Stem Cells News and Research

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Stem cells have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body during early life and growth. In addition, in many tissues they serve as a sort of internal repair system, dividing essentially without limit to replenish other cells as long as the person or animal is still alive. When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential either to remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, or a brain cell.

Giving patients a new immune system can cure Crohn's disease

Researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have opened a clinical trial to test the theory that giving a patient a new immune system can cure severe cases of Crohn's disease, a chronic inflammatory condition of the gastrointestinal tract.

25 Jul 2012

RhoC gene promotes breast cancer stem cell progression

Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have found that a cancer gene linked to aggressive spread of the disease promotes breast cancer stem cells. The finding implies a new way to target the behavior of these lethal cells.

25 Jul 2012

Merck, Chimerix sign license agreement for CMX157 to treat HIV infection

Chimerix, Inc. today announced the execution of a license agreement granting Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, exclusive worldwide rights to CMX157, Chimerix's novel lipid acyclic nucleoside phosphonate currently being evaluated to treat HIV infection.

24 Jul 2012

Biokine receives FDA Orphan Drug designation for BKT140 to treat hematological cancers

Biokine Therapeutics Ltd. announced today that it has received Orphan Drug designation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the mobilization of hematopoietic stem cells from bone marrow into peripheral blood for collection and subsequent transplantation in patients with hematological cancers.

24 Jul 2012

Study represents new use of bone marrow transplantation

24 Jul 2012

Scientists demonstrate link between cancer and faulty differentiation of stem cells

Stem cells hold great promise for the medicine of the future, but they can also be a cause of disease. When these self-renewing, unspecialized cells fail to differentiate into diverse cell types, they can start dividing uncontrollably, leading to cancer. Already several decades ago, Weizmann Institute scientists were among the first to demonstrate the link between cancer and the faulty differentiation of stem cells. Now a new Weizmann Institute-led study, published in Molecular Cell, reveals a potential molecular mechanism behind this link.

24 Jul 2012

Neural precursor cells suppress aggressive tumors

Neural precursor cells (NPC) in the young brain suppress certain brain tumors such as high-grade gliomas, especially glioblastoma (GBM), which are among the most common and most aggressive tumors.

23 Jul 2012

Synthetic triterpenoids block development of Parkinson's disease

A new and powerful class of antioxidants could one day be a potent treatment for Parkinson's disease, researchers report.

23 Jul 2012

Positive results from BrainStorm's interim NurOwn stem cell therapy clinical trial for ALS

BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics announced today that it has completed the planned interim safety review of its Phase I/II ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) clinical trial, indicating that autologous transplantation of the Company's cell therapy was well-tolerated, appears to be safe for use, and did not present any undue risks to the study participants.

23 Jul 2012

Researchers link specific gene mutations with four recognized subtypes of medulloblastoma

Researchers at Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Center (DF/CHCC) and several collaborating institutions have linked mutations in specific genes to each of the four recognized subtypes of medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumor of children. The discovery, reported July in the journal Nature, provides doctors with potential biomarkers for guiding and individualizing treatment and reveals prospective therapeutic opportunities for countering this devastating malignancy.

23 Jul 2012

Antibody detects progenitor cells in cancers and cirrhosis of liver

The study, published in the journal Stem Cell, adds to our understanding of the role of stem and next stage progenitor cells in tissue regeneration and in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

21 Jul 2012

EMA CHMP issues positive opinion for conditional approval of brentuximab vedotin for lymphoma

Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company and, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited today announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency has issued a positive opinion for conditional approval of brentuximab vedotin for two indications.

21 Jul 2012

Researchers discover reason why breast cancer cells become drug resistant

Breast cancer treatments such as Herceptin that target a marker called HER2 have dramatically improved outcomes for women with this type of cancer. But nearly half of these cancers are resistant to Herceptin from the start and almost all of them will eventually become resistant.

21 Jul 2012

Placenta-derived endothelial colony-forming cells are more vasculogenic: Study

A study comparing whether endothelial colony-forming cells (ECFCs) derived from human placenta or those derived from human umbilical cord blood are more proliferative and better for forming new blood vessels has found that ECFCs derived from human placenta are more vasculogenic.

20 Jul 2012

SGC, Life Technologies to generate first-ever master set of epigenetic recombinant antibodies

Life Technologies Corporation today announced it has signed a collaborative partnership with the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC), and several groups of leading expert scientists in antibody technology at the Universities of Chicago and Toronto, to generate a first-ever master set of quality epigenetic recombinant antibodies for use in disease-related research.

20 Jul 2012

Studies report on therapeutic efficacy of stem cell transplantation in animal models of ALS, SCI

Two studies published in a recent issue of Cell Medicine report on the therapeutic efficacy of stem cell transplantation in animal models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and spinal cord injury (SCI).

20 Jul 2012

Study helps explain why leukemia occurs more frequently as people age

Hundreds of mutations exist in leukemia cells at the time of diagnosis, but nearly all occur randomly as a part of normal aging and are not related to cancer, new research shows.

20 Jul 2012

BrainStorm completes registered public offering of common stock

BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics Inc., an innovative developer of adult stem cell technologies and Central Nervous System (CNS) therapeutics, today announced that it completed a registered public offering of 19,818,972 shares of common stock at a price per share of $0.29 and warrants to purchase 14,864,229 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $0.29 per share, representing gross proceeds of $5,747,502.

20 Jul 2012

New research sheds light on pluripotency

New research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem sheds light on pluripotency-the ability of embryonic stem cells to renew themselves indefinitely and to differentiate into all types of mature cells.

19 Jul 2012

Researchers identify new behavior for the human macrophage

Researchers at the Institute of Human Virology of the University of Maryland School of Medicine have identified a new behavior for the human macrophage that provides new explanations for several features of HIV biology, including how the virus persists within the body indefinitely, how quiescently infected CD4+ T-cells arise, and how the infection leads to depletion of CD4+ T-cells.

19 Jul 2012