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Showing posts from September, 2017

Scientists tissue-engineer functional part of human stomach in laboratory

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This confocal microscopic picture reveals tissue-engineered human abdomen tissues from the corpus/fundus area, which produce acid and digestive enzymes. Scientists at Cincinnati Kids’s Hospital Medical Heart, who generated the tissues from human pluripotent stem cells, report their findings Jan. four in Nature. Credit score: Picture courtesy of Cincinnati Kids's Hospital Medical Heart Scientists report in  Nature  utilizing pluripotent stem cells to generate human abdomen tissues in a petri dish that produce acid and digestive enzymes. Publishing their findings on-line Jan. four, researchers at Cincinnati Kids's Hospital Medical Heart grew tissues from the abdomen's corpus/fundus area. The examine comes two years after the identical group generated the abdomen's hormone-producing area (the antrum). The invention means investigators now can develop each components of the human abdome...

The strange double life of Dab2

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These are Dab2 (crimson)-positive pre-adipocytes accumulating lipid droplets (inexperienced). Credit score: Sylvester Complete Most cancers Heart Generally proteins do much more than we anticipate. Dab2, for instance, has lengthy been linked to most cancers. The molecule is related to a series of signaling proteins known as the Ras-MAPK pathway. In lots of cancers, parts of Ras-MAPK mutate and begin telling cells to develop uncontrollably. Sylvester Complete Most cancers Heart researcher Xiang-Xi Michael Xu, Ph.D., who can also be a professor of cell biology on the College of Miami Miller College of Medication, found Dab2 greater than 20 years in the past and has been learning its relationship to most cancers ever since. However now he is discovered that Dab2 has been residing a secret life all alongside -- one that might have public well being implications for preventing weight problems. In a paper re...

Stem cell therapy reverses blindness in animals with end-stage retinal degeneration

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This picture reveals synaptic integration of graft retina into host mice . Three-D commentary of contact between host bipolar cells (inexperienced) and graft retina (purple). Credit score: Mandai et al./Stem Cell Stories 2017 A stem cell-based transplantation strategy that restores imaginative and prescient in blind mice strikes nearer to being examined in sufferers with end-stage retinal degeneration, in line with a research printed January 10 in  Stem Cell Stories . The researchers confirmed that retinal tissue derived from mouse induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) established connections with neighboring cells and responded to mild stimulation after transplantation into the host retina, restoring visible perform in half of mice with end-stage retinal degeneration. "Our research gives a proof of idea for transplanting stem cell-derived retinal tissues to deal with sufferers with superior retin...

Stem cells used to regenerate the external layer of a human heart

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Coronary heart progenitors cells derived from human stem cells could be additional specified to coronary heart cells belong to exterior layer or muscle layer of a human coronary heart. Credit score: Lance Lian, Penn State A course of utilizing human stem cells can generate the cells that cowl the exterior floor of a human coronary heart -- epicardium cells -- in accordance with a multidisciplinary crew of researchers. "In 2012, we found that if we handled human stem cells with chemical compounds that sequentially activate and inhibit Wnt signaling pathway, they turn into myocardium muscle cells," stated Xiaojun Lance Lian, assistant professor of biomedical engineering and biology, who's main the examine at Penn State. Myocardium, the center of the guts's three layers, is the thick, muscular half that contracts to drive blood by way of the physique. The Wnt signaling pathway is a gaggle ...

Researchers develop novel treatment to prevent graft-versus-host-disease

Stem cell transplants can be used to treat patients who have certain types of cancer, such as leukemia or lymphoma. Many patients who have stem cell transplants receive an allogeneic transplant -- stem cells donated by another person. One risk associated with allogeneic stem cell transplants is GVHD during which the donated immune cells fail to recognize the patient's own tissues and organs. The symptoms of GVHD vary and can be life-threatening. Common symptoms include rash, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, and occasionally jaundice and liver failure. In order to reduce the risk of GVHD, physicians try to match the recipient and donor tissue types as close as possible and prophylactic medicine is given throughout the transplant process. However, patients may still develop GVHD. The medications used to prevent GVHD are not very selective and suppress the activity of many different immune cell types; good and bad. As a result, GVHD prevention can increase the risk of serious inf...

CRISPR gene editing takes on rare immunodeficiency disorder

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Researchers have harnessed the CRISPR-Cas9 know-how to appropriate mutations within the blood stem cells of sufferers with a uncommon immunodeficiency dysfunction; the engineered cells efficiently engrafted in mice for as much as 5 months. Credit score: © MG / Fotolia Researchers have harnessed the CRISPR-Cas9 know-how to appropriate mutations within the blood stem cells of sufferers with a uncommon immunodeficiency dysfunction; the engineered cells efficiently engrafted in mice for as much as 5 months. The research paves the best way for CRISPR-Cas9 as a strong gene modifying instrument with potential therapeutic purposes for inherited ailments -- resulting in extra broadly accessible gene remedy methods. Particularly, CRISPR-Cas9 holds promise for advancing ex vivo gene remedy, which tweaks disease-causing mutations in affected person cells on the lab bench and implants them again into the physique. Nonet...

Scientists reprogram embryonic stem cells to expand their potential cell fates

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Picture exhibiting transplanted GFP-expressing human stem cell derived photoreceptors built-in in a bunch rodent retina stained for Otx2 in pink. Credit score: Jie Zhu, Buck Institute for Analysis on Growing old Stem cell therapies maintain nice promise for restoring operate in quite a lot of degenerative circumstances, however one of many logistical hurdles is how to make sure the cells survive within the physique lengthy sufficient to work. Researchers from the Buck Institute report one of many first demonstrations of long-term imaginative and prescient restoration in blind mice by transplanting photoreceptors derived from human stem cells and blocking the immune response that causes transplanted cells to be rejected by the recipient. Publishing within the  Cell Stem Cell , this work highlights immune system rejection as one of many key points that must be addressed to enhance effectivity of stem cell ...

Cancerous stem cells are often left behind after chemotherapy with the potential to create new tumours -- a process called recurrence and metastasis. In research published in the journal Oncotarget, the Salford team conclude that stem cell characteristics and behaviour are instrumental in metastasis and believe the key to their reactivation is an enzyme called Telomerase, or hTERT. Using lung, breast and ovarian cancer cells, the team set out to identify which cells are cancerous by their levels of Telomerase, an enzyme which endows cells with the ability to multiply. To achieve this, they followed Telomerase activity with a fluorescent protein, GFP, more commonly found in jellyfish, effectively colouring each cells to mark it either 'active' or 'inactive'. Cells highlighted 'fluorescent' (hTERT-high) were found to be up to 15 times more active than others with an vastly increased capacity for migration and cell proliferation. Michael Lisanti, Professor of Translational Medicine at the University of Salford said: "We reasoned that if we could spot the telomerase activity, we could identify which cells were cancerous. "What we had not expected was to find the very rapid rate of proliferation of the cancer stem cells. "Clearly, this contradicts the accepted view that stem cells do not proliferate quickly, and offers an alternative view of the process of metastasis, and moreover, a method of identifying, isolating and potentially killing tumour-forming cells." As part of the study, the team found that FDA-approved drugs, such as doxycycline and palbociclib, were effective at halting cancer stem cell propagation. Palbociclib blocks the activity of proteins known as cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK) and inhibits the division of cancer cells, but until now hadn't been shown to effectively block cancer stem cell reproduction. "The use of these FDA-approved drugs may provide a mechanism for treating metastatic disease on a larger scale and certainly opens the way for new Phase II clinical trials in multiple cancer types," adds Professor Lisanti. Dr Federica Sotgia, Reader of Translational Medicine at the University of Salford said: "We can now begin to think of cancer stem cells as being at the heart of tumour regrowth and turn our efforts away from 'bulk cancer cells', which don't really drive tumour recurrence and metastasis."

For the first time, the research team led by Dr Stephen Maher , Ussher Assistant Professor in Translational Oncology at Trinity, have discovered that a molecule lost from cancer stem cells, called miR-17, is important in driving esophageal tumour resistance to radiotherapy. The team of scientists, which incorporated specialists from Trinity, St. James's Hospital Dublin, the Coombe Women and Infant's University Hospital and the University of Hull in the UK, demonstrated that populations of tumour cells that had higher numbers of cancer stem cells formed larger, more aggressive tumours. They also demonstrated that the cancer stem cells were more resistant to radiation-induced cell death. The findings from this ground breaking research were recently published in the international peer-reviewed journal  Oncotarget . Many esophageal cancer patients receive radiotherapy and chemotherapy to shrink their tumour prior to surgery and this forms a key part of their treatment. Unf...

Stem cell 'marking' study offers alterative hypothesis of cancer metastasis

Cancerous stem cells are often left behind after chemotherapy with the potential to create new tumours -- a process called recurrence and metastasis. In research published in the journal  Oncotarget , the Salford team conclude that stem cell characteristics and behaviour are instrumental in metastasis and believe the key to their reactivation is an enzyme called Telomerase, or hTERT. Using lung, breast and ovarian cancer cells, the team set out to identify which cells are cancerous by their levels of Telomerase, an enzyme which endows cells with the ability to multiply. To achieve this, they followed Telomerase activity with a fluorescent protein, GFP, more commonly found in jellyfish, effectively colouring each cells to mark it either 'active' or 'inactive'. Cells highlighted 'fluorescent' (hTERT-high) were found to be up to 15 times more active than others with an vastly increased capacity for migration and cell proliferation. Michael Lisanti, Prof...

Super-resolution imaging offers fast way to discern fate of stem cells

To identify these signals of a stem cell's fate, an interdisciplinary team from multiple universities collaborated to use super-resolution microscopy to analyze epigenetic modifications. Epigenetic modifications change how DNA is wrapped up within the nucleus, allowing different genes to become accessible to the gene expression machinery within the cell. While the complete process remains somewhat mysterious, scientists have identified some epigenetic markings for pending gene expression. Using the new method, described in the Jan. 4, 2017,  Scientific Reports , the team was able to determine a cell's fate days before other techniques. "This group honed and combined several techniques to deliver a powerful new tool for assessing stem cell fate." says Rosemarie Hunziker, Ph.D., director of the program in Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine at the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), part of NIH. "Early predictions of g...