“Latest Stem Cells News”

For children born with immunodeficiencies, researchers may have found a better way for them to get the help they need from stem-cell transplants (…)

Children with primary immunodeficiencies have genetic defects in their immune system that leave them open to infection and other complications. Stem-cell transplants can replace the defective immune system with one derived from healthy donor bone marrow, but without a stem-cell transplant, many of these children might die, the researchers noted in a journal news release.

In order to create space for the donor stem cells and prevent rejection, the patient usually undergoes chemotherapy, radiotherapy or both. This chemoradiotherapy can cause severe liver or lung damage, as well as hair loss and sickness. It may also cause problems with growth, puberty and infertility in later life, according to the news release (…)

With this approach, the 16 children with primary immunodeficiencies in this study, who were too sick for a traditional stem-cell transplant, were able to avoid much of the toxicity caused by chemotherapy (…)

read full article on http://www.ajc.com/health/content/shared-auto/healthnews/bird/630592.html

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Scientists are one step closer to creating a gene therapy/stem cell combination to combat genetic diseases. With work, this research may lead to not only curing the disease, but also repairing the damage left behind.

While gene therapy is a burgeoning field that has shown great results in treating genetic disorders, many of those diseases leave behind heavily damaged tissue that the body is unable to repair. So even if the disease is completely eradicated, quality of life may not necessarily improve, and without help, health can still continue to deteriorate.

Since stem cell research began, there has been a hope that use of those cells may help alleviate some of the trauma left behind by genetic diseases. While the theory has been shown to work in mice, this is the first time a human cell line has confirmed that it is possible the therapy will work for humans as well.

Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, chose to focus on Fanconi anemia (FA), a genetic disorder that is characterized by short stature, bone marrow failure, irregularities in blood cells that can lead to clotting, and an increased risk of leukemia. Even after gene therapy and “bone marrow transplants to correct the hematological [blood] problems, patients remain at high risk of developing cancer and other serious health conditions.”

The Nature-published technique employed by Juan-Carlos Izpisúa Belmonte’s team was two-fold. First, they collected hair and skin cells from those suffering from FA. These types of cells are known as somatic cells, and can be used to create induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Once a hair cell has been transformed into an iPS cell, it can be coaxed to differentiate into virtually any cell in the human body.

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A young woman is back home after a desperate journey to China for experimental stem cell treatment to heal her brain.

It wasn’t a disease or a genetic defect that led to her condition. Instead, Jackie Murphree, 22, went into a coma and woke up unresponsive and in need of wheelchair after a drunk driver struck her car.
The Decatur High honor student turned Aggie was leaving for work one morning two years ago when the accident occurred. The driver got probation.

In the latest on her slow and painful journey to find the person she used to be, Jackie went to China for five weeks. Doctors injected her own stem cells into her spinal cord in an attempt to heal her brain. She returned to North Texas Wednesday.
Patrick Murphree, her father, has been in the forefront of the battle, leading the quest to find help for his daughter. In therapy each day, he said he hopes each small response is a sign that his daughter is stepping closer to who she was before the crash.

“When she’s having a bad day, and she’s obviously in pain, I get real mad that she’s having to go through this,” he said.
Her physical therapist, Merley Vela, said she has seen through the way Jackie holds her head up or leans on her arm that there are improvements.

“Before she could not hold her head up,” Vela said. “Before she did not react at all. But now she gets angry. You can see her facial expression when she’s mad.”
Murphree quit his job to care for his daughter while Jackie’s mom supports the family.

“This is my job,” he said. “This is what I do. I don’t do anything else. It’s one of those things where we don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, but it doesn’t change what I do today.”
But her parents haven’t been the only one supporting Jackie’s journey. Hundreds of neighbors in Decatur raised more than $30,000 for experimental treatment in China that is not available in the Unites States.

“We don’t know if she’s on one of her peaks, or it’s the result of what happened,” Murphree said of watching his daughter over the last week react more to conversation.
Not expecting an overnight miracle, Jackie’s family has been cherishing the small signs.

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