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.

FDA authorizes Athersys' MultiStem Phase II clinical trial for ulcerative colitis

Athersys, Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized commencement of a Phase II clinical trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of administration of MultiStem, Athersys' allogeneic investigational cell therapy product, for the potential treatment of ulcerative colitis.

8 Nov 2010

Gentium third quarter total revenues increase to EUR 5.91 million

Gentium S.p.A. today reported financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2010. The Company reports its financial condition and operating results using U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The Company's financial statements are prepared using the Euro as its functional currency.

8 Nov 2010

Angioblast Systems receives $1.2 million in grants under QTDP program

Regenerative medicine company, Mesoblast Limited, today announced that its United States associate company, Angioblast Systems, has been awarded $1.2 million in grants under the United States Government's Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project (QTDP) program.

8 Nov 2010

New findings could help scientists devise optimal therapies for Friedreich's ataxia

Scripps Research Institute scientists have taken a step closer to understanding the cause of Friedreich's ataxia, a debilitating neurological condition that affects tens of thousands of people worldwide, and so far has no cure.

8 Nov 2010

TRPM7 protein plays a key role in maintenance of magnesium homeostasis

An international team led by researchers at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School has published new findings that demonstrate how a specific protein controls the body's ability to balance magnesium levels. Magnesium is an essential element for good health and is critical to more than 300 biochemical reactions that occur in the body.

8 Nov 2010

SGN-35 drug reduces tumor growth in Hodgkin's lymphoma

An experimental drug for Hodgkin's lymphoma, studied at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, showed beneficial effects in stopping tumor growth with moderate side-effects, according to findings published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

8 Nov 2010

Research uncovers mechanism that may help develop new strategies for osteoporosis treatment

Osteoporosis, a condition characterized by weak and fragile bones, develops when there is an imbalance in the remodeling process and more bone is lost than replaced. Now, new research published by Cell Press in the November issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell uncovers a mechanism that may guide development of better strategies for treatment osteoporosis.

8 Nov 2010

Skin to blood transformation in the lab

In a new study scientists have successfully transformed human skin cells into blood without first being sent through a primordial, stem-cell-like state. The findings were published online in the journal Nature. Earlier work has shown that fibroblast cells from mouse skin, treated with the right cocktail of chemicals, can be transformed into neurons and heart muscle. This is a first with human cells.

7 Nov 2010

Scientists discover new way to create human blood from adult skin

In an important breakthrough, scientists at McMaster University have discovered how to make human blood from adult human skin. The discovery, published in the prestigious science journal Nature today, could mean that in the foreseeable future people needing blood for surgery, cancer treatment or treatment of other blood conditions like anemia will be able to have blood created from a patch of their own skin to provide transfusions.

7 Nov 2010

Athersys secures three Therapeutic Discovery Project grants

Athersys, Inc. announced today that it has secured three Therapeutic Discovery Project grants as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. These grants were awarded related to Athersys' development of MultiStem® for the treatment of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), also known as heart attack, and other forms of cardiovascular disease, as well as for the treatment of multiple diseases causing acute tissue damage and chronic inflammation.

4 Nov 2010

New England Journal of Medicine publishes brentuximab vedotin Phase I clinical trial data

Seattle Genetics, Inc. and Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, today announced that data from a phase I single-agent clinical trial of brentuximab vedotin (SGN-35) will be published in the November 4, 2010 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

4 Nov 2010

Combination of DC-CIK and stem cell therapy effective to prevent cancer recurrence after surgery

"For brain cancer patients after surgery, the combined DC-CIK and stem cell therapy from Cellonis Biotechnologies can be a very effective method in preventing cancer recurrence," says renowned cancer doctor Dr. Dinggang Li.

4 Nov 2010

New antibody with SGN-35 drug produces remission in Hodgkin lymphoma

An antibody loaded with an anti-cancer agent produced complete or partial remissions in 38 percent of patients with relapsed or therapy-resistant Hodgkin lymphoma enrolled in a phase I clinical trial, investigators report in the Nov. 4 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

4 Nov 2010

Regulus receives $488,989 grant under QTDP program

Regulus Therapeutics Inc. announced today that it has been awarded two grants totaling $488,989 under the Federal government's Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project Program.

4 Nov 2010

OncoMed receives $1.2 million to support therapeutic programs under QTDP program

OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a company developing novel therapeutics that target cancer stem cells, announced today that it has been awarded $1.2 million to support five distinct therapeutic programs under the U.S. Government's Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project program.

3 Nov 2010

Type of contrast agent influences changes in stem cell proliferation

When researchers tested three different labeling agents on three different stem cell populations to determine what effect the labeling agents had on stem cell phenotype, biological behavior and migration abilities, they found changes in stem cell proliferation depending on the type of contrast agent used.

2 Nov 2010

Researchers explain how adiponectin prevents stress-induced damage in heart

One of the many advantages of maintaining a normal body weight is having healthy fat, which in turn supports a healthy heart. Fat tissue is increasingly seen as more than just a storage depot - it's also an active secretory organ that normally produces high levels of a cardioprotective hormone called adiponectin. How adiponectin protects the hearts of healthy people has long been a mystery, and now a team led by Barbara Ranscht, Ph.D. and Pilar Ruiz-Lozano, Ph.D. at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) reveals that the protein T-cadherin is the receptor that anchors adiponectin to heart cells.

2 Nov 2010

NSAIDs drugs prevent colon cancer: Research

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) prevent colon cancer by triggering diseased stem cells to self-destruct, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

2 Nov 2010

Vitrolife operating income increases 3% to SEK 25 million for January to September 2010

Vitrolife: Growth in local currency was 13 percent. Sales amounted to SEK 217 (207) million, corresponding to an increase of 4 percent in SEK. Operating income before research and development costs increased by 11 percent and amounted to SEK 58 (53) million.

2 Nov 2010

Innovative lifesaving device for patients with advanced heart failure

Bradley Cantley, 41, headed home from UC San Diego Medical Center connected to a lifesaving heart machine called a left ventricular assisted device (LVAD). For patients with advanced heart failure, the mechanical pump rapidly improves circulation throughout the body and serves as a bridge to transplant. Cantley is the first of many patients, locally and globally, who will benefit from the expanded heart surgery program at UC San Diego Health System.

2 Nov 2010