Forming model embryos from stem cells in the lab

Maastricht: Scientists from the MERLN Institute, associated with Brightlands, and the Hubrecht Institute (KNAW) have successfully created in the laboratory embryo-like structures from mouse stem cells. These model embryos resemble natural ones to the extent that, for the first time, they implant into the uterus and initiate pregnancy. This radically new method opens the door to understanding the first and hidden processes of life, problems of infertility, or the embryonic origin of diseases. This scientific breakthrough has been published in Nature.

Researchers glimpse elusive stem cell in the early embryo

Harvard: Stem cell researchers at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital have, for the first time, profiled a highly elusive kind of stem cell in the early embryo—a cell so fleeting that it makes its entrance and exit within a 12-hour span. They described this “poised pluripotent” cell in the journal Cell Stem Cell on June 1. In mice, poised cells appear 4.75 to 5.25 days after egg and sperm join to form the embryo, right at the time when the embryo stops floating around and implants itself in the uterine wall.

Stem Cells Pave the Way for new treatment of diabetes

Copenhagen: A new stem cell study conducted at the University of Copenhagen shows how we may increase the vital production of insulin in patients suffering from diabetes. The discovery helps to more efficiently at less cost make insulin-producing beta cells from human stem cells. Therefore, the research paves the way for more effective treatment of diabetes. The method may also prove significant to the treatment of a series of other diseases.

New technology to speed up testing of cancer drugs

Nottingham: A new technology that could speed up the testing of drugs and reduce the use of animals in the lab has been developed by scientists at The University of Nottingham. The researchers in the University’s Division of Cancer and Stem Cells have designed a device that allows dozens of tiny balls of cells, called spheroids, to be sliced simultaneously to examine their structure and function. The method, which is detailed in the academic journal Scientific Reports, will enable other scientists to more rapidly assess whether new therapies and tissue engineering are likely to work in the real world, and could be up to 11 times more efficient than current methods.

For first time, Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell flag potential drug for blood disease

Harvard: Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital were able, for the first time, to use patients’ own cells to create cells similar to those in bone marrow and then use them to identify potential treatments for a blood disorder. The work was published Feb. 8 in Science Translational Medicine. The team derived the so-called blood progenitor cells from two patients with Diamond-Blackfan anemia (DBA), a rare, severe blood disorder in which the bone marrow cannot make enough oxygen-carrying red blood cells.

Stem cell transplants may induce long-term remission of multiple sclerosi

NIH: New clinical trial results provide evidence that high-dose immunosuppressive therapy followed by transplantation of a person's own blood-forming stem cells can induce sustained remission of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks the central nervous system.

“...these five-year results suggest the promise of this treatment for inducing long-term, sustained remissions of poor-prognosis relapsing-remitting MS",Richard Nash, M.D., Principal Investigator,says.

Stem cell secretions may protect against glaucoma

NIH: A new study in rats shows that stem cell secretions, called exosomes, appear to protect cells in the retina, the light-sensitive tissue in the back of the eye. The findings, published in Stem Cells Translational Medicine, point to potential therapies for glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness in the United States. The study was conducted by researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health. Exosomes are tiny membrane-enclosed packages that form inside of cells before getting expelled. Long thought of as part of a cellular disposal system, scientists have more recently discovered that exosomes are packed with proteins, lipids and gene-regulating RNA. Studies have shown that exosomes from one cell can be taken up by another by fusing with the target cell’s membrane, spurring it to make new proteins. Exosomes also facilitate cell-to-cell interactions and play a signaling role, prompting research into their potential therapeutic effect.

Scientists reprogram embryonic stem cells to expand their potential

Berkeley: Researchers from UC Berkeley have found a way to reprogram mouse embryonic stem cells so that they exhibit developmental characteristics resembling those of fertilized eggs, or zygotes. These “totipotent-like” stem cells are able to generate not only all cell types within a developing embryo, but also cell types that facilitate nutrient exchange between the embryo and the mother.

Diabetes impairs activity of bone stem cells in mice, inhibits fracture repair

Stanford: Stanford researchers found that activating bone stem cells helps repair fractures in diabetic mice. Applying a protein to the fracture site increased the expression of key signaling proteins and enhanced healing in the animals. one fractures in diabetic mice heal better in the presence of a protein that stimulates the activity of skeletal stem cells, according to a study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The protein counteracts a decrease in stem cell activity that the researchers observed both in mouse models of diabetes and in bone samples from diabetic patients who had undergone joint replacements. The researchers hope the discovery will lead to ways to help people with diabetes heal more efficiently from broken bones.

How does the liver find its place in the body?

Copenhagen: Organs already find their position in the embryo, which is the earliest stage of development of an organism. In the early embryo, each organ develops from a group of specific group of early-stage cells, so called progenitor cells. The cells are initially formed in the midline of the embryo and then move either to the left or to the right in order to place the organs in the body in the most efficient way. Progenitor cells must therefore be able to move, receive instructions and ultimately interact with other cells while navigating through the embryo until they reach their final destination where they fully develop the organ.

Surprising results on first-ever test of stem cell therapy to treat arthritis

Mayo Clinic: Researchers at Mayo Clinic’s campus in Florida have conducted the world’s first prospective, blinded and placebo-controlled clinical study to test the benefit of using bone marrow stem cells, a regenerative medicine therapy, to reduce arthritic pain and disability in knees. The researchers say such testing is needed because there are at least 600 stem cell clinics in the U.S. offering one form of stem cell therapy or another to an estimated 100,000-plus patients, who pay thousands of dollars, out of pocket, for the treatment, which has not undergone demanding clinical study. The findings in The American Journal of Sports Medicine include an anomalous finding — patients not only had a dramatic improvement in the knee that received stem cells, but also in their other knee, which also had painful arthritis but received only a saline control injection. Each of the 25 patients enrolled in the study had two bad knees, but did not know which knee received the stem cells.

Stem cells - a cure for fatal muscular dystrophy

Bonn: The diagnosis 'muscular dystrophy' is usually tantamount to a death sentence for those affected. One in three thousand male babies suffer from this incurable hereditary disease. The progress of the disease can only be slowed down through physiotherapy and medication. Scientists at Bonn University and at Pittsburgh Children's Hospital (USA) have now isolated a specific type of stem cell which can improve the regeneration of damaged muscle cells in mice suffering from muscular dystrophy. The results have now been published in the prestigious Journal of Cell Biology (Vol. 157 (5), pp. 851-864).

Regenerating Muscle from Stem Cells

UCSF: A microscopic image of a mouse leg that has been reconstructed with a stem cell transplant shows what may one day help patients regrow new muscle after a major surgery.
The image shows cross-sectioned muscle fibers as black shapes outlined in green. The catch: these are human muscle fibers, grown from human stem cells.
Xiaoti Xu, MD, a resident physician in UC San Francisco’s Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, studies a type of stem cell called satellite cells, or muscle stem cells. Xu became interested in muscle stem cells because of his experiences as a clinician.

New biotechnology for high efficiency purification of live human cells

Kyoto: One of the reasons pluripotent stem cells are so popular in medical research is that they can be differentiated into any cell type. However, typical differentiation protocols lead to a heterogeneous population from which the desired type must be purified. Normally, antibodies that react to surface receptors unique to the desired cell are used for this purpose. However, in many cases the purification levels remain poor and the cells can be damaged. New RNA technology produced at CiRA may avoid these problems.

New biotechnology for high efficiency purification of live human cells

Kyoto: One of the reasons pluripotent stem cells are so popular in medical research is that they can be differentiated into any cell type. However, typical differentiation protocols lead to a heterogeneous population from which the desired type must be purified. Normally, antibodies that react to surface receptors unique to the desired cell are used for this purpose. However, in many cases the purification levels remain poor and the cells can be damaged. New RNA technology produced at CiRA may avoid these problems.

Stem cell discovery paves way for targeted treatment for osteoarthritis

York: Scientists at the University of York have made a significant advance that could make cell-based treatments for arthritis less of a lottery. Researchers in the Departments of Biology and Physics at York, working with colleagues at the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, have identified individual stem cells that can regenerate tissue, cartilage and bone. The stem cells are mixed within human bone marrow stromal cells (MSCs) but are similar in appearance and previously, scientists had difficulty in distinguishing between them. The York researchers isolated individual MSCs and analysed their different properties. This allowed researchers to identify those stem cells which are capable of repairing damaged cartilage or joint tissue opening the way for improved treatment for arthritis.

Scientists correct cystic fibrosis mutation in stem cells

Houston: Scientists working on innovative treatments for people with hereditary diseases report they were able to repair genetic mutations responsible for cystic fibrosis in stem cells. The research led by scientists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) appeared in Stem Cell Reports, the official journal of The International Society for Stem Cell Research. Tens of thousands of people worldwide have this life-threatening disease that clogs their lungs with mucus and makes it increasingly hard to breathe. The disease causes chronic bacterial infections in the lung and gradual lung destruction.

Stem cell therapy for inherited skin blistering

London: Promising results from a trial of a new stem-cell based therapy for a rare and debilitating skin condition have been published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. The therapy, involving infusions of stem cells, was found to provide pain relief and to reduce the severity of this skin condition for which no cure currently exists. RDEB (recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa) is a painful skin disease in which very minor skin injury leads to blisters and poorly healing wounds. About 1,000 people in the UK live with RDEB.

Revolutionary stem cell culturing technique enables testing of drugs on patient tissue

Utrecht: In an article published in Cell magazine this week, researchers from the Hubrecht Institute, in collaboration with the Sanger Institute, describe the construction of a "living biobank” for colorectal cancer. The researchers, led by Hans Clevers, Professor at Utrecht University, used organoid technology to grow tumor tissue. In the future this technique can be used for personalized medicine: offering a tailor-made treatment for the individual patient.

Stem cells could provide a treatment for a broken heart

NHS: "Scientists believe they may have discovered how to mend broken hearts," reports the Daily Mirror.
While it may sound like the subject of a decidedly odd country and western song, the headline actually refers to damage to the heart muscle. A heart attack occurs when the muscle of the heart becomes starved of oxygen causing it to be damaged. If there is significant damage the heart can become weakened and unable to effectively pump blood around the body. This is known as heart failure and can cause symptoms such as shortness of breath and fatigue. The heart contains "dormant" stem cells, and researchers want to learn more about them to work out ways to get them to help repair damaged heart tissue.