Progenitor Cells News and Research

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Functional vision restored after 55 years

After being hit in the eye by a stone, a detached retina left a man blind in his right eye. Despite surgery to remove a cataract when the man was 23, which temporarily restored light perception, the patient was completely blind in that eye.

17 Jun 2011

Key to remove stem cells responsible for fat expansion

Researchers may have found the key to developing a method to rid the body of stem cells responsible for driving fat expansion. According to a report in the June 16 Cell Stem Cell, a Cell Press publication, they've landed the first protein marker on the surface of those so-called adipose stromal cells (ASCs), which serve as progenitors of the cells that make up fat tissue.

17 Jun 2011

Platelet-derived growth factor-BB restores function in rats with Parkinson's disease

Few treatments for Parkinson's disease (PD) restore function for extended periods. In a new study published today in the inaugural issue of the Journal of Parkinson's Disease, an international group of researchers report that platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB) restored function in rodents and shows promise as a clinical candidate drug for treatment of PD.

10 Jun 2011

Thymosin beta 4 can transform adult epicardial stem cells into functional heart muscle

RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. has announced that thymosin beta 4 (Tβ4) can activate a unique subpopulation of resident adult epicardial stem cells such that they recapture embryonic potential, proliferate, migrate and differentiate into functional heart muscle (cardiomyocytes), according to a research paper published online today in Nature.

9 Jun 2011

Drug that makes the failing heart heal itself

Researchers have found that a drug can heal heart muscles in mice. Earlier it was considered that this damage to the heart is permanent but this new findings refutes earlier beliefs.

9 Jun 2011

RegeneRx Thymosin beta 4 stimulates maturation of central nervous system progenitor cells

RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. has announced that researchers have found that Thymosin beta 4 (Tβ4), in a dose dependent manner, stimulates oligodendrogenesis, the process by which central nervous system progenitor cells become oligodendrocytes that secrete myelin, the covering of nerve fibers.

2 Jun 2011

Researchers discover Rasip1 protein that might prevent cancer metastasis

UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have discovered a protein that guides blood vessel development and eventually might lead to a treatment to keep cancer cells from spreading.

12 May 2011

Second subject enrolled in human embryonic stem cell therapy trial for subacute thoracic spinal cord injury

Researchers at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) recently enrolled their first subject in a national clinical research trial of a human embryonic stem cell-based therapy for participants with a subacute thoracic spinal cord injury.

11 May 2011

Protein critical to formation of new blood vessels could lead to therapies to starve cancerous tumors

UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have discovered a protein that guides blood vessel development and eventually might lead to a treatment to keep cancer cells from spreading.

11 May 2011

Expression of key tumor suppressor protein induces premature aging

Cancer risk increases with age, and scientists have long perceived a possible evolutionary tradeoff between longer lifespan and greater risk of cancer. Now, researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center find direct evidence for that tradeoff in new data showing that expression of a key tumor suppressor protein induces premature aging in mice.

6 Apr 2011

NeoStem revenues increase 13% for the year ended December 31, 2010

NeoStem, Inc., an international biopharmaceutical company with operations in the U.S. and China, is today providing unaudited results for 2010 and an update of recent activities.

2 Apr 2011

Cellerant commences CLT-008 Phase I/II trial in patients with leukemia

Cellerant Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company developing novel hematopoietic stem cell-based cellular and antibody therapies for blood disorders and cancer, announced the initiation of a Phase I/II clinical trial of CLT-008 in patients receiving intensive post-remission chemotherapy for high-risk leukemia or myelodysplasia.

23 Mar 2011

Stem cell therapy successfully heals a scarred and failing heart

A new study has shown that stem cells could heal scars caused by old heart attacks. In all eight patients who received the experimental treatment in an ongoing clinical trial this therapy worked. All of them had suffered heart attacks an average of 5 1/2 years prior; one of the patients had his heart attack 11 years earlier.

17 Mar 2011

Wnt1 protein can improve function of endothelial progenitor cells

Circulating through the bloodstream of every human being is a rare and powerful type of cell, one that can actually create new blood vessels to bypass blockages that cause heart attacks and peripheral artery disease.

10 Mar 2011

Sanfilippo syndrome compromises blood-brain barrier, leads to brain damage

A study into the effects of Sanfilippo Syndrome type B (MPS III B) has found that the barrier responsible for protecting the brain from the entry of harmful blood-borne substances is structurally and functionally damaged by the devastating disease. University of South Florida researchers identified damage in specific brain structures involved in the pathology of MPS III B, one of four Sanfilippo syndromes, all of which are inherited diseases of metabolism.

9 Mar 2011

Therapeutic potential of iPS cells may be limited by reprogramming errors and genomic instability

In the past few months, a slew of papers have indicated that the therapeutic potential of a promising type of stem cell, called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, might be limited by reprogramming errors and genomic instability. iPS cells are engineered by reprogramming fully differentiated adult cells, often skin cells, back to a primitive, embryonic-like state.

9 Mar 2011

Scientist receives $4 million Australia fellowship to continue cancer origin research

Walter and Eliza Hall Institute cancer researcher Professor Jane Visvader has received a $4 million fellowship from the Australian Government to continue her work into the origin of breast, ovarian and lung cancers.

3 Mar 2011

PAH closely related to bone marrow abnormalities

Results from a study published in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology reveal a close relationship between pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH)-exceedingly high blood pressure in the arteries carrying blood from the heart to the lungs-and abnormalities of the blood-forming cells in the bone marrow (known as myeloid abnormalities).

1 Mar 2011

CellSeed, LA BioMed enter two-year research agreement to study core technology in regenerative medicine

Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and CellSeed Inc., a Japanese biotechnology firm, have entered into a two-year research agreement to study CellSeed's proprietary core technology in regenerative medicine, "Cell Sheet Engineering," LA BioMed President and CEO David I. Meyer, PhD, announced today.

28 Feb 2011

Progeria-derived iPS cells may treat aging-related disease in children

The current pace of population aging is without parallel in human history but surprisingly little is known about the human aging process, because lifespans of eight decades or more make it difficult to study. Now, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have replicated premature aging in the lab, allowing them to study aging-related disease in a dish.

24 Feb 2011