Progress being made in exploring potential use of stem cells to treat heart disease

Sur le même thème que "Progress being made in exploring potential use of stem cells to treat heart disease"

Stem cells treat foot wounds

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. Diabetes patients with chronic foot wounds, aged 50-72, were injected with stem cells obtained from their own blood. Most excitedly, the wounds healed nicely within three to four months. The stem cell treatment also makes fiscal sense. According to this article, stem cell treatment for wounds in a patient with diabetes costs about $6,000, one. [lien] [EN]

In a major breakthrough scientists reprogram human adult cells into embryonic stem cells

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. Last year, Yamanaka, who is also a senior investigator at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease (GICD), reported that he and his Kyoto colleagues had reprogrammed mouse skin cells into pluripotent stem cells, laying the foundation to apply this methodology in human cells. In this earlier work. [lien] [EN]

Scientists discover new, readily available source of stem cells

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. “Our hope is that these cells will provide a valuable resource for tissue repair and for engineered organs as well,” said Anthony Atala, M.D., senior researcher and director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Atala announced the breakthrough with colleagues from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School. “It has been known for decades that both the placenta and amniotic fluid contain multiple progenitor cell types from the developing embryo. [lien] [EN]

2008 GOP platform calls for total ban on embryonic stem cell research.

The 2008 Republican platform calls for “a ban on all embryonic stem-cell research, public or private.” The 2004 platform followed Bush’s policy of limiting federal funding for a restricted number of stem cell lines. The National Review’s Stephen Spruiell writes that the new platform language will read: “We call for a ban on human cloning [...] [lien] [EN]

McCain Runs Pro-Stem Cell Ad, While Campaign Website Criticizes Research Involving ‘Human Embryos’

Conservatives have long disguised their disdain for embryonic stem cell research, the most promising type of stem cell research, by saying they support the practice only in the form of “adult stem cell research.” “Say, yes!,” the Family Research Council tells conservatives to say when asked if they support stem cell research. In a new radio [...] [lien] [EN]

Tommy Thompson: Rove convinced Bush to reject embryonic stem cell research.

In August 2001, President Bush sharply curbed embryonic stem cell research, funding only research on “existing stem cell lines.” Former HHS Secretary Tommy Thomspson told the World Stem Cell Summit this week that Bush came to the decision after consulting with he and Karl Rove over lunch in summer 2001: Bush asked Thompson and Deputy Chief [...] [lien] [EN]

McCain Falsely Suggests He Supports Federal Funding For Embryonic Stem Cell Research

In an interview with a local CBS affiliate in St. Louis, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) criticized Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) for running ads “that are absolutely false about my positions on the issues.” McCain then made a specific reference to his position on stem cell research: MCCAIN: The quote, tone of the campaign has been [...] [lien] [EN]

Right-Wing Ad Tries To Frighten Minorities By Comparing Embryonic Stem Cell Research To Tuskegee Study

Up for consideration in Michigan is Proposal 2, a measure to permit embryonic stem cell research. As the NIH has outlined, embryonic stem cells offer the most promise for medical breakthroughs. Currently, Michigan has some of the nation’s most restrictive stem cell laws. In its endorsement of Proposal 2, the Detroit News wrote: Michigan has [...] [lien] [EN]

Hitting Back At Obama Team, Perino Insists Bush Did Not Ban Stem Cell Research

On Fox News Sunday yesterday, John Podesta, President-elect Barack Obama’s transition chief, said Obama would move swiftly to overturn a range of executive orders by President Bush, “whether that’s on energy transformation, on improving health care, on stem cell research.” Podesta explained, “I think across the board, on stem cell research, on a number of [...] [lien] [EN]

Toward an alternative to stem cells for treating chronic brain diseases

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.  IMAGE: Immature mouse muscle cells (top) and its transformation into nerve-like cells (bottom) after treatment with neurodazine. (Courtesy of Injae Shin, Yonsei University, Korea.) In the study, Injae Shin and colleagues point out that stem cell research shows promise for repairing or replacing damaged nerve cells to treat such diseases. [lien] [EN]

Scientists develop new procedure to differentiate human embryonic stem cells

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. The human embryonic stem cells were cultured on specially coated dishes and transfected with a lung epithelial gene regulator of a drug selection gene. The process, created in the laboratory of Rick A. Wetsel, Ph.D., a professor of molecular medicine at the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases (IMM), is described in this week's edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). [lien] [EN]

Study finds potential ovarian cancer stem cells

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.S. women annually and is their fifth most common cause of cancer death. The report will appear in the July 25 Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and has received early online release. “We feel these stem-like cancer cells may be resistant to traditional chemotherapy and could be responsible for the ultimately fatal drug-resistant recurrence that is characteristic of ovarian cancer. [lien] [EN]

Positivity: Stem cells apparently cure boy’s fatal disease

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. For the first time in his life, Nate Liao is wearing normal clothes, eating food that has not been pureed, and playing with his siblings. “Nate’s quality of life is forever changed,” said Dr. John Wagner of the University of Minnesota Medical School, who performed the treatment. “Maybe we can take one more disorder off the incurable list. [lien] [EN]

Stem Cells Restore Muscle In Mice With Muscular Dystrophy

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. Wagers, Ph.D., Principal Investigator in the Joslin Section on Developmental and Stem Cell Biology, principal faculty member at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and Assistant Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University. “This study indicates the presence of renewing muscle stem cells in adult skeletal muscle and demonstrates the potential benefit of stem cell therapy for the treatment of muscle degenerative diseases such as muscular dystrophy. [lien] [EN]