“Latest Stem Cells News”

The Ospedali Riuniti of Bergamo is the top center for the collection of umbilical cord blood in the Lombardy region, said the hospital, which received an award at the Policlinico di Milano (where the umbilical cord blood bank is located) for the second consecutive year for its commitment and professionalism with which it carries out its work, providing an important source of stem cells.

“Our collection program started in 2004,” explained Bruna Pasini, the head obstetrician, also in charge of the collection of umbilical cord blood for the hospital. “At that time we started to collaborate with the Milano Cord Blood Bank, which allowed us to collect over 1,000 units of blood.”

The remaining blood in the placenta after birth contains stem cells similar to those in the bone marrow. They are considered the new frontier to treat many diseases. “About 40-50% of patients with leukemia and lymphomas, who need bone marrow transplants,” explained Mariangelo Cossolini, the organ and tissue transplant coordinator for the province of Bergamo, “do not find compatible donors in their family or in the international registry of voluntary bone marrow donors. Therefore, umbilical cord blood is very precious because it can replace marrow in stem cell transplants and is able to regenerate bone marrow and the entire immune system.”

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Stem cells injected into the eyes of mice with defective corneas returned the corneas to a more normal appearance, a new study has found.

Researchers hope the procedure might one day be in humans. About 40,000 such transplants are done each year in the United States.

“The stem cells took the scar-like matrix, remodeled it and made it more like normal,” said senior investigator James Funderburgh, an associate professor of ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh. “We were surprised and delighted.”

A report on the study is in the April 9 online edition of the journal Stem Cells.

The cornea is the transparent, front layer of the eye that serves as a protective barrier and, along with the lens, helps focus light. Corneas can develop scar tissue from chronic inflammation caused by infections or other conditions and by injuries, such as chemical or thermal burns or other trauma.

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The regional transplant center realized by the San Camillo-Forlanini Hospital along with the Spallanzani medical center is attempting to improve the efficiency of organ transplants with the use of stem cells removed from and used in the patient (autologous stem cells). The project designed by the Lazio based medical institutes is currently being used in experiments at the Ospedali Riuniti di Bergamo (United Hospitals of Bergamo). Rejection is the most frequent cause of kidney transplant failure. With current anti-rejection drugs, about 50% of kidney transplants stop functioning after about 10 years due to chronic rejection or the toxicity of the immunosuppressive therapies which favor tumor growth.

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