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Mini transplant patients' outcomes similar using related and unrelated donor cells

People who undergo nonmyeloablative stem-cell transplants, or "mini transplants," for leukemia, lymphoma and other blood cancers have comparable outcomes regardless of whether they receive tissue-matched stem cells from a related or unrelated donor, according to new findings by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

4 Dec 2007

Genes discovered that protect against heart damage from chemotherapy

A series of genes that protect cells from the powerful, common chemotherapeutic agent doxorubicin has been identified by researchers working to understand how the drug also can destroy the heart.

4 Dec 2007

New classification system for rare lung diseases in infants

A new classification system of rare lung diseases in infants is improving diagnosis and treatment.

3 Dec 2007

Study of the post-transplant effects of alcohol use among lung donors

A recent study using an animal model of lung transplants shows that chronic alcohol consumption by the donor promotes scarring and airway injury after transplantation.

2 Dec 2007

Live kidney donors report high satisfaction rates and minimal health problems

Live kidney donors suffer minimal health problems and 90 per cent would strongly encourage other people to a become a donor if a partner or family member needed a transplant, according to a study of more than 300 people published in the December issue of the UK-based urology journal BJU International.

29 Nov 2007

New drug, eltrombopag boosts platelets in hepatitis C patients

It's not a cure, but this may be some of the best news patients infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) have heard in a long time: A new drug, eltrombopag, appears to be effective in boosting low platelet counts, one of the major reasons why patients can't endure antiviral treatments.

29 Nov 2007

Could stem cells be used to cure Crohn's Disease?

Scientists are investigating whether stem cells could be used to 're-boot' the immune system and provide a cure for Crohn's Disease.

29 Nov 2007

Researchers find evidence of mature heart cell potential in embryonic stem cells

In a new study, UC Davis researchers report the first functional evidence that heart cells derived from human embryonic stem cells exhibit one of the most critical properties of mature adult heart cells, an important biological process called excitation-contraction coupling.

27 Nov 2007

Alcohol may promote scarring and airway injury after transplantation

A recent study using an animal model of lung transplants shows that chronic alcohol consumption by the donor promotes scarring and airway injury after transplantation.

27 Nov 2007

Researchers transfer immune response to myeloma patient

Researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) have for the first time transferred an immune response in a healthy individual to a patient with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow, showing promise for cancer vaccination.

27 Nov 2007

Living donors may be best source of insulin-producing islets for diabetes treatment

According to a new study in Clinical Transplantation, obtaining islet cells (clusters of pancreatic cells that create insulin) from living donors may be a solution to the shortage of islets available for transplantation.

27 Nov 2007

Isotechnika granted Norwegian patent for lead immunosuppressive drug

Isotechnika Inc. has announced that the Company has been issued Norwegian Patent No. 324042 for its lead immunosuppressive drug, ISA247.

27 Nov 2007

Researchers find new way to transplant new blood-forming stem cells into bone marrow of mice

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have taken a small but significant step, in mouse studies, toward the goal of transplanting adult stem cells to create a new immune system for people with autoimmune or genetic blood diseases.

22 Nov 2007

Lung transplants for cystic fibrosis may not be such a good option

Researchers in the United States say lung transplants do little to improve the outcomes for children with severe cystic fibrosis (CF) and often increases their risk of dying.

22 Nov 2007

Pediatric pediatric pulmonary expert comments on study of lung transplants for cystic fibrosis

Commenting on a study of lung transplantation for children with cystic fibrosis, a leading pediatric pulmonologist calls the study “startling” in an editorial in this week's New England Journal of Medicine that accompanies the study.

21 Nov 2007

Lung transplants do more harm than good to children with cystic fibrosis

Lung transplantation, the therapy almost every cystic fibrosis patient (CF) considers at some point to prolong survival, rarely helps children with the disease live longer and, in fact, often increases their risk of dying, University of Utah researchers conclude in the most extensive study of the issue to date.

21 Nov 2007

New technique provides stem cells without ethical and legal constraints

In a paper to be published Nov. 22 in the online edition of the journal Science, a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers reports the genetic reprogramming of human skin cells to create cells indistinguishable from embryonic stem cells.

21 Nov 2007

New human rhinovirus associated with pediatric respiratory tract infection in Germany

Using a rapid, sensitive, and inexpensive diagnostic tool called MassTag PCR, scientists at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health's Center for Infection and Immunity implicated a new human rhinovirus as the cause of severe pediatric respiratory tract infections in Europe.

21 Nov 2007

World-famous heart transplant hospital given the all-clear

World-famous Papworth hospital in Cambridgeshire, England, has been given the all-clear to resume heart transplant surgery.

20 Nov 2007

New organ allocation criteria associated with decreased deaths on liver transplant waiting list

Changing the method by which donated livers are allocated to potential transplant patients appears to have decreased the number of deaths among individuals on the waiting list as well as shortened the time to transplantation, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

19 Nov 2007