Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine News and Discussions

[wjfox]

Stem-cell therapy

Stem-cell therapy is the use of stem cells to treat or prevent a disease or condition. As of 2016, the only established therapy using stem cells is hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. This usually takes the form of a bone-marrow transplantation, but the cells can also be derived from umbilical cord blood. Research is underway to develop various sources for stem cells as well as to apply stem-cell treatments for neurodegenerative diseases and conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.

Stem-cell therapy has become controversial following developments such as the ability of scientists to isolate and culture embryonic stem cells, to create stem cells using somatic cell nuclear transfer and their use of techniques to create induced pluripotent stem cells. This controversy is often related to abortion politics and to human cloning. Additionally, efforts to market treatments based on transplant of stored umbilical cord blood have been controversial.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem-cell_therapy

[wjfox]

Stem Cell Ovaries Now Functional in Mice

The mice born in this experiment were fully healthy.

by Sedeer el-Showk
July 29, 2021

The entire ovarian niche of mice can now be generated in vitro from stem cells, as a study recently published in Science shows [1]. The researchers then carried out the remarkable feat of fertilizing the generated oocytes and growing healthy, fertile offspring from them. This advance offers an invaluable model for investigating oocyte development and may also have implications for assisted reproduction technologies.

Read more: https://www.lifespan.io/news/stem-cell- ... l-in-mice/

[weatheriscool]

Implant shows extreme promise for regenerating bone
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-08- ... -bone.html
by University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Its powers may not rival Wolverine's, but a regenerative implant engineered by researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and University of Nebraska–Lincoln could help repair bone-deep damage following physical trauma, surgery or osteoporosis.

The team has developed a biodegradable, nanofiber-based implant, or scaffold, whose design could better regenerate bone by effectively guiding the migration of recuperative cells to the injury site. When implanted in rats with bone defects, the cylindrical scaffold promoted the regeneration of bone that was denser, more voluminous and more like the surrounding tissue than that achieved by many other state-of-the-art designs.

The implant spurred regeneration even without the aid of externally sourced stem cells or so-called growth factors, which help promote healing but can also introduce regulatory complications and side effects that range from inflammation to unchecked tissue formation.

[Yuli Ban]

I'm just surprised there hasn't been more work into regeneration of enamel. Tooth decay is a massive issue in the world and stem cell research has never been as advanced as it is now. We know stem cells can do it; it's not a flawed practice. So what's the hold up?

This is the most recent news I can find about it:
Repairing Teeth using Stem Cells

[Nanotechandmorefuture]

Good stuff! I sure hope more advances are done here because it saves lives.

[caltrek]

Intelligent Implants Raises $8.7 Million to Help You Grow a Spine
by Haje Jan Kamps
October 22, 2021

https://techcrunch.com/2021/10/22/intel ... eed-round/

Introduction:

(TechCrunch) Spinal surgery is not for the faint of heart at the best of times, but Intelligent Implants raised €7.5 million ($8.7 million) to make spinal surgery less of a pain in the backside. The company’s smart implants’ first application is in spinal fusion surgery — where two or more vertebrae are permanently connected to improve stability, correct a deformity or reduce pain. Globally, more than a million of these surgeries are performed, but they are typically seen as a last resort because of the risk of complications or continued pain after the operation.

Intelligent Implants uses wireless implantable electronics to stimulate, steer and monitor bone growth. The company points out that the current state-of-the-art post-operation management is potentially long-term dependence on physical therapy and/or painkillers. Intelligent Implants is wading into the market to add a more tech-forward solution to the mix.

The company’s smart, active implants aren’t the first devices in this category. You’ll be familiar with pacemakers and cochlear implants, which have been available since the 1950s and 1970s, respectively. Intelligent Implants’s innovation is in creating a solution that doesn’t require wires or batteries. The product is placed between vertebrae with the same standard surgical procedure as current non-active implants.

The implant is then powered externally through induction, much like how your phone might use a wireless charging pad. This creates an electric field that stimulates and guides bone growth.

“I don’t wish this surgery on anyone, but if you have to do it, we have to make sure that the outcomes are as good as they can be,” said John Zellmer, CEO of Intelligent Implants.

[caltrek]

Japan Team Carries Out World-first Spinal Cord Stem Cell Trial


https://www.courthousenews.com/japan-te ... ell-trial/

Introduction:

TOKYO (AFP via Courthouse News) — A Japanese university said Friday it has successfully transplanted stem cells into a patient with a spinal cord injury, in the first clinical trial of its kind.

There is currently no effective treatment for paralysis caused by serious spinal cord injuries, believed to affect more than 100,000 people in Japan alone.

Surgeons at Tokyo's Keio University want to study whether induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells can be used to treat the injuries.

iPS cells are created by stimulating mature, already specialized, cells back into a juvenile state.

They can then be prompted to mature into different kinds of cells, with the Keio University study using iPS-derived cells of the neural stem.

[caltrek]

World First "Synthetic" Mouse Embryos Grown Without Need for Egg, Sperm, Or Womb
by Rachael Funnel
August 3, 2022

Introduction:

(IFL Science) Scientists have successfully grown mouse embryos using stem cells cultured in a petri dish. The novel method for embryonic development research meant they could create synthetic mouse embryo models without the need for a natural embryo formed from a fertilized egg and a womb.

Embryonic development research took a leap forward when the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, found a way to keep mouse embryos alive for several days. Ferris-wheel-like incubators that carefully spin liquid enabled the embryos to develop to a far greater age than ever before, growing to roughly the size of a grain of rice with a visibly beating heart.

Now, reported in the journal Cell, scientists have gone one step further in creating those embryos for development without the need for what’s generally considered to be the basic building blocks of mammalian life: an egg, sperm, and a womb to cook it all in.

Instead, scientists have found a way to use stem cells cultured in a petri dish that had been programmed into a naïve state. By getting the stem cells to their earliest stage, they can increase their potential for development, creating stem cells that have the capacity to become almost anything.

Conclusion:

“Our next challenge is to understand how stem cells know what to do – how they self-assemble into organs and find their way to their assigned spots inside an embryo,” (Professor Jacob) Hanna (of Weizmann’s Molecular Genetics Department) continued. “And because our system, unlike a womb, is transparent, it may prove useful for modeling birth and implantation defects of human embryos.”

Read more here: https://www.iflscience.com/mouse-embry ... omb-64734 and here: https://www.iflscience.com/a-rotating- ... ays-59224

[weatheriscool]

World-first stem cell therapy trial treats spina bifida before birth
By Michael Irving
October 06, 2022
https://newatlas.com/medical/stem-cell- ... cal-trial/

In a world-first clinical trial, three babies have been born after receiving stem cell treatment for spina bifida. The treatment involves administering a stem cell patch to the fetus’ spine while still developing in the womb, and early results are promising one year on.

Spina bifida is a birth defect in which the spine fails to develop properly, which can lead to weakness or paralysis of the lower limbs, cognitive issues, and urinary and bowel dysfunction. While there’s no cure, post-birth surgery can improve the symptoms in some cases.

But a new clinical trial aims to intervene earlier. Because signs of spina bifida can appear very early on in the pregnancy, there’s time to treat it while the fetus is still developing, potentially improving the outcomes. That was the goal of the Cellular Therapy for In Utero Repair of Myelomeningocele (CuRe) trial, conducted at UC Davis Health.

Patients enrolled in the trial undergo surgery midway through pregnancy, where a patch containing mesenchymal stem cells is carefully applied to the affected area of the fetus’ spine in utero. Previous studies in sheep and dogs with spina bifida have shown that the technique can prevent paralysis, helping these young animals walk without noticeable disability.

[wjfox]

Baby's life 'probably saved' by umbilical stem cells

9 hours ago

A heart surgeon says he "probably saved the life" of a baby by carrying out a "world-first" operation using stem cells from placentas.

Professor Massimo Caputo from the Bristol Heart Institute used pioneering stem cell "scaffolding" to correct baby Finley's heart defect.

He hopes to develop the technology so children born with congenital cardiac disease won't need as many operations.

[...]

The so-called "allogeneic" cells were grown by scientists at the Royal Free Hospital in London, and millions of them were injected into Finley's heart muscle.

Allogeneic cells have the ability to grow into tissue that is not rejected and in Finley's case, have regenerated damaged heart muscle.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-63946248

[weatheriscool]

Tissue engineering: Developing bioinspired multi-functional tendon-mimetic hydrogels
https://phys.org/news/2023-02-tissue-bi ... ogels.html
by Thamarasee Jeewandara , Phys.org

In a new report now published in Science Advances, Mingze Sun and a research team in physics, mechanical engineering, electrical and electronic engineering in Hong Kong China reported the development of multifunctional tendon-mimetic hydrogels by assembling aramid nanofiber composites.

The anisotropic composite hydrogels (ACH) contained stiff nanofibers and soft polyvinyl alcohol moieties to mimic biological interactions that typically occur between collagen fibers and proteoglycans in tendons. The team was bioinspired by natural tendons to develop hydrogels with a high elastic modulus, strength and fracture toughness.

The researchers biofunctionalized these material surfaces with bioactive molecules to present biophysical cues to impart behavioral similarities to those of cell attachment. Additionally, the soft bioelectronic components integrated on the hydrogels facilitated a variety of physiological benefits. Based on the outstanding functionality of the tendon-mimetics, the team envisioned broader applications of the materials in advanced tissue engineering to form implantable prosthetics for human-machine interactions.

[weatheriscool]

Using bone marrow precursor cells instead of transplantation to regenerate bone
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-03- ... ation.html
by Stefanie Seltmann, Berlin Institute of Health

Bone is the second most commonly transplanted tissue after blood, with about two million bone transplants performed worldwide each year—but often with only moderate therapeutic success. Cell-based therapies could provide an alternative approach to transplantation.

Together with colleagues from Paracelsus Medical Private University (PMU) Salzburg, researchers at the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH) have now demonstrated that human progenitor cells can regenerate large bone defects and form new mineralized tissue. The researchers have published the findings from their work in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Although most bone fractures heal completely without scarring, particularly large bone defects caused by severe trauma, infection or tumor surgery often do not heal naturally and require bone transplantation. Bone is the second most commonly transplanted tissue after blood, with about two million bone transplants performed worldwide each year.

However, the availability of grafts is limited and their regenerative capacity is often low. Cell-based therapies offer a promising alternative. Tissue engineered in vitro from progenitor cells such as multipotent stromal cells (MSCs) could replace standard bone graft treatments.

Together with colleagues from Paracelsus Medical Private University (PMU) Salzburg, researchers at the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH) have now shown that this method works. A crucial factor is that these stromal cells can be obtained from various tissues, such as adipose tissue, skin tissue and bone marrow.

[caltrek]

Scientists from Singapore and Sweden Achieve Promising Results Towards Restoring Vision in Blindness Caused by Cellular Degeneration in the Eye
April 14, 2023

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) SINGAPORE, 14 April 2023 – A preclinical study using stem cells to produce progenitor photoreceptor cells—light-detecting cells found in the eye—and then transplanting these into experimental models of damaged retinas has resulted in significant vision recovery. This finding, by scientists at Duke-NUS Medical School, the Singapore Eye Research Institute and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, marks a first step towards potentially restoring vision in eye diseases characterised by photoreceptor loss.

“Our laboratory has developed a novel method that enables the production of photoreceptor progenitor cells resembling those in human embryos,” said Assistant Professor Tay Hwee Goon, first author of the study from Duke-NUS’ Centre for Vision Research. “Transplantation of these cells into experimental models has yielded partial restoration of the retinal function.”

The degeneration of photoreceptors in the eye is a significant cause of declining vision that can eventually lead to blindness and for which there is currently no effective treatment. Photoreceptor degeneration occurs in a variety of inherited retinal diseases, such as retinitis pigmentosa—a rare eye disease that breaks down cells in the retina over time and eventually causes vision loss—and age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of vision impairment worldwide.

Asst Prof Tay and her team developed a procedure to grow human embryonic stem cells in the presence of purified laminin proteins that are involved in normal development of human retinas. In the presence of the laminins, stem cells could be directed to differentiate into photoreceptor progenitor cells responsible for converting light into signals that are sent to the brain.

When these cells were transplanted into damaged retinas, the preclinical models showed significant recovery of vision. A diagnostic test called electroretinogram also identified significant recovery in the retinas via electrical activity in the retina in response to a light stimulus. The transplanted cells established connections with surrounding retinal cells and nerves in the inner retina. They also survived and functioned for many weeks after transplantation.

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/986089

[weatheriscool]

High-resolution roadmap charted for regeneration of pancreatic beta-cells
https://phys.org/news/2023-05-high-reso ... cells.html
by Liu Jia, Chinese Academy of Sciences

A research group led by Prof. Shao Zhen from the Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health (SINH) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the collaborators charted a high-resolution roadmap for the process of pancreatic β cell regeneration by in vivo transdifferentiation from adult acinar cells using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) technology. The study was published in Science Advances.

Adult mammals have limited capacity to regenerate functional cells. In vivo transdifferentiation heralds the possibility of regeneration by lineage reprogramming from other fully differentiated cells. Taking pancreatic β cell regeneration as a paradigm, it has been reported that in vivo transdifferentiation from adult mouse pancreatic acinar cells to induced β cells has been achieved which is induced by Mafa, Pdx1, and Ngn3 (M3 factor).

Regenerated β cells in this way could produce and secrete insulin without causing rejection in mice, which holds great promise for curing diabetes.

[weatheriscool]

High-tech pen paints healing gel right into wounds
By Ben Coxworth
June 02, 2023
https://newatlas.com/medical/paint-woun ... g-ink-pen/

Most wound dressings simply cover the injury and perhaps also kill harmful bacteria. The PAINT system goes much further, as it incorporates a pen that could one day allow doctors to paint a gelatinous healing ink right into wounds.

Its name an acronym for "portable bioactive ink for tissue healing," the PAINT technology is being developed by scientists from China's Nanjing University.

The system is centered around a 3D-printing pen which contains a sodium alginate gel and particles known as extracellular vesicles (EVs). The latter are naturally produced by white blood cells, and play a large role in the reduction of inflammation and formation of new blood vessels at injury sites.

The gel and the EVs mix with one another at the tip of the pen, forming a sturdy viscous ink which is extruded into cuts of any shape or size. In tests performed on human epithelial cells, application of that ink shifted those cells into the proliferated phase of the healing process, wherein new blood vessels formed and inflammatory substances were reduced.

Additionally, the PAINT system was found to boost collagen fiber production when tested on injured mice. Large wounds on a treated group of the animals were almost completely healed after 12 days, whereas wounds on an untreated control group were "not nearly as far along in the healing process" at that time.

[weatheriscool]

Cell therapy that repairs cornea damage with patient's own stem cells achieves positive phase I trial results
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-08- ... -stem.html
by Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary

A team led by researchers from Mass Eye and Ear, a member of Mass General Brigham, reports the results of a phase I trial of a revolutionary stem cell treatment called cultivated autologous limbal epithelial cell transplantation (CALEC), which was found to be safe and well-tolerated over the short term in four patients with significant chemical burns in one eye.

According to a study published August 18 in Science Advances, the patients who were followed for 12 months experienced restored cornea surfaces—two were able to undergo a corneal transplant and two reported significant improvements in vision without additional treatment.

While the phase I study was designed to determine preliminary safety and feasibility before advancing to a second phase of the trial, the researchers consider the early findings promising.

[wjfox]

Japanese company developing drug to grow new teeth, plans for clinical trials on humans in 2024

Mon 25 Sep 2023 at 6:37am

A drug to grow new teeth is being developed at a Japanese pharmaceutical company, with hopes to begin clinical trials in less than a year.

Toregem Biopharma, funded by Kyoto University, has developed an antibody drug which inhibits the protein in the mouth that suppresses growth and stops "tooth buds" from developing.

The team has already successfully administered the drug to ferrets, which have both baby and permanent teeth similar to humans, in 2018.

They want to see trials on humans in July 2024, and want the drug on the market by 2030. The company also plans for a second clinical trial on children born without some or all of their teeth.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-25/ ... /102898454



Photo: Kyodo News

[raklian]

Restoring Heart Regeneration With a Metabolic Switch
This may repair the damage induced by heart attacks.

By Josh Conway

In a recent article in Nature, researchers have restored cardiac regeneration to adult mice by disabling fatty acid oxidation, discovering a potential pathway for human treatments.

https://www.lifespan.io/news/restoring- ... lic-switch

[weatheriscool]

Stem cell discovery raises prospect of reversing osteoarthritis
By Paul McClure
November 01, 2023
https://newatlas.com/medical/stem-cell- ... arthritis/

Researchers have found that osteoarthritis in mice is caused by the depletion of specialized gene-expressing cartilage-forming stem cells and found a way to reverse the condition. The discovery opens the door to treating the painful condition instead of just managing its symptoms.

Osteoarthritis (OA) affects all joint tissues, and leads to the loss of articular cartilage, whose principal function is to provide a smooth, lubricated surface that allows bones to move smoothly past each other.

There’s no cure for the long-term, progressive condition. Rather, the symptoms of joint pain and stiffness are managed with analgesics and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), the long-term use of which has actually been associated with hastened progression of osteoarthritis symptoms. But, in a new study, researchers at the University of Adelaide in South Australia have found that OA may be not only treatable, but it may be reversible.

[weatheriscool]

'Super melanin' heals skin injuries from sunburn, chemical burns
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-11- ... nburn.html
by Northwestern University

Imagine a skin cream that heals damage occurring throughout the day when your skin is exposed to sunlight or environmental toxins. That's the potential of a synthetic, biomimetic melanin developed by scientists at Northwestern University.

In a new study, the scientists show that their synthetic melanin, mimicking the natural melanin in human skin, can be applied topically to injured skin, where it accelerates wound healing. These effects occur both in the skin itself and systemically in the body.

When applied in a cream, the synthetic melanin can protect skin from sun exposure and heals skin injured by sun damage or chemical burns, the scientists said. The technology works by scavenging free radicals, which are produced by injured skin such as a sunburn. Left unchecked, free radical activity damages cells and ultimately may result in skin aging and skin cancer.