ScienceDaily (May 22, 2012) Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have achieved, for the first time, the generation of neuronal cells from stem cells of Fragile X patients. The discovery paves the way for research that will examine restoration of normal gene expression in Fragile X patients. Absence of expression of the FMR1 gene is caused by a mutation in the regulatory elements that govern its expression. The abnormal addition of chemical methyl groups to the regulatory elements causes gene silencing in patients, culminating in severe mental retardation. A potential way to help patients is to find compounds that will clear the abnormal methyl groups from the regulatory elements and reactivate normal gene expression. In their work, the Hebrew University researchers have identified a chemical compound that restored normal gene expression specifically in neuronal cells, the cell type most affected in patients. The research was conducted in the laboratory of Nissim Benvenisty, the Herbert Cohn Professor of Cancer Research at the Hebrew University, by PhD student Ori Bar-Nur and undergraduate student Inbal Caspi. They demonstrated, for the first time, the generation of brain neuronal cells from patients of Fragile X syndrome in a dish culture. In doing so, they … Continue reading →

May 22, 2012 Connie K. Ho for RedOrbit.com Scottish specialists were recently able to transplant stem cells into the eyes of two corneal blindness patients in an attempt to restore their sight. Doctors will be able to know the effects of the procedure within a few months. It is thought to be the first treatment of its kind in the United Kingdom. The operation, corneal epithelial stem cell transplantation, is part of a new group of regenerative therapies. Stem cells are grown from deceased donors and transplanted to the patients cornea. Before the transplant occurs, scarred and damaged parts of the cornea are taken out. If proves to be successful, we could see many more people benefit as a result, stated Scotlands Health Secretary Nicola in a BBC article. The first person to receive the surgery was Sylvia Paton, a 50-year-old short-sighted female from Edinburgh. My vision is deteriorating as I get older, much the same as other peoples. However, I already only have around 10% of the vision of sighted people. Until now theres really nothing that could be done to combat the effects of this type of blindness, stated Paton in an article by the Independent. Paton suffers … Continue reading →

ScienceDaily (May 23, 2012) University of Michigan researchers have proven that a special surface, free of biological contaminants, allows adult-derived stem cells to thrive and transform into multiple cell types. Their success brings stem cell therapies another step closer. To prove the cells' regenerative powers, bone cells grown on this surface were then transplanted into holes in the skulls of mice, producing four times as much new bone growth as in the mice without the extra bone cells. An embryo's cells really can be anything they want to be when they grow up: organs, nerves, skin, bone, any type of human cell. Adult-derived "induced" stem cells can do this and better. Because the source cells can come from the patient, they are perfectly compatible for medical treatments. In order to make them, Paul Krebsbach, a professor of biological and materials sciences in the School of Dentistry, said, "We turn back the clock, in a way. We're taking a specialized adult cell and genetically reprogramming it, so it behaves like a more primitive cell." Specifically, they turn human skin cells into stem cells. Less than five years after the discovery of this method, researchers still don't know precisely how it works, … Continue reading →

Editor's Choice Main Category: Bones / Orthopedics Also Included In: Stem Cell Research Article Date: 22 May 2012 - 12:00 PDT Current ratings for: 'Prochymal - First Stem Cell Drug Approved' 4.5 (2 votes) Prochymal (remestemcel-L) is also the first drug to be approved for the treatment of acute graft-vs-host disease (GvHD) in children, a devastating complication of bone marrow transplantation that kills almost 80% of all affected children, many of which just weeks after they have been diagnosed. GvHD is the leading cause of transplant-related mortality, caused by an immunologic attack. Severe GvHD can cause blistering of the skin, intestinal hemorrhage and liver failure and is extremely painful with a death rate of up to 80%. At present, the first-line standard therapies for GvHD are steroids. Given that the success rate of steroids is only 30 to 50%, the only other therapy if steroids fail is limited to immunosuppressive agents that are used off-label with little benefit and significant toxicities. Until the approval of Prochymal, there has not been any other therapy for GvHD. Osiris Therapeutics Inc. was awarded authorization for Prochymal under Health Canada's Notice of Compliance with conditions (NOC/c). A NOC/c is an authorization to market a … Continue reading →

Researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel, reported Tuesday that they had removed skin cells from two patents with heart failure, returned those cells to an embryonic state, and then transformed them into beating heart cells that could communicate with the patients existing heart tissue. We have shown that it is possible to take skin cells from an elderly patient with advanced heart failure and end up with his own beating cells in a laboratory dish that are healthy and young the equivalent to this stage of his heart cells when he was just born, study leader Dr. Lior Gepstein said in a statement. The discovery marks a small step toward a long-sought goal: using stem cells to regrow the cardiac tissue that is damaged in heart attacks. (The Times reported on the quest in February, 2011.) But it doesnt mean that patients with heart failure are likely to get shiny new hearts through stem cell treatments anytime soon. Several hurdles stand in the way of using induced pluripotent stem cells, as the skin-derived cells are called, to reverse heart attack damage. The Israeli researchers acknowledged several. Such cells are known to spin out of control and … Continue reading →