Category Archives: Stem Cell Human Trials

A Melbourne researcher is working to boost the number of stem cells drawn from umbilical cord blood, offering hope for easier bone marrow transplants. The work has the potential to help people who require bone marrow transplants but struggle to find an exact match. Associate Professor Louise Purton from St Vincent's Institute in Melbourne will use compounds derived from vitamin A to increase the number and quality of cord blood stem cells. Stem cells from cord blood are becoming increasing popular for bone marrow transplants around the world. But often there are not enough stem cells from a single unit for a successful transplant for an adult, although some patients are infused with two unrelated cord blood units with varying degrees of success. Cord blood cells can be slow to mature into platelets and red and white blood cells, which can leave the patient exposed to a greater risk of infection. Donor, or allogeneic, cord blood also carries the risk of graft versus host disease, where the recipient's immune system responds to the foreign cells by attacking the body's organs. Assoc Prof Purton has proven her method works in mice and will now move to test the compounds on human … Continue reading →

London, January 28 (ANI): A Bolivian research team has suggested that injecting stem cells in the vital period immediately after a stroke may aid recovery. They found that rats injected with stem cells 30 minutes after a stroke had almost normal brain function restored within a fortnight. The team from La Paz University Hospital says the method has potential in human trials, the BBC reported. The research, published in the journal Stem Cell Research and Therapy, support other studies that have found that stem cells could aid stroke patients by boosting the body's ability to repair tissue damage. Stem cells are the body's "master cells" with the potential to become many different cell types, and theoretically replace cells lost through disease or injury. Recent tests in humans have shown some promise, with stroke symptoms improving after an infusion of stem cells. The Bolivian team extracted a certain type of stem cells from fat and bone marrow, and then injected them into the blood vessels of rats shortly after they had suffered an artificially-induced stroke. Even though the introduced cells did not appear to travel to the affected region of the brain, the rats still did better than other rats who … Continue reading →

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - Jan 22, 2013) - VistaGen Therapeutics, Inc. ( OTCBB : VSTA ) ( OTCQB : VSTA ), a biotechnology company applying stem cell technology for drug rescue, predictive toxicology and drug metabolism screening, today announced that Shawn K. Singh, CEO of VistaGen, will present at Noble Financial Capital Markets' Ninth Annual Equity Conference. Mr. Singh will discuss VistaGen's progress and unique opportunities to apply its stem cell technology platform, Human Clinical Trials in a Test Tube, for drug rescue, predictive toxicology and drug metabolism screening. Mr. Singh's presentation will be delivered at 12:30 pm EST on Wednesday, January 23, 2013, at the Hard Rock Hotel in Hollywood, Florida. Webcast Information: At the time of the presentation, a live audio and video webcast of Mr. Singh's presentation and a copy of the presentation materials will be available on VistaGen's website at http://www.vistagen.com and Noble Financial's website at http://www.noblefcm.com. Investors and analysts should register approximately 10 minutes prior to the start of the presentation to ensure timely access. Viewing the presentation will require Microsoft Silverlight (a free download is available from the presentation link). About VistaGen Therapeutics VistaGen is a biotechnology company applying human pluripotent stem cell … Continue reading →

SILVER SPRING, Md., Jan. 17, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nuvilex, Inc. (NVLX), an international biotechnology company providing natural products and cell and gene therapy solutions for the treatment of human diseases, announced today that its technologies, Cell-in-a-Box(R) and Bac-in-a-Box(R), developed by its subsidiary Austrianova Singapore (ASPL), have been recognized and profiled by the non-profit company, Intellectual Property Intermediary Singapore (IPI Singapore). The Cell-in-a-Box(R) and Bac-in-a-Box(R) products are proprietary living eukaryotic and bacterial cell encapsulation technological platforms developed by ASPL that can be used for a variety of living cell types. Both of them are unique platform technologies with the potential for such diverse uses as antibody production, treatment of diabetes, part of pancreatic cancer treatment regimen, treatments that employ stem cells, and for the improved use of probiotics, to name a few. The technologies have been shown to be robust for manipulations and injections and are non-immunogenic. They can be frozen with cells inside that can be recovered years later, and they allow cells to be expanded inside the capsules as mini bioreactors. Moreover, the technology has been shown to be safe and effective for multiple diseases in animal models as well as in human clinical trials for pancreatic cancer. … Continue reading →

Jan. 17, 2013 University of Rochester Medical Center scientists have proposed a new reason why acute myeloid leukemia, one of the most aggressive cancers, is so difficult to cure: a subset of cells that drive the disease appear to have a much slower metabolism than most other tumors cells. The slower metabolism protects leukemia cells in many important ways and allows them to survive better -- but the team also found an experimental drug tailored to this unique metabolic status and has begun testing its ability to attack the disease, URMC researchers report in the Jan. 17, 2013, online edition of Cell Stem Cell. As a result, the study's corresponding author, Craig T. Jordan, Ph.D., is working on forming a partnership with a drug-maker to conduct further testing in this arena. The compound under laboratory study has already been used in clinical trials. "Targeting metabolism of leukemia stem cells is a unique approach that we believe has the potential to be broadly applied to several forms of leukemia," said Jordan, the Philip and Marilyn Wehrheim Professor at the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center at URMC. "An exciting part of our work is that because we've identified drugs that are being … Continue reading →

Researchers are keen to compare induced pluripotent stem cells (pictured) with their embryonic cousins. SILVIA RICCARDI/SPL The US Supreme Courts decision last week to throw out a lawsuit that would have blocked federal funding of all research on human embryonic stem cells cleared the gloom that has hung over the field for more than three years. Yet the biggest boost from the decision might go not to work on embryonic stem (ES) cells, but to studies of their upstart cousins, induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which are created by reprogramming adult cells into a stem-cell-like state. At first glance, iPS-cell research needs no help. Researchers flocked to the field soon after a recipe for deriving the cells from adult mouse cells was announced in 2006, partly because this offered a way to skirt the thorny ethical issues raised by extracting cells from human embryos. But the real allure of iPS cells was the promise of genetically matched tissues. Adult cells taken from a patient could be used to create stem cells that would, in turn, generate perfectly matched specialized tissues replacement neurons, say for cell therapy. Although the number of published papers from iPS-cell research has not yet caught up … Continue reading →

BioInformatics LLCs December 2012 report, The Market for Stem Cell Research Products: Current and future Opportunities, finds that Life Technologies continues to be the market leader in all product categories (media, sera, supplements and serum-free supplements), but the number of smaller players has increased significantly in the past three years. Arlington, VA (PRWEB) January 15, 2013 In addition to their potential as therapeutics, stem cell biology is interesting from a research perspective, as understanding stem cell biology may lead to a better understanding of cancer, says Nicole Camara, Ph.D., the lead science analyst on the report team. Dr. Camara also notes: Advances in stem cell research in the last several years have also resulted in an increase in stem cell research in preclinical/clinical trials. Researchers have many different options for sources of stem cells in their research/work, and can obtain them from commercial suppliers, colleagues, create them in-house or obtain them directly from hospitals and patients. The BioInformatics LLC 2012 study finds that the majority of stem cell lines are currently created in-house, through colleagues, or purchased directly from commercial suppliers. Although stem cell lines represent a much smaller share of the overall stem cell market, the study also indicates … Continue reading →

By RTT News, January 10, 2013, 09:17:00 AM EDT (RTTNews.com) - BioTime Inc. ( BTX ) announced it has submitted a Clinical Investigation Protocol to European regulatory authorities for approval to initiate studies for Renevia stem cell delivery platform. BioTime is currently completing the production of clinical materials according to current Good Manufacturing Practice regulations. The initiation of human clinical studies is expected in the second quarter of current year upon approval of the Clinical Investigation Protocol. Renevia, a member of the company's HyStem family of hydrogels, is a proprietary formulation that mimics the human extracellular matrix, a web of molecules surrounding cells that is essential to cellular function. Renevia is designed to be a liquid injectable matrix capable of safely polymerizing in the body into a three-dimensional tissue-like scaffold in combination with transplanted cells. For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com http://www.rttnews.com Read the original post: BioTime Files Protocol To Start Human Clinical Trials Of Renevia In Europe … Continue reading →

NEW YORK & PETACH TIKVAH, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics (BCLI), a leading developer of adult stem cell technologies for neurodegenerative diseases, announced today that it has achieved a new breakthrough for commercialization of its stem cell therapy candidate, NurOwn. The company has developed a proprietary method for cryopreservation, or freezing, of cells, which will enable long-term storage, and production of repeat patient doses of NurOwn without the need for additional bone marrow aspirations. Cryopreservation will enable us to create a personalized NurOwn stem cell bank for each patient, for ongoing, repeat treatments, commented Dr. Adrian Harel, BrainStorms CEO. We will be in a position to produce repeat doses of NurOwn by thawing and processing the patients cryopreserved cells, and transporting these doses to medical centers for immediate transplantation. Cryopreservation of hematopoeitic (or blood cell-forming) stem cells for clinical use has been routinely performed for fifteen years. Cryopreservation of mesenchymal stem cells for clinical use is a more recent phenomenon, and is typically done in vapor phase nitrogen. At extreme, sub-zero temperatures, any biological activity, including the biochemical reactions that would cause cell death, is effectively stopped. According to Harel: Our unique method of expansion and differentiation of mesenchymal stem … Continue reading →

Public release date: 9-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Rachel Seroka rseroka@aan.com 612-928-6129 American Academy of Neurology SAN DIEGO Apparent stem cell transplant success in mice may hold promise for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease. The results of the study were released today and will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 65th Annual Meeting in San Diego, March 16 to 23, 2013. "There have been remarkable strides in stem cell transplantation when it comes to other diseases, such as cancer and heart failure," said study author Stefania Corti, MD, PhD, with the University of Milan in Italy and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. "ALS is a fatal, progressive, degenerative disease that currently has no cure. Stem cell transplants may represent a promising avenue for effective cell-based treatment for ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases." For the study, mice with an animal model of ALS were injected with human neural stem cells taken from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). iPSC are adult cells such as skin cells that have been genetically reprogrammed to an embryonic stem cell-like state. Neurons are a basic building block of the nervous system, which … Continue reading →