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Category Archives: Stem Cells

Stem cell therapies: medical experts call for strict international rules – The Guardian

Posted: July 7, 2017 at 3:42 pm

Stem cells have long been used to treat blood cancers and some immune diseases. But some doctors are offering stem cell treatments for diseases still under clinical trial. Photograph: Mauricio Lima/AFP/Getty Images

Medical and legal experts from around the world have united to call for more stringent regulation of stem cell therapies to prevent people pursuing unproven and potentially deadly treatments overseas.

In a perspective piece for the US journal Science Translational Medicine, 15 experts from countries including the UK, the US, Canada, Belgium, Italy and Japan wrote that national efforts alone would not be enough to counter an industry offering unproven treatments to vulnerable patients.

Stem cell-based interventions are classified under diverse and potentially incompatible national regulatory frameworks, the authors wrote.

Approaches for international regulation not only need to develop consistent rules over the commercialisation of medical practices and products but also need to give them teeth by developing cross-border partnerships for compliance.

Stem cells found in bone marrow and umbilical cord blood have long been used to successfully treat blood cancers including leukaemia and some immune diseases. But those are among the few proven treatments. Legitimate and ethics-approved clinical trials by academic centres are also occurring, exploring the potential of stem cells to treat a wider range of diseases.

But some doctors are directly offering to the general public stem cell treatments for diseases still under clinical trial or for which no evidence exists and for which the safety and efficacy is as yet unproven.

Deaths as a result of stem cell treatments have already occurred. In 2013 Sheila Drysdale died in a New South Wales nursing home after undergoing an unproven liposuction stem-cell therapy at a western Sydney clinic. Following Drysldales death, her doctor, Ralph Bright, gave a statement to police in which he claimed that stem-cell treatment could improve comorbidities and that stem cells could move from joints to other parts of the body to improve disease in distant sites including lungs and brain, vision, mentation and pain.

In his report into Drysdales death, the coroner Hugh Dillon wrote that he could not say what motivated Dr Bright to perform this unproven, dubious procedure on Sheila Drysdale.

But regardless of his motivation, Dr Brights performance as a medical practitioner was, for the reasons outlined above, poor and resulted in Sheila Drysdales death.

The Medical Council of NSW investigated Bright and placed a number of restrictions on his right to practice. Bright is still authorised to practise stem cell therapy for patients with osteoarthritis or who are taking part in research studies approved by an ethics committee. He is also still allowed to treat patients returning for remaining injections of stored cells.

In 2013 a Queensland woman, Kellie van Meurs, died when she travelled to Russia to undergo stem-cell treatment for a rare neurological disorder. She died of a heart attack as a result.

Australias drug regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, last year sought feedback on the regulation of autologous stem-cell therapies but is yet to publish those submissions. A TGA spokeswoman said the Administration was still examining the options for changes to the legislation to reflect public and industry views. The TGA currently considers autologous treatments, which involve treating someone with their own tissue or cells, to be a therapeutic good and, therefore, does not regulate them. Stem cells used for medical practice and therapeutic purposes are covered by different regulatory frameworks.

Associate Professor Megan Munsie, a University of Melbourne stem cell scientist and a co-author of the paper, said: The idea that stem cells are magical holds court in the community, along with this idea the advances in treatment are being held up by red tape.

Unethical health practitioners exploited this, she said, along with the vulnerability of patients with difficult-to-treat or incurable conditions.

There is a precedent for international regulation of this industry because regulations already exist around drugs the way they are manufactured, she said.

This could be extended to the regulation to the stem cell and tissue-based therapies. This international stance would then force or encourage stronger local regulations.

There have been successful efforts by scientists to push back against unscrupulous doctors. In Italy scientists and regulators highlighted the unproven yet government-subsidised treatments being offered by the entrepreneur Davide Vannoni and fought to stop him. He was convicted of criminal charges but the sentence was later suspended.

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Stem cell – Wikipedia

Posted: October 29, 2016 at 6:47 am

Stem cells are undifferentiated biological cells that can differentiate into specialized cells and can divide (through mitosis) to produce more stem cells. They are found in multicellular organisms. In mammals, there are two broad types of stem cells: embryonic stem cells, which are isolated from the inner cell mass of blastocysts, and adult stem cells, which are found in various tissues. In adult organisms, stem cells and progenitor cells act as a repair system for the body, replenishing adult tissues. In a developing embryo, stem cells can differentiate into all the specialized cellsectoderm, endoderm and mesoderm (see induced pluripotent stem cells)but also maintain the normal turnover of regenerative organs, such as blood, skin, or intestinal tissues.

There are three known accessible sources of autologous adult stem cells in humans:

Stem cells can also be taken from umbilical cord blood just after birth. Of all stem cell types, autologous harvesting involves the least risk. By definition, autologous cells are obtained from one's own body, just as one may bank his or her own blood for elective surgical procedures.

Adult stem cells are frequently used in various medical therapies (e.g., bone marrow transplantation). Stem cells can now be artificially grown and transformed (differentiated) into specialized cell types with characteristics consistent with cells of various tissues such as muscles or nerves. Embryonic cell lines and autologous embryonic stem cells generated through somatic cell nuclear transfer or dedifferentiation have also been proposed as promising candidates for future therapies.[1] Research into stem cells grew out of findings by Ernest A. McCulloch and James E. Till at the University of Toronto in the 1960s.[2][3]

The classical definition of a stem cell requires that it possess two properties:

Two mechanisms exist to ensure that a stem cell population is maintained:

Potency specifies the differentiation potential (the potential to differentiate into different cell types) of the stem cell.[4]

In practice, stem cells are identified by whether they can regenerate tissue. For example, the defining test for bone marrow or hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) is the ability to transplant the cells and save an individual without HSCs. This demonstrates that the cells can produce new blood cells over a long term. It should also be possible to isolate stem cells from the transplanted individual, which can themselves be transplanted into another individual without HSCs, demonstrating that the stem cell was able to self-renew.

Properties of stem cells can be illustrated in vitro, using methods such as clonogenic assays, in which single cells are assessed for their ability to differentiate and self-renew.[7][8] Stem cells can also be isolated by their possession of a distinctive set of cell surface markers. However, in vitro culture conditions can alter the behavior of cells, making it unclear whether the cells shall behave in a similar manner in vivo. There is considerable debate as to whether some proposed adult cell populations are truly stem cells.[citation needed]

Embryonic stem (ES) cells are the cells of the inner cell mass of a blastocyst, an early-stage embryo.[9] Human embryos reach the blastocyst stage 45 days post fertilization, at which time they consist of 50150 cells. ES cells are pluripotent and give rise during development to all derivatives of the three primary germ layers: ectoderm, endoderm and mesoderm. In other words, they can develop into each of the more than 200 cell types of the adult body when given sufficient and necessary stimulation for a specific cell type. They do not contribute to the extra-embryonic membranes or the placenta.

During embryonic development these inner cell mass cells continuously divide and become more specialized. For example, a portion of the ectoderm in the dorsal part of the embryo specializes as 'neurectoderm', which will become the future central nervous system.[10] Later in development, neurulation causes the neurectoderm to form the neural tube. At the neural tube stage, the anterior portion undergoes encephalization to generate or 'pattern' the basic form of the brain. At this stage of development, the principal cell type of the CNS is considered a neural stem cell. These neural stem cells are pluripotent, as they can generate a large diversity of many different neuron types, each with unique gene expression, morphological, and functional characteristics. The process of generating neurons from stem cells is called neurogenesis. One prominent example of a neural stem cell is the radial glial cell, so named because it has a distinctive bipolar morphology with highly elongated processes spanning the thickness of the neural tube wall, and because historically it shared some glial characteristics, most notably the expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP).[11][12] The radial glial cell is the primary neural stem cell of the developing vertebrate CNS, and its cell body resides in the ventricular zone, adjacent to the developing ventricular system. Neural stem cells are committed to the neuronal lineages (neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes), and thus their potency is restricted.[10]

Nearly all research to date has made use of mouse embryonic stem cells (mES) or human embryonic stem cells (hES) derived from the early inner cell mass. Both have the essential stem cell characteristics, yet they require very different environments in order to maintain an undifferentiated state. Mouse ES cells are grown on a layer of gelatin as an extracellular matrix (for support) and require the presence of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF). Human ES cells are grown on a feeder layer of mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) and require the presence of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF or FGF-2).[13] Without optimal culture conditions or genetic manipulation,[14] embryonic stem cells will rapidly differentiate.

A human embryonic stem cell is also defined by the expression of several transcription factors and cell surface proteins. The transcription factors Oct-4, Nanog, and Sox2 form the core regulatory network that ensures the suppression of genes that lead to differentiation and the maintenance of pluripotency.[15] The cell surface antigens most commonly used to identify hES cells are the glycolipids stage specific embryonic antigen 3 and 4 and the keratan sulfate antigens Tra-1-60 and Tra-1-81. By using human embryonic stem cells to produce specialized cells like nerve cells or heart cells in the lab, scientists can gain access to adult human cells without taking tissue from patients. They can then study these specialized adult cells in detail to try and catch complications of diseases, or to study cells reactions to potentially new drugs. The molecular definition of a stem cell includes many more proteins and continues to be a topic of research.[16]

There are currently no approved treatments using embryonic stem cells. The first human trial was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in January 2009.[17] However, the human trial was not initiated until October 13, 2010 in Atlanta for spinal cord injury research. On November 14, 2011 the company conducting the trial (Geron Corporation) announced that it will discontinue further development of its stem cell programs.[18] ES cells, being pluripotent cells, require specific signals for correct differentiationif injected directly into another body, ES cells will differentiate into many different types of cells, causing a teratoma. Differentiating ES cells into usable cells while avoiding transplant rejection are just a few of the hurdles that embryonic stem cell researchers still face.[19] Due to ethical considerations, many nations currently have moratoria or limitations on either human ES cell research or the production of new human ES cell lines. Because of their combined abilities of unlimited expansion and pluripotency, embryonic stem cells remain a theoretically potential source for regenerative medicine and tissue replacement after injury or disease.

Human embryonic stem cell colony on mouse embryonic fibroblast feeder layer

The primitive stem cells located in the organs of fetuses are referred to as fetal stem cells.[20] There are two types of fetal stem cells:

Adult stem cells, also called somatic (from Greek , "of the body") stem cells, are stem cells which maintain and repair the tissue in which they are found.[22] They can be found in children, as well as adults.[23]

Pluripotent adult stem cells are rare and generally small in number, but they can be found in umbilical cord blood and other tissues.[24] Bone marrow is a rich source of adult stem cells,[25] which have been used in treating several conditions including liver cirrhosis,[26] chronic limb ischemia [27] and endstage heart failure.[28] The quantity of bone marrow stem cells declines with age and is greater in males than females during reproductive years.[29] Much adult stem cell research to date has aimed to characterize their potency and self-renewal capabilities.[30] DNA damage accumulates with age in both stem cells and the cells that comprise the stem cell environment. This accumulation is considered to be responsible, at least in part, for increasing stem cell dysfunction with aging (see DNA damage theory of aging).[31]

Most adult stem cells are lineage-restricted (multipotent) and are generally referred to by their tissue origin (mesenchymal stem cell, adipose-derived stem cell, endothelial stem cell, dental pulp stem cell, etc.).[32][33]

Adult stem cell treatments have been successfully used for many years to treat leukemia and related bone/blood cancers through bone marrow transplants.[34] Adult stem cells are also used in veterinary medicine to treat tendon and ligament injuries in horses.[35]

The use of adult stem cells in research and therapy is not as controversial as the use of embryonic stem cells, because the production of adult stem cells does not require the destruction of an embryo. Additionally, in instances where adult stem cells are obtained from the intended recipient (an autograft), the risk of rejection is essentially non-existent. Consequently, more US government funding is being provided for adult stem cell research.[36]

Multipotent stem cells are also found in amniotic fluid. These stem cells are very active, expand extensively without feeders and are not tumorigenic. Amniotic stem cells are multipotent and can differentiate in cells of adipogenic, osteogenic, myogenic, endothelial, hepatic and also neuronal lines.[37] Amniotic stem cells are a topic of active research.

Use of stem cells from amniotic fluid overcomes the ethical objections to using human embryos as a source of cells. Roman Catholic teaching forbids the use of embryonic stem cells in experimentation; accordingly, the Vatican newspaper "Osservatore Romano" called amniotic stem cells "the future of medicine".[38]

It is possible to collect amniotic stem cells for donors or for autologuous use: the first US amniotic stem cells bank [39][40] was opened in 2009 in Medford, MA, by Biocell Center Corporation[41][42][43] and collaborates with various hospitals and universities all over the world.[44]

These are not adult stem cells, but rather adult cells (e.g. epithelial cells) reprogrammed to give rise to pluripotent capabilities. Using genetic reprogramming with protein transcription factors, pluripotent stem cells equivalent to embryonic stem cells have been derived from human adult skin tissue.[45][46][47]Shinya Yamanaka and his colleagues at Kyoto University used the transcription factors Oct3/4, Sox2, c-Myc, and Klf4[45] in their experiments on human facial skin cells. Junying Yu, James Thomson, and their colleagues at the University of WisconsinMadison used a different set of factors, Oct4, Sox2, Nanog and Lin28,[45] and carried out their experiments using cells from human foreskin.

As a result of the success of these experiments, Ian Wilmut, who helped create the first cloned animal Dolly the Sheep, has announced that he will abandon somatic cell nuclear transfer as an avenue of research.[48]

Frozen blood samples can be used as a source of induced pluripotent stem cells, opening a new avenue for obtaining the valued cells.[49]

To ensure self-renewal, stem cells undergo two types of cell division (see Stem cell division and differentiation diagram). Symmetric division gives rise to two identical daughter cells both endowed with stem cell properties. Asymmetric division, on the other hand, produces only one stem cell and a progenitor cell with limited self-renewal potential. Progenitors can go through several rounds of cell division before terminally differentiating into a mature cell. It is possible that the molecular distinction between symmetric and asymmetric divisions lies in differential segregation of cell membrane proteins (such as receptors) between the daughter cells.[50]

An alternative theory is that stem cells remain undifferentiated due to environmental cues in their particular niche. Stem cells differentiate when they leave that niche or no longer receive those signals. Studies in Drosophila germarium have identified the signals decapentaplegic and adherens junctions that prevent germarium stem cells from differentiating.[51][52]

Stem cell therapy is the use of stem cells to treat or prevent a disease or condition. Bone marrow transplant is a form of stem cell therapy that has been used for many years without controversy. No stem cell therapies other than bone marrow transplant are widely used.[53][54]

Stem cell treatments may require immunosuppression because of a requirement for radiation before the transplant to remove the person's previous cells, or because the patient's immune system may target the stem cells. One approach to avoid the second possibility is to use stem cells from the same patient who is being treated.

Pluripotency in certain stem cells could also make it difficult to obtain a specific cell type. It is also difficult to obtain the exact cell type needed, because not all cells in a population differentiate uniformly. Undifferentiated cells can create tissues other than desired types.[55]

Some stem cells form tumors after transplantation;[56] pluripotency is linked to tumor formation especially in embryonic stem cells, fetal proper stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells. Fetal proper stem cells form tumors despite multipotency.[citation needed]

Some of the fundamental patents covering human embryonic stem cells are owned by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) they are patents 5,843,780, 6,200,806, and 7,029,913 invented by James A. Thomson. WARF does not enforce these patents against academic scientists, but does enforce them against companies.[57]

In 2006, a request for the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to re-examine the three patents was filed by the Public Patent Foundation on behalf of its client, the non-profit patent-watchdog group Consumer Watchdog (formerly the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights).[57] In the re-examination process, which involves several rounds of discussion between the USTPO and the parties, the USPTO initially agreed with Consumer Watchdog and rejected all the claims in all three patents,[58] however in response, WARF amended the claims of all three patents to make them more narrow, and in 2008 the USPTO found the amended claims in all three patents to be patentable. The decision on one of the patents (7,029,913) was appealable, while the decisions on the other two were not.[59][60] Consumer Watchdog appealed the granting of the '913 patent to the USTPO's Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI) which granted the appeal, and in 2010 the BPAI decided that the amended claims of the '913 patent were not patentable.[61] However, WARF was able to re-open prosecution of the case and did so, amending the claims of the '913 patent again to make them more narrow, and in January 2013 the amended claims were allowed.[62]

In July 2013, Consumer Watchdog announced that it would appeal the decision to allow the claims of the '913 patent to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC), the federal appeals court that hears patent cases.[63] At a hearing in December 2013, the CAFC raised the question of whether Consumer Watchdog had legal standing to appeal; the case could not proceed until that issue was resolved.[64]

Diseases and conditions where stem cell treatment is being investigated include:

Research is underway to develop various sources for stem cells, and to apply stem cell treatments for neurodegenerative diseases and conditions, diabetes, heart disease, and other conditions.[80]

In more recent years, with the ability of scientists to isolate and culture embryonic stem cells, and with scientists' growing ability to create stem cells using somatic cell nuclear transfer and techniques to create induced pluripotent stem cells, controversy has crept in, both related to abortion politics and to human cloning.

Hepatotoxicity and drug-induced liver injury account for a substantial number of failures of new drugs in development and market withdrawal, highlighting the need for screening assays such as stem cell-derived hepatocyte-like cells, that are capable of detecting toxicity early in the drug development process.[81]

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Stem cell - Wikipedia

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Stem Cell Basics I. | stemcells.nih.gov

Posted: September 27, 2016 at 8:45 am

Stem cells have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body during early life and growth. In addition, in many tissues they serve as a sort of internal repair system, dividing essentially without limit to replenish other cells as long as the person or animal is still alive. When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential either to remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, or a brain cell.

Stem cells are distinguished from other cell types by two important characteristics. First, they are unspecialized cells capable of renewing themselves through cell division, sometimes after long periods of inactivity. Second, under certain physiologic or experimental conditions, they can be induced to become tissue- or organ-specific cells with special functions. In some organs, such as the gut and bone marrow, stem cells regularly divide to repair and replace worn out or damaged tissues. In other organs, however, such as the pancreas and the heart, stem cells only divide under special conditions.

Until recently, scientists primarily worked with two kinds of stem cells from animals and humans: embryonic stem cells and non-embryonic "somatic" or "adult" stem cells. The functions and characteristics of these cells will be explained in this document. Scientists discovered ways to derive embryonic stem cells from early mouse embryos more than 30 years ago, in 1981. The detailed study of the biology of mouse stem cells led to the discovery, in 1998, of a method to derive stem cells from human embryos and grow the cells in the laboratory. These cells are called human embryonic stem cells. The embryos used in these studies were created for reproductive purposes through in vitro fertilization procedures. When they were no longer needed for that purpose, they were donated for research with the informed consent of the donor. In 2006, researchers made another breakthrough by identifying conditions that would allow some specialized adult cells to be "reprogrammed" genetically to assume a stem cell-like state. This new type of stem cell, called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), will be discussed in a later section of this document.

Stem cells are important for living organisms for many reasons. In the 3- to 5-day-old embryo, called a blastocyst, the inner cells give rise to the entire body of the organism, including all of the many specialized cell types and organs such as the heart, lungs, skin, sperm, eggs and other tissues. In some adult tissues, such as bone marrow, muscle, and brain, discrete populations of adult stem cells generate replacements for cells that are lost through normal wear and tear, injury, or disease.

Given their unique regenerative abilities, stem cells offer new potentials for treating diseases such as diabetes, and heart disease. However, much work remains to be done in the laboratory and the clinic to understand how to use these cells for cell-based therapies to treat disease, which is also referred to as regenerative or reparative medicine.

Laboratory studies of stem cells enable scientists to learn about the cells essential properties and what makes them different from specialized cell types. Scientists are already using stem cells in the laboratory to screen new drugs and to develop model systems to study normal growth and identify the causes of birth defects.

Research on stem cells continues to advance knowledge about how an organism develops from a single cell and how healthy cells replace damaged cells in adult organisms. Stem cell research is one of the most fascinating areas of contemporary biology, but, as with many expanding fields of scientific inquiry, research on stem cells raises scientific questions as rapidly as it generates new discoveries.

I.Introduction|Next

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StemCells, Inc. : Groundbreaking Science. Breakthrough …

Posted: September 18, 2015 at 10:46 pm

StemCells, Inc. is engaged in clinical development of its proprietary HuCNS-SC (purified human neural stem cells) platform technology to treat disorders of the central nervous system (CNS). Learnmore

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is the second leading cause of paralysis in the U.S. Transplantation of HuCNS-SC cells holds much promise. Learnmore

StemCells, Inc. has been very professional. They have given me all the support that I need.

Phase I/II SCI Clinical Trial Patient Learnmore

StemCells, Inc. being controlled by a U.S. company, and the way they were following up with their patients, just made me feel safer.

Phase I/II SCI Clinical Trial Patient Learnmore

Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of vision loss in developed countries. HuCNS-SC cells may be a viable therapy. Learnmore

I was not ready to give in and say I was going to be blind I was ready to be a pioneer.

Phase I/II AMD Clinical Trial Patient Learnmore

As a patient with a cervical SCI, you may be eligible to participate in a clinical research study called the Pathway Study. The study is evaluating human neural stem cell transplantation as a potential therapy for SCI.

Learn more about this clinical trial

2000 - StemCells, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Photography may be 2010 Lou Jones, StemCells, Inc. or others.

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Adult stem cell – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Posted: September 18, 2015 at 10:46 pm

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Stem cell | Define Stem cell at Dictionary.com

Posted: September 18, 2015 at 10:46 pm

Contemporary Examples

PLUS: Neurobiologist Maureen L. Condic fact-checks 11 stem cell arguments and asks, does research really need human embryos?

He has no regrets on banning the use of federal funds for most stem cell research.

Bush may have discouraged some of the best graduate students from going into the stem cell research field.

stem cell differentiation involves a plethora of regulatory factors and signals that are in a constant state of flux.

One of Obama's first acts must be to overturn Bush's ignorant ban on federal funding for stem cell research.

stem cell research, the bullet train, reversing global warming?

He also came out strongly in favor of stem cell research, again using a personal family story to underline his commitment.

British Dictionary definitions for stem cell Expand

(histology) an undifferentiated cell that gives rise to specialized cells, such as blood cells

stem cell in Medicine Expand

stem cell n. An unspecialized cell that gives rise to a specific specialized cell, such as a blood cell.

stem cell in Science Expand

stem cell in Culture Expand

A cell from which a variety of other cells can develop through the process of cellular differentiation. Stem cells can produce only a certain group of cells (as with skin stem cells) or any cell in the body (as with embryonic stem cells).

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Embryonic stem cell – Science Daily

Posted: September 18, 2015 at 10:46 pm

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are stem cells derived from the undifferentiated inner mass cells of a human embryo.

Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent, meaning they are able to grow (i.e. differentiate) into all derivatives of the three primary germ layers: ectoderm, endoderm and mesoderm.

In other words, they can develop into each of the more than 200 cell types of the adult body as long as they are specified to do so.

Embryonic stem cells are distinguished by two distinctive properties: their pluripotency, and their ability to replicate indefinitely.

ES cells are pluripotent, that is, they are able to differentiate into all derivatives of the three primary germ layers: ectoderm, endoderm, and mesoderm.

These include each of the more than 220 cell types in the adult body.

Pluripotency distinguishes embryonic stem cells from adult stem cells found in adults; while embryonic stem cells can generate all cell types in the body, adult stem cells are multipotent and can produce only a limited number of cell types.

Additionally, under defined conditions, embryonic stem cells are capable of propagating themselves indefinitely.

This allows embryonic stem cells to be employed as useful tools for both research and regenerative medicine, because they can produce limitless numbers of themselves for continued research or clinical use.

Because of their plasticity and potentially unlimited capacity for self-renewal, ES cell therapies have been proposed for regenerative medicine and tissue replacement after injury or disease.

Diseases that could potentially be treated by pluripotent stem cells include a number of blood and immune-system related genetic diseases, cancers, and disorders; juvenile diabetes;

Parkinson's; blindness and spinal cord injuries.

Besides the ethical concerns of stem cell therapy, there is a technical problem of graft-versus-host disease associated with allogeneic stem cell transplantation.

However, these problems associated with histocompatibility may be solved using autologous donor adult stem cells, therapeutic cloning, stem cell banks or more recently by reprogramming of somatic cells with defined factors (e.g. induced pluripotent stem cells).

Other potential uses of embryonic stem cells include investigation of early human development, study of genetic disease and as in vitro systems for toxicology testing.

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Daily News Articles – stem cells | The Scientist Magazine

Posted: September 18, 2015 at 10:46 pm

Most Recent

Two research groups have devised small-molecule recipes to directly transform fibroblasts into neurons.

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By Anna Azvolinsky | May 6, 2015

Researchers isolate an easy-to-manipulate, stable, and spatially distinct pluripotent cell type.

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By Jef Akst | February 26, 2015

A screen of 9,000 small molecules identifies a treatment that improves the targeting of mesenchymal stem cells to sites of damaged tissue.

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Researchers report an association between culture conditions and genetic changes in stem cells over time.

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By Jenny Rood | February 18, 2015

A National Institutes of Health-funded consortium publishes 111 reference maps of DNA and histone marks.

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By Ruth Williams | February 4, 2015

Genetically modified T memory stem cells persist in patients for more than 10 years, and can differentiate into a variety of T cell types.

1 Comment

An analysis of 31 tissues finds that random mutations acquired during stem cell divisions correlate with lifetime cancer riskmore so than heritable mutations and environmental factors combined.

7 Comments

By Molly Sharlach | December 25, 2014

This year in life science was marked by paltry federal funding increases, revelations of sequence contamination, and onerous regulations.

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By Anna Azvolinsky | December 18, 2014

Can mechanical forces alone be manipulated to create stem-like cells?

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By Anna Azvolinsky | December 10, 2014

Through cellular reprogramming, researchers have produced a novel pluripotent mouse stem cell in vitro.

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Download Stem Cells in Marine Organisms PDF – Video

Posted: April 29, 2015 at 12:43 pm


Download Stem Cells in Marine Organisms PDF
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Does Nova Cells Institute have Multiple Sclerosis Stem Cell Treatment Success, 562-916-3410 – Video

Posted: April 22, 2015 at 6:42 am


Does Nova Cells Institute have Multiple Sclerosis Stem Cell Treatment Success, 562-916-3410
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