Progenitor Cells News and Research

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Reprogrammed kidney cells could make transplants and dialysis things of the past

Approximately 60 million people across the globe have chronic kidney disease (CKD), and many will need dialysis or a transplant. Breakthrough research published in the Journal of the American Society Nephrology indicates that patients' own kidney cells can be gathered and reprogrammed.

28 Jul 2011

Invadopodia could help survival of cancer cells

Delicate, threadlike protrusions used by cancer cells when they invade other tissues in the body could also help them escape control mechanisms supposed to eliminate them, a research group led by led by Bradley Davidson in the University of Arizona's department of molecular and cellular biology reports in Nature Cell Biology.

28 Jul 2011

Thalidomide analog shows promise against sickle cell disease

A thalidomide analog is shaping up as a safe, worthy opponent of sickle cell disease, Georgia Health Sciences University researchers report.

19 Jul 2011

Two existing clinical stage clients expand development activities with Progenitor Cell Therapy

Progenitor Cell Therapy (PCT), an internationally recognized cell therapy services and development company, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of NeoStem, Inc., an international biopharmaceutical company with operations in the U.S. and China, announced today that two existing clinical stage biopharmaceutical corporate clients have chosen to expand their development activities with PCT.

18 Jul 2011

Epigenetics affects whether or not stem cells differentiate

Adult stem cells and progenitor cells may not come with a clean genetic slate after all. That's because a new report in the FASEB Journal shows that adult stem or progenitor cells have their own unique "epigenetic signatures," which change once a cell differentiates. This is important because epigenetic changes do not affect the actual make up in a cell's DNA, but rather, how that DNA functions.

1 Jul 2011

Innovative adult stem cell approach could help eliminate obesity

Innovative adult stem cell research by scientists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston could aid efforts to apply the brakes to stem cells that produce the type of fat ringing the waists of millions. Research appeared today online ahead of the print issue of Cell Stem Cell.

17 Jun 2011

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