stem cell therapy for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis
Stem Cell Therapy Improves Symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis
Mesenchymal stem cells are proving to have significant effects on a variety of autoimmune type of problems such as rheumatoid, osteoarthritis, Lupus, colitis, mixed connective tissue disease, scleroderma, etc. Good improvement in osteoarthritis has also been seen with the intravenous administration of primitive hematopoietic stem cells (CD34+CD133+).
In general, the best results are thought to occur with the direct administration of the cells directly into the joint(s) or immediately around the joint. Osteoarthritic joints where there is no longer cartilage have also shown improvement with administration of cord stem cells directly into the joint.
There are a number of advantages to using human umbilical cord stem cells that do not require immune suppression and which can help balance immune function by changing the genetics of the immune reactive cells. Several patients diagnosed with stroke or other conditions who received cord stem cells in Mexico reported that their arthritis pain subsided.
There is also an increased risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis which may be in part due to reduced numbers of endothelial progenitor cells circulating in the peripheral blood. Providing cord stem cells to RA patients may help reduce cardiovascular risk as well as reduce joint damage.
In addition to stem cell therapies, the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis requires a comprehensive program that includes detoxification and nutritional therapies. In addition, there are also pulsating magnetic beds available that can stimulate bone remodeling and help to correct structural abnormalities associated with severe osteoarthritis of the spine.
ariginal article: http://www.stemcelltherapies.org/umresearch/arthritis.html
human embryonic stem cell research for what ? j bush is all answer.
let see
Bill could increase umbilical blood use
Advocate say state supply source needed
umbilical cord blood stem cell storage
A bill that would lay the foundation for the state's first public umbilical cord blood bank soared through the state legislature this week.
AB 34, authored by Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-La Canada Flintridge, was approved unanimously by the Assembly on Wednesday. In the Senate, it was supported 79 to 1.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has until Oct. 12 to sign the bill into law. He has not taken a position on it, and his office declined to comment on the bill Friday or say when he might considered it.
"Certainly the need is there," Portantino said of establishing a cord blood bank.
Right now, he said, "we're not harvesting cord blood, we're not saving the lives we should be saving."
Research has suggested that as many as 70 diseases could be treated with the stem cells extracted from umbilical cord blood.
Although private cord blood banks exist in the state, they are costly and cannot meet all of the growing demand, Portantino said.
"Not all patients do find a unit (of blood) in a timely manner," said Joseph Rosenthal, director of pediatric hematopoietic cell transplantation at City of Hope in Duarte.
One of his patients, a child of mixed African-American
Advocate say state supply source needed
By Elise Kleeman, Staff Writer
Original Article From : http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_6902971
image:www..georgiapainphysicians.com
Megan Ogilvie
Health Reporter
A Toronto-led team of researchers has found a way to use stem cells derived from skin to treat spinal cord injuries in rats.
The finding lends promise to the idea that stem cells could one day be used to heal spinal cord injuries in humans, helping thousands of Canadians to walk again.
Injured rats injected with skin-derived stem cells regained mobility and had better walking co-ordination, according to the study published yesterday in the Journal of Neuroscience. The skin-derived stem cells, injected directly into the injured rats' spinal cords, were able to survive in their new location and set off a flurry of activity, helping to heal the cavity in the cord.
Freda Miller, a senior scientist at The Hospital for Sick Children and lead author of the study, said skin-derived stem cells have some advantages over other stem cell types. Scientists who use skin to generate stem cells do not need to use embryos, for example, and skin-derived stem cells can potentially be harvested from patients themselves, she said.
"You can imagine a scenario for people with spinal cord injuries, that maybe, just maybe, we could take a piece of their skin, grow the cells up and transplant them (the patient) with their own cells," she said. "You wouldn't have to give them immunosuppressive drugs. That's a tremendous clinical advantage if it comes true."
Miller and her colleagues from The Hospital for Sick Children and the University of British Columbia have been exploring the possibilities of using skin to derive stem cells since 2001.
Over the course of their research, the team found that skin-derived stem cells share characteristics with embryonic neural stem cells, which generate the nervous system. They also showed skin-derived stem cells can produce Schwann cells, a cell type that creates a good growth environment to repair injured central nervous system axons – the long nerve cell fibres that conduct electrical impulses between nerves – and that these Schwann cells put down myelin along the injured spinal cord. Like the insulation around an electrical cord, myelin wraps around nerves, creating a sheath that helps quickly conduct nerve impulses.
Miller said the next step was to see whether transplanting the Schwann cells directly into spinal cords would help treat injured rats.
To test their hypothesis, Miller and her team generated stem cells from the skin of rats and mice and forced them to differentiate into Schwann cells, which were then transplanted into the rats. After 12 weeks, the rats were able to walk better, with more co-ordination.
Miller said the cells thrived within the injured spinal cord. Before treatment, the injured rats had a cavity in their spinal cord, a result of their injury. But after treatment, Miller said the Schwann cells had created a bridge that spanned the cavity, and helped nerves grow through the bridge.
The next step is to see whether stem cells derived from human skin can produce similar results.
"We are highly encouraged," said Miller.
An Original artical from :
New Leukemia Treatment In US begins with stem cell for first clinical trial.
0 ความคิดเห็น ที่ 00:41
Ultimately, the researchers hope the experimental cellular therapy will improve overall survival rates for blood cancer patients as well as offer a potential new paradigm for treating autoimmune diseases.
Image: www.grtl.org
"Toward our quest of making transplants even safer for adults and children with leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and other blood and marrow disorders, we are exploring the possibility of using T-regs to enhance the rate of blood and marrow recovery and reduce the risks of graft-versus-host disease, a complication that affects more than 60 percent of patients," said Claudio Brunstein, M.D., principal investigator of the study.
T-regs are a type of lymphocyte, or white blood cell that normally regulates the body's immune responses. In the case of transplant, donor T-regs may suppress the recipient's immune system so that the healthy donor's blood-forming stem cells and immune cells can grow, helping ward off life-threatening graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD). GVHD occurs when the immune cells within the donated cells attack the body of the transplant recipient. GVHD causes one-third of deaths after transplant.
Researchers have proven in animal models that infusing T-regs after transplant increases the chance of blood and marrow recovery and decreases the risk of GVHD.
"Once we identified that T-regs were highly effective in mouse models, we then spent three years finding ways to make this therapy valuable for transplant patients and potentially useful for patients with autoimmune diseases," said Bruce Blazar, M.D., director of the Center for Translational Medicine at the University.
The T-regs in this study are isolated from umbilical cord blood (blood collected from the placenta or afterbirth after the birth of a child) because they occur in higher frequency than what is typically found in most adults and are easier to expand in culture prior to treatment. This is the first human clinical trial in the world that uses T-regs derived from umbilical cord blood.
This trial is designed to find the highest possible safe dose of T-regs in immune suppressed patients undergoing a double umbilical cord blood transplant for leukemia, other blood cancer, or bone marrow failure. From data in animal models, University researchers believe there will be no acute side effects with the T-regs.
If the data in humans mimics animal models, T-regs will be a powerful therapy to prevent GVHD and enhance engraftment in transplant patients. Once safety and efficacy data are known, researchers hope to test T-regs for treatment of various autoimmune diseases, such as type I diabetes and multiple sclerosis. University researchers hypothesize that if T-regs are transplanted early in the life of the disease, the cells may help prevent disease progression.
"This is an exciting time. In the near future, I anticipate being able to combine immune cell populations, like T-regs, that stop immune reactions responsible for autoimmune diseases like diabetes, and immune responses to stem cell infusion given to repair already damaged tissues. This brings great hope not only for adults and children with cancer but many other diseases as well. At the close of this clinical trial, we hope to go right to our first clinical trial with T-regulatory cells in the treatment of newly diagnosed diabetes," said John E. Wagner, M.D., director of the pediatric hematology-oncology and blood and marrow transplantation program at the University of Minnesota.
This study is funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the National Marrow Donor Program, and the Children's Cancer Research Fund.
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by University of Minnesota.
And the original Article from http://www.sciencedaily.com/
Stem cells have the unique characteristic of "plasticity" -- they have the ability to give rise to all of the different tissues of the human body. In general, stem cells have two distinguishing characteristics: They are unspecialized, in that they can clone themselves without limit; and they can differentiate into many cell types with specific functions.
Recently, scientists have discovered that human adipose (fat) tissue has a higher concentration of adult stem cells than any other tissue in the body. In fact, a given volume of adipose tissue contains 1,000 times more stem cells than the same volume of bone marrow -- 500 mL of fat can yield approximately 200 million stem cells. Stem cells have many unique applications in science and medicine, but this is the first time, protein extract derived from stem cells are used in the field of cosmetic dermatology.
In July 2007, facial and scalp rejuvenate therapies using AAPE was introduced at The Sloane Clinic in Singapore. AAPE (advanced adipose-derived stem cell protein extract) is a mixture of refined growth factor proteins that is extracted from human adipose-derived stem cells. AAPE uses proteins or chemical messengers that are extracted from stem cells found in human fat tissue. These messengers, when deposited or absorbed into the skin or scalp if that were the case, would then send a signal to cells in the skin teaching them to regenerate.
a very simplistic way, we are basically using this product to tell your skin to be young again," says Dr. Low Chai Ling, Aesthetic Physician of The Sloane Clinic, Singapore, one of the first doctors in Singapore to offer this treatment to her patients with overwhelming response.
"These AAPE cells are extracted from human adipocytes (fat cells) during the process of lipoaspiration (fat suction) and they contain the maximal number of stem cells in the human body. By cultivating these regenerative cells in test-tubes, we can establish cell lines which will serve as a reservoir of stem cells for anti-ageing and aesthetic therapies far superior than traditional methods of synthetic chemicals," she added.
Stem Cell as a Therapy
Stem-cell therapy can be viewed as a way to restore embryonic potential to a patient's aged or damaged cells. The goal of stem-cell therapy in aesthetic surgery would be to regenerate aging tissue. (of the face or scalp)
AAPE is the protein messengers extracted from these stem cells, and hence AAPE have the innate ability to rearrange, change, or repair local tissues significantly and rapidly. One of the most promising uses for AAPE may be the regeneration of facial fat that has been lost through the natural aging process -- facial fat atrophy. AAPE to could not only replace lost facial volume, but may also be able to rejuvenate the face by regenerating the skin from the inside out.
AAPE on the scalp can also help with the regeneration of ageing hair follicles and help stimulate hair growth and reverse the effects of balding without the need for hair transplant surgery.
A session will take about 30 minutes with multiple tiny punctures and most will begin to see the effects from your 3rd session onwards. Most patients will do a series of 6 sessions initially to prime their skin for long lasting anti-ageing effects.
"As you know, no treatment is able to freeze time as our bodies and skin is subjected to many environmental assaults daily, but this treatment certainly comes close," says Dr. Low Chai Ling.
Safety and Efficacy
AAPE which is the growth factors derived from stem cells harvested from human fat cells have been certified safe by CTFA (Cosmetic. Toiletry and Fragrance Association) as an approved cosmetic ingredient (Sep/13/2006). It has also been registered with INCI as human adipocyte conditioned media extract. This product is patented. (Patent registration number: PCT/KR2006/004111).
Stem Cell Facial and Scalp Therapy -- Miracle Facial?
Overall, stem cells raise the prospect of regenerating the aging face from the inside out, and thereby have the potential to change the entire practice of facial rejuvenation in the future. Stem Cell Facial Therapy for anti-ageing and intense facial rejuvenation purposes (reduction in wrinkles, pigmentation, evening of skin colour, closure of pores and softening and tightening ) costs around USD$600* per session. Stem Cell Scalp Therapy to regrow hair and reverse balding costs around USD$550*. Hair regrowth is usually seen in 6 sessions, 2 weeks apart.
For most, this is a leap in aesthetic advancement that is going to revolutionalize the cosmetic industry. And this will bring people a step closer to their anti-ageing ideal with the least amount of effort in the long run.
After all, pretty is what you are born with. But beautiful, that's an equal opportunity.
*Prices accurate at time of print but may be subjected to change.
Dr. Low Chai Ling is an aesthetic physician and the medical director of The Sloane Clinic, Singapore.
For more information on this and other treatment, please visit www.sloaneclinic.com
For general enquiries, please email enquiries @sloaneclinic.com
For press and media enquiries, please email marcom @sloaneclinic.com
This original article from: www.prweb.com
LONDON (AP) — British authorities ruled Wednesday that research using animal eggs to create human stem cells could go forward in principle.
The Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority decided to allow the research, which involves placing human DNA into cow or rabbit eggs that have had their genetic material removed. According to the ruling, projects would be decided on a case-by-case basis, said Paula Woodward, a spokeswoman for the regulator.
Experts have said such research, which is currently under way in the United States and China, is critical to unlocking treatments for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other genetic diseases. Scientists want to use animal eggs because the supply of human eggs is limited.
However, the research has raised ethical worries. The involvement of animals has caused concern among the public, while right-to-life advocates fear it could lead ultimately to genetically modified babies - despite the fact that the studies being considered would only allow development of eggs for a few days.
The research involves taking a cow or rabbit egg which no longer has its own DNA and injecting human genetic material. The egg is induced to divide, becoming a very early embryo from which stem cells could be extracted.
Some experts questioned whether residual animal traces might contaminate human DNA, thus invalidating the stem cell experiments.
Advocates of the research insist it would be a human embryo made in the shell of an animal egg, though a minute amount of animal genes remain. The resulting egg contains 13 animal genes compared with some 20,000-25,000 human genes.
Dr. David King, director of the independent watchdog group Human Genetics Alert, said allowing such research to go forward would be the first step toward producing genetically modified babiesThe original article can be found at The Canadian Press
Recently, we told you about eight-month-old Jackson Blackford who was born blind because of a rare condition.
He is on his way to China to receive treatment that uses umbilical cord stem cell injections from healthy babies.
Although this isn't a new procedure, many people aren't aware that pregnant mothers even have this option because there aren't many public cord blood registries available.
We have the story of an area girl whose life was saved because of a simple donation that in many cases gets thrown away.
Take one look at nine-year-old Presley Nash in her Tae Kwon Do class, and it's hard to believe she was born with a genetic disorder that usually results in premature death.
It has been five years since she's received a life saving cord blood transplant and all she has now are happy memories.
"I get to see all my teachers and friends and run and play," Nash said.
But her grandmother Martha Houchin will never forget.
"Presley was close to death many times and I bargained and said I will educate the world about cord blood," Houchin assured.
She's an O.B. educator for The Medical Center and said it's so easy and painless to donate your baby's umbilical cord blood.
A public registry will pick it up free of charge or you can save your own through a private registry.
"The cord blood has stem cells and these stem cells can basically reproduce within the body," Houchin said.
Stem cells Presley received created an enzyme her body didn't produce on its own.
So by creating a whole new system, she is now completely free of this disease and doesn't need any medication.
Houchin said cord blood transplants are also being used for other illnesses such as leukemia, Alzheimer's and spinal cord injuries.
"With bone marrow, eight out of eight markers have to match, with cord blood only five have to match," she continued.
For Presley, it's another Tae Kwon Do class.
But for Martha, it's another day to spread the word and save a life.
Houchin said it takes a very small amount of blood from the umbilical cord to generate a whole new system in your body.
Reporter: Fida Georges
The original article can be found at http://www.wbko.com/
Stem Cells help California native
Twelve months ago David Traub fromWoodland Hills, California, was told by his cardiologist that it was doubtful he would survive the trip to Thailand for adult stem cell therapy for his heart failure.
As David sat in the waiting room recently after a scheduled check-up, he was told that the doctor wanted to speak with him. Naturally David was a little alarmed and wondered what could have gone wrong. After all he had a long history of hospitalizations and treatment for his cardiomyopathy and coronary artery disease. He was used to hearing depressing news concerning his deteriorating health, but he continued to be hopeful that he could be helped.
The cardiologist came, “Running in with eyes wide,” in David’s words, and said, “David, all of your test results are normal. Not normal ‘for you’, but normal. Your heart has revascularized itself. It has to be the stem cell treatment because the left side of your heart now has a normal blood flow.”
Formerly this cardiologist was at the best doubtful and the David described him as “mostly negative, a real doubting Thomas” about any possible benefits from adult stem cell therapy. “Not any more,” said David.
David’s therapy consisted of having about half a pint of his own blood removed in Bangkok’s prestigious Bangkok Heart Hospital. This blood was flown to Theravitae’s laboratory where the therapeutic stem cells were isolated and multiplied many times before being injected directly into the heart muscle via a small incision in the chest wall.
Not only did David survive the trip half way around the world but he returned home to find, “The peaks were higher and the valley’s not as deep”. He still has problems due to an enlarged heart from cardiomyopathy but he is happy to wait a while longer knowing that his heart now has a richer blood supply compared with before stem cell treatment, so it is working normally rather than struggling. His partner, family and cardiologist share the excitement of proof that adult stem cell therapy has the ability to improve the blood supply to the heart muscle itself.
Millions of coronary heart disease patients will be able to benefit when cardiologists, like this patient’s, change their tune and give them the realistic and proven effective option of adult stem cell therapy instead of a death sentence.
About TheraVitae:
TheraVitae is a private, multinational company focused on using stem cells from the patient’s own blood in order to treat a variety of disorders, especially cardiovascular diseases. The company has developed a proprietary stem cell technology, ‘VesCell’, that is currently being used by hospitals in Thailand and Singapore to treat patients with heart disease and peripheral artery disease.
VesCell — A Natural Treatment for Heart Disease and Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD)
The body has natural ways of healing itself and the cardiovascular system is no exception. Angiogenic Cell Precursors (ACPs) originate in bone marrow and then circulate in the blood vessels. To manufacture VesCell, TheraVitae expands a small number of ACPs harvested from about 250cc of blood into a therapeutic quantity. VesCell is injected either through a coronary artery via catheter, or during surgery, directly into the heart muscle.
A key aspect of VesCell therapy is the advanced cell isolation and expansion technique that allows for the ACPs to be harvested from blood collected in a procedure similar to a common blood donation. VesCell uses a patient’s own adult stem cells to treat Heart Disease and PAD and is a viable therapeutic possibility for heart or PAD patients without any other treatment option.
Los Angeles, CA 9/5/2007 7:25 AM GMT (TransWorldNews - Top Story)
mailto:jerry@theravitae.com?subject=Cardiologist changes tune on adult stem cells
http://www.vescell.com/
The original article can be found at http://www.vescell.com/
Report proposes structure for national network of cord blood stem cell banks, USA
0 ความคิดเห็น ที่ 04:26
Blood from umbilical cords -- a byproduct of normal childbirth -- is a good source of hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs), the type of stem cells also found in bone marrow that give rise to various kinds of blood cells. Transplants of these stem cells have saved the lives of roughly 20,000 Americans with leukemia, lymphoma, sickle cell anemia, and several other illnesses in recent years, the report notes. But thousands of patients who might benefit from a transplant die every year waiting for a match. Although 22 public banks have been established in the United States to collect, store, and distribute donated cord blood containing these cells, these banks operate without any centralized coordination, noted the committee that wrote the report.
"The lack of centralized organization, universal quality standards, and uniform matching mechanisms makes it more difficult than it has to be for physicians to provide patients with suitable cells in a timely way," said Kristine Gebbie, associate professor of nursing and director of the Center for Health Policy and Doctoral Studies Columbia University, New York City, and chair of the committee that wrote the report. "Moreover, there simply aren't enough units of cord blood available now to meet the needs of the roughly 11,700 Americans who could benefit from a transplant of these cells every year. The structure we are recommending for a national cord blood banking program would assure that patients receive high-quality therapeutic cells in the most timely, ethical, and cost-effective manner possible."
Three-quarters of the patients who require a transplant of HPCs do not have a relative whose cells would be a suitable match and must turn to public bone marrow donor registries or umbilical cord blood banks for donated cells. By increasing the size and quality of the cord blood inventory, nearly 90 percent of all patients who need a transplant should be able to find a suitable match from either cord blood banks or marrow donor registries, the report says.
The new National Cord Blood Policy Board should be established at the level of the office of the DHHS secretary to ensure that it is distanced from the day-to-day concerns of other parts of the department responsible for managing relationships with and funding for bone marrow donor programs and cord blood programs, the committee urged. The board should routinely review the results of cord blood stem cell transplants and guide DHHS and the cord blood banking program on procedures and standards for banking and allocation and on any changes to the inventory of cord blood units.
Decisions about which source of HPCs to tap must be made on a case-by-case basis and driven by the patient's needs, the report notes. To that end, the board should actively encourage collaboration between marrow donor registries and cord blood banks, as well as support cord blood banking's emergence as a transplant option.
Although the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) and other organizations have developed several of the components necessary to manage daily coordination of banking and allocation on a large scale, no organization currently has all the necessary capabilities to serve as the Cord Blood Coordinating Center, the committee concluded. HRSA officials should use a competitive process to solicit proposals and identify an organization to take on this function. NMDP and other organizations would have an opportunity to present plans for ensuring that all the necessary elements are in place to link participating transplant centers and cord blood banks; establish standards for cord blood storage and matching; and make sure that data on the results of transplants are available for decision-making and quality assurance. Although the new center would coordinate these various activities, it need not assume all of these functions itself, the report says.
The majority of funding available for the national cord blood bank program should be targeted to expanding the inventories of participating banks. Based on the current estimate that 50,000 useable units of cord blood are now available through public banks and the NMDP, the committee projects a need for at least 100,000 more high-quality units. The larger the inventory, the greater the likelihood that a patient will be matched to a suitable unit and receive an optimal dose of cells, although the costs of collecting and storing cord blood also must be considered. The point at which the costs of banking cord blood exceed the benefits for the patient population is 200,000 units, according to an economic analysis conducted for the study.
Cord blood banks should strive to provide units with a high-enough concentration of stem cells to make up for imperfect matches between donor and recipient -- a frequent occurrence, the report notes. The more closely surface markers on donated cells match those on a patient's own cells, the less likely that the patient's body will reject the transplant. In many cases, a mismatch of one or two degrees is the best that can be found in public banks. Patients for whom an ideal match cannot be located should receive units that contain at least 2.5 x 107 cells per kilogram of body weight, the report says. When perfect matches can be found, cell concentration is less important.
For many racial and ethnic minority patients, it is difficult or impossible to find suitable matches because many cord blood collections are not ethnically and racially diverse. The committee's own survey determined that 62 percent of the current total inventory in the United States came from white donors, 15 percent from Hispanics, 7 percent from African-Americans, 5 percent from Asians, 5 percent from mixed race donors, and 1 percent from American Indians. However, individual cord blood banks have achieved greater diversity through geographically targeted collection efforts and other means, the report notes.
This study was sponsored by the Health Resources and Services Administration. The Institute of Medicine is a private, nonprofit institution that provides health policy advice under a congressional charter granted to the National Academy of Sciences. A committee roster follows.
A pre-publication version of CORD BLOOD: ESTABLISHING A NATIONAL HEMATOPOIETIC STEM CELL BANK PROGRAM is available from the National Academies Press; tel. (202) 334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242 or on the Internet at HTTP://WWW.NAP.EDU. Reporters may obtain a pre-publication copy from the Office of News and Public Information (contacts listed above).
The cells from newborn babies can treat leukemia and other diseases of the immune system, but only two percent of the city's 150,000 newborns delivered last year donated umbilical cord blood.
Currently, hospitals don't ask new mothers whether they want to keep, donate or throw away the umbilical cord blood, officials told a science forum on cord blood technology in Shanghai yesterday.
"Twenty-nine states in the United States are making or have made rules on the issue. For instance, doctors in Arizona must ask parents' plans for umbilical cord blood starting this year," said Zheng Bin, an official from Shanghai Cord Blood Bank. "It is a very meaningful method to promote the awareness of cord blood use."
According to him, the bank only collected 3,000 samples for private storage or donation in 2006.
So far, the bank has established links with some 30 local hospitals offering maternity services to provide information on cord blood storage and donation.
"Less than 40 percent of pregnant women have heard of umbilical cord blood," Zheng said. "Even many doctors or health officials are ignorant on the issue."
According to experts, cord blood and bone marrow transplants are used in similar ways. The key ingredient in both is stem cells that give rise to all other cells in the body, including blood and immune cells.
But stem cells in cord blood are less mature than those in adult bone marrow, so there is less rejection by the recipient.
"The chances of finding an acceptable matching donor for a patient is 50 to 100 times higher with umbilical cord blood compared to bone marrow," said Gao Feng, a member of an expert panel on cord blood under the Ministry of Health.
About 40,000 to 50,000 Chinese are diagnosed with leukemia every year. Only one percent of patients are able to receive a stem cell transplant because of the difficulty of finding a matching donor.
"Cord blood is an important alternative for patients to find a matched sample," said Zheng. "Researchers are using stem cells to treat leukemia, spinal injuries and cardiac muscle injuries. In Japan, half of patients get samples from the cord blood bank and half get donations from a bone marrow bank."
Embryonic stem cells treated with growth factor reverse hemophilia in mice
Mouse embryonic stem cells treated in culture with a growth factor and then injected into the liver reverse a form of hemophilia in mice analogous to hemophilia B in humans, the new study shows. A report of the study appears in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences today (Feb. 15).
The genetically altered mice lack the clotting substance factor IX, which in humans results in the hereditary bleeding disorder known as hemophilia B. This disease, much less common than hemophilia A, affects roughly one of every 35,000 people, primarily males.
Although embryonic stem, or ES, cells can differentiate into most cell types in the body, numerous problems have arisen in translating their potential into therapeutic strategies, the UNC School of Medicine study authors reported.
These problems include poor engraftment, limited function, rejection of engrafted cells by the immune system and teratomas, tumors involving a mixture of tissue not normally found at that site.
The new study used a line of mouse ES cells developed in the laboratory of senior co-author Dr. Oliver Smithies, Excellence professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at UNC.
A member of the National Academy of Sciences, Smithies has won many honors for gene targeting, a technique he pioneered. This technique allows for the development of mice with specific genetic mutations that mimic human illnesses such as hemophilia. In 2001, Smithies received the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, often called "America's Nobel."
In the study, ES cells were treated with fibroblast growth factor for seven days prior to injection. As expected, this resulted in ES cells differentiating into early endoderm like precursors, which the researchers named "putative endoderm precursors," or PEPs. Endoderm refers to the inner layer of early embryonic cells that develops into the digestive and respiratory systems.
"Not only do ES cells differentiate into PEPs, they also engraft, persist, differentiate further and then function following injection, resulting in the persistent production of factor IX protein that can only come from a hepatocyte (liver cell) and hemophilia reversal," said study lead author Dr. Jeffrey H. Fair, associate professor of surgery and division chief of abdominal transplant surgery.
Moreover, he said, the PEP cells robustly engraft within the liver and were not recognized by the immune system as foreign.
"Within a few weeks, PEPs became hepatocytes," Fair added. "They went from something that is a very early grandparent of the hepatocyte to becoming hepatocytes. After 115 days, nearly four months after injection, mice still produced factor IX without immune suppression. This occurred even in mice that were a complete immunologic tissue mismatch to the PEPs. In addition, the incidence of teratomas was low."
The researchers believe this study demonstrates the power of multidisciplinary collaboration, said co-lead author Dr. Bruce A. Cairns, assistant professor of surgery and director of research in the N.C. Jaycee Burn Center. "This approach may not only be beneficial, but required in order to solve complex problems such as these in medicine."
Although a number of questions need to be answered, this work has great potential for future applications, not only as a novel therapeutic possibility for hemophilia but also for other genetic or acquired diseases of the liver, said senior co-author Dr. Jeffery A. Frelinger, Kenan professor and chairman of microbiology and immunology.
"The data published in this study shows that embryonic stem cells partially differentiated, are able to remain in the liver and be functional without apparent immunological rejection. This transforms them into possible candidates for cellular transplantation into the liver."
Along with Fair, Cairns, Smithies and Frelinger, co-authors from the department of surgery are Dr. Michael A. LaPaglia, Dr. Montserrat Caballero, Dr. Anthony A. Meyer (chairman) and W. Andrew Pleasant. From the department of pathology and laboratory medicine are Drs. Seigo Hatada and Hyung-suk Kim. From the College of Arts and Sciences' department of biology are Drs. Tong Gui and Darrel W. Stafford; and from the department of genetics, Dr. Larysa Pevny.
The research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the N.C. Jaycee Burn Center.
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