“Latest Stem Cells News”

Scientists seeking new ways to fight maladies ranging from arthritis and osteoporosis to broken bones that won’t heal have cleared a formidable hurdle, pinpointing and controlling a key molecular player to keep stem cells in a sort of extended infancy. It’s a step that makes treatment with the cells in the future more likely for patients.

Controlling and delaying development of the cells, known as mesenchymal (pronounced meh-ZINK-a-mill) stem cells, is a long-sought goal for researchers. It’s a necessary step for doctors who would like to expand the number of true skeletal stem cells available for a procedure before the cells start becoming specific types of cells that may – or may not – be needed in a patient with, say, weak bones from osteoporosis, or an old knee injury.

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Scientists have for the first time succeeded in extracting vital stem cells from sections of vein removed for heart bypass surgery. Researchers funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) found that these stem cells can stimulate new blood vessels to grow, which could potentially help repair damaged heart muscle after a heart attack.

The research, by Paolo Madeddu, Professor of Experimental Cardiovascluar Medicine and his team in the Bristol Heart Institute (BHI) at the University of Bristol, is published in the leading journal Circulation.

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Hans Keirstead, a researcher at University of California, Irvine, is set to begin a small human trial of his embryonic stem cell treatment on patients with spinal cord injuries. The treatment is designed for patients within 14 days of suffering spinal cord injuries. In rat trials, paralyzed rats were injected with a stem cell formula. The paralyzed rats were able to walk six weeks later.

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Bone marrow stromal cells [BMSCs; also known as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)] effectively suppress inflammatory responses in acute graft-versus-host disease in humans and in a number of disease models in mice. Many of the studies concluded that BMSC-driven immunomodulation is mediated by the suppression of proinflammatory Th1 responses while rebalancing the Th1/Th2 ratio toward Th2.

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Taming the bad cancer stem cells, genetically modifying them to arm them against disease and cancer-from defusing the bomb. Bet on cell girls ‘GM’, transformed into cancer killer bullets, one of five projects funded by AIRC (Italian Association for Cancer Research) with 60 million in five years thanks to the funds of 5 per thousand.

Studies of molecular oncology clinic, chosen by a jury of 18 super-foreign experts, who share one big final goal: to train a new generation of physicians, researchers are able to bridge the gap between the lab bench and the bedside. In five years’ covered ‘by AIRC, each team winning scientists will have to’ get to test on humans.

The project will be cancer stem cell ‘led by Alessandro Massimo Gianni Foundation IRCCS National Cancer Institute (INT) in Milan. Will involve ’16 research groups (9 area of preclinical and clinical 7), for a total of 89′ brains’ (68 preclinical and 21 clinical) distributed Int universities’ State, IRCCS-University ‘Vita Salute San Raffaele in Milan, Istituto Superiore di Sanita ‘Rome and Istituto Giannina Gaslini in Genoa.

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A University of Bristol team extracted stem cells from the veins, then used them to stimulate new blood vessel growth in mice, Circulation reports.

The researchers say their findings could bring treatments to repair damaged heart muscle one step closer.

However, a stem cell expert warned that they remained some years away.

Stem cells are attractive to medical researchers because they have the ability to produce many different types of human cell, opening up the possibility of repair or renewal for tissues ravaged by disease or injury (…)

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