“Latest Stem Cells News”

Hepatitis C, an infectious disease that can cause inflammation and organ failure, has different effects on different people. But no one is sure why some people are very susceptible to the infection, while others are resistant.

Scientists believe that if they could study liver cells from different people in the lab, they could determine how genetic differences produce these varying responses. However, liver cells are difficult to obtain and notoriously difficult to grow in a lab dish because they tend to lose their normal structure and function when removed from the body.

Now, researchers from MIT, Rockefeller University and the Medical College of Wisconsin have come up with a way to produce liver-like cells from induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs, which are made from body tissues rather than embryos; the liver-like cells can then be infected with hepatitis C. Such cells could enable scientists to study why people respond differently to the infection.

This is the first time that scientists have been able to establish an infection in cells derived from iPSCs — a feat many research teams have been trying to achieve. The new technique, described this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could also eventually enable “personalized medicine”: Doctors could test the effectiveness of different drugs on tissues derived from the patient being treated, and thereby customize therapy for that patient.

The new study is a collaboration between Sangeeta Bhatia, the John and Dorothy Wilson Professor of Health Sciences and Technology and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT; Charles Rice, a professor of virology at Rockefeller; and Stephen Duncan, a professor of human and molecular genetics at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Incoming search terms:

In a fresh demonstration of science’s newfound ability to alter the basic units of human life, researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin have turned the cells in human skin into those in the liver, work that opens new avenues for treating diseases of the liver without relying on organ transplants.

Professor and stem cell researcher Stephen A. Duncan and other scientists in his lab reported this week in the journal Hepatology that they have created reprogrammed mouse liver cells that were identical to those grown in nature and were able to integrate and grow alongside those in a mouse liver.

Duncan and his fellow researchers also showed that human liver cells made through reprogramming are virtually the same as those grown from embryonic stem cells, though both appear to differ from adult liver cells in one respect. Those grown with reprogrammed or embryonic stem cells in the lab had fewer of the enzymes that fulfill the liver’s function of filtering out toxins than adult liver cells that have developed in the body.

from http://www.jsonline.com/features/health/63820732.html

Incoming search terms:

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

Incoming search terms:

In a stem cell research trial that isn’t getting enough news, liver patients are now being treated with their own Adult Stem Cells at Hammersmith Hospital in London, England. They have treated more than 30 patients now with “good results.” This is good news for those liver patients facing a transplant (and death).

I covered this stem cell story back in September 2008, and since then it seems they have treated more liver patients with their own stem cells with more good results. This excerpt is from the most recent stem cell article:

The stem cells help to grow new liver cells so that a damaged liver can begin to function normally again.

The team, which is based at London’s Hammersmith Hospital, has used the technique on around 30 patients so far with good results. They hope the treatment will become mainstream within three to five years.

It involves taking blood from patients, removing stem cells that circulate in the bloodstream and multiplying them in a laboratory. They are infused back into the liver via a main artery where they continue to multiply as liver cells.

The technique, which is undergoing trials, could revolutionise treatment of patients with liver failure. At present there is no method of keeping them alive as there is with kidney disease.

The Original Is Always Better Than the Sequel

However, the original post back in September 2008, had more details about this new stem cell treatment:

Administering autologous expanded mobilized adult progenitor CD34+ cells into the hepatic artery of patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis (ALC) leads to considerable benefit, researchers report in the September issue of the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

“We are encouraged that the majority of patients in this study experienced a significant improvement in their liver functions,” senior investigator Dr. Nagy A. Habib told Reuters Health.

Dr. Habib of Imperial College, London, and colleagues studied nine ALC patients who had been abstinent for at least 6 months. The patients underwent granulocyte colony-stimulating factor mobilization and leukapheresis. Autologous CD34+ cells were then expanded in vitro by an average of 5 times and injected into the hepatic artery.

All patients tolerated the procedure well and over 12 weeks of follow-up there were significant decreases in serum bilirubin. A significant reduction in levels of alanine transaminase and aspartate transaminase was seen 1 week after the transfusion and showed improvement through the study period.

Seven of the patients showed an improvement in Child-Pugh scores, and on imaging at 12 weeks, three patients showed a complete resolution of ascites and two had a significant reduction.

Stem Cell Therapy for Liver- Faster Please

This is fantastic news for cirrhosis patients, as well as Hepatitis C patients.  However, once again, the stem cell therapy isn’t getting to the patient fast enough.  The stem cell research trial seems to have been going on for more than 1 year, yet only 30 liver patients have been treated.  Think about all those liver patients who can probably be improved by this and safe as well- nothing to lose.

(original post by Don Margolis)

Incoming search terms:

Human adult stem cells are being used to cure cirrhosis and other serious live diseases. Another 15 people in Brazil on the liver transplant waiting list have been treated by cellular therapy with encouraging results. “We are still in a strictly experimental phase” underlined Luiz Guilherme Costa Lyra, hepatologist and coordinator of the study performed by Sao Rafael di Salvador Hospital, collaborating with San Raffaele Hospital of Milan. “We must clarify that this therapy is not available for any patient outside of the experiment, so it is useless for anyone to write us asking to get into the study.”

He continued, “Furthermore we must admit that the results are decidedly interesting and we intend to continue along this path.” The project, after having passed clinical safety and efficiency tests on animals and clinical safety tests on human beings, entered into the clinical testing phase on humans three years ago. Specialists at Sao Rafael di Salvador experimented on a group whose only hope was a liver transplant, but probably would have never received one due to the length of the waiting list. Cellular therapy allowed for a significant improvement in their conditions.

FROM ANIMALS TO MAN

The story begins just after the year 2000 with experiments on mice and rats with serious liver diseases. Milena Soares, who led this phase of experimentation said, “We worked with animals affected by serious hepatic fibrosis caused by infection, toxic substances, or alcohol (hepatic fibrosis is a condition in which healthy tissue is replaced by fibrous tissue, which causes a loss in liver function and tissue disorganization which can result in hepatic cirrhosis, editor’s note). The animals were treated with non-embryonic stem cells and responded well to the therapy, showing a significant improvement in their condition.”

Incoming search terms: