Category Archives: Cell Medicine

Contact Information Available for logged-in reporters only Newswise ST. LOUIS -- Saint Louis University researchers are studying whether ReoPro (abciximab), a drug currently given to heart patients undergoing angioplasties to open blocked arteries, also could help children and young adults who have severe pain from sickle cell disease. Sickle cell crises, which are acute episodes that can land patients in the hospital, can be excruciatingly painful, said William Ferguson, M.D., director of the division of pediatric hematology and oncology at Saint Louis University and a SLUCare pediatrician at SSM Cardinal Glennon Childrens Medical Center. The typical vaso-occlusive crisis puts patients in the hospital for three to five days on intravenous medications. All we can do is give supportive care, such as pain killers, and wait for the crisis to run its course. Our research will tell us if using a medicine like ReoPro could be a valuable strategy in treating a sickle cell crisis. Sickle cell crises occur when clots form in the small blood vessels, preventing blood from flowing freely to organs. Healthy red blood cells are shaped like flexible donuts and can fold to easily wiggle through the smallest blood vessels. Red blood cells in patients who have … Continue reading →

Contact Information Available for logged-in reporters only Newswise DALLAS Jan. 22, 2014 Scientists have known for years that stem cells in male and female sexual organs are regulated differently by their respective hormones. In a surprising discovery, researchers at the Childrens Medical Center Research Institute at UTSouthwestern (CRI) and Baylor College of Medicine have found that stem cells in the blood-forming system which is similar in both sexes also are regulated differently by hormones, with estrogen proving to be an especially prolific promoter of stem cell self-renewal. The research, published in Nature, raises several intriguing possibilities for further investigation that might lead to improved treatments for blood cancers and increased safety and effectiveness of chemotherapy. Before the finding, blood-forming stem cells were thought to be regulated similarly in both males and females, according to the papers senior author, Dr. Sean Morrison, Director of CRI, Professor of Pediatrics, and the Mary McDermott Cook Chair in Pediatric Genetics at UTSouthwestern Medical Center. However, while working in Dr. Morrisons laboratory as postdoctoral fellows, Dr. Daisuke Nakada, the first and co-corresponding author of the study, and Dr. Hideyuki Oguro discovered that blood-forming stem cells divide more frequently in females than in males due to … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 21-Jan-2014 Contact: Carole Liernur liernur@jeantet.ch 41-227-043-631 European Molecular Biology Organization The 2014 LOUIS-JEANTET PRIZE FOR MEDICINE is awarded to the Italian biochemist Elena Conti, Director of the Department of Structural Cell Biology at the Max-Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Munich (Germany) and to Denis Le Bihan, the French medical doctor, physicist and Director of NeuroSpin, an institute at the French Nuclear and Renewable Energy Commission (CEA) at Saclay near Paris. The LOUIS-JEANTET FOUNDATION grants the sum of CHF 700'000 for each of the two 2014 prizes, of which CHF 625'000 is for the continuation of the prize-winner's work and CHF 75'000 for their personal use. THE PRIZE-WINNERS are conducting fundamental biological research which is expected to be of considerable significance for medicine. ELENA CONTI is awarded the 2014 Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine for her important contributions to understanding the mechanisms governing ribonucleic acid (RNA) quality, transport and degradation. In order to function properly, our cells need to degrade macromolecules that are faulty or no longer needed. The biochemist deciphered at the level of atomic resolution how faulty RNAs are recognized and eliminated. Notably, her group deciphered the three-dimensional architecture and molecular mechanisms of the exosome, a multiprotein … Continue reading →

LITTLE ROCK - The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has opened a multidisciplinary clinic to serve Arkansas' adult sickle cell patients as part of a statewide comprehensive program to address the disease. The multidisciplinary clinic at UAMS' Outpatient Center is led by Robin Devan, M.D., a palliative care physician in the Department of Internal Medicine in the UAMS College of Medicine. Clinic staff will include an advanced practice nurse, a registered nurse and a social worker. Patients will be seen annually and will receive any primary or specialty care they may need. The program also includes: A Call Center with nurses available 24/7 to assist and advise providers and patients at 1-855-Sic-Cell (742-2355) A Transition Clinic, which will facilitate the smooth transition of pediatric sickle cell patients to adult care A Patient Registry of consenting adults with sickle cell, tracking their care, morbidity and mortality over time "Sickle cell is a chronic, high-maintenance disease, because as a blood disease it affects every organ in the body," Devan said, noting that life expectancy can be in the mid-40s for patients with the most severe form of sickle cell. "People in their 20s and 30s may present with kidney failure, … Continue reading →

By Gu Yang According to statistics, up to August 1st, 2013, clinical trials on stem cell research publicly registered on the website of Clinical Trial have reached 4704, among which 213 were from China. Though it is far from 2805 of the US, Xu Xiaochun, the director of INCOSC and founder of Boya Life, insists that gap between China and developed countries in stem cell research field is not big -- "we are almost starting at the same time, since the key technology of stem cell has just got breakthrough in recent two or three years, and the development history of the whole industry is just 20 years." "This is an original contribution in science which is most likely to be accomplished by China!" Xu Xiaochun stated briefly. The next few years will be the critical period for the development of global stem cell industry, and China is not to miss this valuable but fleeting opportunity. A "gold mine" of USD400 billion is to be discovered Who will be the next Microsoft? Even Gates himself admits that this company will surely come from the field of biological medicine, and it has been a consensus in the industry that stem cell … Continue reading →

Jan. 16, 2014 Gene therapies developed by University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine researchers have worked to correct different forms of blindness. While effective, the downside to these approaches to vision rescue is that each disease requires its own form of gene therapy to correct the particular genetic mutation involved, a time consuming and complex process. Hoping to develop a treatment that works more broadly across diseases, a Penn Vet team used canine disease models to closely examine how retinal gene activity varied during the progression of three different forms of inherited vision disease. Their results turned up an unexpected commonality: Early on in each of the diseases, genes involved in the same specific pathway of cell death appeared to be activated. These findings point to possible interventions that could curb vision loss across a variety of inherited retinal diseases. The work, published in PLOS ONE, was conducted by Sem Genini, a senior research investigator; William A. Beltran, assistant professor of ophthalmology; and Gustavo D. Aguirre, professor of medical genetics and ophthalmology, all of Penn Vet's Department of Clinical Studies, Philadelphia. The team examined three forms of retinal degenerative diseases, rod cone dysplasia 1 being the most severe, or … Continue reading →

Contact Information Available for logged-in reporters only Newswise PHILADELPHIA - At the heart of brain diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease is protein misfolding, in which distorted proteins are unable to perform their normal functions. At present, there is no known way to reverse protein misfolding. But James Shorter, Ph.D., associate professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics, at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, has found a possible way to unravel misfolded proteins by "reprogramming" Hsp104, a common yeast protein. The work was published this week in Cell. Hsp104 is a "chaperone" protein, one that assists in the proper formation and functioning of other protein complexes. Although Hsp104 is one of the most common proteins on the planet, it has no analogue in humans or animals. "We don't understand why animals have lost the gene for Hsp104, but at the same time, we've been wondering: Is there a therapeutic opportunity in this? asks Shorter. Can we add it back as a disruptive technology to antagonize the protein misfolding that characterizes some diseases?" In previous studies, Shorter's lab established that the natural version of Hsp104 is active against neurodegenerative proteins such as alpha-synuclein. We … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 16-Jan-2014 Contact: Corinne Williams press_releases@the-jci.org Journal of Clinical Investigation One of the factors underlying the development of type 2 diabetes is loss of cell mass, resulting in decreased insulin production. Once lost, cell mass cannot be restored. In contrast, infants with focal hyperinsulinism of infancy exhibit rapid expansion of the cell mass due to a silencing of a region of chromosome 11 that includes the gene encoding the cell cycle inhibitor p57Kip2. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Klaus Kaestner and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania demonstrate that silencing the gene encoding p57Kip2 in isolated adult human islets promotes cell replication and that these new cells exhibit many properties associated with cells. This study provides an explanation for excessive cell expansion in children with focal hyperinsulinism and suggests that targeting the p57Kip2 pathway in adults with type 2 diabetes may improve cell function. ### TITLE: Targeting the cell cycle inhibitor p57Kip2 promotes adult human cell replication AUTHOR CONTACT: Klaus Kaestner University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, Philadeplhia, PA, USA Phone: 215.898.8759; Fax: 215.573.5892; E-mail: kaestner@mail.med.upenn.edu View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/69519?key=5ed5fc651e71db738504 Read the original: Targeting a cell cycle inhibitor promotes beta cell replication … Continue reading →

Jan. 14, 2014 Ryan Zurakowski, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Delaware, is co-author of a paper appearing in Nature Medicine on Jan. 12 highlighting the role of T-cells in HIV. The paper, titled "HIV-1 Persistence in CD4+ T-Cells with Stem Cell-Like Properties," provides evidence that a particular T-cell type may help researchers better understand why HIV can persist despite treatment. Zurakowski's co-authors include Mathias Lichterfeld, the paper's lead author, and researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH); Ragon Institute of MGH, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University; the First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University; Brigham and Women's Hospital; and Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Zurakowski explained that HIV treatments do not kill infected cells. Instead, they stop the infection of new cells, and rely on the virus itself to kill the infected cells. Unfortunately, some cells infected by the virus -- memory T-cells -- are not killed by the virus. T-cells are a type of lymphocyte, or white blood cell, produced by the thymus gland, that actively participates in the body's immune response. "Memory" T-cells can live for years, or even decades, providing life-long immunity to previously encountered diseases. They can form "quiescent" … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 14-Jan-2014 Contact: Michelle Quivey mquivey@isscr.org 224-592-5012 International Society for Stem Cell Research CHICAGO The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) has announced the following 2014 award recipients, who will be formally recognized at its 12th Annual Meeting in Vancouver, taking place June 18-21, 2014: The McEwen Award for Innovation, supported by the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine, recognizes original thinking and groundbreaking research pertaining to stem cells or regenerative medicine that opens new avenues of exploration toward the understanding or treatment of human disease or affliction. The winner receives $100,000 USD. Past winners include James Thomson, Rudolf Jaenisch, Kazutoshi Takahashi and Shinya Yamanaka. Award recipient Surani is a world leader in the field of epigenetics and the development of the mammalian germ line. His work on early mammalian development led to his involvement in the discovery of genomic imprinting and ongoing contributions to understanding the mechanistic basis of imprinting. Most relevant to stem cell biology, is his work on the cellular and molecular specification of the mammalian germ cell lineage, which impacted the field's understanding of how the germ line is established and the molecular mechanisms responsible for reprogramming the epigenome in order to generate the … Continue reading →