“Latest Stem Cells News”

New research has found that stem cells derived from human cord blood could be an effective alternative in repairing heart attacks.

At least 20 million people survive heart attacks and strokes every year, according to World Health Organisation estimates, but many have poor life expectancy and require continual costly clinical care.  The use of patient’s own stem cells may repair heart attacks, although their benefit may be limited due to scarce availability and ageing.  The researchers have found heart muscle-like cells grown using stem cells from human umbilical cord blood could help repair heart muscle cells damaged by a heart attack.

The study, led by Professor Raimondo Ascione, Chair of Cardiac Surgery & Translational Research in the School of Clinical Sciences at the University of Bristol, is published online in Stem Cell Reviews & Reports.

The study, funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), found that it is possible to expand up to seven-fold, in vitro, rare stem cells (called CD133+) from human cord blood and then grow them into cardiac muscle cells.

The findings could have major implications on future treatment following a heart attack given that cells obtained from adults following a heart attack may be less functional due to ageing and risk factors.

Professor Ascione said: “We believe our study represents a significant advancement and overcomes the technical hurdle of deriving cardiac muscle-type cells from human cord blood.  The method we have found has the attributes of simplicity and consistency.  This will permit more robust manipulation of these cells towards better cell homing and cardiac repair in patients with myocardial infarction.

Incoming search terms:

Adult Stem Cells Improve Young Boy with Cerebral Palsy

Corey de Gregorio, a 3 year old boy from Gordonvale, Australia has improved tremendously after going to a Stem Cell research company which implanted Adult Stem Cells from cord blood into him.

Corey’s parents, Mark and Roseanne had doubts before going to China for the stem cell treatment, but they  wanted Corey to have every chance to live a better life and therefore, they made the journey to China for the stem cell therapy which used only Adult Stem Cells.

The miracle treatment consisted of six “therapies” of cord blood stem cells.

Before the Adult Stem Cells for Cerebral Palsy

• Had very little use of his left arm/hand
• Little movement in his torso

After the Stem Cell Treatment

• Can now use his left hand, can use it to drink a cup by himself
• Increased flexibility in torso

Incoming search terms:

Physicians at the University of Minnesota and University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital, Fairview have set the path to a cure for a young boy’s fatal genetic skin disease, recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB), by using a cord blood and bone marrow transplant. Nate Liao, a 25-month-old from Clarksburg, N.J., underwent the experimental therapy in October 2007.

“We have established a new standard of care for these EB patients, beginning with Nate,” said John Wagner, M.D., the lead University of Minnesota Medical School physician who developed the clinical trial. “Nate’s quality of life is forever changed.”

Because they lack collagen type VII, children with RDEB have skin that is exquisitely delicate. The skin and lining of their gastrointestinal (GI) tract is fragile; tearing and blistering occur with minimal friction. Coughing and vomiting often result in tears in the lining of the esophagus and stomach. Those affected must have their entire body continuously wrapped in bandages. Those who do not succumb from malnutrition and infection in childhood will acquire a uniformly fatal, aggressive cancer of the skin in young adulthood.

Incoming search terms:

An innovative experimental treatment for boosting the effectiveness of blood stem-cell transplants with umbilical cord blood has a favorable safety profile in long-term animal studies, according to Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), and Children’s Hospital Boston (CHB).

Analysis of long-term safety testing in nonhuman primates, published online by the journal Cell Stem Cell in a new section called “Clinical Progress,” revealed that a year following transplant umbilical cord blood units treated with a signaling molecule called 16,16-dimethyl PGE2 reconstituted all the normal types of blood cells, and none of the animals receiving treated cord blood units developed cancer. Wolfram Goessling is the first author of the paper; his HSCI colleague Trista North is the senior author.

The results of long-term safety studies in mice were previously submitted to the Food and Drug Administration to gain permission for a Phase I clinical trial under an investigational new drug (IND) application. Principal investigator Corey Cutler, a Dana-Farber transplant specialist, initiated the trial in 2009 at Dana-Farber and Massachusetts General Hospital. The IND is sponsored by Fate Therapeutics Inc. of San Diego.

Goessling and North were postdoctoral fellows in the laboratory of co-author Leonard Zon, a stem cell researcher at CHB and a scientific founder of Fate Therapeutics, when they hit upon 16,16-dimethyl PGE2 while looking for compounds that could regulate the production of hematopoietic stem cells (blood stem cells). The initial testing made use of zebrafish models.

“This is the first time a compound discovered in zebrafish has received a nod from the FDA for a clinical trial,” said Goessling.

One of the limitations of cord blood as a transplant source is that the cells engraft, or “take,” in the recipient’s bone marrow more slowly than matched donor cells form bone marrow. In addition, there is a higher failure rate for cord blood transplants. Thus there is a need for ways to improve the speed and quality of cord blood transplantation.

Incoming search terms:

CHENNAI – The country’s first public stem cell bank has stopped accepting cord blood donations.

After processing and storing stem cells from cord blood of 569 women since February 2009, Jeevan Stem Cell Bank has put its operations on hold owing to lack of funds. The bank hopes that the situation will soon change, and it can restart operations once more donations come in.

Private banks charge anywhere up to Rs 1.5 lakh for extraction and preservation of these cells, but Jeevan, which started with an initial investment of Rs 3 crore, depends on public goodwill and corporate donations. The stem cells, capable of developing into different kinds of cells and tissues and curing diseases like blood cancer and thalassemia, were planned to be offered for common use.

When the bank began, it aimed at processing and storing at least 30,000 units of stem cells from cord blood by 2014, but for collecting and processing each unit, it cost the bank Rs 30,000. The cost of harvesting cord blood is Rs 8,500 and tissue typing costs Rs 7,000, besides others. “This wasn’t viable without more donations. We have stopped operations,” the stem cell bank’s medical director Saranya Narayan said.

Stem cells have a shelf life of 24 years. “As of now, there is good cure rate from stem cell therapy for some blood-related diseases. The cells may grow damaged tissues or organs. Stem cell therapy has the potential to cure more than 70 medical conditions,” she said.

Incoming search terms:

DURHAM — To donate the stem cell-rich umbilical cord blood produced during the birth of her daughter, Jaime Feaster of Lake Charles, La., would have had to drive more than two hours to the nearest hospital equipped to collect it.

That’s a long way to go when you’re in labor.

Instead, Feaster turned to a fledgling Duke University Medical Center program that provides collection kits to mothers and their doctors. When Feaster’s daughter, Kadee, arrived last month, the cord blood was collected, packaged and quickly shipped to a blood bank at no cost to Feaster and with minimal commitment of time and expertise from her doctor.

Duke doctor Joanne Kurtzberg wants to replicate Feaster’s experience on a large scale.

Kurtzberg hopes that an easier donation process will trigger a surge in donations of blood cells so valuable they’ve been used to reverse and even cure otherwise fatal disorders. The current cord blood supply can’t keep up with the demand for its use in treating leukemia, sickle cell disease and other blood disorders, and the nation’s hospital infrastructure isn’t set up to tap even a fraction of the potential donors.

Incoming search terms: