Stem Cell Research

Skipping Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Phase, Brain Cells Are Reprogrammed Into Heart Cells

Heart cells are one of the most sought-after cells in regenerative medicine because researchers anticipate that they may help to repair injured hearts by replacing lost tissue.

Now, researchers have found a direct means for converting a non-heart cell type into a heart cell via RNA transfer.

Working on the idea that the signature of a cell is defined by molecules called messenger RNAs (mRNAs), which contain the chemical blueprint for how to make a protein, the investigators changed two different cell types, an astrocyte (a star-shaped brain cell) and a fibroblast (a skin cell), into a heart cell, using mRNAs.

"What's new about this approach for heart-cell generation is that we directly converted one cell type to another using RNA, without an intermediate step," said  James Eberwine, PhD, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The Perelman researchers put an excess of heart cell mRNAs into either astrocytes or fibroblasts using lipid-mediated transfection, and allowed the host cell does the rest.

Technique Boosts Efficiency Of Blood Cell Production From Human Stem Cells

An improved technique for generating large numbers of blood cells from a patient's own cells has been developed at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Researchers suggest the new technique will be immediately useful in further stem cell studies.  When perfected, it could be used in stem cell therapies for a wide variety of conditions. Other techniques are also being developed by other researchers, including the University of Glasgow which we posted about recently.

"There are further improvements that we need to make, but this takes us a significant step closer to the ultimate goal, which is to be able to take ordinary cells from a patient, induce them to become stem cells, and then use those stem cells to rebuild lost or diseased tissues, for example the patient's bone marrow," said Inder M. Verma, PhD, Professor of Molecular Biology at the Salk Institute Laboratory of Genetics.

Blood Stem Cell Isolated In Purest Form

Researchers have isolated a single stem cell capable of regenerating the entire blood system.

Last year this research team reported isolating the more specialized progenitor cells that lie downstream of the stem cell.  Enabled by hi-tech flow cytometry technology: a process that rapidly sorts, sifts and purifies millions of blood cells into meaningful bins for scientific analysis, this new finding will aid in mapping the molecular switches that guide how "normal" stem cells behave and endure.

Survival Of Stage IV Breast Cancer Patients Improves With Stem Cell Therapy

Researchers have found that a greater proportion of patients who received  high-dose chemotherapy 12 to 14 years ago followed by a transplant of their own, specially purified blood stem cells that had been purged of cancer, survived compared with those who were rescued with unmanipulated blood grafts.

High-dose chemotherapy is considered to be an aggressive treatment because, in addition to killing cancer cells, it also destroys a patient’s blood forming system. Therefore, such patients need the stem cell transplant to restore blood production, which includes red blood cells, platelets and infection-fighting white blood cells. To increase the proportion of blood-forming stem cells in the bloodstream patients routinely receive drugs that “mobilize” the stem cells out of the bone marrow into the blood. Unfortunately, studies by many groups have shown that cancer cells often stowaway in the blood as well and may cause an eventual relapse.

As a result, in the mid-1990s Stanford researchers wondered if there was a way to overcome this problem. They opted to use antibodies that recognized newly identified markers on the surface of the blood stem cells to purify the stem cells away from regular blood and any roving cancer cells. They then used this purified population of stem cells in 22 women with metastatic breast cancer who enrolled in the trial from December 1996 to February 1998. Then they waited as the years passed. 

Nanoscale Plastic Easily Solves Laboratory Stem Cell Expansion For Therapeutic Purposes Issue According To New Research

A newly developed nanopatterned surface is designed to offer a method of stem cell expansion which is much easier to manufacture and use than anything currently available. Created by an injection-molding process similar to that which is used to manufacture Blu-ray discs, the new process covers a surface with 120-nanometre pits which researchers have found much more effective in allowing stem cells to grow and spread while retaining their stem cell characteristics.

Cancer Cells And Stem Cells Share Same Origin, Researchers Find

New research has shown that oncogenes can change normal cells into stem-like cells, paving the way to a safer and more practical approach to treating diseases like multiple sclerosis and cancer with stem cell therapy.

Oncogenes have generally been thought to be genes that, when mutated, change healthy cells into cancerous tumor cells. But, "the reality may be more complicated than people think," said Jiang F. Zhong, Ph.D., assistant professor of pathology at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. "What is a stem cell gene? What is a cancer gene? It may be the same thing."

Another Mystery Solved: Why Stem Cells Alone Can't Generate Neurons In A Lab Dish

A "fountain of youth" that sustains the production of new neurons in the brains of rodents is also believed to be present in the human brain. The existence of a vital support system of cells around stem cells in the brain explains why stem cells by themselves can't generate neurons in a lab dish, a major roadblock in using these stem cells for therapy.

New research has found that neighboring "epithelial-like" ependymal cells – not stem cells themselves – maintain a special structure that keeps neural stem cells, "neurogenic," able to make new neurons.

When neural stem cells are harvested for growth in culture, however, these ependymal cells are not removed along with them.

Mesenchymal Stem Cells: Potent Therapy For Growing List Of Maladies

According to new research, a stem cell that can morph into a number of different tissues is proving a natural protector, healer and maker of antibiotics.

Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs), "are a drugstore that functions at the local site of injury to provide all the medicine that site requires for its successful regeneration," said Arnold Caplan, professor of biology at Case Western Reserve.

Allogeneic Mesenchymal Stem Cells Enter Phase III Trial For Bone Marrow Regeneration

Mesoblast Inc., an Australian company, we've posted about in the past, including here, appears to be winning the race over all American companies for an allogeneic stem cell therapy that meets the drug company model for an off-the-shelf stem cell treatment solution. At least it is at the moment as shown by its market capitalization of $2.3B which substantially exceeds that of Mesoblast's competitors.

Stem Cell Research, Regenerative Medicine and Therapies: The Macro

Blogs, being new themselves, emphasize the currency of posts as paramount. We disagree. History is important. It is more important in some fields than in others. This video, made in 2006, is more relevant today than it was then. Not surprising given the short overall history of regenerative medicine and stem cell research. This is a marvelous macro summary of regenerative medicine. Taken in the context of subsequent events that include even more dramatically increasing health care costs, a national health care debate that has come to the fore, the continuing arguments against embryonic stem cell research, and the patchwork attempt at a national healthcare solution, this is a very worthwhile 18 minute investment. We should add that In those specific therapeutic arenas emphasized in Alan Russell’s talk, only progress has ensued since.

Dr. Alan Russell (PhD in Biological Chemistry, 1987, Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London) is a Distinguished University Professor of Surgery and the Founding Director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.

Stem Cell Cardiovascular Therapies: The State of Development

W. Douglas Boyd, M.D., speaks about his work towards developing stem cell-based technologies to repair heart tissue damaged by cardiovascular disease. Boyd is a professor of surgery and director of robotics and biosurgery for the UC Davis Health System. This  talk took place on march 10, 2011 and is an excellent summary of the state of the art in stem cell therapy development for heart disease. The  talk was delivered to the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine governing board.

Boyd was introduced by Claire Pomeroy, M.D., M.B.A., vice chancellor for Human Health Sciences at UC Davis and dean of the UC Davis School of Medicine. Pomeroy is also a member of the CIRM Governing Board.