News & Commentaries

The Bull's Eye: New Modified Stem Cells Can Deliver Drugs Specifically to Tumor Cells

Scientists modified "mesenchymal stem cells" to carry anti-cancer drugs and deliver them to target cancers

Tokyo, Japan – Targeting drugs to cancer tissues is a major challenge in cancer treatment. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are known for their ability to find and target tumor cells in the body, but using MSCs for drug delivery has been tricky, because upon loading with drugs, MSCs lose their viability and migratory ability. Now, researchers from Tokyo University of Science have successfully modified MSCs to deliver large quantities of anti-cancer drugs in a targeted manner to developing cancer cells.

Research Dispels Fears Human Stem Cells Contain Cancer-Causing Mutations

Stembook: Research Dispels Fears Human Stem Cells Contain Cancer-Causing Mutations
Pioneering new research has made a pivotal breakthrough that dispel concerns that human stem cells could contain cancer-causing mutations.

Exeter, UK – A team of scientists from the University of Exeter’s flagship Living Systems Institute has shown that stem cells contain no cancer mutations when they are grown in their most primitive or naïve state.

Customized Programming of Human Stem Cells

Researchers harness 1732 transcription factors to obtain 290 new differentiation recipes

Bonn, Germany – Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) have the potential to convert into a wide variety of cell types and tissues for drug testing and cell replacement therapies. However, the "recipes" for this conversion are often complicated and difficult to implement. Researchers at the Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden (CRTD) at TU Dresden, Harvard University (USA) and the University of Bonn have found a way to systematically extract hundreds of different cells quickly and easily from iPS using transcription factors, including neurons, connective tissue and blood vessel cells. Researchers can use this transcription factor source through the non-profit organization Addgene. The results have now been published in the journal Nature Biotechnology

Researchers Uncover the Unique Way Stem Cells Protect their Chromosome Ends

Stembook: Researchers Uncover the Unique Way Stem Cells Protect their Chromosome Ends

London, UK – Telomeres are specialised structures at the end of chromosomes which protect our DNA and ensure healthy division of cells. According to a new study from researchers at the Francis Crick Institute published in Nature, the mechanisms of telomere protection are surprisingly unique in stem cells.

World’s First: Drug Guides Stem Cells to Desired Location, Improving their Ability to Heal

Stembook: World’s First: Drug Guides Stem Cells to Desired Location, Improving their Ability to Heal
Discovery represents a major milestone for regenerative medicine that could help more people benefit from stem cell therapy

San Diego, CA, USA – Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute have created a drug that can lure stem cells to damaged tissue and improve treatment efficacy- a scientific first and a major advance for the field of regenerative medicine. The discovery, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), could improve current stem cell therapies designed to treat neurological disorders such as spinal cord injury, stroke, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other neurodegenerative disorders; and expand their use to new conditions, such as heart disease or arthritis.

Forsyth Researchers Demonstrate How Changing the Stem Cell Response to Inflammation May Reverse Periodontal Disease

Stembook: Forsyth Researchers Demonstrate How Changing the Stem Cell Response to Inflammation May Reverse Periodontal Disease

Cambridge, MA, USA – Periodontal disease, also known as gum disease, is a serious infection that affects nearly 50 percent of Americans aged 30 years and older. If left unchecked, periodontal disease can destroy the jawbone and lead to tooth loss. The disease is also associated with higher risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Exosome Treatment Improves Recovery from Heart Attacks in a Preclinical Study

Stembook: Exosome Treatment Improves Recovery from Heart Attacks in a Preclinical Study

Birmingham, AL, USA – Science has long known that recovery from experimental heart attacks is improved by injection of a mixture of heart muscle cells, endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells, yet results have been limited by poor engraftment and retention, and researchers worry about potential tumorigenesis and heart arrhythmia.

Fine-tuning Stem Cell Metabolism Prevents Hair Loss

Stembook: Fine-tuning Stem Cell Metabolism Prevents Hair Loss
An international research team has shown in mice that Rictor, a protein that helps to regulate the growth, energy, and oxygen consumption of cells, plays a key role in the cellular metabolism and longevity of hair follicle stem cells.

Cologne, Germany – A team of researchers from Cologne and Helsinki has discovered a mechanism that prevents hair loss: hair follicle stem cells, essential for hair to regrow, can prolong their life by switching their metabolic state in response to low oxygen concentration in the tissue. The team was led by Associate Professor Sara Wickström (University of Helsinki and Max Planck Institute for the Biology of Ageing) and the dermatologist Professor Sabine Eming (University of Cologne), and included researchers from the University of Cologne’s Cluster of Excellence in Aging Research CECAD, the Max Planck Institute for the Biology of Ageing, Collaborative Research Centre 829 ‘Molecular Mechanisms Regulating Skin Homeostasis’, the Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne (CMMC) (all in Cologne), and the University of Helsinki. The paper ‘Glutamine Metabolism Controls Stem Cell Fate Reversibility and Long-Term Maintenance in the Hair Follicle’ has been published in Cell Metabolism.

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