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Italian officials should not go ahead with expensive clinical tests of an unproven stem-cell therapy that has no good scientific basis. The Italian government is planning to oversee a clinical trial of a controversial stem-cell therapy. There are many reasons for the trial to be stopped — and no good reason for it to be carried out. Last week, Nature revealed that the method used by Italian researcher Davide Vannoni, founder of the Stamina Foundation in Brescia, to treat scores of very sick patients is based on flawed data. The revelation struck a major nerve, and hit the front pages...

Scientists raise serious concerns about a patent that forms the basis of a controversial stem-cell therapy. Davide Vannoni, a psychologist turned medical entrepreneur, has polarized Italian society in the past year with a bid to get his special brand of stem-cell therapy authorized. He has gained fervent public support with his claims to cure fatal illnesses — and equally fervent opposition from many scientists who say that his treatment is unproven. Now those scientists want the Italian government to pull out of a €3-million (US$3.9-million) clinical trial of the therapy that it promised to support in May, after bowing to...

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating motor neuron disease that rapidly atrophies the muscles, leading to complete paralysis. Despite its high profile—established when it afflicted the New York Yankees' Lou Gehrig—ALS remains a disease that scientists are unable to predict, prevent, or cure. Although several genetic ALS mutations have been identified, they only apply to a small number of cases. The ongoing challenge is to identify the mechanisms behind the non-genetic form of the disease and draw useful comparisons with the genetic forms.Now, using samples of stem cells derived from the bone marrow of non-genetic ALS patients, Prof. Miguel...

The youngest patient to receive an artificial trachea seeded with stem cells has died, The New York Times reported today. Hannah Warren, who was born with a rare birth defect that left her without a trachea, underwent surgery in April to have a synthetic trachea implanted that was seeded with stem cells from her bone marrow. She would have turned 3 in August. Her doctors told The New York Times that her death was due to complications related to a second surgery that was needed to repair her esophagus, which had not properly healed after the initial surgery. They said...

Cells self-organize and grow into functional organs after transplantation. Transplanting tiny 'liver buds' constructed from human stem cells restores liver function in mice, researchers have found. Although preliminary, the results offer a potential path towards developing treatments for the thousands of patients awaiting liver transplants every year. The liver buds, approximately 4 mm across, staved off death in mice with liver failure, the researchers report this week in Nature1. The transplanted structures also took on a range of liver functions — secreting liver-specific proteins and producing human-specific metabolites. But perhaps most notably, these buds quickly hooked up with nearby blood...

The Japanese Health Ministry has approved the first human clinical trial involving induced pluripotent stem cells (know as iPSCs), which are taken from a patient’s epithelial tissue for use elsewhere in his body. The trial will remove skin cells from six adults who suffer from age-related macular degeneration; scientists at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe will then attempt to develop the cells into retinal tissue for transplant back to each patient’s eyes. The outcome of the treatment is by no means assured; the trial will take four years to complete, and as the National Institutes of Health...

When infections occur in the body, stem cells in the blood often jump into action by multiplying and differentiating into mature immune cells that can fight off illness. But repeated infections and inflammation can deplete these cell populations, potentially leading to the development of serious blood conditions such as cancer. Now, a team of researchers led by biologists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has found that, in mouse models, the molecule microRNA-146a (miR-146a) acts as a critical regulator and protector of blood-forming stem cells (called hematopoietic stem cells, or HSCs) during chronic inflammation, suggesting that a deficiency of...

Enlarge Image Young at heart. Cross-sections of mouse ventricles show the visible change in size when old hearts are immersed in young blood. Credit: Francesco Loffredo It's time to turn back the clock on an aging ticker. Drawing on an odd experimental technique invented more than a century ago but rarely done now, researchers have found that a blood-borne protein makes old mouse hearts appear young and healthy again. It's not clear yet whether humans would react the same way, but scientists are hopeful that this discovery may help treat one of the heart's most frustrating ailments. "This is probably...

This interview was conducted by George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report (5/10/13) Stem cell companies have languished long enough in micro-cap territory. The industry is now approaching highly visible phase 2 and phase 3 catalysts that will produce results never before seen in medicine. Managing Director and Senior Biotechnology Analyst Jason Kolbert of the Maxim Group has staked out a select group of nascent cell therapy companies positioned to reap huge gains for investors willing to diversify. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Kolbert reflects on the regenerative medicine space following the recent RegenMed Investor Day...

Two-year-old Hannah Warren lived her whole life in an intensive care unit with a breathing tube. She was born without a windpipe and has been unable to talk, swallow, or eat on her own. Her parents, Darryl and Young-mi Warren were told Hannah would not live past age six. "Hannah didn't have a chance. There was no hope. We were waiting for her to die essentially," said Darryl Warren...

In a serendipitous discovery, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found a way to turn bone marrow stem cells directly into brain cells. Current techniques for turning patients' marrow cells into cells of some other desired type are relatively cumbersome, risky and effectively confined to the lab dish. The new finding points to the possibility of simpler and safer techniques. Cell therapies derived from patients' own cells are widely expected to be useful in treating spinal cord injuries, strokes and other conditions throughout the body, with little or no risk of immune rejection. "These results highlight the potential...

First-in-humans study introduces next generation cell therapyROCHESTER, Minn. — Translating a Mayo Clinic stem-cell discovery, an international team has demonstrated that therapy with cardiopoietic (cardiogenically-instructed) or "smart" stem cells can improve heart health for people suffering from heart failure. This is the first application in patients of lineage-guided stem cells for targeted regeneration of a failing organ, paving the way to development of next generation regenerative medicine solutions. Results of the clinical trial appear online of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. VIDEO ALERT: Audio and video resources are available on the Mayo Clinic News Network. The multi-center,...

Researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have made a discovery in neuroscience that could offer a long-lasting solution to eating disorders such as obesity. It was previously thought that the nerve cells in the brain associated with appetite regulation were generated entirely during an embryo's development in the womb and therefore their numbers were fixed for life. But research published today in the Journal of Neuroscience has identified a population of stem cells capable of generating new appetite-regulating neurons in the brains of young and adult rodents. Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally. More than 1.4 billion adults...

The promise of repairing damaged hearts through regenerative medicine -- infusing stem cells into the heart in the hope that these cells will replace worn out or damaged tissue -- has yet to meet with clinical success. But a highly sensitive visualization technique developed by Stanford University School of Medicine scientists may help speed that promise's realization. The technique is described in a study published March 20 in Science Translational Medicine. Testing the new imaging method in humans is probably three to five years off. Human and animal trials in which stem cells were injected into cardiac tissue to treat...

For decades scientists around the world have attempted to regenerate primary liver cells known as hepatocytes because of their numerous biomedical applications, including hepatitis research, drug metabolism and toxicity studies, as well as transplantation for cirrhosis and other chronic liver conditions. But no lab in the world has been successful in identifying and growing liver stem cells in culture -- using any available technique – until now. In the journal Nature, physician-scientists in the Papé Family Pediatric Research Institute at Oregon Health & Science University Doernbecher Children's Hospital, Portland, Ore., along with investigators at the Hubrecht Institute for Developmental Biology...

The January special issue of Cell Research on Stem Cell Biology brings together the latest reviews and articles in the field. Together with the accompanying web focus, Cell Research delves into our current understanding and investigates recent advances in various aspects of stem cell biology, cell reprogramming, and their relevance to diseases.Special Issue on Stem Cell Biology

Gerard Cuomo loves to dance. Until recently, however, the 70-year-old couldn’t even do a two-step. After having three heart attacks in the early 1990s, Cuomo’s heart was severely damaged. The scar tissue that had formed around his heart left him easily fatigued. “I felt like an old man,” said Cuomo of Aventura. “I could barely climb the stairs. I could walk for about a quarter of a mile. Shopping at the mall — I wish I did not have to sit down all the time.” In May 2010, he participated in a University of Miami Miller School of Medicine’s clinical...

At present, there are three small human safety embryonic stem cell studies. All deal with macular degeneration-type conditions. And now, a human trial looks to soon get underway in Japan using induced pluripotent stem cells, that is, stem cells made from a patient’s own skin or other tissues. From the Nature News story: Having already received IRB approval at her home institution, Takahashi can now move towards the final step before patient recruitment: getting health ministry approval.  She’s expected receive that in time for starting the trials during this fiscal year, ending March 2014. The trial will enroll six patients...

By offering unproven therapies, a Texas biotechnology firm has sparked a bitter debate about how stem cells should be regulated. Ann McFarlane is losing faith. In the first half of 2012, the Houston resident received four infusions of adult stem cells grown from her own fat. McFarlane has multiple sclerosis (MS), and had heard that others with the inflammatory disease had experienced improvements in mobility and balance after treatment. The infusions — which have cost her about US$32,000 so far — didn't help, but she knew that there were no guarantees. It is McFarlane's experience with Celltex Therapeutics, the company...

Ottawa scientists have discovered a trigger that turns muscle stem cells into brown fat, a form of good fat that could play a critical role in the fight against obesity. The findings from Dr. Michael Rudnicki's lab, based at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, were published today in the prestigious journal Cell Metabolism. "This discovery significantly advances our ability to harness this good fat in the battle against bad fat and all the associated health risks that come with being overweight and obese," says Dr. Rudnicki, a senior scientist and director for the Regenerative Medicine Program and Sprott Centre for...