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.

Tulane to initiate XM-ONE clinical trial in kidney transplantation

Tulane University Hospital, New Orleans, LA, USA will in May start a prospective trial in Kidney Transplantation investigating the potential of cross match XM-ONE as part of the risk assessment of their patients.

28 May 2012

UC Davis mathematicians help biologists to understand platelet formation

UC Davis mathematicians have helped biologists figure out why platelets, the cells that form blood clots, are the size and shape that they are. Because platelets are important both for healing wounds and in strokes and other conditions, a better understanding of how they form and behave could have wide implications.

28 May 2012

City of Hope receives CIRM grant to develop T cell-based immunotherapy against glioma

City of Hope was granted a $5,217,004 early translational research award by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to support the development of a T cell-based immunotherapy that re-directs a patient's own immune response against glioma stem cells.

28 May 2012

Gene therapy can effectively treat ADA-deficient severe combined immunodeficiency

Severe combined immunodeficiency is defect in the immune system that results in a loss of the adaptive immune cells known as B cells and T cells. Mutations in several different genes can lead to the development of severe combined immunodeficiency, including mutation of the adenosine deaminase (ADA) gene. Traditional treatment options, such as enzyme replacement therapy, are of limited efficacy, but bone marrow transplant from a compatible donor leads to a better response.

25 May 2012

Aetna's IOE Transplant Network to add UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside Hospital

Aetna announced today that UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside Hospital has been designated as a participating facility in Aetna's Institutes of Excellence Transplant Network.

25 May 2012

Nuclear radiation exposure more serious than previously believed

Recent news reports and scientific reviews warn that nuclear radiation exposure is more serious than we believed. Just recently, the UK Guardian published an article titled, "Fukushima reactor shows radiation levels much higher than thought."

25 May 2012

Study sheds light on role of microglia in the normal brain

Researchers have shown in mice how immune cells in the brain target and remove unused connections between brain cells during normal development. This research, supported by the National Institutes of Health, sheds light on how brain activity influences brain development, and highlights the newly found importance of the immune system in how the brain is wired, as well as how the brain forms new connections throughout life in response to change.

24 May 2012

Human cytomegalovirus associated with neovascular AMD

A team of researchers, including a scientist from the Viral Immunology Center at Georgia State University, have found that a type of herpesvirus infection of the eye is associated with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a disease that causes blindness in the elderly.

22 May 2012

Growth promoting substance in human mesenchymal stem cells spurs restoration of nerves

A substance in human mesenchymal stem cells that promotes growth appears to spur restoration of nerves and their function in rodent models of multiple sclerosis (MS), researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have found.

21 May 2012

Scientists show positive results with human MSCs in animal models of MS

The Myelin Repair Foundation (MRF) today announced the results of a new peer-reviewed research study published in Nature Neuroscience that demonstrates functional improvement in immune response modulation and myelin repair with factors derived from mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) treatment in animal models of multiple sclerosis.

21 May 2012

Placental stem cells with key therapeutic properties can be harvested from chorion

Scientists at Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI) led by Vladimir Serikov, MD, PhD, and Frans Kuypers, PhD, report in the current Epub issue of Stem Cells Translational Medicine that placental stem cells with important therapeutic properties can be harvested in large quantities from the fetal side of human term placentas.

19 May 2012

Health Canada approves Osiris’ Prochymal to treat acute GvHD in children

Osiris Therapeutics Inc. announced today it has received market authorization from Health Canada to market its stem cell therapy Prochymal (remestemcel-L), for the treatment of acute graft-vs-host disease (GvHD) in children.

18 May 2012

Lenalidomide following stem cell transplant can halt progression of blood cancer

Multiple myeloma patients are better equipped to halt progression of this blood cancer if treated with lenalidomide, or Revlimid-, following a stem cell transplant, according to a study co-authored by a physician with the Oregon Health & Science University Knight Cancer Institute.

17 May 2012

Breast cancer cell surface protein blows cover of potent tumor-generating cells

Breast cancer stem cells wear a cell surface protein that is part nametag and part bull's eye, identifying them as potent tumor-generating cells and flagging their vulnerability to a drug, researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report online in Journal of Clinical Investigation.

17 May 2012

Updated results from Amgen’s blinatumomab Phase 2 study on ALL

Amgen today announced updated results from a Phase 2 study that showed treatment with blinatumomab (AMG 103) helped achieve a high-rate of complete response (CR) in 72 percent of adult patients with relapsed or refractory B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) treated in the study.

17 May 2012

La. panel kills health exchange plan; Kansas enacts another abortion hurdle; Utah official resigns after medical records breach

With a decisive 8-1 vote late Tuesday evening, the Louisiana Senate Finance Committee buried a bill that would have set up a body of elected and appointed officials to craft the exchanges that are an anchor of President Barack Obama's health insurance overhaul. With the death of Senate Bill 744, Louisiana remains one of a handful of states that have refused to set up their own exchanges, with Gov. Bobby Jindal punting the job back to federal government that he accuses of taking over the American health care system

17 May 2012

First Edition: May 16, 2012

Today's headlines highlight the growing partisan faultlines regarding budget issues, including spending cuts and entitlement reforms.

16 May 2012

Cyclophosphamide drug makes the bone marrow more tumor-friendly

Researchers found that administering a common chemotherapy drug before bone tumors took root actually fertilized the bone marrow, enabling cancer cells, once introduced, to seed and grow more easily.

15 May 2012

Positive data from Piramal Healthcare’s BST-CarGel Phase III cartilage repair trial

Piramal Healthcare Bio-Orthopaedics, a division of Piramal Healthcare Limited, today announced that positive data from their pivotal (Phase III) clinical trial is being presented in 3 podium presentations as well as during an Industry Symposium at the 10th World Congress of the International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS), May 12 to 15, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

14 May 2012

Lenalidomide delays progression of multiple myeloma after stem cell transplant

Multiple myeloma is a form of cancer where the plasma cells in the bone marrow grow out of control, causing damage to bones as well as predisposing patients to anemia, infection and kidney failure. A medical procedure called autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, commonly known as a stem cell transplant, is frequently an important treatment option for many patients.

14 May 2012