“Latest Stem Cells News”

Following up on eight acute and chronic spinal cord injury patients who were injected with bone marrow stem cells two years ago, researchers say that the therapy proved safe and effective in improving their quality of life.

DaVinci Biosciences undertook the study in Ecuador and have now issued a follow-up report claiming that MRIs have revealed “noticeable morphological changes within the spinal cord after administration of autologous bone marrow derived stem cells.” There was no tumor formation, increased pain or deterioration of function following administration of the stem cell treatment.

Transplanting stem cells from one’s own bone marrow (autologous stem cell transplants) improves the symptoms of muscular sclerosis (MS), and in some cases the neurological disease actually regressed. These are the encouraging results obtained from a small study performed on 21 remittent MS patients by a group from the Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago and published in Lancet Neurology. “All of the patients,” said the neurologists, “witnessed an improvement in their conditions three years after the stem cell transplants were performed. Of these, 81pct benefited from visible progress, measured in terms of the scale of their disability.”

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A team at Keio University has used stem cells to cure mice whose hind legs were paralyzed due to spinal cord damage, the researchers reported Wednesday at a Tokyo symposium.
The team transplanted neural stem cells grown from human iPS cells.

Team leader Hideyuki Okano, a physiology professor at Keio, said it is the first time in the world in which the curative effects of “induced pluripotent stem cells,” or iPS cells, have been confirmed.
Currently, there is no effective treatment for spinal nerve damage and treatment using iPS cells gives hope of a cure.

“It is valuable that treatment using human iPS cells has proved effective. We want to apply (the results) in a clinical setting as soon as possible,” Okano said.
The team generated neural stem cells, which will grow into nerve cells, from human iPS cells produced with a technique developed by Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University.

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There’s a medical breakthrough for the deaf.
Scientists at United Kingdom’s Sheffield University have created stem cells from embryos to replace damaged cells in the inner ear — reversing hearing loss.

The embryonic stem cells could be converted into workable hearing cells for people born with inherited hearing problems and who’ve suffered damage to their ear cells during their lifetime, according to the scientists.
The breakthrough stem-cell discovery is “incredibly promising” and “opens up exciting possibilities,” Dr. Ralph Holme, a biomedical researcher, told the British Broadcasting Corporation.

But the stem-cell research could be halted by critics who argue that the controversial process destroys embryos in the name of science – a debate that’s raged since stem-cell studies began years ago.
Earlier this year, President Barack Obama lifted the ban on embryonic stem-cell research, reinforcing the science world’s belief that studying embryonic cells is necessary for the development of new medical treatments.

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A woman received a transplant of her own bone marrow stem cells, was able to avoid an amputation, and has started to walk again following an operation performed at Catholic University in Campobasso. This is one of the few such operations performed in Europe on the cardiovascular system using adult stem cells. The results were announced yesterday, about a month after the operation, and it is now clear that it will not be necessary to amputate the woman’s leg. “We can say that the operation was a complete success surgically,” said doctors that worked under Francesco Alessandrini, the director of the Cardiovascular Disease Department. It was a team effort thanks to the collaboration of the Hematology Unit led by Sergio Stroti, the Medical Images Department led by Giuseppina Sallustio, the laboratory led by Bruno Zappacosta, and the Anaesthesia and Intensive Therapy Unit led by Marco Rossi.

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After umbilical cord blood, the based LifeCell International is planning to save the umbilical cord tissue that is routinely discarded along with the placenta once a baby is delivered.

The cord tissue and cord blood are rich sources of stem cells.

LifeCell, which is into private banking, will start collecting umbilical cord tissue in the near future. It already collects and stores cord blood for private banking.
After a baby is delivered, the cord is first clamped before it is cut. Cord blood is collected and then the umbilical cord tissue is cut from the placenta to just above where it is clamped. About 20 cm of cord tissue is cut.

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