“Latest Stem Cells News”

The drug metformin, a mainstay of diabetes care for 15 years, may have a new life as a cancer treatment, researchers said.
In a study in mice, low doses of the drug, combined with a widely used chemotherapy called doxorubicin, shrank breast-cancer tumors and prevented their recurrence more effectively than chemotherapy alone.

The findings add to a growing body of evidence that metformin, marketed as Glugophase by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and available in generic versions, could be a potent antitumor medicine.
They also lend support to an emerging theory that cancer’s ability to survive and resist therapy is regulated by cancer stem cells that drive a tumor’s growth and survival.

Chemotherapy is effective against many tumors, said Kevin Struhl, a Harvard Medical School researcher and principal investigator of the study. “The problem is cancer stem cells acquire resistance” to treatment, he said. “They are able to regenerate the tumor and as a result you end up with a relapse.”
About 5% to 10% of a tumor’s cells are believed to be cancer stem cells, he said.

In the report, being published in the Oct. 1 edition of Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, researchers said the combination of metformin and doxorubicin killed both regular cancer cells and cancer stem cells.
In contrast, doxorubicin alone had limited effect on the stem cells.

(…)

read more on http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203278404574413273870984920.html

Incoming search terms:

Italian Welfare Undersecretary Ferruccio Fazio disapproves of private biobanks and is clearly in favor of the “allogenic” conservation of umbilical cord stem cells, meaning the conservation of stem cells saved for the exclusive use of the donor-patient. Speaking about a government report on “the appropriate use of umbilical cord stem cells”, Fazio outlined the government’s approach on the issue. A few weeks after a ministerial decree dictating new regulations for umbilical cord conservation, Fazio explained autologous donation, meaning conservation of stem cells for yourself, “is not only less useful, but also less efficient as science has demonstrated”.

The only exception allowed by the ministerial decree is “the conservation of umbilical cord blood to be used by families with children who are at risk for diseases that are genetically determined, which are scientifically proven and clinically approved to be treated with umbilical cord stem cells upon presenting clinical documentation released by a specialist”. From a scientific standpoint, underlined Fazio, “the use of hematopoietic stem cells for allogenic transplants creates another advantage because these stem cells eliminate diseased cells that remain after chemotherapy or radiotherapy, thanks the ability of special white blood cells from the donor to recognize them as foreign and destroy the residual diseased cells, performing an actual ‘cellular therapy’. This effect of hematopoietic stem cells transplants is known as ‘Graft versus Leukemia’.

Incoming search terms:

Much to the dismay of patients and physicians, cancer stem cells — tiny powerhouses that generate and maintain tumor growth in many types of cancers — are relatively resistant to the ionizing radiation often used as therapy for these conditions. Part of the reason, say researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine, is the presence of a protective pathway meant to shield normal stem cells from DNA damage. When the researchers blocked this pathway, the cells became more susceptible to radiation.

“Our ultimate goal is to come up with a therapy that knocks out the cancer stem cells,” said Robert Cho, MD, a clinical instructor of pediatrics. “If you irradiate a tumor and kill a lot of it but leave the cancer stem cells behind, the tumor has the ability to grow back.” As a result, patients can relapse months or years after seemingly successful treatment.

Cho and radiation oncologist and post-doctoral fellow Maximilian Diehn, MD, PhD, are co-first authors of the research, which was published on Feb. 4 in Nature. They collaborated with scientists at Stanford and City of Hope National Medical Center to conduct the research. They studied breast epithelial stem cells from humans and mice to unravel why cancer stem cells are more resistant to radiation than other cancer cells.

“Since cancer stem cells appear to be responsible for driving and maintaining tumor growth in many tumors, it is critical to understand the mechanisms by which these cells resist commonly used therapies such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy,” said Diehn. “Ultimately, we hope to improve patient outcomes by developing therapeutic approaches that directly target cancer stem cells or that overcome their resistance mechanisms.”

The origin of cancer stem cells is still under debate. Some may arise from normal adult stem cells gone awry. Others may represent specialized cells from adult tissues that have acquired a stem-cell-like state through a series of mutations. What’s clear is that cancer stem cells can reconstitute an entire tumor cell population when transplanted into an immune-deficient animal, and destroying them is likely to be critical in order to stop the growth and spread of the disease.

Incoming search terms:

The first operations have been successfully performed at Seriate Hospital (Bergamo) using autologous stem cell transplants to rebuild a part of the breast after removing a tumor. The technique used in the operation is known as ‘lipofilling’, which calls for some of the patient’s abdominal fat to be removed in a procedure similar to liposuction. The fat is then purified and manipulated in the laboratory to concentrate stem cells as much as possible, then they are transplanted into the portion of the breast that has been removed to eliminate the cancer.

Incoming search terms:

Stem cells could be responsible for some forms of aggressive thyroid tumors (ATC, anaplastic thyroid carcinoma). The discovery was made by a young group of biotechnologists, biologists, and doctors from the Endocrinology department of the General Hospital of the University of Palermo. In the study, published in Plos One, the researchers described a subset of tumor stem cells that were able to proliferate continuously and may be responsible for uncontrolled tumor growth. These cells are resistant to chemotherapy and explain why ATC is so highly fatal in such a short period of time. The authors of the study also discovered which specific markers thyroid stem cells express. With these observations it will soon be possible to identify tumors and target them in new therapeutic approaches. Carla Giordano, the head of the Molecular Endocrinology lab where the study was conducted said, “This discovery creates possibilities for treating not only anaplastic thyroid tumors, but also neoplastic thyroid tumors considered incurable due to their resistance to conventional therapies.”

Incoming search terms:

Scientists have made a breakthrough in stem cell research which raises the prospect of regrowing damaged sections of a person’s liver, pancreas or even their brain.
Researchers at the University of NSW have found a way to improve the lifespan and competitiveness of stem cells, overcoming a problem which otherwise saw their regenerative powers fade in about an hour.

Adult stem cells were given a gene to make them resistant to chemotherapy, handing them an “advantage” when used to treat damaged tissue in conjunction with the cancer-fighting treatment.
University of NSW Professor Peter Gunning said as the chemotherapy cleaned out damaged cells, resistant stem cells were left behind to complete their amazing process of turning into healthy replacements thereby restoring the tissue.

“What has been the realm of science fiction is looking more and more like the medicine of the future,” Prof Gunning said.
“The beauty of this technique is that chemotherapy makes space for stem cells coming into muscle and also gives the stem cells an advantage over the locals.

Incoming search terms: