Bone Marrow News and Research

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Bone Marrow is the soft, sponge-like tissue in the center of most bones. It produces white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets.

New research center created by leading blood and marrow transplant organizations

In their mission to improve transplant access and outcomes for patients, the National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP) and the Medical College of Wisconsin’s International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry and Autologous Blood and Marrow Transplant Registry (IBMTR/ABMTR) have created the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR.)

11 May 2004

Bone marrow and stem cell transplantation rejection averted by UV light exposure

One of the unfortunate side effects of bone marrow and stem cell transplantation is that the newly implanted cells often stage an internal attack against the patient they're intended to help.

10 May 2004

World's first gene therapy trial aimed at preventing cancer

The concept seems straightforward. If, at its heart, cancer is a disease of genes, then giving patients new genes should disarm cancer. Such treatment would replace missing or faulty genes that keep cell growth in check, or would flush the body with "super genes" that could attack and destroy cancer.

5 May 2004

Embryo testing could produce babies who might aid sick siblings

Parents with a child requiring stem cell transplantation can have genetic testing done on embryos prior to implantation to determine if the tissue type matches and the ensuing offspring could potentially serve as a donor to the affected child, according to a study in the May 5 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

5 May 2004

New technique to deliver gene therapy to soft-tissue tumors

Using new research and technology that shows bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) will engraft at the site of a tumor and contribute to the growth of stromal fibroblasts (the healthy tissue surrounding a tumor)

2 May 2004

Transplanted bone-marrow cells could regenerate nerve cells in the brain

Findings of a preliminary study in this week's issue of THE LANCET suggest that transplanted adult bone-marrow cells could regenerate nerve cells in the brains of human stem-cell recipients. These early findings, if confirmed in future research, have implications for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease.

29 Apr 2004

Clinical trial of enzyme replacement therapy for the treatment of Gaucher disease

Transkaryotic Therapies, Inc. today announced that it has initiated a clinical trial to evaluate the safety and clinical activity of GA-GCB, its enzyme replacement therapy for the treatment of Gaucher disease.

26 Apr 2004

Injections of adult stem cells could repair hearts

Injections of adult stem cells into damaged heart tissue significantly improved heart function in patients with severe congestive heart failure, according to results of the first prospective randomized trial of the experimental therapy presented today at the American Association for Thoracic Surgery.

26 Apr 2004

HHS Launches Organ Donation Education Program for High School Students

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today released a new organ and tissue donation education program to raise awareness among high school students and to help them make informed decisions about donation.

20 Apr 2004

Gene discovery could improve anemia treatment in patients

Patients with inflammatory diseases such as arthritis, chronic infections and some types of cancer, often become anemic – a condition called anemia of chronic disease (ACD). While ACD rarely kills patients, it can make their lives miserable.

18 Apr 2004

Stem cell personal space determines their future

Johns Hopkins scientists report that restricting the shape and personal space of human stem cells from bone marrow is more important than any known molecular signal in determining the cell type they become.

16 Apr 2004

Muscle stem cells morph to resemble nerve cells

Taking a major step forward in stem cell biology, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have turned muscle progenitor cells — stem cells that are “committed” to becoming muscle tissue — into cells that look and act like neurons (nerve cells).

14 Apr 2004

Drug duo prevents life-threatening condition in children undergoing stem cell transplant

A drug duo appears to be a safe and effective way to prevent a serious condition called graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD) in youngsters undergoing a stem cell transplant

14 Apr 2004

Molecular analyses of leukemia patients suggest strategies for better treatments

The cure rate for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) might continue to rise with improved use of conventional therapies. But even more effective and less toxic therapies based on genetic and pharmacogenetic studies might one day push the success rate close to 100 percent, according to an article published by investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the April 8 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

7 Apr 2004

New method to induce embryonic stem cells to develop into bone marrow and blood cells

Researchers at Northwestern University have devised a method to induce embryonic stem cells to develop into bone marrow and blood cells. Injecting the stem cells into the bone marrow cavity of mice whose bone marrow cells had been depleted restored production of blood cells, including cells of the immune system, which normally are created in the bone marrow.

6 Apr 2004

New center enables genetic treatments and advances

A new state-of-the-art research facility dedicated to helping produce modified cells for treatment of cancer and other diseases recently opened at the Siteman Cancer Center.

1 Apr 2004

Gene of immune system linked to severe adverse drug reaction called Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS)

In a study of Han Chinese patients, researchers have for the first time directly linked a gene of the immune system to a severe adverse drug reaction called Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS), according to a Duke University Medical Center medical geneticist and collaborators in Taiwan.

1 Apr 2004

First North American sales of Raycell X-ray blood irradiator

The Indiana Blood Center in Indianapolis, Indiana, and SMDC Laboratory in Duluth, Minnesota have both chosen to purchase MDS Nordion's Raycell(TM) blood irradiator as a means of eliminating delays in receiving irradiated blood and blood products from external suppliers and improving the service they provide to physicians and patients.

30 Mar 2004

Children with sickle cell disease are living longer, dying less often from their disease

Children with sickle cell disease, an inherited red blood-cell disorder, are living longer, dying less often from their disease and contracting fewer fatal infections than ever before, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas report. Their study, which will appear in the June edition of the scientific journal Blood, is the first to evaluate survival rates of children receiving the most modern treatments for sickle cell disease. It's also one of the largest published sickle cell studies to date. Researchers followed more than 700 Dallas-area children with the disease over two decades.

25 Mar 2004

Bone marrow stem cells do not help regenerate heart muscle tissue, UW study finds, contradicting earlier study

Researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine have found that bone marrow stem cells do not convert into heart muscle cells in mice. These results contradict a study conducted elsewhere that had prompted human clinical trials for such stem cell therapy in the treatment of heart attack.

23 Mar 2004