“Latest Stem Cells News”

Rita Levi Montalcini discovered stem cells in the 40s and 50s while studying nerve growth factor (NGF), for which she later won a Nobel Prize.
“We discovered stem cells before they became so important,” said Montalcini in Rome, also speaking on behalf of her collaborators at an event in her honor at the Accademia dei Lincei. “We called them tanycytes and we noticed that they had the ability to react with and were very receptive to NGF.”

Endocrinologist Luciano Martini introduced Montalcini at the event: “The importance of stem cells today is largely due to the work of Rita Levi Montalcini and her discovery of NGF.” Montalcini later said that she discovered NGF “together with Cohen,” referring to her colleague, Stanley Cohen, with whom she shared the Nobel Prize in 1986.

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Not all stem cells are ‘good’ at aiding the heart in repairing itself after a heart attack. Apparently, ‘baby cells’ present in human fat are the best equipped to perform this task and could be used in human testing by the end of 2009. “ We have seen that a simple stem cell transplant into a heart after a heart-attack is not sufficient. There are different types of stem cells that are better adapted to aiding the heart in the healing process. Instead of hematopoietic stem cells used in initial studies, mesenchymal stem cells are now being used.

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A Swiss company present in Italy that collects and stores umbilical cord stem cells, about 10,000 Italian mothers by the end of the year will have deposited their children’s umbilical cord stem cells in foreign banks, double compared to 2007. They said, “Just two years ago about 1,500 families decided to deposit their children’s umbilical cord stem cells in banks. In 2007, requests for this service tripled, reaching 5,000 and in 2008. There will be about 10,000 new cryostorages in order to make stem cells available in the future (illegal in Italy). Managing Director Jean Charles Janni said, “Northern families, mainly in Lombardy and Piedmont, have substantially increased in this practice.” He added, “but numerous requests are also coming from Rome, Emilia Romagna, and Campania.”

The following is a statement from Donatella Poretti, a Radical Democratic Party Senator:
We are still waiting for the current government, like all the previous ones, to decide to eliminate an absurd ban on biobanks in Italy and allow the private conservation of one’s own umbilical cord stem cells, and Italian mothers are doing the best they can, meaning they are sending their children’s umbilical cords abroad.
We have learned that this year exports increased to about 10,000 with authorization requests which must be sent to the National Transplant Center.

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