An innovative experimental treatment for boosting the effectiveness of stem -
cell transplants with umbilical cord blood has a favorable safety profile in long - term animal studies, report scientists from Dana - Farber Cancer Institute, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), and Children's Hospital Boston (CHB).
Not exact matches
«Scientists say they have replaced a 65 - year - old patient's upper jaw
with a bone
transplant cultivated from stem
cells isolated from his own fatty tissue and grown inside his abdomen.»
About 8 weeks before
transplanting, prepare 6 - pack
cells by filling them
with the suggested growing medium, and place the
cells in the plastic trays.
So hold on tight, I'm gonna share EVERYTHING I've learned so far about cord blood
with you... starting
with this enlightening link on the general benefits... including the fact that «To date it can treat more than 80 diseases using Haematopoietic Stem
Cell (HSC) transplants, including leukemia, sickle cell anemia, and metabolic disorders.&ra
Cell (HSC)
transplants, including leukemia, sickle
cell anemia, and metabolic disorders.&ra
cell anemia, and metabolic disorders.»
A woman
with age - related macular degeneration seems to have had her vision stabilised thanks to a
transplant of retinal
cells generated from her skin
For example, a consortium of research groups called the London Project to Cure Blindness aims to test RPE
transplants from embryonic stem
cells in patients
with macular degeneration this year.
Luznik and his team inventoried types of immune
cells present in the blood of bone marrow
transplant patients treated
with post-
transplant cyclophosphamide.
Although drugs are available to replace thyroid function,
with this new discovery, «we can now envision that thyroid function could be restored by
transplanting patients» own thyroid
cells,» said Hollenberg and Kotton.
The team has already successfully repopulated pig kidneys
with human
cells, but Ott says further studies are vital to guarantee that the pig components of the organ do not cause rejection when
transplanted into humans.
Their next experiment, Coles says, is to
transplant the
cells into mice
with degenerating retinas to see if they restore function and later to figure out how to activate and manipulate them.
«Finding the optimal conditions to avoid interfering
with immune
cells working to eradicate cancer while preventing graft rejection and GVHD is the holy grail of bone marrow
transplant,» says Leo Luznik, M.D., associate professor of oncology at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.
Previous researchers have also used
cell transplant technologies to repair injured hearts, but these used CMs organized in two dimensions
with a random, myofibril structure, which is different from natural heart tissue.
Guo and his collaborators continue their studies by establishing additional mouse models of leukemia that have been
transplanted with patient
cells of relapsed and refractory disease.
Plaque formation accelerated in the models
transplanted with Tet2 - deficient bone marrow
cells, likely through increasing macrophage - driven inflammation in the artery wall.
Scientists are a step closer to creating blood stem
cells that could reduce the need for bone marrow
transplants in patients
with cancer or blood disorders.
Targeting exhausted immune
cells may change the prognosis for patients
with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) relapse after a stem
cell transplant, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers.
Together, the two studies advance the idea that gut microbes play a role in turning the immune system against nerve
cells, causing MS.. It will take a lot more work to develop cures or preventive strategies based on that, but the research raises the intriguing possibility of treating an often - devastating disease
with something as low - tech as fecal
transplants or probiotics.
Patients
with severe and end - stage heart failure have few treatment options available to them apart from
transplants and «miraculous» stem
cell therapy.
Mice
transplanted with cells grown from a patient suffering from Huntington's disease (HD) develop the clinical features and brain pathology of that patient, suggests a study published in the latest issue of Acta Neuropathologica by CHA University in Korea, in collaboration
with researchers at Université Laval in Québec City, Canada.
And early stage startup Neochromosome, which includes Boeke, intends to raise money to design synthetic chromosomes for medicine that could be used in an off - the - shelf universal
cell line in
cell therapies and
transplants with minimal risk of rejection from the immune system.
Eighteen adults
with severe eye disease who were among the first people to receive
transplants created from human embryonic stem
cells (hESCs) continue to have no apparent complications
with the introduced
cells after an average of nearly 2 years, according to the latest status report on their health.
In people
with severe eye disease,
transplants made from embryonic stem
cells (in region of black dotted circle) appear safe, and became larger and more pigmented over time (right).
Researchers at Dana - Farber / Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center report promising outcomes from a clinical trial
with patients
with a rare form of bone marrow failure who received a hematopoietic stem
cell transplant (HSCT) after pre-treatment
with immunosuppressive drugs only.
A blood cancer characterized by the rapid growth of abnormal white blood
cells, AML is typically treated
with chemotherapy, in some cases followed by a stem
cell transplant.
«If you give patients immune
cells to eradicate any remaining cancer
cells that might be present,» he says, «those immune
cells would not be prevented from doing their job by ongoing immune suppression drugs that are being used in patients treated
with conventional
transplant approaches.»
Nevertheless, the outcome may pave the way for
transplants of stem
cell — derived eye
cells called photoreceptors, which could dramatically improve vision in people
with eye disease if all goes according to plan.
The
cells were derived from eggs that had been injected
with DNA from the patients, so they could eventually be
transplanted back to replace or correct the patient's diseased
cells without fear of immune rejection.
Combining a new hydrogel material
with a protein that boosts blood vessel growth could improve the success rate for
transplanting insulin - producing islet
cells into persons
with type 1 diabetes.
Eye diseases — such as age - related macular degeneration, as well as a genetic condition called Stargardt's macular dystrophy that afflicts young people — are considered excellent candidates for stem
cell therapy because the eye is an immune - privileged site, meaning
transplanted cells are not as likely to be rejected as foreign compared
with transplants elsewhere.
With this drug, we got him into remission, and then he could get a stem
cell transplant.
In the initial work at the Roslin Institute, the egg
cells along
with their
transplanted nuclei were then implanted directly into a foster mother, where they developed and, in the case of Dolly, resulted in a viable offspring.
Diabetes researchers are considering various replacements for insulin injections:
Transplanting new pancreatic islet
cells that make insulin, coaxing the patient's own islets to regenerate, or treating diabetics early in the disease
with immune - suppressing therapies to prevent their body from destroying the rest of their pancreatic islets.
Now, six years after insulin - producing
cells were first
transplanted into people
with diabetes, results from the largest trial yet of the «Edmonton protocol» are in.
In a study recently published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, HSCI researchers at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), in collaboration
with Boston Children's Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute, have developed a non-toxic transplantation procedure using antibodies to specifically target blood stem
cells in mice, an approach they hope will make blood stem
cell transplants for these patients far less toxic.
By reactivating telomerase activity in stem -
cell derived tissue
transplants, Geron could provide patients
with a life - time warranty on their new parts.
When the team
transplanted the
cells into diabetic mice whose own beta
cells had been destroyed artificially
with a chemical, the
cells acted like healthy beta
cells.
For this analysis, 605 patients
with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma and treated
with continuous lenalidomide (brand name Revlimid) following autologous stem
cell transplant were compared to 604 patients who were treated
with placebo or no maintenance.
«Lenalidomide maintenance following autologous stem
cell transplant can now be considered a standard of care for people
with multiple myeloma,» says Dr. McCarthy, senior author on the meta - analysis and Principal Investigator of the U.S. study, CALGB (Alliance) 100104.
Patients who develop this specific fungal infection are overwhelmingly adults who are immunocompromised, Kumar explains, including those
with diabetes,
transplant recipients, patients
with cancer and those who have abnormally low concentrations of immune
cells called neutrophils in their blood.
However, in the wake of fatalities from gene therapy and other technologies, as well as the potential for cancers associated
with stem
cell transplants, governments are understandably nervous about safety issues — not to mention the ethical maze of tinkering
with fledgling life.
Other groups are experimenting
with taking such tissue from the nose, growing it in the lab to isolate the desired
cells and
transplanting them.
A
transplant of hematopoietic stem
cells attempts to cure patients
with certain cancers and other serious illnesses that have not responded to conventional chemotherapies.
The enhanced mice masterfully memorized new objects, swiftly learned to link certain sounds or situations to an unpleasant foot shock, and displayed un-usually savvy maze navigation — signs of mental acuity that surpassed skills exhibited by either typical mice or mice
transplanted with glial progenitor
cells from their own species.
Researchers infuse the patient
with the organ donor's bone marrow in hopes that the donor's immune
cells will teach the host to tolerate the
transplant; donor immune
cells that come along
with the
transplanted organ also, some contend, can teach tolerance.
With certain patients, however, these side - effects could be balanced out with stem - cell transplants, as in leukemia treatme
With certain patients, however, these side - effects could be balanced out
with stem - cell transplants, as in leukemia treatme
with stem -
cell transplants, as in leukemia treatments.
They also plan to adapt the technology so that it can generate more precise white blood
cell counts, which would make it useful for monitoring bone marrow
transplant recipients or people
with certain infectious diseases, Castro - Gonzalez says.
Hwang claimed to have perfected somatic
cell nuclear
transplant, a procedure in which genetic material is removed from a donated egg and replaced
with DNA from the patient to create cloned
cells that could regenerate diseased tissues or organs.
«And, eventually it could lead to the development of
cell transplant therapies that restore vision in patients
with glaucoma and MS.»
The researchers then introduced the two strains into mice
transplanted with a human immune system and watched in real time as HIV spread from one CD4 + helper T
cell to another.
For this study, a tumor
cell line was
transplanted into a rat and imaged
with each of the following: conventional MRI, the radiotracer carbon - 13 (C - 13) pyruvate and hyperpolarized MRI at a resolution of 2.5 mm, Medipix positron detector, luminescence sensor and a fluorescence microscope.