“Latest Stem Cells News”

Don’t look for this just yet at your neighborhood clinic, but Minnesota scientists are pushing stem cell therapies into new frontiers — into territory that is so open that doctors and regulators still are shaping practices and policies as they go along.

In one breakthrough, researchers at Mayo Clinic in Rochester obtained stem cells derived from the bone marrow of heart disease patients and guided the cells to help heal, repair and regenerate damaged heart tissue. This is “landmark work,” said an editorial accompanying their research report in Monday’s Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

And last week, University of Minnesota researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that they had for the first time used stem cells from bone marrow to help children who suffer from a rare, fatal skin disease.

While these advances are significant, they also show why we have to be patient about waiting for stem cells to deliver their seemingly magical healing power for every day therapy. That has been especially true while ethical, religious and political concerns held up research on stem cells derived from early embryos.

But even with so-called adult stem cells (those not from early embryos), it takes years of painstaking work to isolate just the right cells and then concoct cultures that will not only nurture them in the laboratory but also coax them to perform new functions.

Cancer patients in remission at a Suffolk hospital can have their own cells transplanted back to them with the use of a new piece of equipment.

The stem-cell bath defrosts frozen cells taken from people recovering from blood cancers myeloma, leukaemia and lymphoma at Ipswich Hospital.

When transplanted back to the patient following treatment the cells can help their body create new bone marrow.

The bath cuts down on the need for patients to travel to other hospitals.

The stem cells are stored at -190C in liquid nitrogen and can be kept for several years at the national blood transfusion centre in Cambridge.

They are then brought up to body temperature in just two minutes using the bath, the hospital said.

Hermione Warner-Charlick, haematology clinical nurse specialist, said: “The new bath is important because it quickly defrosts the frozen cells to give them back to the patient safely.”

The past few years brought high development in obtaining and culturing autologous adult stem cells. In this paper we review publications of experimental investigations and clinical trials of the muscle-derived cells and the application in the treatment of stress urinary incontinence among women. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can be obtained from bone marrow but it is associated with a painful biopsy procedure.

Collection of muscle-derived stem cells (MDSCs) is less harmful because the skeletal muscle biopsy is performed with a small caliber needle in local anesthesia. The stem-based therapy could be the next step in the treatment of urinary incontinence. There are still many elements of therapy such as effectiveness or long-term side effects which need to be researched.

Department of Gynecology and Oncology, Collegium Medium Jagiellonian University of Kraków
Dr Klaudia STANGEL-WÓJCIKIEWICZ

One in every 20 Americans over the age of 50 suffers from something called, peripheral arterial disease or PAD. It can result in clogged arteries in your legs, which can cause a heart attack, if left untreated. But now there’s a new approach. Doctors using a patient’s own stem cells to clear things up. (…)

The arteries in her leg are clogged with plaque which puts her at risk for heart attack, stroke and amputation. Traditionally, doctors treat PAD with stents, angioplasties or bypasses. But now, they’re using a patient’s own stem cells to try and save her legs.

“We basically take stem cells from their hips to help grow blood vessels,” said Dr. Randall Franz of Grant Medical Center.

Doctors use a needle to remove bone marrow from the patient’s hip. The marrow goes into a centrifuge to separate the stem cells.

“When we put it in you can see it was just all red. Now we have plasma, a buff coat and stem cells,” said Dr. Tom Hankins of Grant Medical Center.

Then, doctors inject the stem cells into the patient’s leg.

Ciaran Finn-Lynch, who became the first child in the world to undergo a groundbreaking trachea transplant in March this year, is set to return home to Northern Ireland.

Ciaran underwent the transplant, which involved the removal of his own trachea replaced by a donor windpipe, at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Doctors then used Ciaran’s own stem cells from inside his body to build up the donor windpipe and ensure the organ was not rejected.

Four weeks ago, doctors were able to describe the transplant as a success for the first time after proving vascular supply had returned to the trachea.

Colleen and Paul, Ciaran’s parents, said: “We cannot thank all the staff involved in Ciaran’s transplant enough. When they initially suggested the procedure we agreed to it, knowing it would be the first time it had been tried in a child, as we have 100 per cent faith in them and the work they do. They were the best people in the world to treat our son.

“Ciaran has undergone some major operations in his life, even prior to this transplant in March. He is resilient and has kept his spirits up throughout. Two weeks ago he had a music lesson while he was on the intensive care unit, he played on the drums and he absolutely loved it. Ciaran’s spirit has never waned.

“We are obviously also incredibly grateful and indebted to Ciaran’s donor and are aware of the heartbreak that family went through in losing someone. They have displayed courage and selflessness and we would like to use this opportunity to urge people to think about signing up to the organ donor register.”

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.