Scientists are making headway in exploring the potential future use of stem cells to treat heart disease, according to a review article in the current issue of Nature (June 29, 2006). Authored by Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease Director Deepak Srivastava, MD, and Gladstone Institutes postdoctoral scholar Kathryn Ivey, PhD, the paper cites a better understanding of the following areas of research: > the developmental processes within the heart that can be reproduced using pluripotent embryonic stem cells (thes... lire la suite
Scientists are making headway in exploring the potential future use of stem cells to treat heart disease, according to a review article in the current issue of Nature (June 29, 2006). Authored by Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease Director Deepak Srivastava, MD, and Gladstone Institutes postdoctoral scholar Kathryn Ivey, PhD, the paper cites a better understanding of the following areas of research:
Filed under: Type 1, Type 2, Childhood, Adult Onset, Research, Care, Complications Diabetic foot complications are responsible for many lower extremity amputations. But this last drastic step can be prevented up to 85 percent of the time with early diagnosis and proper care. Now Thai researchers and physicians have shown using a patient's own stem cells can effectively heal chronic foot wounds.
Acclaimed stem cell researcher Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD, has reported that he and his Kyoto University colleagues have successfully reprogrammed human adult cells to function like pluripotent embryonic stem (ES) cells. Because it circumvents much of the controversy and restrictions regarding generation of ES cells from human embryos, this breakthrough, reported in the journal Cell, should accelerate the pace of stem cell research.
Scientists have discovered a new source of stems cells and have used them to create muscle, bone, fat, blood vessel, nerve and liver cells in the laboratory. The first report showing the isolation of broad potential stem cells from the amniotic fluid that surrounds developing embryos was published in Nature Biotechnology.
With ethical issues concerning use of discarded embryos and technical problems hindering development of stem cell therapies, scientists in Korea are reporting the first successful use of a drug-like molecule to transform human muscle cells into nerve cells. Their report, scheduled for the August 8 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, a weekly journal, states that the advance could lead to new treatments for stroke, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and other neurological disorders.
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers have identified potential ovarian cancer stem cells, which may be behind the difficulty of treating these tumors with standard chemotherapy. Understanding more about the stem-like characteristics of these cells could lead to new approaches to treating ovarian cancer, which kills more than 16,000 U.
From Minneapolis: June 7, 2008 The treatment uses umbilical and marrow cells to help develop normal skin. Doctors say it may move his genetic disorder, recessive epidermolysis bullosa, ‘off the incurable list’ for other patients. Using stem cells from umbilical cord blood and bone marrow, researchers have apparently cured a fatal genetic disease in a 2-year-old Minneapolis boy, which could open the door for other stem cell treatments.
Putting on weight and feeling lethargic? Then new research from Newcastle University and funded by Gateshead NHS Foundation Trust shows it is worth having your thyroid levels checked – as these can be symptoms of thyroid disease which is easily identified and treated. Known medically as sub clinical hypothyroidism, it is characterised by a shortage of the hormone thyroxine and often precedes an underactive thyroid.
Scientists reported for the first time that hemangioblast precursor cells derived from human embryonic stem (hES) cells can be used to achieve vascular repair. The research, which appears today online (ahead of print) in the journal Nature Methods, by Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) and its collaborators, describes an efficient method for generating large numbers of bipotential progenitors–known as hemangioblasts–from hES cells that are capable of differentiating into blood vessels, as well as into all blood and immune cell lineages.
Scientists have developed a new procedure for the differentiation of human embryonic stem cells, with which they have created the first transplantable source of lung epithelial cells. The method involves the use of protein markers under the control of cell-specific promoters to convert undifferentiated human embryonic stem cells into highly-specialized cells.
By now, everyone knows that overweight people have a higher risk of heart attacks, strokes and other problems that arise from clogged, hardened arteries. And people who carry their extra weight around their waist – giving them a “beer belly” or an “apple” shape — have the highest risk of all.
Researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center have demonstrated for the first time that transplanted muscle stem cells can both improve muscle function in animals with a form of muscular dystrophy and replenish the stem cell population for use in the repair of future muscle injuries. I’m very excited about this,” said lead author Amy J.
A human embryonic stem cell is reined in – prevented from giving up its unique characteristics of self-renewal and pluripotency – by the presence of a protein modification that stifles any genes that would prematurely instruct the cell to develop into heart or other specialized tissue. But, thanks to the simultaneous presence of different protein modifications, stem cells are primed and poised, ready to develop into specialized body tissue, Singapore scientists reported in last month's issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell.
Researchers have discovered the small number of cells in pancreatic cancer that are capable of fueling the tumor's growth. The finding is the first identification of cancer stem cells in pancreatic tumors. Cancer stem cells are the small number of cancer cells that replicate to drive tumor growth.
The brain contains stem cells with a surprising capacity for repair, researchers report in recent issue of the journal Cell. The novel insight into the brain’s natural ability to heal might ultimately have clinical implications for the treatment of brain damage, according to the researchers.
When stretched, a type of adult stem cell taken from bone marrow can be nudged towards becoming the type of tissue found in blood vessels, according to a new study by bioengineers at the University of California, Berkeley. Researchers placed mesenchymal stem cells onto a silicone membrane that was stretched longitudinally once every second.
Researchers from the UCLA AIDS Institute and the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine have demonstrated for the first time that human embryonic stem cells can be genetically manipulated and coaxed to develop into mature T-cells, raising hopes for a gene therapy to combat AIDS. The study, to be published the week of July 3 in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that it is possible to convert human embryonic stem cells into blood-forming stem cells that in turn can differentiate into the helper T-cells that HIV specifically targets.
Embryonic stem cells, prized for their astonishing ability to apparently transform into any kind of cell in the body, acquire their identities in part by interacting with their surroundings - even when they are outside of the body in a laboratory dish, University of Florida scientists report. Using an animal model of embryonic stem cell development, researchers with UF’s McKnight Brain Institute have begun to answer one of the most fundamental questions in science - how does a batch of immature cells give rise to an organ as extraordinarily complex as the human brain?
For the first time, researchers have enticed transplants of embryonic stem cell-derived motor neurons in the spinal cord to connect with muscles and partially restore function in paralyzed animals. The study suggests that similar techniques may be useful for treating such disorders as spinal cord injury, transverse myelitis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and spinal muscular atrophy.
From Massachusetts: Thu Sep 25, 2008 2: pm EDT Researchers have developed a safer way to make powerful stem cells from ordinary skin cells, taking one more step toward so-called regenerative medicine. They used a common cold virus to carry transformative genes into ordinary mouse cells, making them look and act like embryonic stem cells.