as soon as possible after diagnosis. Studies to examine other possible treatments for JMML are ongoing. One involves Etanercept (Enbrel), a drug that blocks a hormone known to play a role in helping leukemic cells grow. The drug is already FDA approved for use in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Since trials using chemotherapy and radiation to treat JMML have been unsuccessful, researchers highly recommend stem cell transplants. One method of receiving stem cells currently under investigation is through donor umbilical cord blood. Patients in the study receive chemotherapy to destroy leukemic cells and then receive umbilical cord blood from a donor or cord blood bank.
The new blood helps replenish the patient's white blood cell count. Gary Kleiner, M.D., Ph.D., a pediatric immunologist at the University of Miami School of Medicine in Miami, Fla., says one of the advantages of cord blood over bone marrow is it's easier to find donors in Hispanic or African American populations.

Stems cells can help pets, too

The Argus
Posted: 12/08/2008 05:25:54 PM PST


Millions of dogs suffer the aches and discomfort of arthritis. Millions more may be hurting without any obvious signs.
Now, a new science, using cells derived from the pet's own fat, may bring relief to many painful pooches.
When your pet has arthritis, you can almost feel the pain he is suffering. You watch as he struggles to rise from his bed, cringe as he slowly ascends the stairs, and can even hear the creaks and groans as he stretches out before his morning walk.
More than 15 million dogs in North America suffer some form of degenerative joint disease, better known as arthritis. Unfortunately, many dog owners are unaware of the pain their pet is experiencing, chalking up the slow movement to the effects of "old age."
Some dogs may receive daily doses of pain relievers and oral joint care supplements. Still others might find their way to physical therapy or rehabilitation. Some lucky pets even get ramps built in their homes, sparing them the need to climb the dreaded stairs.
But for some, these options are not enough to relieve the pain.
Sadly, many owners decide to euthanize their faithful companion because of the severity of the pain or the continued high cost of treatment.
But a potentially helpful treatment may be on the horizon — stem cell therapy.
Recently, a company developed a therapy to treat arthritis in dogs using the pet's own fat tissue.
Stem cells are precursor cells that have the potential to develop into a variety of specialized cell types.
Most people may equate this technology with the controversial use of embryonic stem cells. But this new technology uses adult stem cells derived from the fat of the pet. Since they are the pet's own cells, there is no ethical debate.
Recently, a detailed study on the use of fat-derived stem cells in dogs showed that animals receiving the treatment demonstrated a significant improvement in lameness when compared to dogs in the control group. This news has excited scientists and pet owners alike, and has many asking their veterinarians about the potential for a real world application.
All of this seems pretty miraculous and for some pets, the results are truly nothing short of a lifesaving miracle.
Some veterinarians are skeptical, however, and would like to see more controlled studies. It also is important to note several obstacles may stand in the way of your pet's pain relief.
First, not all pets are considered good candidates for this therapy.
Since anesthesia is involved in both the harvesting step and the reintroduction of the cells, this may not be ideal for patients at increased risk for anesthetics.
Additionally, according to Dr. Bob Harman, any dog with serious systemic disease, such as cancer, might not benefit from these treatments.
Next, as this therapy is only available through specially trained veterinarians, finding a credentialed doctor may take a little time.
And even though we have great feedback from owners, this is not a one shot therapy. Some pets need to return regularly for follow-up treatments. Scientists report that overexertion after treatment seems to lessen the benefits of the treatment, often leading to another trip to the veterinarian.
Finally, cost will certainly come into play as owners and veterinarians discuss this option.
Arthritis can be painful and even debilitating in any dog.
If you suspect your dog suffers from this disease, talk with your veterinarian about testing to confirm arthritis and then discuss the many treatment options.
Veterinarians will recommend a multimodal approach, combining appropriate medications, controlled exercise, weight loss, and environmental changes to make your dog's life easier.
In some cases, new technology, like stem cell therapy, might be beneficial.

Stem cell team forges global links

Scientists and regulators are straining to keep up with the rapid progress of stem cell science, writes Leigh Dayton | December 06, 2008
Article from: The Australian

IT'S been a busy week in the lab for stem cell scientist Richard Boyd.

Not only were Boyd and his colleagues beavering away at the bench, they hosted four members of a dozen-strong delegation of biotech and pharmaceutical experts from China, showing the visitors their scientific wares and discussing possible joint ventures.

"We've also had a lot of interest to collaborate from Taiwan, Singapore, Qatar, Dubai and Abu Dhabi," says Boyd, deputy director of Monash University's Monash Immunology Stem Cell Laboratories, or MISCL for short.

It's little wonder that international players are seeking out Boyd and his team. They're ready to take two experimental stem cell therapies -- based on a type of adult stem cells called mesenchymal stem cells -- into the clinic to see if they help people suffering the after-effects of chemotherapy or the ravages of auto-immune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Just back from a trip to China himself, Boyd is confident the trials will happen soon at centres in Beijing and Harbin. If so, they will be just two of many possible and ongoing international collaborations that promise to turn Australian stem cell research into real-world products and treatments for serious conditions as diverse as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Worldwide co-operation is the name of the game at the highest levels of stem cell science, and Australian groups such as Boyd's are major players.

In fact, last June an analysis of the performance of 16 countries engaged in human embryonic (ES) stem cell research was reported in the journal Cell Stem Cell by public policy expert Aaron Levine at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. He concluded that Australia was among the top five "over-performing" nations, behind Singapore, China, Israel and the UK. Unlikely as it seems, Levin found that the US was a major under-performer (doi 10.1016/j.stem.2008.05.008).

Such good news may come as a surprise. After all, it's no secret that the hub of Australia's stem cell endeavours -- the Melbourne-based Australian Centre for Stem Cell Research -- has fallen on troubled times. As reported last September in Weekend Health, internal disputes, a scathing independent review of the centre's management and progress, sackings, resignations and "please explains" from Science Minister Kim Carr have left the ultimate fate of the ASCC in limbo.

Right now Carr has received the final report of the 2008 Review of the Australian Stem Cell Centre, which is understood to contain detailed recommendations about the ASCC's destiny. A spokeswoman for the minister says Carr is awaiting advice from his department about public release of the document.

Carr has also asked the centre's interim board and CEO to develop a new modus vivendi and business plan, to be submitted to him next March.

It's not as if the ASCC has closed shop. Stem cell scientist Megan Munsie, ASCC director of government affairs and policy, notes the centre continues to fund and conduct research and is carrying on with educational and international activities.

There is obviously, though, widespread concern within the research community that the centre will not survive beyond 2011 when current funding arrangements end -- if it gets that far. Researchers such as Boyd worry that the pioneering work on policy, ethical guidelines, regulation and national and global leadership, let alone on stem cells themselves, could be tossed out with the ASCC bathwater.

"That's why we don't want to lose the initiative here in Australia," argues Boyd. "All the glory will go elsewhere overseas, not here where we did the hard work."

But for now Carr won't offer any assurances that the ASCC, or any national body, will exist post-2011. Researchers must be content with noises of general support, as this from his spokeswoman: "Stem cell research is at the cutting edge of scientific endeavour, and the Government is firmly behind this fast-moving science. The potential of stem cell science is enormous, both in terms of growing healthy tissue to replace diseased or damaged organs and developing therapies for a wide range of debilitating diseases, including cancer and heart disease."

Meanwhile, as the University of Western Australia's George Yeoh says, "life goes on". Yeoh is an expert in liver diseases and adult liver stem cells, and also associate dean of research at the UWA Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Science. He agrees the "hiccup" at the ASCC has slowed his group's progress: "It was an infrastructure for the provision of cells (for research), expertise and it ran workshops and meetings." Regardless, Yeoh claims formal and informal networks of stem cell scientists, clinicians and people with allied expertise in areas such as biomedicine, biopharmacy and medical ethics can help plug the gap, at least for now.

A case in point is the brand new Australasian Society for Stem Cell Research. A few years ago Yeoh met up in Melbourne with a handful of colleagues, among them ASCC founding CEO Alan Trounson -- who is now head of the state-funded California Institute of Regenerative medicine in San Francisco -- and Bernie Tuch, director of the Diabetes Transplant Unit at the University of NSW. Their idea was to get something going for groups such as Yeoh's and Tuch's, whose areas do not neatly fit under the ASCC umbrella.

Last year MISCL scientist Susan Hawes -- an expert on how Human ES cells develop into liver cells -- grabbed the reins. The infant society held its first conference and AGM on November 17, during the Australian Health and Medical Research Congress in Brisbane.

Yeoh was elected inaugural president. "We need to fly the flag for stem cell research in Australia," he says, listing a string of goals and jobs to be done working with professional and promotional organisations such as the National Health and Medical Research Council, Research Australia and state-based networks like the NSW Stem Cell Network, headed by Tuch.

According to Tuch, the to-do list focuses on "translational research", readying products and treatments for human trials. That can be as specific as building a central source of home-grown stem cell lines -- from embryonic and adult to the new embryo-free induced pluripotent (iPS) stem cells which ASCC scientist Andrew Laslett and colleague Naoki Nakayama are studying.

At the broader level, Yeoh and Tuch argue for a specialist panel of the NHMRC to look after stem cell grant funding applications, because the field is progressing so rapidly. For example, iPS cells didn't exist a year ago, and progress like that challenges existing review systems.

"Stem cell applications are mixed in with everything else," explains Yeoh.

Similarly, the existing and internationally respected system for regulating stem cell research under federal anti-cloning and embryo research legislation needs tweaking to ensure researchers have a stem cell-specific regulatory framework to move their "translational research" into trials.

Currently the Therapeutic Goods Administration is developing guidelines for so-called Human Cellular and Tissue Therapies. A TGA spokesperson says legislation for the HCT regulatory framework should be ready for introduction to Parliament early next year, with a three-year phase in of implementation to begin in 2010.

Until then, it's catch-as-catch-can for the TGA, research groups and firms like Melbourne-based Mesoblast, which want to trial stem cell therapies -- so far all based on adult stem cells -- with patients. They can adapt existing TGA schemes, lean on guidelines for stem cell trials released this week by the International Society for Stem Cell Research, or team up with overseas centres.

But the push is coming for embryonic cells, and more. There's no need to guess why Richard Boyd's passport is well worn.

The two faces of medical tourism

The U.S. Census Bureau Press Releases, recently released, show that there are now 47 million Americans without health insurance. They also show that the percentage of children without insurance rose for the second consecutive year.

While congressional hearings can be expected to grapple with this problem and the media salivate it will be interesting to see whether either the hearings or the media, or both, pile on medical tourism or embrace it as a way out of the mess.

Whatever happens in Washington the Asean region can expect savvy Americans to come to the region in droves in order to save money and to get better care. That is the pretty face of medical tourism.

A less attractive profile can be seen emerging from a conference in Istanbul, Turkey that drew experts from 78 countries, where a declaration was signed calling for a total ban on organ trafficking and transplant tourism.

It is a fact that there is an international shortage of suitable transplant organs and this shortage has given rise to shady deals mainly involving the sale of kidneys. The figures vary but it would seem that a very conservative 7000 kidneys are trafficked each year.

Like drug trafficking exploitation and big money are involved. The poor and uneducated donor gets around GBP500 and the broker around GBP50,000 minimum to arrange a transplant for a wealthy patient.

The Declaration published in The Lancet said: “Organ trafficking and transplant tourism violate the principles of equity, justice and respect for human dignity and should be prohibited.”

What can governments do? For a beginning they need to outlaw all advertising that in any way promotes or encourages the organ trade. They also need to increase the supply of legitimate transplant organs within their own borders.

With all the good things happening in medical tourism the last thing the industry needs is to be let down by the exploitative and unscrupulous few who are out to make a quick buck.