New stem cell technique promises abundance of key heart cells

Posted on 11 May 2013 by Stem Man

Cardiomyocytes, the workhorse cells that make up the beating heart, can now be made cheaply and abundantly in the laboratory.

A team of Wisconsin scientists describes a way to transform human stem cells — both embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells — into the critical heart muscle cells by simple manipulation of one key developmental pathway. The technique promises a uniform, inexpensive and far more efficient alternative to the complex bath of serum or growth factors now used to nudge blank slate stem cells to become specialized heart cells.

“Our protocol is more efficient and robust,” explains Sean Palecek, the senior author of the new report and a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of chemical and biological engineering. “We have been able to reliably generate greater than 80 percent cardiomyocytes in the final population while other methods produce about 30 percent cardiomyocytes with high batch-to-batch variability.”

The ability to make the key heart cells in abundance and in a precisely defined way is important because it shows the potential to make the production of large, uniform batches of cardiomyocytes routine, according to Palecek. The cells are in great demand for research, and increasingly for the high throughput screens used by the pharmaceutical industry to test drugs and potential drugs for toxic effects.

Continue reading →

Synthetic artery developed using stem cells

Posted on 30 April 2013 by Stem Man

A team of researchers from UCL has won a £500,000 grant to develop a synthetic artery that mimics a natural artery – and could revolutionise the treatment of coronary heart disease.

Professor Alexander Seifalian (UCL Surgery and Interventional Science) and Professor George Hamilton (UCL Surgery and Interventional Science & Royal Free Hospital) and their team will use the Wellcome Trust grant to take their work from the laboratory to a pre-clinical trial.

The team has been developing a new nanomaterial with mechanical properties similar to that of human arteries.

The nanomaterial’s inner surface has been modified to attract stem cells from blood circulating inside the body.

It converts these primary cells to endothelial cells, a type of cell that covers the interior of the natural blood vessel and protects it from blockage.

The breakthrough offers hope for sufferers of heart disease who are unable to donate suitable substitute blood vessels for bypass surgery.

Professors Seifalian and Hamilton, experts in nanotechnology, regenerative medicine and vascular surgery, explained: “Coronary heart disease is a condition where one or more blood vessels of the heart become narrowed or blocked. This causes the heart muscle to be starved of oxygen causing damage often leading to a heart attack and muscle death. This interferes with the heart’s ability to pump blood around the body, leading to infirmity and possibly death.

“The current treatment of the disease is to create a new route for blood to circulate, most often by balloon dilatation and stent (stent angioplasty). In many patients however this intervention cannot be performed and in this situation an operation called bypass surgery is needed which can either use substitute blood vessels from another part of the patient or made from a plastic material.

read more: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0908/09081101

Incoming search terms:

steven shen mesoblast.

Heart Attack Victim Recovers In Stem Cell Research Study

Posted on 2 April 2013 by Don Margolis

As part of a new stem cell treatment series, I am trying to find patients who have been helped by Adult Stem Cell research and therapy. In May, I featured a Multiple Sclerosis patient named Arndt Roehlig who described his successful stem cell experience in Israel in his own words.

Barry Brown- Stem Cell Study Volunteer

This time, I present Barry Brown, a heart attack victim who was involved in a stem cell research study at the University of Miami. We had presented Barry before back in May in this stem cell post . Barry was kind enough to write to me and wished to present his own stem cell success story in his own words.

A Stem Cell Success Story

Hey Don, Barry here, sorry its taken so long for me to do this but here goes.

Last February, after moving from Las Vegas to Miami upon retiring from 20 years in the Air Force, I started getting a dry cough which upon doing some research on my own was attributed to the use of lisinopril. My cough cleared up but I realized when i would start exerting during exercise I would get a hot flash down the middle of my shoulder blades I would just shrug it off thinking it was just the side effects of the BP drug. A few weeeks went by and I got a cold and I started coughing so much I coughed my chest sore and couldn’t breathe. After about 10 days of suffering with this I finally went to the doctor. An Ekg was conducted and the results came back Abnormal. I’m like ok, Ive been exercising eating well, no caffiene, no Nicotine ( I had Dipped tobacco on and off for 20 yrs) I had just stopped in February. So I thought “whats going on?”

Heart Attack Misdiagnosed

The first diagnosis was I was out of shape and needed to lose about 10 lbs. Hmmmm ok ill buy that i need to lose a few lbs, but mind you, just 2 months before that, I was working out 5 days a week doing cardio 45 min a day and weights 3 times a week and teaching 2 circuit training classes so why had my cardiovascular health gone down so quick?? “Im not buying it Doc, run some more tests I want to get back to where i was 2 months ago and I want to make sure 1000% that my heart is healthy to exercise!”

Next test was an echocardiogram that showed some weakening of the lower part of my heart. The 2nd diagnosis was I need to lose a few lbs and lets see how you are in a month…..”

I thought to myself ” how am I going to lose any weight? first off if I cant walk 15 minutes without feeling like i got 1000 slaps on the back for a good game????”

Watching Hugh Laurie and House Saves Barry’s Life

OK look Doc i said, “Im no bleeping doctor, but Ive watched enough ER episodes and House to know you can run some dye thru my veins and check my arteries and valves. I dont know what its called but thats what i want!!!!”

Thallium stress test was what i had done, I stayed on the treadmill about 4 min before I had to get off, the nurse said stay here we want to read the results……. the results were read and off to the 7th floor I went to meet with the Cardiac folks

I met with the Cardiologist he explained to me that they thought there was a blockage in my heart but they want to run a cath up my leg and angioplasty the blockage and put a stent in and that it should take no longer thatn 30 min. He said when can you come back mind you it had been about 2 months since it all first started so i said TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The day of the Cardiac cath comes, I get on the table and I’m on the table for what seemed like an eternity. The doctor comes in and says “Mr. Brown we have a few things we need to discuss with you, some options for you. Did you know you’ve already had a heart attack? Fighting back some tears and trying to regain some composure from the lil self deprecation and a little self pity that went through my mind for a few minutes then a conscious decision made I wasn’t going to let this situation get the best of me. “Ok Doc what are the options???”

The options were laid out…..

Option 1 was have a triple bypass get it over with and start living the life I was living just 12 months earlier.
Option 2 enter into this radical new study involving stem cell therapy, help open the doors for new research and possibly ways were we can change the lives of others from now on. Where at the time of your surgery you may be injected with your own stem cells at several different areas on your heart with the hopes of healing some of the damaged tissue from your heart attack. Hmmm that sounded interesting……

As I waited to hear option 3 which was I’m sure going to be take this pill go home and come back in a month you should be fine– it never came I was stuck with two options I guess……

So to me it was a no brainier- enter into this study have the opportunity to be the FIRST devilishly handsome charming semi fit veteran to have this procedure done and open the doors for other to follow. PERFECT….. There pains and trails, as well as numerous sleepless nights that I had to endure of course this is real life, there was a point in Aug where tests had shown I had an enlarged prostrate so I needed to have to have a biopsy done to be cleared of cancer so I could remain in the study. So, there I was thinking to myself wow I have Heart disease and prostrate cancer. I needed to be cancer free because if I had cancer when injected with the Stem cells it could move to the cancer and make it spread faster.

SO after a bunch more tests to get me back into the study since it had been over three months for all the initial work I was finally cleared back in…..

Then finally the date, Nov 20 2008 triple bypass day….. I’m lobbing congress to have that a legal holiday so you’ll have Veterans Day, Barry’s Bypass day and Thanksgiving all in Nov…

The 3 days I spent, no 4 days I spent in the hospital were a blur and that is where I made my mind up that I was going to get back on my feet and get busy getting healthy again. And it started with one of my post op meals ribeye steak and French fries……. Ok so the dietician was off the week I was in ICU no biggie….. Ill just get something else off the MENU…..

Of course anyone who has stayed in a Hospital knows you don’t get any rest in the hospital, it really started with my release from the Hospital and qtr mile walks after 7 days, to half mile walks after 2 weeks and pretty much adding mileage up to 3 miles in February when I started walking with a 30 lb pack 3 times a week. I’ve had days where my chest hurt so bad I didn’t want to do it but I pushed myself to do it so I could start strengthening my heart and get better so my quality of life would improve.

It has been a long road its been a challenge but with the great help of the Miami VA and the University of Miami Doctors and staff and the support of friends and family my outlook hasn’t looked better, From last summers 3 clogged arteries and not being able to walk a qtr mile, to my own fitness training and life expectancy its all good.

Its been pretty much a whirlwind the last week I was asked to be at the dedication of a new Stem cell research lab located with in the school of Medicine at UM and I did a TV interview the other day and word on the street is that Mens Health wants to interview me also so more to come on that. Also with the help of one of my marketing friends Glen Werstler in Ohio and his marketing group at page gravy had started me out with my own web page and Non profit organization called One Heart to start foundation. I’m excited to try to get people more aware about this medical breakthrough. thanks for taking your time and reading.

Sincerely

Barry

Incoming search terms:

dr abdulmajeed alwan hammadi, optic nerve regeneration rosemont montreal, has hugh laurie got multiple sclerosis?, info vescell com, multible scleros and stem cell latest news, multiple sclerosis stem cell therapies success stories, stem cell educator dr zhao type 1 diabetes.

Adult stem cell research moving forward, but still slow

Posted on 21 March 2013 by Stem Man

Sierra Fedelem may look like any other 20-month-old, but her parents are doing everything they can to make sure her life is just like that of any other healthy human being.
Stem cell research has stirred quite the controversy in the United States, and though the current administration’s recent policy reversal on the issue could open the markets to treatments and commercialization, it’s still an option unavailable for American patients, like Sierra, unless they’re willing to travel across the world.

“The first time the neurologist said, ‘No, you don’t realize it, she’s never going to be able to walk, talk and see, and she’s always going to be at the mental level of a 4-month-old’,” Rosetta Fedelem said. “We were just shocked.”
The Fedelems hadn’t realized the extent of the brain damage Sierra suffered during birth.

“We said ‘We’re not going to stop, we’re going to start doing as much as you can for her’,” Rosetta said. “So we started praying and researching.”
Their research landed them in China, where Sierra received several treatments of adult stem cells extracted from somebody else’s umbilical cord. Adult stem cells differ from embryonic stem cells, in that they can be retrieved from adult organs or tissue.

While leading U.S. experts say the possibilities are far-reaching, the quality of overseas studies remains uncertain.
“It’s very hard to tell which is a good place, and which is not,” Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine Institute for Regenerative Medicine Director Dr. Darwin Prockup said. “But of course, patients get to be desperate, and you can’t blame them for trying.”

Dr. Prockup said better adult stem cell treatments in the United States are coming. In March, President Barack Obama signed an executive order, reversing Bush administration policy, to allow scientists to continue stem cell research on ongoing projects. The results of the research will determine when the United States will open its doors to treatment.
“Of course there’s always danger with any therapy, so you have to be very careful, there’s always a risk-benefit you have to weigh carefully,” Prockup said. “That’s done in good medical centers. That’s why we’re a little slower.”

The Fedelems said they did weigh the pros and cons.
“I don’t accept new things easily, but when there’s enough evidence of results, I’m willing to try them,” Jason said. “And that’s exactly what happened here.”

In the three weeks they’ve been back from China, Sierra can sit up on her own for a few seconds, do an army crawl, and stand up for more than twice the amount of time she could before. Plus, her parents say she’s more alert and vocal.
Rosetta and Jason say they want Sierra to be able to walk, talk and see.

“Now we don’t know exactly which of those goals she’ll reach,” Rosetta said. “Our goal is, as parents, to push her to achieve her greatest potential, whatever that is. We’ll love her no matter what.”
The Fedelems said they spent more than$23,000 on treatments in China, but they raised $45,000. The rest of the funds went to a hyperbaric chamber, and other treatments Sierra will receive in Florida in two weeks.

To learn more about Sierra and how you can donate to help the family with medical expenses visit SightForSierra.com.
Dr. Prockup said the institute will be working on four clinical trials. By the end of the year he expects they’ll begin one with adult stem cell research for treatment on knee cartilage repair. The institute also plans to conduct stem cell research on diabetes, heart disease and strokes.

from News 8 Austin

Stem Cells Transplanted From Marrow Into Heart May Improve Heart’s Performance

Posted on 4 March 2013 by Stem Man

Concha Herrera Arroyo, from El Pais

The Cardiology department and the Area of Cell Therapy of Cordoba hospital Reina Sofia are carrying out clinical tests with patients who have suffered from a severe heart attack. With the implantation of the patient’s stem cells, the heart regenerates thus improving its wall motion, that is, its cardiac performance.

Indeed for the last four years, the Area of Cell Therapy of Cordoba hospital, led by haematologist Dr. Concha Herrera, has been implementing a therapy program with adult stem cells in patients with heart-related problems. However, this therapy is not a service the hospital offers yet. More specifically, at the end of 2007 the hospital ended a clinical test with patients who had suffered a severe myocardial infarction, that is, an obstruction of one of the main coronary arteries that stops the blood pump to the heart.

The test consisted of treating 30 people split into three groups of ten each at random. The first group was the control group, where patients received standard treatment for acute myocardial infarction; the second group was treated with stem cells directly implanted into the coronary artery affected using a catheterization; the third group was treated with a medicine called G-CSF, which makes cells move from the marrow to the blood, so that they get to the heart in a natural way, without having to do so through a catheter.

At the end of the test, the results revealed that the two groups treated without cells improved slightly, whereas patients transplanted with stem cells through the coronary arteries (vessels which bring the blood to the Herat muscle) did improve their ventricular function much more. This was interpreted as a significant decrease of the cardiac failure symptoms such as pain, fatigue and breathlessness when making small efforts.

Moreover, with this process it is possible to prevent some acute arrhythmias (change or irregularity in the rhythm of the heartbeat), which in many cases could result in the patient’s death. ‘However, it does not prevent a future heart attack’, Dr. Herrera assures.

In short, the stem cells transplanted from the marrow into the heart muscle have a double function: on the one hand they regenerate the heart cells, the cardiomiocites. In addition to this, they segregate a series of proangiogenic factors that produce blood vessels (angiogenesis) and can also produce the recruitment of stem cells that are in the myocardium itself.

Continue reading →

Incoming search terms:

stem cell like joe concepcion who is his doctor here in manila?.