Stanford, CA, USA – An antibody-based treatment can gently and effectively eliminate diseased blood-forming stem cells in the bone marrow to prepare for the transplantation of healthy stem cells, according to a study in mice by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
Kobe, Japan – The bone marrow disease myelofibrosis is stimulated by excessive signaling from vitamin D and immune cells known as macrophages, reveals a Japanese research team. These findings could help to develop alternative treatments that do not target problem genes. The team was led by Research Fellow Kanako Wakahashi and Junior Associate Professor Yoshio Katayama (Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine) and the findings were published on February 4 in the online edition of Blood.
New York, NY, USA – Researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine have used human embryonic stem cells to create a new model system that allows them to study the initiation and progression of small cell lung cancer (SCLC). The study, which will be published February 8 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, reveals the distinct roles played by two critical tumor suppressor genes that are commonly mutated in these highly lethal cancers.
Seattle, WA, USA – New information is unfolding on the genetic controls of an early turning point in pregnancy. As the tiny, dividing cell mass, the blastocyst, travels from the oviduct and lodges in the wall of the uterus, the cells must exit their pre-implantation state and be ready for post-implantation development. Failure of embryos to embed in the uterine lining is a main cause of human infertility. Many pregnancies suddenly stop at this stage, often before the women realize that they had conceived.
Okazaki, Japan – In a study with significant implications for human organ transplantation, researchers have successfully grown functional mouse kidneys inside rats from just a few donor stem cells. The results of the study, led by researchers from the National Institute for Physiological Sciences in Japan, will be published in an upcoming issue of Nature Communications.
Cambridge, MA, USA – Functional B-1 cells derived from mouse embryonic stem cells are capable of long-term engraftment and secrete natural antibodies after transplantation in mice, researchers report February 7 in the journal Stem Cell Reports. Scientists are interested in B-1 cells generated from pluripotent stem cells because they could be tested as a therapeutic for a broad range of immunological disorders.
Stanford, CA, USA – The production of sperm – otherwise known as spermatogenesis – generates more than 1,000 sperm per second in normal males. This productivity comes, in part, from a special cell type called the spermatogonial stem cell. The staying power of this stem cell has allowed many celebrities, including Robert DeNiro and Pablo Picasso, to father children after the age of 65.
Vienna, Austria – Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are still difficult to treat. A team from Vetmeduni Vienna and the CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences/Medical University of Vienna has discovered a new therapeutic approach that could fundamentally change this situation, as evidenced by a study that was published recently in the academic journal Blood.
Seattle, WA, USA – Advances in stem cell research offer hope for treatments that could help patients regrow heart muscle tissue after heart attacks, a key to achieving more complete recovery. Scientists today report success in creating functional blood vessels in vitro for hearts of rats that had sustained a heart attack. The journal Nature Communications published the paper, whose lead authors are Ying Zheng and Charles Murry of the UW Medicine Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine in Seattle.
Heidelberg, Germany – Stem cells are true "Jacks-of-all-trades" of our bodies, as they can turn into the many different cell types of all organs. This allows the tissues such as muscle or even brain to renew and to heal after injury. This amazing "multipotency" makes stem cells in the adult body key tools for the future of regenerative medicine. Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) now publish in the journal Nature how brain stem cells make the decision to transform into new nerve cells.
