New Marrow Transplant Method Developed at Standford May Eliminate Fatal Side Effects
Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have developed a technique that can virtually eliminate this life-threatening complication, known as graft-versus-host disease, without compromising the transplanted cells’ effectiveness against cancer.
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Transplanted Insulin-producing Cells Survive Better when the Activation of NKT Cells are Blocked
Scientists in Japan have found a way to improve on a promising diabetes treatment. In the October 3 issue of The Journal of Experimental Medicine, Masaru Taniguchi and colleagues report that transplanted insulin-producing cells survive better when the activation of a specific type of immune cell is blocked.
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Hope for Type 1 Diabetes Breakthrough
A team from Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science have described a “reversibly immortalized” cell line that can supply large amounts of insulin-producing human beta-cells.
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Adult Stem Cells Aid Recovery in Animal Model of Cerebral Palsy
Adult stem cell therapy quickly and significantly improves recovery of motor function in an animal model for the ischemic brain injury that occurs in about 10 percent of babies with cerebral palsy, researchers report.
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First Patients in Parkinson’s Gene Therapy Doing Well
A New Zealand-developed gene therapy for Parkinson’s disease has produced significant improvements in motor function and significant decreases in abnormal brain metabolism, according to an early study.
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First-Ever Gene Therapy Success for Muscular Dystrophy Achieved Using Mini-Gene, New Systematic Approach
Pitt researchers have reported the first study to achieve success with gene therapy for the treatment of congenital muscular dystrophy (CMD) in mice, demonstrating that the formidable scientific challenges that have cast doubt on gene therapy ever being feasible for children with muscular dystrophy can be overcome.
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Gene Therapy to Lower Blood Pressure Just Enough
A newly developed virus that introduces a blood pressure-lowering gene into cells and enables that gene to maintain blood pressure at healthy levels for four months promises to take gene therapy for the disorder a step closer to reality, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in a report released online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Going Bald: Worry Not as Hair Raising Gene Therapy is in the Offing
Researchers from the Kennedy Krieger Research Institute and Johns Hopkins University believe that balding could be reversed by genetic manipulations in the hair cells and have published their study on mice in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Stem Cells Help Regenerate Cartilage and Bone
UK scientists are working on new methods to regenerate cartilage and bone by delivering genes to stem cells within the body to instruct them to turn into bone cells.
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Discarded Placentas Could Provide Source of Therapeutic Stem Cells
Routinely discarded as medical waste, placental tissue could feasibly provide an abundant source of cells with the same potential to treat diseases and regenerate tissues as their more controversial counterparts, embryonic stem cells, suggests a Pitt study published in the journal Stem Cells.
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Modified Collagen Could Could Help Deliver Drugs And Shape The Growth Of Engineered Tissue
Collagen often pops up in beauty products and supermodel lips. But by mating collagen with a molecular hitchhiker, materials scientists at Johns Hopkins hope to create some important medical advances.
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Colostrinin Increases Cell Lifespan
The colostrum-based product increased the lifespan of cells isolated from mice predisposed to premature ageing and therefore, death, researchers will report today at the 21st International Conference of Alzheimer’s Disease International taking place in Istanbul.
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Kidney Transplant Patients Face Higher Cancer Risk
People who receive a kidney transplant are nearly four times more likely to develop melanoma, a rare but deadly form of skin cancer, according to a study in the November 1, 2005 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.
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Intermediate Doses of Interferon Do Not Reduce Recurrences in Early Melanoma
According to a recent article published in The Lancet, intermediate doses of interferon administered over a short interval do not appear to improve survival over no treatment in patients with stages IIB or III melanoma.
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Engineered Molecule Amplifies Body’s Immune Response
By altering a molecule called Stat1, which is involved in cellular immune signaling, scientists have succeeded in making the molecule more responsive and thus more efficient. This old protein with a new twist may eventually be used to improve the body’s defense against infection.
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Second Human Cloning Failure for Controversial Fertility Expert
Speaking at a press conference in London, Dr Zavos said the latest procedure took place in a Middle Eastern country, which he refused to identify. He would not reveal the identity and nationality of the woman, either.
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John Hopkins to Study How Stem Cells Could Help Hearts
The Johns Hopkins Heart Institute announced Thursday it will receive more than $12 million in federal research funding over five years to study how stem cell therapy can aid damaged hearts.
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Madison to Store US’s Stem Cells
UW Madison will be home to the nation’s first bank of embryonic stem cells.
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ABSTRACT, REVIEWS, & SPECIAL REPORTS
Recovery of Stem Cells from Cryopreserved Periodontal Ligament
The present study demonstrates that human post-natal stem cells can be recovered from cryopreserved human periodontal ligament, thereby providing a practical clinical approach for the utilization of frozen tissues for stem cell isolation.
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Side Population Cells Derived from Adult Human Liver Generate Hepatocyte-like Cells In Vitro
We conclude that hepatic SP cells derived from the nonparenchymal portion of human liver are a potential source of human hepatocytes irrespective of their CD45 status, and further animal studies will be required to assess their regenerative potential.
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Successful Nonmyeloablative Cord Blood Transplantation for an Infant with Malignant Infantile Osteopetrosis
Because of the urgent need, CBT can be considered as one of the SCT sources for MIOP, especially in a severe, life-threatening setting.
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Cardiac Neural Crest Cells Contribute to the Dormant Multipotent Stem Cell in the Mammalian Heart
These results suggest that cardiac neural crest-derived cells migrate into the heart, remain there as dormant multipotent stem cells-and under the right conditions-differentiate into cardiomyocytes and typical neural crest-derived cells, including neurons, glia, and smooth muscle.
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Innate Anti-breast Cancer Immunity of Apoptosis-resistant Human Gammadelta-T cells
As apoptosis-resistant human gammadelta-T cells can now readily be expanded to large numbers (clinical scale), these findings must be considered in the context of developing adoptive immunotherapy strategies to exploit gammadelta-T cell innate immune responses for the primary or adjuvant treatment of breast cancer.
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