337 replies to this topic

[Mind]

Stem cells found in adults may repair nerves

University of Washington

It used to be considered dogma that a nerve, once injured, could never be repaired. Now, researchers have learned that some nerves, even nerves in parts of the brain, can regenerate or be replaced. By studying the chemical signals that encourage or impede the repair of nerves, researchers at the University of Washington, the Salk Institute, and other institutions may contribute to eventual treatments for injured spines and diseased retinas, according to a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Much of this research focuses on stem cells, one of several types of general cells that can give rise to specialized cells, like neurons. It was once thought that human stem cells were only found in embryos, and in bone marrow, where they produce blood cells. But stem cells are also being found in adults, including the brain and the eye. For example, stems cells steadily replace dead neurons in the olfactory bulb, which transmits scent signals to the brain, and the hippocampal dentate gyrus, an area that organizes short-term memory.

However, the pace of stem-cell repairs in humans is slow. And in some cases, stem cells can even impede healing. Stem cells in an injured spinal cord can create a sticky scar that blocks nerve regeneration, according to Dr. Philip Horner, an assistant professor in the Department of Neurosurgery in the UW School of Medicine.

"We've found that the axons, the parts of the nerves that transmit signals, try to regenerate after an injury but get caught in the scar. It's like they're stuck in the mud," Horner said. "We're studying ways that this process is regulated to see if it can be manipulated to promote healing. In other words, we're looking at ways to get the axons out of the mud. One way is to make the mud less sticky by manipulating stem cells that participate in scar formation. Another is to stimulate the axons to push through the scar by providing the cut nerves with molecules that induce elongation. We're using molecular signals called growth factors to simulate the growth of cultured nerve cells in the laboratory."

[Cyto]

Stem cells appear not to turn into heart cells

Two studies published in the online issue of Nature report no evidence to suggest that hematopoietic stem cells, which usually produce blood cells, can turn into heart cells after injection into the heart. These studies raise a cautionary note for interpreting the results of ongoing clinical studies in which hematopoietic stem cells are injected into the heart after a heart attack.

Loren Field, Ph.D., professor of medicine and of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine and senior author of one of the Nature papers says "these studies demonstrate that the stem cells tested do not form new heart muscle when injected into damaged organs. This suggests that the functional benefit seen in clinical trials may arise from other mechanisms (for example increased blood vessel formation), and raises the possibility that there may be alternative and perhaps more efficacious ways to accomplish this."

Both research teams injected bone-marrow-derived hematopoetic stem cells into the damaged hearts of living mice and used marker proteins to monitor the injected cells. They report that although some of the transplanted cells appeared to survive, they did not appear to differentiate into new heart muscle cells. Instead they matured into cells of the traditional blood lineage.

[chubtoad]

Immune cells grown in a dish

Lab-made T cells could deliver better cancer and HIV therapy. Scientists have found a way to grow a bountiful supply of disease-fighting cells that might one day boost therapy for cancer and HIV.
The cells, called T cells, normally patrol the body and swallow up infected or cancerous cells. But chemo- or radiotherapy, and the HIV virus, destroy them.
Now a Canadian team have grown potentially limitless T cells in the laboratory. "We're very excited," says immunologist Juan Carlos Zúñiga-Pflücker of the University of Toronto.
The T cells were made from mouse embryonic stem cells, which normally form all the tissues in a mouse embryo. Researchers have converted mouse and human embryonic stem cells into blood, nerves and muscle. But they did not know how to coax them into making T cells.
Zúñiga-Pflücker and his team succeeded by identifying a molecule, called DL1, that is essential in T-cell production. They genetically engineered cells to make DL1, and then grew embryonic stem cells on top of this concoction.
[...]
Zúñiga-Pflücker hopes that T-cells grown from human embryonic stem cells might one day be used in cancer and HIV patients whose own supply has been wiped out. HIV patients could be given cells genetically enhanced to fight the virus, he speculates.
[...]
In theory, the lab-made immune cells could be used for any patient, because they lack surface molecules that trigger rejection. And because embryonic stem cells keep dividing indefinitely, they might sprout an unlimited supply. "You could use them as grafts whenever you need to," Zúñiga-Pflücker says.
The new technique could also help study the how T cells develop and function. "Many of us have immediately jumped on this," says immunologist Ellen Rothenberg of California Institute of Technology, Pasadena.

http://www.nature.co.../040315-16.html
HELEN PEARSON

[Cyto]

University Plans Human Stem Cell Trials

The University of Minnesota is awaiting approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin several months of clinical trials into the therapeutic use of stem cells in humans.

The university would be the first public research institution to conduct human clinical trials with stem cells, said James Battey, chairman of the Stem Cell Task Force for the National Institutes of Health.

"This is the cutting edge of implementation," Battey said of the university's initiative.

In one set of trials, researchers will use stem cells taken from adults. Another set of trials will use stem cells harvested from embryos, state lawmakers were told Monday by John Wagner, clinical research director at the university's Stem Cell Institute.

Wagner said the university is in the process of briefing the FDA, the NIH and the United Nations on the human clinical trials. "This is a tremendous undertaking for a tremendous gain," Wagner said.

Neither Wagner nor other university officials present would comment further on the upcoming trials.

The announcement came during a presentation to the House Higher Education Finance Committee. The summary, presented by Wagner and Frank Cerra, vice president of the academic health center, was designed to let lawmakers know what the university has done with adult stem cells and what it hopes to do with embryonic stem cells.

The university has long been a leader in cellular biology research and applications, Cerra said. Some of the basic science needed for stem cell work originated at the university, he said, and the university has invested in technology and faculty to further this research area.

"The possibilities are only limited by our imagination and the scientific work we are able to perform," Cerra said.

While the university has actively recruited prominent stem cell researchers in the past few years, Cerra said there is a search under way to recruit a brain stem cell researcher.

The university's status as a public institution means that any embryonic stem cell research will be transparent and accountable, Cerra said.

Researchers decided to pursue stem cell research, he said, and not allowing it could mean an exodus of talent from the institution and the state.

"If Minnesota scientists don't perform this cutting edge research, someone else will," he said.

Legislation is making its way through the Minnesota Senate and House for and against embryonic stem cell research.

While research already has been done at the university regarding adult stem cells, Wagner said embryonic stem cells, combined with knowledge of the human genome, could offer a pre-emptive strike against many diseases. Taken from an unused human embryo, embryonic stem cells could be used to repair damaged tissue from a heart attack or cancer, he said.

I think the word "sweet" works. [thumb]

[Cyto]

Misreporting SCR

Last week some journalists thought they had found a juicy story, full of conflict: The military was doing an apparent end run around the Bush administration's restrictive policy on stem cell research. "The Pentagon has granted $240,000 to a Swedish team for embryonic stem-cell research linked to Parkinson's disease... despite U.S. government limits on stem-cell research," reported Reuters on March 17. The president may have curtailed research "in this country," noted MSNBC host Keith Olbermann in reaction to the news, but he "never mentioned Sweden." "Let's see if we got this straight," added the Dallas Morning News. "An injection of federal money triggers the restrictions on [stem cell] research at American universities... So the Pentagon finds a university in Sweden that is happy to conduct the research."

Um, no. The supposed "Sweden loophole" - a distinction between using federal funds for American university stem cell research and research abroad - is nonsense. Despite the misleading Reuters report, the Pentagon was in fact supporting research on two stem cell lines that had been derived by Swedish researchers before the president's August 2001 deadline and were therefore eligible for federal funding. This non-story created considerable confusion, however, and underscores key deficiencies in the way journalists have covered stem cell and cloning issues in the United States. These failings aren't trivial: They've often helped to mask serious flaws in the president's policies.

[randolfe]

While all this debate revolves around the narrow definitions of whether certain stem cell lines were developed before certain dates, the real issue involving stem cell treatments are going to be much stickier from an ethical point of view.

I had a woman from California who wanted to donate one of her eggs, have an embryo cloned from the cells of her daughter who suffered from juvenile onset diabetes, implant the embryo until it developed islet cells that could be used to treat her daughter and then "harvest" the cells at that time.

This is going to be the next "level" in the stem cell debate. Once we have a combatible line of stem cells, or an embryo created with a patient's cell, then by implanting that embryo, nature will produce beating heart cells before anything else.

We don't have to figure out how to do it. Nature will do it for us. I can see this presenting no problem with early embryonic development. However, what if you needed lung cells which are the latest cells to develop? Then you would be dealing with actually killing a viable fetus/child to "harvest" needed lung cells.

Does an existing life, perhaps that of a parent with responsibilities, etc., take prescendent over a nearly mature fetus? It is a discussion that will become inevitable but which I generally avoid raising.

When we reach this stage of the stem cell debate, we will see that there are really moral problems we had previously denied.

[Cyto]

First off, thank you randolfe for adding you input on stem cell topics.

Secondly, here is an article bringing light to the groups of stem cell scientists who want LE to surface soon. Yea, it may just be a review of current things we have already posted but the topic, yea, you get it.

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Anti-aging studies look at stem cells, more

In laboratories the world over, scientists bent on turning back our biological clocks are looking past harvesting human embryos and cloning in their quest for disease cures.

A small but growing group of researchers seeking the proverbial fountain of youth insists its work has no kinship to cryogenics -- freezing Ted Williams' body -- or other fantastic scientific forays in life extension.

What these scientists hope for is to be able to make old cells young again, imbuing them with all the potential healing power that youthful cells may possess.

Perhaps most significantly, they want to create stem cells without having to destroy embryos in the process.

Years of work remains, but the researchers are hard at work building biological time machines that reverse aging in some cells.

Some are trying to reset biological clocks by mimicking "magic factors" in human eggs -- the only cells in a woman's body not programmed to die.

Others are identifying molecules that enable salamanders to re-grow limbs.

Chemists in San Diego have created a chemical compound they call "reversine," which resets muscle cells in mice much the same way newts restart limb cell growth after injury.

Ultimately, these discoveries could usher in regenerative medicine. The idea is to turn a patients' skin cells into embryo-like cells that could be coaxed into growing into replacement tissue for failing organs.

The biggest game being stalked in this hunt is finding the still theoretical genes that launch creation of the human body from a single cell.

Scottish and Japanese researchers last year isolated an "immortality gene" in mice that allowed stem cells to grow indefinitely in the laboratory. They dubbed it Nanog, from the Celtic mythical land called Tir nan Og, where everyone stays young. The discovery hastened the race to find a similar human gene and prompted serious scientists to publicly discuss for the first time what they've been quietly pursuing for years.

"We are dreaming of finding that master gene in the egg," said Michigan State University researcher Jose Cibelli, a pioneer in cloning and stem cell science. "The fountain of youth is in the egg."

The goal of Cibelli and others is to reprogram cells to reverse the aging process -- until stem cells appear.

Embryonic stem cells are the most sought-after stem cells. Created in the first days after conception, they give rise to the human body.

Scientists hope to harness this powerful ability of so-called undifferentiated cells to grow into replacements for lost or damaged cells in treating a wide range of ailments, from Alzheimer's disease to spinal cord injuries.

Much of the attention in the field of regenerative medicine has been focused recently on human embryonic stem cells and cloning.

Such work has run into fierce opposition from abortion foes and other biological conservatives who are appalled that researchers must destroy human embryos to harvest the stem cells. Most embryos are donated by fertility clinics, though some scientists are cloning embryos as a possible stem-cell source.

Cibelli remains an outspoken proponent of cloning for therapeutic purposes, having served as a co-author with the South Korean-led team that reported last month the first successful clone of a human embryo and the culling of stem cells from it.

Cibelli now believes, however, that better results may come through alternative approaches to regenerative medicine that are being worked on far away from the heated public debate over embryo research.

Politics aside, daunting logistical barriers remain for efforts to use embryos to turn stem cells into widely available drugs. For one, the supply of available eggs is limited. As well, few researchers have the highly honed skills needed to properly handle embryos and extract stem cells.

An increasing number of researchers thus argue that a more simple solution is needed to make regenerative medicine work.

Cibelli, for one, signed on to help researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego pursue a chemical answer.

Led by Sheng Ding, the Scripps team has created a chemical compound -- a so-called small molecule -- that reverses the aging process of mouse muscle cells, turning them into "stem-like cells" and then re-growing them into different cells "just like a newt," Ding said.

Ding said more research has to be done to determine exactly what reversine does to the cells, but he's optimistic he's on to something.

The chemists' goal is to create a single compound that will turn ordinary cells into embryonic cells and then use another compound to direct the new cells to grow into desired tissues.

Clues may well come from research at University College London, where Jeremy Brockes has isolated an enzyme implicated in the salamander's ability to re-grow an eye lens after it has been surgically removed.

Brockes said he would be amazed if the mechanics of salamander and human cell growth differs much: "Because it would seem very strange that an animal with the same basic body plan such as ours did not have something very important to teach us about regeneration."

[Cyto]

Making the most of stem cells

Like many other kinds of cells used in biomedical research, human embryonic stem cells are stored and transported in a cryopreserved state, frozen to -320 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature of their liquid nitrogen storage bath.
But when scientists thaw the cells for use in the lab, less than 1 percent awake from their frigid slumber and assume their undifferentiated state. This 'blank slate' form is characteristic of stem cells and essential for the basic science required before the promising cells are ready for the clinic. So scientists are required to place the few survivors in culture and painstakingly tend to them for weeks before new colonies are abundant enough to conduct experiments.

"Human embryonic stem cells have a very low survival rate following cryopreservation, which causes several problems," says Sean Palecek, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of chemical and biological engineering.

Not only does that low rate make working with human embryonic stem cells time and labor intensive, but - because so few survive freezing - it may also mean that natural selection is altering the stored cells in unknown and undesired ways, he says.

But now Palecek, along with colleagues Juan de Pablo and Lin Ji, are putting the finishing touches on a new method for preserving and storing the finicky cells. The work, presented today (March 30) at a meeting of the American Chemical Society, promises to greatly amplify the number of cells that survive their enforced hibernation, that remain undifferentiated and that are more readily available for research. What's more, with more survivors, genetic variability becomes less of an issue.

By freezing the cells attached to a gel matrix instead of suspended in solution, and adding the chemical trehalose - a disaccharide or sugar that some animals and microbes produce to protect cells and survive in dry, low-temperature conditions - the Wisconsin team was able to increase stem cell survival rates by more than an order of magnitude, with as many as 20 percent of a cell culture surviving the freezing-and-thawing process.

"By using the gel and adding the disaccharide to cells, you can increase their chances of survival," notes de Pablo, also a UW-Madison professor of chemical and biological engineering. "Twenty percent survival doesn't sound like much, but that's a huge improvement. Taking the few survivors from current methods and growing them takes weeks. It's a real bottleneck in the field.

"Also, the amount of uncontrolled differentiation is reduced drastically."

The ideal system for preserving and storing valuable cells and other biological materials, says de Pablo, would be one where the cells are freeze-dried, and that's the ultimate goal of this line of research.

The Wisconsin group has already successfully developed methods for freeze- drying bacterial cultures used to make cheese and yogurt. Their method, now in use commercially, reduces storage and transportation costs for food processors.

"The idea now," explains de Pablo, "is to extend the technology to mammalian cells."

He cites blood products as an example of cells that could potentially be freeze-dried for easy long-term storage, and blood products have become a new focus for his research group.

"If you can freeze-dry these types of cells, you can store them for indefinite amounts of time" and costs would be greatly reduced, he says. Such a technology would also help alleviate the chronic shortages of blood products. Some blood products are perishable and must now be discarded after a certain amount of time in storage. Freeze-dried blood products would have no such liability. Moreover, it would make blood products more readily available for emergencies and mass casualty events, and in remote and difficult settings such as a battlefield environment.

[JonesGuy]

That article was pretty interesting. I have a great fondness for the topics of stem cells and cryobiology! I'm pleased to see an improvement in this area, but I don't know if it directly benefits me - since I'm not allowed to create embryonic cells (grrr). However, the research into reducing mutation rates is pretty important. We're sure that the DNA doesn't degrade while in storage, but it certainly is damaged (what I mean is that the DNA can crack, but the base pairs won't change). I know this is a 'duh' statement, but people like to prove these things.

Actually, I had a question for the stem cell people. Is anyone working on cloning a stem cell? What I mean is, grabbing a stem cell, and replacing the nucleus? I think this would circumvent the anti-cloning legislation quite nicely.

[chubtoad]

Embryonic Stem Cells Induced To Develop Into Bone Marrow And Blood Cells

http://www.scienceda...40401081637.htm

Researchers at Northwestern University have devised a method to induce embryonic stem cells to develop into bone marrow and blood cells. Injecting the stem cells into the bone marrow cavity of mice whose bone marrow cells had been depleted restored production of blood cells, including cells of the immune system, which normally are created in the bone marrow.

As reported by Richard K. Burt, M.D., and colleagues in April issue of The Journal of Experimental Medicine, the method was effective even in genetically mismatched mice. If the same results can be produced in humans, the technique may eventually eliminate the need to find genetically matched human bone marrow donors for persons with leukemia, autoimmune diseases and other immune disorders, Burt said.

Burt is associate professor of medicine and chief of immunotherapy for autoimmune diseases at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University.

Embryonic stem cells, which are derived from embryos, have the potential to grow into many different cell types. Burt and colleagues identified the most effective mix of growth factors to induce stem cells in culture to develop into precursor bone marrow and blood cells. They also developed a technique to select the most viable cells for injection.

Despite the genetic mismatch between donor and recipient mice, the injected cells were not rejected. The injected cells matured into a new immune system that recognized the recipient as self.

Blood or marrow stem cells from a sibling or an unrelated or cord blood registry often fail to develop tolerance to the recipient or patient into which they are infused – an often-fatal complication after bone marrow transplantation that is known as graft-versus-host disease.

But in the study, after embryonic stem cell transplantation the mice's immune response, while tolerant to self, responded to foreign substances normally, indicating that recipients are able to fight off infection. Although the use of human embryonic stem cell lines is controversial, it has many advantages over the use of donor bone marrow or blood cells, which are highly variable, cannot be cultured in a laboratory, may cause lethal graft-versus-host disease and are often not available to patients due to inability to find a suitably matched donor.

Human embryonic stem cell lines can be cultured indefinitely, providing a permanently renewable alternative marrow source that restores blood cell production with an intact immune response without causing graft-versus-host disease.

[randolfe]

The efforts to get adult cells to revert to stem cells is the answer to Q Jones's question. That gets around the issues raised for some by the "creation" of an embryo.

I think the article about freeze drying stem cell cultures is really fascinating. The thought that comes to my mind is whether anyone has researched freeze-drying people or other higher life forms? That might be the next leap forward in the area of cryonics.

[Cyto]

And they put the "doo-doo head" in some art, what the "hey." [lol]



Dr. Blackburn dismissal, Leon, the 'Council', but no indecent exposure.

A overview of the dismissal of a stem cell biologist from the ethics council by Leon

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Singapore Hunts for Diabetes Cure with Stem Cells

With rising affluence and obesity becoming a greater problem in Asia, Singapore has joined the race to find a cure for diabetes using adult stem cells.

Researchers from the National University of Singapore and a local biotechnology company said Monday they were collaborating on a project to produce insulin-secreting cells from adult stem cells harvested from fat tissue.

"There is a race around the world to develop what we call surrogate islet cells -- cells not derived from the human donor pancreas but cells from tissue, from stem cells, which can be coaxed into producing insulin and then transplanted," said Dr John Isaac of the university's department of surgery.

Singapore, which has positioned itself as a center for stem cell research, joins experts in the United States and Europe researching fat tissue in adults as a source of stem cells.

The wealthy island state has one of the highest rates of diabetes in the world, with nine percent of adults suffering from the potentially fatal disease compared with six percent in the United States.

The disease results in the body's failure to produce insulin and if not properly treated, can lead to heart and kidney disease, stroke, amputations, blindness and death.

The research, with an initial investment of S$1.5 million ($893,900), would be to examine the use of adipose tissue, but other sources of adult stem cells may also be investigated. Dr. Susan Lim, founder of the biotechnology firm Stem Cell Technologies Pte. Ltd., said there was already strong evidence that cells from fat can differentiate into a variety of cell types, including fat, bone and cartilage.

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[Cyto]

Gene plays major role in formation of stem cells and cancer

Researchers from the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam have discovered a common link between cancer cells and stem cells. Together with colleagues from the University of Zurich, Merel Lingbeek and NWO pioneer Prof. Maarten van Lohuizen published their findings on 18 March 2004 in Nature.

Because cancer cells and stem cells can both reproduce themselves in unlimited numbers, it was suspected that they have something in common. That suspicion proved to be correct. Together with their Swiss colleagues, researchers from the Netherlands Cancer Institute discovered an important common link: the BMI1 gene.

Stem cells, the 'original cells', develop into specialised body cells by first of all making many copies of themselves. Once this copying process has been completed, they stop dividing and start differentiating into specialised cells, for example, a brain cell. But sometimes this process goes wrong. Instead of differentiating, the stem cells retain the expression pattern of a stem cell and keep on copying themselves. This is how medulloblastomas, the most frequently occurring form of brain cancer in children, can develop.

Determining stem cell identity
The publication in Nature reveals that the BMI gene plays a crucial role in this switching process. Together with Swiss colleagues Carly Leung and Silvia Marino, Merel Lingbeek and Prof. Maarten van Lohuizen investigated the formation of brain cells from stem cells in the cerebellum.

The research revealed that the BMI1 gene is essential for the multiplication of the stem cells in the cerebellum. Further it was found that overexpression of the BMI1 gene can result in an enormous growth of these stem cells. For example, overexpression of the BMI1 gene was found in 8 of the 12 medulloblastomas investigated. The BMI1 gene was found to determine the identity of the stem cell: the gene ensures that a stem cell remains a stem cell and does not differentiate. The researchers therefore suspect that an overexpression of the BMI1 gene contributes to the development of these brain tumours.

Subsequent research
The researchers expect that the BMI1 gene plays a role in other types of cancer with stem-cell-like characteristics, including breast tumours and leukaemia. These assumptions will be investigated in subsequent research, which will also examine whether key regulators such as the BMI1 gene can be influenced by drugs.

[kevin]

Link: http://www.theage.co...2055648663.html

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Embryonic stem cells on the way
By David Wroe, Tom Noble
April 17, 2004

Australian scientists will be producing embryonic stem cells within weeks after the Government issued the first licences yesterday, giving permission for the controversial research.

In a move likely to reignite debate on the issue, Sydney IVF and Melbourne IVF were granted licences to do research using embryos left over from IVF treatment.

Sydney IVF medical director Robert Jansen said many couples had already agreed to donate spare IVF embryos.

"We're ready to go," he said. "I hope we'll have stem cell lines within a couple of months."

Professor Jansen said yesterday's announcement was a "very historic" day for science in Australia.

"This research is ultimately for treating degenerative diseases... and hopefully spinal injuries," he said. "That'll take some time, but we're getting it under way."

Embryonic stem cells - the root cells from which many types of human tissue can be grown - offer hope for curing diseases such as Alzheimer's, diabetes and heart disease. But producing stem cells is controversial because it means destroying embryos from which cells are taken.

Creating stem cells could also have considerable commercial benefits for licence holders, but Professor Jansen said Sydney IVF was concentrating on the science for now.

At least 12 other applications are before the National Health and Medical Research Council. Decisions are expected soon.

Yesterday, independent senator Brian Harradine, a hardline opponent of the research, said the council had handed out "licences to kill".

"A certain class of human life will now be considered expendable for profit," he said. "No civilised society should reduce the status of that human being to one of experimental tool or laboratory rat."

In 2002, after months of acrimonious debate, Federal Parliament passed laws allowing scientists to destroy for research, spare IVF embryos created before April 5, 2002.

Under the 2002 laws, human cloning is illegal.

Melbourne IVF has not been granted a licence to create stem cells, but a licence to use embryos for IVF research, which chairman John McBain said would save women having miscarriages.

"It's an important step in being able to do better work," he said.

Victoria's other big fertility clinic, Monash IVF, said it was still waiting for decisions on two licence applications.

One application involves supplying embryos to produce stem cells for research by leading scientist Alan Trounson; the other is to train embryologists.

Monash IVF chief executive Donna Howlett said the licensing committee had sought more information.

"We are having some difficulty with our application to use embryos for training because it isn't specifically covered in the legislation," she said.

Bernie Tuch, director of Sydney Prince of Wales Hospital's diabetes transplant unit, which is in line to get stem cells from Sydney IVF, said this would help find a stem cell cure for diabetes.

He said there was a dearth of embryonic stem cells for research.

[kevin]

Link: http://www.canada.co...3d-48806c79e044

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Fox says limiting stem-cell research 'fundamentally wrong'
Actor, 42, coming to grips with Parkinson's disease
Tarina White
Calgary Herald
Sunday, April 18, 2004

Michael J. Fox has yet to find a cure for Parkinson's, but he's managing the disease better these days and is buoyed by Canada's recently passed legislation allowing stem-cell research on human embryos.

"I've been feeling great," the 42-year-old actor said during a candid interview on Global Sunday. "I've been doing a lot of stuff I haven't done in a long time."

Fox, who was diagnosed with the degenerative neurological disease in 1991, is passionate that stem-cell research on human embryos be given the green light.

"To limit or disallow that avenue of research is fundamentally wrong -- I think crazy," said Fox.

Stem-cell research holds great promise for treating -- and perhaps even curing -- Parkinson's, he added.

"These cells don't know what they are yet, so they have the potential to become anything," said Fox.

Creating human embryos to produce embryonic cell lines is one of the most contentious issues in science.

Many doctors and researchers say it should proceed because it could help unlock the secrets of many diseases and lead to powerful, lucrative new treatments. But critics consider days-old embryos living beings that must be protected and argue destroying them to create embryonic stem cells constitutes the taking of lives.

Fox, who was thrown into the celebrity spotlight when he was cast as Alex P. Keaton in TV's Family Ties and later as Marty McFly in the Back To the Future movie trilogy, said his initial reaction to being diagnosed with Parkinson's was denial.

"I just freaked out," he said, noting he was recently married at the time with a new baby and a flourishing movie career.

Fox thought Parkinson's was an old person's disease -- a common misconception. In fact, 10 per cent of the 150,000 Canadians with the disease are under 45.

Parkinson's occurs when brain cells that produce dopamine, a chemical that controls body movement, start to die.

Symptoms begin to appear when about 80 per cent of the dopamine-producing cells are gone. So, once a person is diagnosed, the disease is already well advanced.

Fox's book Lucky Man: A Memoir details his career and his battle with Parkinson's, which he went public with in 1998.

Although "under control is a generous description" of how he is coping with the disease today, brain surgery and a new combination of drugs and yoga have enabled Fox to better manage the shakes and trembles that became alarmingly noticeable in his final years on Spin City.

Fox recently returned to the small screen with a guest appearance on NBC's Scrubs.

And Fox fans will be pleased to know he isn't about to label it his final performance.

"I had a great time. I may do more acting," said Fox. "I really live in the moment."

The Michael J. Fox Foundation has raised and channelled $35 million US toward Parkinson's research since 2000, making it the second-largest funder, behind the U.S. government.

According to the experts, Fox has played a major role in demystifying the illness and in altering attitudes toward people with the illness.

"I think he's also put a very public face on it and people understand that this is more than a nuisance," said Dr. Jon Stoessl, a neurology professor at the University of British Columbia and director of the Pacific Parkinson's Research Centre in Vancouver.

"It can really have a major impact on one's life."

Although Stoessl is doubtful of Fox's 2010 deadline for finding a cure for Parkinson's, he shares his desire to allow stem cell research on human embryos.

Ottawa resident David Simmonds, a retired lawyer who was diagnosed with Parkinson's 12 years ago, isn't holding his breath for a cure either.

"The important thing for me as a patient is to maintain an attitude that says I'm not defined by my Parkinson's," said Simmonds.

Global Sunday airs today at 6:30 p.m. on Channel 7.

twhite@theherald.canwest.com

© The Calgary Herald 2004

[Cyto]

Stem cell researcher wins top science prize

The Korean government will give Hwang Woo-suk, 51, a renowned Seoul National University professor specializing in human embryonic stem cell research, its "best scientist" award that carries 300 million won in prize money, the Ministry of Science and Technology said yesterday.
Prof. Yun Duk-yong, an expert in advanced materials at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, will also receive the annual award, which is the highest honor given to scientists in Korea.

According to ministry officials, Hwang has been chosen for his contribution to stem cell therapy, a controversial treatment that involves growing human tissue to replace diseased ones.

Hwang made headlines internationally early this year by announcing that his research team had succeeded in cloning a human embryo and extracting stem cells from it. The veterinary professor has been a local celebrity since 1999 after he became the first to clone a cow in Korea.

Last year, Hwang also announced that his team had successfully cloned a cattle breed resistant to mad cow disease and germ-free miniature pigs.

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[kevin]

Link: http://www.usatoday....ell-cover_x.htm

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States dive into stem cell debates
By Dan Vergano, USA TODAY

Cloned babies. Embryo farms. Miracle cures. Shoot the TV if you want to avoid hearing the buzzwords of stem cell politics this year.

You might want to aim for the radio, as well.

An annual Senate debate has hit the road, moving to 33 state legislatures considering 100 bills that alternately condemn, condone or fund embryonic stem cell research. The legislative battles culminate in a California voter initiative in November that would, if approved, pump nearly $3 billion over 10 years into such research.

"There is a tremendous amount of legislation flying around on one area of medical research. It is remarkable and unprecedented," says Dan Perry of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research, a collaboration of 83 patient groups, universities and medical organizations that support the research.

Why all the activity?

Three years after President Bush severely limited federal spending on stem cell research, private institutions are figuring out ways to do end-runs. And onlookers in legislatures, on church councils and in the scientific community are raising a ruckus on all sides of the debate.

Human embryonic stem cells are like blank slates. Early in a pregnancy, they turn into — or, as scientists say, differentiate into — all of the body's specialized tissues and organs. Since the University of Wisconsin's James Thomson first isolated and grew the cells in 1998, researchers have pondered how they might be used in medical treatments.

If produced from cloned cells genetically identical to a recipient, embryonic stem cells could conceivably be grown into rejection-free transplant organs, although the technology does not yet exist to do so.

Today, supporters such as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation point to cloned cell transplants as a way to treat, and even cure, diseases such as juvenile (type 1) diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer's disease.

Critics say the research is immoral because the cells are harvested from human embryos, most often discarded ones donated by fertility clinics. The days-old embryos are destroyed in the process

Opponents warn of a future in which the essence of being human is devalued, human eggs will become a commodity grown in "farms" and cloned babies will be commonplace.

A bioethics standoff

The satirical weekly The Onion mocked the debate in a story headlined "Potential Baldness Cure Leads Man To Reverse Position On Stem-Cell Research." But the bioethics issue has settled into a battle between an irresistible force and an immovable object:

• For the past five decades, utilitarian ethics have governed biomedical experiments. Bioethicist Art Caplan of the University of Pennsylvania summarizes the utilitarian position in the Feb. 20 Science magazine as "the moral argument that investing in science and technology extends life and improves the quality of life, despite exacting a toll in harms and risks." For that reason, researchers widely view experiments on embryonic cells as permissible because of their potential value in the search for cures and in expanding knowledge of human development.

• On the other side are views that suggest "moral tradition does urge us to treat each and every living member of the human species, including the early embryo, as a human person with fundamental rights, the first of which is the right to life," in the words of Richard Doerflinger of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. For that reason, research opponents consider the destruction of embryos for stem cells to be murder.

Events this year have only intensified disagreement over the federal policy.

In August 2001, Bush restricted funding to research involving stem cell lines already created. A stem cell line is a family of constantly dividing cells, the product of a single embryo.

Of the more than 60 such lines then said to be available, only 18 actually ended up for use, for a fee, by researchers on a National Institutes of Health registry.

"Many in the research community believe that the federal restrictions on funding of human embryo research create a chilling effect on embryo research generally," says the President's Council on Bioethics in its March report entitled "Reproduction and Responsibility."

That chill has driven private institutes to take the lead. Nationwide there are eight such institutes, both at universities and in private firms.

On Friday, the University of Wisconsin announced the founding of a 150-person stem cell research institute. And Harvard is expected to announce a $100 million stem cell research initiative this week.

Overseas, a privately financed South Korean team announced in February the first embryonic stem cell line made from a cloned embryo. Creating such a line is a first step in turning cloned cells into rejection-free transplant tissues.

And last month, a team led by biologist Doug Melton, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute researcher at Harvard, nearly matched the NIH registry in one fell swoop. In a New England Journal of Medicine report, Melton announced the creation of 17 embryonic stem cell lines available to researchers for free. In one month, the 320 requests for his cells exceed the roughly 300 filled requests for the stem cells on the NIH registry since 2001.

University of Minnesota researchers say they will collaborate next year on an effort to test the use of embryonic stem cells as a medical treatment.

Adding to the politicization of the debate, former President's Council member Elizabeth Blackburn, a cell biologist at the University of California-San Francisco, says she was ejected from the group in February because her support for such research clashes with the views of its chairman, American Enterprise Institute fellow Leon Kass. Kass is the bioethicist credited with crafting the Bush stem cell policy.

Meanwhile, Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., complains that the council "tragically" supported some embryo research in its March report by calling for a ban only on the use of embryos beyond 10 to 14 days of their development. That's much later than they are actually used in research. Brownback regularly sponsors legislation to ban embryonic stem cell research and says he will do so again this year. And so the debate continues.

At the same time, a federal ban on cloning embryos to make babies has stalled in the Senate, even though a ban is supported by nearly everyone involved in the debate, from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine to the President's Council.

Opponents cannot even agree on terminology. Brownback believes all cloning is reproductive, his aides say. Research supporters suggest therapeutic cloning, in which harvested stem cells are transplanted into a patient, involves research embryos that would never produce cloned children.

A 'crazy quilt' of laws

Research advocate Perry worries that the legislative activity in various states will lead to a "crazy-quilt" pattern of laws that will drive some scientists to states that support the research. The point has been made that University of Michigan biologist Jose Cibelli, a collaborator with the South Korean cloning team, would have faced a $1 million fine and 10 years in jail if he had conducted such research in Michigan.

If politics were not involved, "the field of embryonic stem cell research would be much more advanced than it is today," research pioneer Thomson says.

"It is difficult to estimate just how damaging the current restrictions have been to the field to date, but if the current restrictions are not eventually lifted, patients will suffer needlessly." Do I hear an "Amen brutha"? - KP

For now, researchers don't know what signals coax stem cells to grow into specific tissues, says Catherine Verfaillie of the University of Minnesota Stem Cell Institute. "The cells tend to decide for us, and we have relatively little insight in how to control things.

[Maybe at the lab SHE'S working at.. sheesh.. -KP]

"Some combination of genetic analysis with stem cell experiments will have to occur to tease out those signals."

And despite all the debate, embryonic stem cells may end up offering insight that is more scientific than therapeutic, Thomson says. "The real lasting contribution of human embryonic stem cell research may be increased knowledge of the human body, which could change human medicine even more dramatically than new transplantation therapies."

[Cyto]

Harvard Stem Cell Institute hosts inaugural symposia

Seven Harvard schools, seven Harvard-affiliated teaching hospitals, and close to 100 researchers and scientists are banding together in an ambitious new institute with a simple goal: to explore the promising area of stem cell research.
The Harvard Stem Cell Institute holds its inaugural symposia today comprised of a day-long series of presentations for the Harvard community that will explore topics ranging from the science to the ethics to the business of stem cell research.

"The Harvard Stem Cell Institute is an important effort to help unlock one of the fundamental mysteries of life, and could lead to important new medical treatments," said Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers.

Stem cells, with their ability to develop into specialized tissue cells, have excited researchers with their promise to help correct maladies within the body. By understanding how they work, researchers hope they can learn to develop nerve, blood, heart, and other kinds of cells to be used to treat a wide spectrum of diseases.

Organizers of the effort hope that the Institute's stimulating effect will extend beyond Harvard, as new techniques, tools, and knowledge foster research in other locations. The Institute's co-director, Douglas Melton, has already taken the first steps in that direction. He announced in March that he had developed 17 new embryonic stem cell lines with private funding and that he would share those cells freely with other investigators.

In its initial phase, the Institute will be a "virtual" center, supporting research and drawing scientists together who work in laboratories at the affiliated institutions around Boston and Cambridge. Researchers will develop core laboratory facilities and needed technology to perform functions such as cell sorting, imaging of stem cells in their natural environments, and the transfer of nuclei between cells. The institute will also seek to create a community among researchers through frequent informal gatherings focused on a particular scientific problem, through monthly seminars with outside experts, and through annual symposia, such as today's.

Within a few years, Harvard hopes to add a central physical location for the institute, complete with laboratory facilities, but does not have specific plans at this point in time. Though some researchers would continue to work in their own labs at different locations, the physical closeness enabled by a central lab facility should allow informal meetings and foster an environment that will lead to new ideas and lines of inquiry.

In overseeing the work of the Institute, the Harvard Stem Cell Research Committee is charged with reviewing proposals by Harvard scientists ? including those at the new institute ? to work on human embryonic stem cells that do not qualify for federal funding.

The committee is made up of faculty from several schools, including the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard Medical School, the Harvard School of Public Health, and the John F. Kennedy School of Government. It is advisory to the provost.

"Some of Harvard's most distinguished scientists serve on the Harvard Stem Cell Research Committee in order to provide a rigorous review of the ethics surrounding human embryonic stem cell research," said Harvard Provost Steven Hyman. "The committee's review and recommendations ensure that human embryonic stem cell research at Harvard is conducted according to the highest ethical standards."

BACKGROUND:

Background materials on the science, ethics and funding of stem cell research can be found at http://www.news.harv...9-StemOver.html. There also are multi-media presentations on the science and importance of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

The Diseases:
The Harvard Stem Cell Institute is focused on five disease types for which stem cell therapy seems most promising. The diseases all result from some sort of organ or tissue failure and include:

*diabetes, in which insulin producing cells in the pancreas are destroyed, impairing the body's ability to metabolize sugar;
*neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease, which destroys neurons in the brain;
*blood diseases, including leukemia where abnormal blood cells are produced, and immune system diseases such as AIDS;
*cardiovascular disease, where heart muscle tissue is destroyed during heart attacks;
*musculoskeletal diseases, such as muscular dystrophy.

[kevin]

Link: http://www.reuters.c...storyID=4926159

Just another example of how the internet is empowering individuals to support causes they believe in and allowing the bypassing of the distribution channels of existing power structures.

---

New Jersey project to promote stem cell research
April 23, 2004 2:52PM ET
By Toni Clarke

NEW YORK, April 23 (Reuters) - A group led by New Jersey legislator Neil Cohen plans to roll out a project on Saturday aimed at bringing together scientists, banks, drug companies and universities to push forward stem cell research.

Representatives from leading drug companies, such as Pfizer Inc. and Merck & Co. Inc. , biotechs Amgen Inc. and Geron Corp. , as well as bankers and researchers, will meet at the Marriott hotel at Newark airport to discuss and formally launch the project.

The move follows a similar initiative in California, which is considering a $3 billion state bond to fund stem cell research, including work on embryonic stem cells, and coincides with an announcement by Harvard University that seven of the school's affiliated teaching hospitals and about 100 researchers are joining to explore new areas of stem cell research.

The U.S. government banned the use of federal funds for embryonic stem cell research i n 2001. Researchers are allowed to use only a limited number of stem cell lines that had been created using human embryos before the ban.

They are allowed, however, to conduct research using private funds. And there is no limit on the use of other sorts of stem cells, such as those found in bone marrow.

BREAKTHROUGH TREATMENTS

Embryonic stem cells are valued because they are progenitor cells that can develop into any cell type in the body. Researchers are hopeful that working with such cells may lead to medical breakthroughs in intractable conditions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

Critics oppose such research because the embryo is destroyed when cells are taken, and some fear the research will be used to create human clones.

There is no opposition to the use of adult stem cells and most scientists believe both routes should be explored.

Initiated by Cohen, a Democratic assemblyman from Union County, transplant surgeon G ary Friedman, and business consultant Warren Victor, the New Jersey Stem Cell Research Endowment Fund is a non-profit organization designed to connect researchers with funding sources such as pharmaceutical, biotechnology companies and investment banks.

The Fund, which aims to raise $3 billion, will be administered by trustees via a Web site to which drug companies or others seeking to engage in research projects can link up with promising research projects. Profits from therapies developed through the project will be shared according to contracts worked about between each research group.

"The aim is to bring the researchers up on the radar screen so they can be viewed by drug companies and biotechs, while at the same time letting drug and biotechs invest in stem cell research projects without building from scratch in their own organizations," said Cohen.

The move comes three months after New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey signed legislation encouraging ste m cell research. The law bans human cloning but allows for embryonic stem cell research for therapeutic purposes. (Additional reporting by Maggie Fox in Washington, D.C.)

[chubtoad]

http://www.scienceda...40426054211.htm

First Randomized Trial Of Adult Stem Cell Injections In Heart Failure Patients Shows Benefit

TORONTO, April 25 – Injections of adult stem cells into damaged heart tissue significantly improved heart function in patients with severe congestive heart failure, according to results of the first prospective randomized trial of the experimental therapy presented today at the American Association for Thoracic Surgery.

Amit Patel, M.D., from the Division of Cardiac Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and a faculty member of the university's McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and colleagues from the University of Pittsburgh, Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas and the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at the Benetti Foundation in Rosario, Argentina, say their findings provide the first convincing evidence that transplantation of adult stem cells that promote growth of blood vessels and heart muscle can be a viable treatment for congestive heart failure. While some previous studies have suggested benefit, results of these studies have been questioned due to the small number of patients studied and lack of comparison data from patients not receiving the therapy.

The idea behind the current multi-center trial and others is that stem cells introduced into a heart damaged from heart attack or chronic illness could feasibly differentiate into heart muscle cells and cells that promote new vessel growth, thereby improving the heart's ability to contract more effectively and restoring blood supply to the heart itself.

The study involved 20 patients with severe heart failure (New York Heart Association heart failure classification III and IV) who had ejection fractions less than 35 percent. Ejection fraction is a standard measure of heart function and is determined by the total amount of blood that the left ventricle pumps out per heart beat. A patient with good heart function has an ejection fraction of at least 55 percent. Each patient was scheduled for off-pump (beating heart) cardiac bypass surgery; 10 were randomized to also receive stem cells during surgery. The other 10 patients underwent the bypass operation alone. Each group consisted of eight men and two women.

After undergoing anesthesia, those selected to receive stem cells had bone marrow removed from their hipbones. While bypass surgery was taking place, the particular stem cells that influence blood vessel and heart muscle growth (CD34+ and CD45- cells) were isolated from other cells in the bone marrow. After the bypass was complete, in a process taking about 10 minutes, the surgeons then injected the cell preparation into 25 to 30 sites where muscle damage was apparent. Prior imaging studies guided the team to the specific injection sites and helped them avoid injecting vessels or inserting the needle too far into the walls of the heart's chambers.

Before surgery, the average ejection fraction in the patients randomized to bypass surgery alone was 30.7 percent with a range of 26 to 34 percent. The patients randomized to receive stem cells in addition to bypass surgery had an average ejection fraction of 29.4 percent before treatment, with a range of 23 to 34 percent.

At one-, three- and six-month follow-up, the ejection fraction rates for the stem cell patients were significantly improved compared to the other patients. At one month, the stem cell patients improved to an average ejection fraction of 42.1 percent (37 to 48 percent range); the patients who did not receive stem cells saw an improvement to 36.4 percent on average (33 to 40 percent range). Three months after surgery, the stem cell patients continued to improve with an average ejection fraction of 45.5 percent (42 to 50 percent range) compared to a rate of 36.5 percent in the other patients (33 to 43 percent range). At six months, the average ejection fraction rates were 46.1 and 37.2 percent, respectively, with ranges of 44 to 50 percent in the stem cell patients and 33 to 44 percent in the bypass alone group.

None of the patients experienced serious side effects or complications and there were no abnormal heart rhythms associated with the stem cell injections.

To evaluate cellular changes, the researchers examined tissue samples obtained before and after surgery to look for the presence of a protein marker of gap junctions, which are important for communication between cells. The marker, Connexin 43, is typically reduced in patients with heart failure. Six months after surgery, there was a notable increase in the marker in the patients who received stem cells compared to the patients who did not receive the cell transplant.

"We don't know if this increase was due to the growth of new heart muscle cells resulting from the stem cell injections or whether the stem cells coaxed existing cells to come out of hibernation," explained Dr. Patel.

"What we do know is that stem cell transplantation led to significant improvement in cardiac function in these patients undergoing off-pump bypass surgery. But, further investigation is needed to replicate these results, quantify the optimal timing of injection and to look at the cellular effects of the therapy," he added.

The 20 patients in the study underwent treatment at centers in South America. The researchers obtained the necessary institutional and government health agency approval to conduct the study and all patients provided informed consent. More than 40 patients have been enrolled in the multi-center trial. A separate study is underway for patients with inoperable congestive heart failure whereby stem cells are injected into the heart using a minimally invasive surgical technique. Two patients have undergone the procedure in Uruguay. The team also expects to perform the procedure soon in Palermo, Italy, at the Mediterranean Institute for Transplantation and Advanced Specialized Therapies, a program that is managed by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in partnership with the Sicilian government and the local health care community. In another study being planned to take place at the University of Pittsburgh, researchers will give stem cells to patients who are being implanted with heart assist devices. When a donor heart becomes available for transplantation, the native heart will be removed, allowing the rare opportunity to look at the heart in its entirety and to more closely examine the effects of the stem cells.

"These results encourage us to aggressively pursue cellular therapies as an option for congestive heart failure. It will revolutionize our approach, which is largely palliative, to one that is truly regenerative," said co-author Robert L. Kormos, M.D., professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and medical director of the University of Pittsburgh's McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

[Cyto]

Cells from adult bone marrow can be converted into brain stem cells for transplantation

Hope for people with Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, stroke and other neurodegenerative diseases may ultimately come from their own bodies. Research that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology 56th Annual Meeting in San Francisco, Calif., April 24 – May 1, 2004, shows that cells taken from adult human bone marrow can be converted into brain stem cells that meet the criteria for transplantation into the brain.
"It's exciting to think that some day a person with Alzheimer's disease could use their own bone marrow to create brain cells that could potentially restore their functioning and make up for cells that were lost," said study author and neurologist Alexander Storch, MD, of the University of Ulm in Ulm, Germany.

Use of the cells from adult human bone marrow, called stromal cells, eliminates the ethical and logistical issues that arise with the use of cells from fetal tissue, Storch said. And use of cells from bone marrow that would be converted and transplanted into the same person's brain eliminates ethical issues and immune-system problems that can arise when the body rejects cells from an outside source.

For the study, the researchers took the adult human bone marrow stromal cells and cultured them with growth factors.

Other benefits of this process are that the cells can be converted quickly – within a few weeks – and a small amount of bone marrow can produce a large amount of converted cells, Storch said.

More research is needed before the converted cells can be tested in humans. Animal studies are under way to explore the regenerative potential of the converted cells in animal models of acute and chronic neurodegenerative disorders, such as stroke and Parkinson's disease. The researchers also need to determine the best way to administer the cells into the brain.

[Cyto]

Molecular mechanism found that may improve ability of stem cells to fight disease

Adult stem cell transplantation offers great therapeutic potential for a variety of diseases due to their ability to replenish diseased cells and tissue. While they are unique in this ability, it remains a challenge to effectively treat disease long-term with stem cells because of our inability to grow them in the laboratory. Defining the molecular switch in the stem cell replication process, or cell cycle, is a key step to stimulating their growth for broader clinical use.

In the May issue of Nature Cell Biology, Tao Cheng, M.D., assistant professor, department of radiation oncology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and colleagues report the discovery of a molecular mechanism in the cell cycle that appears to impact the replicating ability of stem cells from bone marrow and blood to fight disease. They found that blood stem cells from mice missing a gene called p18 were much better able to multiply and grow. p18 is a molecule in a class of so-called "cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors" that are critical inhibitors of cell cycle control.

In the study, Dr. Cheng and his team isolated p18-deficient stem cells from mice and found that these cells were much more efficient at repopulating injured bone marrow tissue. As a result, they concluded that blocking the function of p18 may be a productive way to enhance the efficacy of stem cell transplantation as a treatment for diseases.

[chubtoad]

http://www.scienceda...40517073421.htm

NIH Launches Study Of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation For Severe, Treatment-Resistant Lupus

Researchers at the Department of Health and Human Services' National Institutes of Health (NIH) have launched a five-year study to see whether a therapy using transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells, blood stem cells found in bone marrow, can produce long-term remission for patients with severe, treatment-resistant systemic lupus erythematosus (or lupus), a rheumatic autoimmune disease that can affect the body's major organs. The study will include a basic research component to examine the roles of B and T cells, white blood cells in the immune system, in triggering lupus symptoms.

[chubtoad]

http://www.eurekaler...ect/biology.php

Stem cells toward sperm cells and back again

Experiments reverse cells' developmental course
In experiments with fruit flies, Johns Hopkins scientists have restored the insect's sperm-making stem cells by triggering cells on the way to becoming sperm to reverse course. The unexpected findings are described in the May 13 issue of Science.
Like all stem cells, the fruit fly's sperm-making stem cells can renew themselves or can develop into more specialized cells -- eventually sperm in this case. While a few types of fairly specialized cells can naturally revert to their stem cell origins at times -- think regrowth of salamanders' lost limbs -- the researchers' experiments document what is thought to be one the first clear examples of an artificially triggered reversal of cell fate in an adult creature.

"With a few exceptions, it is thought that once cells start down the path toward specialization, they can't go back," says Erika Matunis, Ph.D., assistant professor of cell biology in Hopkins' Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences. "But we've clearly shown in fruit flies that lost sperm-making stem cells can be replaced, not by replication of remaining stem cells, but by reversal of more specialized cells."

The Hopkins team studied fruit flies whose "don't-specialize" signal for stem cells can be turned on or off by changing the temperature around them. In experiments to examine what happens when the signal is turned off and then turned back on, second-year graduate student Crista Brawley discovered that cells that are two steps -- but not more -- away from their stem cell origins can revert to the more primitive state.

[Lazarus Long]

I was tempted to put this with Rat Tales but it really belongs here. Another link comes together if this process is confirmed. It is one that you have all heard me suggest before and involves a powerful new source of revenue to support cryogenics. You folks that have access to the actual text of the Scientific papers might try to get some of the details to share here.

http://story.news.ya...y_stem_cells_dc

German Doctors Say They Create New Stem-Cell Method
Fri May 28, 2:29 PM ET Science - Reuters

BERLIN (Reuters) - German scientists said Friday they had developed a "pioneering" method of extracting stem cells from the human body that could render obsolete the controversial practice of harvesting the cells from embryos.

Researchers at the Frauenhofer Institute and the University of Luebeck succeeded in extracting cells from human and rat glandular tissue that have similar properties to embryonic stem cells, the institute said in a statement. Researchers said they took cells from a 74-year-old person and a rat that were extremely stable, and easily multiplied them and conserved them by freezing.

"An easily accessible source for the extraction of highly potent stem cells has been discovered, in almost any vertebrate but also in the human body, regardless of sex and age," the institute said.

Stem cells are master cells in the body that have the capability to transform into new cells or tissue. They can be taken from adults and discarded umbilical cords but those from embryos are considered especially valuable as each one has the potential to become any sort of cell or tissue.

Researchers believe they may offer a revolutionary way to repair diseased and damaged body tissues and could be used in the treatment of diseases such as cancer and Parkinson's.

But anti-abortion groups and other opponents who believe life begins at conception argue that the harvesting of cells from embryos violates the unborn baby's human rights.

[Cyto]

Mouse brain stem cells capable of converting into blood vessel cells

Adult stem cells in the brain were proposed to be restricted to the generation of neurons and cells, such as glial cells, that support neuron function. Experiments over the past several years have raised the possibility that stem cells from the brain may be able to give rise to additional cell types, a phenomenon known as plasticity. But recent findings have challenged this theory, suggesting that many of these stem cells merely merge or "fuse" with an existing cell within a tissue forming a hybrid that takes on the pre-existing cell's functions.

"Resolving this issue is important because fused cells may have a different therapeutic potential than stem cells that differentiate into new cells, says Bradley C. Wise, Ph.D., of the NIA's Neuroscience and Neuropsychology of Aging Program. "While this new finding doesn't fully answer this vital question, it keeps open the possibility that adult stem cells from different organs one day may be harnessed to help prevent and treat neurological disorders."

In their experiments, Gage and his colleagues grew mouse brain stem cells, which form neurons and glial cells, in the same culture dishes with human endothelial cells, which form the lining of blood vessels. Over time, about 6 percent of the mouse neural stem cells began to show signs that they had developed into cells similar to endothelial cells. The new cells expressed CD146, Flk-1 and VE Cadherin, protein markers that are associated with endothelial cells. They also retained a single nucleus and had only mouse chromosomes, suggesting they had converted into a different type of cell rather than merged with an existing human endothelial cell. Similar results were seen when these same neural stem cells were transplanted into the brains of mice early in development.

Link

[chubtoad]

http://www.nature.co...l/040726-7.html

Ronald Reagan's son speaks on embryonic research at political convention.
John Kerry could increase embryonic stem-cell research.
© SPL

The embryonic stem-cell debate was centre-stage last night at the US Democratic National Convention, in Boston, Massachusetts. It seems that presidential candidate John Kerry and his supporters are eager to focus on the issue.

Ron Reagan, son of former US president Ronald Reagan, spoke about the importance of stem-cell research, calling it, "what may be the greatest medical breakthrough in our, or any, lifetime". He decried partisanship on the issue, and ended his speech with an exhortation for Americans to choose between "reason and ignorance, between true compassion and mere ideology" and to "cast a vote for embryonic stem-cell research".

[Richard Leis]

Cloning Experiment Shows Cancer Reversible - Report - Reuters


Researchers have reset malignant tumor cells into stem cells that were then used to create mouse embryos, some of which successfully grew into healthy adult mice, according to a new study "Reprogramming of a melanoma genome by nuclear transplantation" published in the August 1, 2004 edition of the journal Genes and Development. The stem cells derived from the tumor cells were found to have spread throughout most of the tissues in the mouse. When the genes for the cancer were turned back on the tumors developed more rapidly than in normal mice.

The finding appears to prove several things, such as:

* cancer can be "turned off" even though the specific genes involved cannot be corrected;
* mature cells, even those that are malignant, can be reverted into stem cells; and
* the body is capable of reversing cancer.

Despite this success, experimentation with human stem cells using federal funding is prohibited in the United States. The idea that stem cells from embryos are a commodity to be used in experimentation is repellent to those who do not hold a materialistic view of the universe. In the meantime, the people most likely to benefit from such research continue to suffer and die from cancer and other diseases.

[DJS]

It would seem to me that ESC is the only cell type which has been demonstrated to be pluripotent. Also, it possess the greater proliferation capability (300+ generations vs. 70-80 generations for EGC). In light of this, what is the purpose of dividing research efforts between ESC and other cell types? Hasn't ESC been proven superior in every measurable way, or are there potential advantages to ASC and EGC which I am missing? Is the lack of primary emphasis on ESC a direct result of political interdiction and its effect on public research funding, or is there a method to the madness?