Durham, NC (PRWEB) February 27, 2015

Several studies showing the promise of stem cells for treating patients with heart failure have made headline news recently. However, all these studies dealt with adult patients only. New research appearing in this months STEM CELLS Translational Medicine shows that stem cells may have the same potential in treating children with congenital heart diseases that can lead to heart failure.

The study, undertaken by researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., looked at the feasibility and long-term safety of injecting autologous umbilical cord blood cells directly into the heart muscle at the pediatric stage of heart development. The study was conducted on pigs, due to their hearts similarity to human hearts.

The team injected the stem cells directly into the right ventricle of groups of three- and four-week old healthy piglets, and then compared the results to a control group that did not receive any cells. Over the next three months, the animals were monitored to assess cardiac performance and rhythm to determine how safe the procedure would be for humans.

During this follow-up period, we found no significant acute or chronic cardiac injury pattern caused by the injections directly into the heart, said lead author Timothy J. Nelson, M.D., Ph.D., of the Mayo Clinics Department of Medicine, and all the animals hearts appeared to be normal and healthy.

This led us to conclude that autologous stem cells from cord blood can be safely collected and surgically delivered to children. The study also establishes the foundation for cell-based therapy for children and aims to accelerate the science toward clinical trials for helping children with congenital heart disease that could benefit from a regenerative medicine strategy, he added.

The lead author, Susan Cantero Peral, M.D., Ph.D. commented, This work highlights the importance and utility of umbilical cord blood as it can be applied to new applications. Rather than discarding this sample at birth, individuals with congenital heart disease may one day be able to have these cells collected and processed in a specialized way to make them available for cardiac regeneration.

This work was funded by the Todd and Karen Wanek Family Program for Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome founded at the Mayo Clinic.

These data help establish the foundation of a cell-based therapy for juvenile hearts by showing that injections of autologous cells from cord blood are safe and feasible, said Anthony Atala, M.D., editor of STEM CELLS Translational Medicine and director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

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Study Shows Stem Cells Have Potential to Help Kids Hearts, Too

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Newswise TAMPA, Fla. Glioblastomas are a highly aggressive type of brain tumor, with few effective treatment options. Moffitt Cancer Center researchers are one step closer to understanding glioblastoma development following the identification of a key protein signaling pathway involved in brain tumor stem cell growth and survival. Brain tumor stem cells are believed to play an important role in glioblastoma development and may be possible therapeutic targets.

The neurotrophin protein pathway controls nerve growth, survival and specialization. In an article published in the Feb. 6 issue of The Journal of Biological Chemistry, Moffitt researchers reported that the neurotrophin pathway is also involved in the survival and growth of brain tumor stem cells. The stem cells have high levels of neurotrophin receptors called TrkB and TrkC. Cellular signals from normal brain cells can activate TrkB and TrkC on the stem cells and stimulate cell growth. And when scientists inhibited TrkB and TrkC, they found decreased stem cell survival. This suggests that TrkB and TrkC may be possible drug targets for stem cells in gliomas and glioblastomas.

This work might be a first step in developing new treatment approaches targeting brain tumor stem cells. It may also partly explain why brain tumors can grow so quickly since proteins from the surrounding normal brain might be used by the tumor to grow even faster, said Peter A. Forsyth, M.D., chair of the Department of Neuro-Oncology at Moffitt.

Researchers also reported a potential reason why several clinical trials targeting a protein called EGFR in glioblastoma patients have failed to live up to expectations. EGFR is frequently activated in glioblastoma, but results from trials using EGFR inhibitors showed little or no patient improvement. Moffitt scientists discovered that TrkB and TrkC maintain brain stem cell survival and growth even when EGFR inhibitors are used. These observations suggest that one reason why EGFR inhibitors may be ineffective in glioblastoma is that TrkB and TrkC are active, thereby bypassing EGFR inhibition and allowing stem cells to continue to grow.

This is the first time that scientists have shown that TrkB and TrkC are involved in brain tumor stem cell growth. Currently, no drugs that target TrkB and TrkC have been used as brain cancer treatments. Researchers hope that these results might encourage the development of drugs that target both the stem cell compartment and the more differentiated parts of the brain tumor and result in more effective therapies.

The study was supported by funds The V Foundation for Cancer Research and the Moffitt Cancer Center Foundation.

About Moffitt Cancer Center: Located in Tampa, Moffitt is one of only 41 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, a distinction that recognizes Moffitts excellence in research, its contributions to clinical trials, prevention and cancer control. Moffitt is the top-ranked cancer hospital in the Southeast and has been listed in U.S. News & World Reports Best Hospitals for cancer care since 1999. With more than 4,500 employees, Moffitt has an economic impact in Florida of nearly $1.6 billion. For more information, visit MOFFITT.org, and follow the Moffitt momentum on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

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Moffitt Cancer Center Researchers Identify Protein Pathway Involved in Brain Tumor Stem Cell Growth

Manchester scientists have a developed a new method to monitor the effect of anti-cancer drugs on very rare leukemia stem cells. The approach potentially allows doctors to screen patients and personalise their treatment.

The recent development of novel agents has improved outcomes for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). These so-called tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) target abnormal proteins caused by commonly found genetic mutations in CML patients. However, the existence of treatment-resistant cancer stem cells -- cells that are able to repeatedly renew the leukemia cell population -- is one way that many patients experience disease recurrence when treatment stops.

Any new drug must therefore be tested on such stem cells, but unfortunately they are only found in very low numbers and are identified by certain cell surface markers. Now researchers at The University of Manchester -- part of the Manchester Cancer Research Centre -- have tested a way to monitor the effect of drugs on small samples of cells.

Professor Tony Whetton, head of the Stem Cell and Leukaemia Proteomics Laboratory who led the study, said: "Current techniques require greater numbers of cells in order to detect changes caused by TKIs. Our study investigated the potential of a new technology platform that can identify changes in very small cell numbers."

The research team looked at an antibody-based approach to detect structural changes in certain proteins, in order to track the effectiveness of the TKI drugs. The instrument used fixes proteins in place and holds them, there allowing for a better signal to be generated from less material. With this approach they found that they could record changes in samples of only a few thousand critically important but rare stem cells.

"This new approach will enable us to test drugs on cells taken from patients, either at presentation or in a clinical trial setting. It has great potential to allow us to implement precision medicine, where patients receive the most appropriate treatment to target their individual tumour," added Professor Whetton.

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The above story is based on materials provided by Manchester University. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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New approach to assessing effectiveness of anti-cancer drugs