Tag Archives: Biotechnology

ITALY – Stem cells to replace damaged ligaments

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All those who have suffered ligament damage could benefit from artificial ligaments built biologically. But, experimentation on artificial ligaments, which could come from stem cells and naturally replace damaged tissue, will not continue. Speaking about the issue was Luigi Ambrosio, one of the researchers of the Institute of Technology of Composite Material of the National Research Council (CNR) in Naples, who contributed to the realization of this biological ligament. Two solutions were proposed by the Neapolitan laboratory.

One solution was to build a biodegradable structure out of hyaluronic acid, one of the components of ligament tissue that repairs or replaces the damaged parts of the ligament. The more efficient result was obtained by building an artificial ligament from adult stem cells, which grow and differentiate into tissue. Despite the good results obtained in animals in lab experiments, human experiments will not be done due to a lack of funds, even if the solution proposed by the CNR in Naples could help maintain a good physical condition for a longer time.

The alternative today is to replace damaged ligaments with ligaments from other parts of the body or replacing the damaged tissue with artificial materials, mainly polymers that mimic their structure. However, these techniques, chosen mainly for athletes who must recover quickly, can create long-term problems. As Ambrosio said, “various structures, especially polymers, have been constructed, but none have given the results hoped for and have almost all been abandoned. The material developed by our laboratories,” concluded the researcher “could help people overcome problems with an important improvement in the quality of life and a reduction in costs for the patient”.

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One Compound Detects and Treats Malignant Tumors and Certain Cancer Stem Cells

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Madison, Wisconsin – More than a decade of laboratory research at the University of Wisconsin has proven that a single chemical compound may both detect and treat malignant tumors and certain cancer stem cells.
In three posters presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in Chicago, March 31-April 4, UW-Madison researchers describe exciting advances involving CLR1404, described as a “diapeutic” agent that can both image and destroy a wide range of malignant tumors and the one type of cancer stem cells examined so far.

The presentations are based on basic research in the lab of Dr. Jamey Weichert, associate professor of radiology at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) and a member of the UW Carbone Cancer Center (CCC).
Clinicians at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health and elsewhere are interested in assessing CLR1404′s potential. Several clinical trials evaluating both the cancer imaging and therapeutic capabilities of CLR1404 are under way at the Carbone Cancer Center, with more scheduled to begin soon.

Dr. John Kuo, director of the Comprehensive Brain Tumor Program at UW Hospital and Clinics and a cancer stem-cell scientist at the School of Medicine and Public Health, is studying the possibility of using CLR1404 to treat glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a deadly form of brain cancer, by targeting GBM stem cells.
In one of the American Association for Cancer Research posters (#3495), Kuo and Weichert describe how CLR1404 decreases glioblastoma stem cell activity, suppresses GBM growth and improves animal survival.

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Probing the power of stem cells

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Piece by missing piece, scientists at the Keck School of Medicine of USC are deciphering the powerful gene regulatory circuit that maintains and controls the potential of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) to form any type of cell in the body.

Recent findings by Provost Professor Andrew McMahon, director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC, and Qilong Ying, associate professor of cell and neurobiology, underscore the essential role of basic science in paving the way for future medical breakthroughs.

McMahon and Ying are in pursuit of the ways in which the intricate regulatory circuit balances two qualities of stem cells: pluripotency (the capacity to develop into any type of cell) and differentiation (the process of becoming different types of cells). The scientists are particularly interested in signaling pathways — important routes for intracellular communication.

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Protecting the future: how plant stem cells guard against genetic damage

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Scientists at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, UK, have shown how plants can protect themselves against genetic damage caused by environmental stresses. The growing tips of plant roots and shoots have an in-built mechanism that, if it detects damage to the DNA, causes the cell to ‘commit suicide’ rather than pass on its defective DNA.

Plants have, at the very tips of their roots and shoots, small populations of stem cells, through which they are able to grow and produce new tissue throughout the plant’s life. These stem cells are the precursors to producing plant tissues and organs. This means that any defect that arises in the stem cell’s genetic code will be passed on and persist irreversibly throughout the life of the plant, which may last thousands of years.

It is therefore critical that there are safeguards that prevent stem cell defects becoming fixed, particularly as the stem cells exist at the growing tips of shoots and roots where they are especially exposed to potentially hazardous environments.

Nick Fulcher and Robert Sablowski, with funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), set out to discover what these safeguards could be. By using X-rays and chemicals they were able to induce damage to DNA, and found that stem cells were much more sensitive to DNA damage than other cells. The cells are able to detect the DNA damage, triggering the death of these cells, thus preventing the damaged genetic code becoming fixed in the rest of the plant tissues.

A similar system exists in animal cells, which has been very well investigated, as the failure of this system can lead to cancer. The discovery of a similar, although distinct system in plants is therefore of great interest in the field of plant development, as well as in the efforts of scientists to develop plants better able to cope with environmental stress.

Drought, high salinity and the accumulation of hazardous chemicals in the soil are side-effects of a changing climate, so knowledge of how plants cope with theses stresses is of fundamental importance to agricultural science’s response to climate change. This is one aim of the research carried out by the John Innes Centre, an institute of the BBSRC.

from http://www.jic.ac.uk/corporate/media-and-public/current-releases/sablowskiDNAdamage.htm

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A new stem cells source: Amniocentesis

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The first world bank storing stem cells taken from amniotic fluid is “made in Italy”: it’s a private hospital in Busto Arsizio, near Milan.
Women planning amniocentesis – removal of amniotic fluid from the uterus (test done during pregnancy) – can ask for the “conservation set”, which will be given to the gynaecologist.
3 millilitre of amniotic liquid are enough to find some particular kind of stem cells very close to embryonic stem cells and suitable for in vitro breeding.
Then the test tube will be sent to the company which will store it for 20 years at -320°F. Some “experts” says that those cells are not enough for getting necessary cells for a cure.