Category Archives: Mesenchymal Stem Cells

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An 11-year-old yellow Labrador suffering from severe arthritis underwent stem cell therapy on Valentine’s Day. It’s the first time a dog has received in-clinic adult stem cell therapy in Kansas City. According to Stanley Veterinary Clinic where Jake the dog is being treated, adult animal stem cell technology uses the body`s own regenerative healing power to help cure dogs, cats and horses suffering from arthritis, hip dysplasia and tendon, ligament and cartilage injuries and other ailments. Fat tissue is removed from the animal, the stem cells are separated from the fat and activated, and then injected into the affected areas. Within two months of the procedure, Jake should be moving well, with little or no pain. Severe arthritis affects up to 40 percent of the 164 million dogs and cats in the United States. As for Jake, FOX 4’s Kim Byrnes will have an update on his condition tonight on FOX 4 News at 5 and 6. Go here to see the original: Dog Receives First-Ever Stem Cell Therapy in Kansas City … Continue reading →

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire -02/14/12)- VistaGen Therapeutics, Inc. (OTC.BB: VSTA.OB - News) (OTCQB: VSTA.OB - News), a biotechnology company applying stem cell technology for drug rescue and cell therapy, has identified its initial Top 10 drug rescue candidates and plans to launch two formal drug rescue programs by the end of next quarter. VistaGen's goal for each of its stem cell technology-based drug rescue programs is to generate and license a new, safer variant of a once-promising large market drug candidate previously discontinued by a pharmaceutical company no earlier than late-preclinical development. "We are now at an advanced stage in our business model," said Shawn Singh, VistaGen's Chief Executive Officer. "After more than a decade of focused investment in pluripotent stem cell research and development, we are now at the threshold where game-changing science becomes therapeutically relevant to patients and commercially relevant to our shareholders. We have positioned our company and our stem cell technology platform to pursue multiple large market opportunities. We plan to launch two drug rescue programs by the end of the next quarter." Over the past year, VistaGen, working with its network of strategic partners, identified over 525 once-promising new drug candidates that meet the Company's … Continue reading →

MONDAY, Feb. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Stem cell therapy's promise for healing damaged tissues may have gotten a bit closer to reality. In a small, early study, heart damage was reversed in heart-attack patients treated with their own cardiac stem cells, researchers report. The cells, called cardiosphere-derived stem cells, regrew damaged heart muscle and reversed scarring one year later, the authors say. Up until now, heart specialists' best tool to help minimize damage following a heart attack has been to surgically clear blocked arteries. "In our treatment, we dissolved scar and replaced it with living heart muscle. Such 'therapeutic regeneration' has long been the holy grail of cell therapy, but had never been accomplished before; we now seem to have done it," said study author Dr. Eduardo Marban, director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles. However, outside experts cautioned that the findings are preliminary and the treatment is far from ready for widespread use among heart-attack survivors. The study, published online Feb. 14 in The Lancet, involved 25 middle-aged patients (average age 53) who had suffered a heart attack. Seventeen underwent stem cell infusions while eight received standard post-heart attack care, including medication and exercise therapy. The stem … Continue reading →

In Modern Pathology, researchers from Shimane University School of Medicine, in Izumo, Japan, examine whether ARID1A mutations, which are common in ovarian clear cell carcinoma, are of prognostic value. From their study of 77 formalin-fixed, paraffin embedded ovarian cancer samples — 60 clear cell carcinomas and 17 high-grade serous adenocarcinomas — the researchers found that ARID1A expression is more frequently lost in ovarian clear cell carcinomas than serous adenocarcinomas. Further, the "loss of ARID1A in ovarian clear cell carcinomas predicted a shorter progression-free interval," the researchers say, as those tumors did not respond as well to chemotherapy. Rafael Fonseca from the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz., and his colleagues report on their genomic analysis of marginal zone lymphomas and lymphoplasmacytic lymphomas, two cancers that can be difficult to distinguish from other non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. "Although the entities share a common set of genomic abnormalities they are also characterized by the presence of genes and cellular pathways differentially affected," the authors write. "Elucidation of the genetic alterations contributing to the pathogenesis of the analyzed non-Hodgkin lymphoma subtypes may guide design of specific therapeutic approaches." Researchers from the University of Michigan Medical School report in the online early edition of Modern Pathology that … Continue reading →

MARLBOROUGH, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. (“ACT”; OTCBB: ACTC), a leader in the field of regenerative medicine, announced today the dosing of third patient in its Phase 1/2 trial for Stargardt’s macular dystrophy (SMD) using retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). The patient was treated on Monday (Feb. 6) by Steven Schwartz, M.D., Ahmanson Professor of Ophthalmology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and retina division chief at UCLA’s Jules Stein Eye Institute. The outpatient transplantation surgery was performed successfully and the patient is recovering uneventfully. “With the treatment of this third Stargardt’s patient at Jules Stein Eye Institute, we have now completed the treatment of the first cohort of patients under our clinical protocol for phase I/II of our U.S. SMD trial,” said Gary Rabin, chairman and chief executive officer of ACT. “We will continue to regularly monitor the three SMD patients in this trial, and by early spring anticipate review of their progress and safety-related data by the Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB). With approval of the DSMB, we would then advance to the next cohort of patients and administer a … Continue reading →

JERUSALEM--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Gamida Cell announced today that the Gamida Cell-Teva Joint Venture (JV), equally held by Gamida Cell and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, has enrolled the last of 100 patients in the international, multi-center, pivotal registration, Phase III clinical trial of StemEx, a cell therapy product in development as an alternative therapeutic treatment for adolescents and adults, with blood cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma, who cannot find a family related, matched bone marrow donor. StemEx is a graft of an expanded population of stem/progenitor cells, derived from part of a single unit of umbilical cord blood and transplanted by IV administration along with the remaining, non-manipulated cells from the same unit. Dr. Yael Margolin, president and chief executive officer of Gamida Cell, said, "The JV is planning to announce the safety and efficacy results of the Phase III StemEx trial in 2012 and to launch the product into the market in 2013. It is our hope that StemEx will provide the answer for the thousands of leukemia and lymphoma patients unable to find a matched, related bone marrow donor.” Dr. Margolin continued, “StemEx may be the first allogeneic cell therapy to be brought to market. This is a source of … Continue reading →

The research is a collaborative effort involving UQ's Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) and is led by UQ Clinical Research Centre's (UQCCR) Professor Nicholas Fisk. It revealed a new method to create mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which can be used to repair bone and potentially other organs. “We used a small molecule to induce embryonic stem cells over a 10 day period, which is much faster than other studies reported in the literature,” Professor Fisk said. “The technique also worked on their less contentious counterparts, induced pluripotent stem cells. “To make the pluripotent mature stem cells useful in the clinic, they have to be told what type of cell they need to become (pre-differentiated), before being administered to an injured organ, or otherwise they could form tumours. “Because only small numbers of MSCs exist in the bone marrow and harvesting bone marrow from a healthy donor is an invasive procedure, the ability to make our own MSCs in large number in the laboratory is an exciting step in the future widespread clinical use of MSCs. “We were able to show these new forms of stem cells exhibited all the characteristics of bone marrow stem cells and we are … Continue reading →

It started when Deborah Bishop was still in her 20s. Always athletic -- she had participated in field hockey, speed skating and baseball -- Ms. Bishop was doing jumping jacks when she noticed to her embarrassment that she had leaked urine. As the weeks wore on, the Canadian woman began to have more and more of these accidents. It wasn't just strenuous exercise that caused them, but also being tickled or coughing or sneezing. The condition is known as stress urinary incontinence, and researchers say it may affect hundreds of millions of people around the world, primarily women, who are more susceptible because of their anatomy. Today, Ms. Bishop, 54, is "90 percent" normal on her urinary leakage, she said -- all because of an injection of her own stem cells that she received three years ago. The cells, known officially as autologous muscle-derived cells, were taken out of her thigh, multiplied several times over in the lab, and then injected into the muscles around her urethra, the opening at the neck of the bladder. While many people still associate the phrase "stem cells" with ethical debates over using embryos, these stem cells have nothing to do with that. All … Continue reading →

US researchers have begun a groundbreaking trial to test the potential of umbilical cord blood transplants, a kind of stem cell therapy, to treat and possibly reverse hearing loss in infants. The phase I trial follows promising studies on mice showing that such transplants were able to rebuild the structures of the inner ear, and some anecdotal evidence from humans, sparking hope of a cure for some forms of deafness. One of those people is two-year-old Finn McGrath, who suffered brain damage after being deprived of oxygen during a prolonged and complicated delivery, according to his mother, Laura. "His doctors told us he was at high risk for cerebral palsy, vision issues, hearing problems and mental retardation," she said in an interview with AFP. Finn's early days were an all-out struggle to survive, so for his parents, learning that he had failed his hearing tests and had damaged hair cells -- the sensory receptors in the inner ear that pick up sounds -- was almost an afterthought. He had organ failure, breathing problems, and his cerebral palsy left him unable to roll, crawl or walk, hold his head up, talk or eat. As his parents searched for ways to help … Continue reading →

MANILA, Philippines - US researchers have begun a groundbreaking trial to test the potential of umbilical cord blood transplants, a kind of stem cell therapy, to treat and possibly reverse hearing loss in infants. The Phase I trial follows promising studies on mice showing that such transplants were able to rebuild the structures of the inner ear, and some anecdotal evidence from humans, sparking hope of a cure for some forms of deafness. One of those people is two-year-old Finn McGrath, who suffered brain damage after being deprived of oxygen during a prolonged and complicated delivery, according to his mother, Laura. "His doctors told us he was at high risk for cerebral palsy, vision issues, hearing problems, and mental retardation," she said in an interview with AFP. Finn's early days were an all-out struggle to survive, so for his parents, learning that he had failed his hearing tests and had damaged hair cells - the sensory receptors in the inner ear that pick up sounds - was almost an afterthought. He had organ failure, breathing problems, and his cerebral palsy left him unable to roll, crawl, or walk, hold his head up, talk, or eat. As his parents searched for … Continue reading →