ScienceDaily (Apr. 6, 2009) — Despite great hopes for stem cell therapy, major structural and cultural changes within the National Health Service (NHS) are needed if it is to succeed in the UK. Currently the chances of getting effective treatments into routine use in the short-term are small and the industry is at serious risk of ‘market failure’.

These are the findings of two major studies into the commercialisation and adoption of stem cell therapy carried out by researchers at The University of Nottingham.

Dr Paul Martin, from the Institute of Science and Society said: “While the government has identified regenerative medicine as a national priority and the US has lifted its ban on stem cell therapy, urgent public policy action is needed if it is to become a reality. Although cell therapy is now established as an important branch of medicine, innovative firms struggle to make money, putting the UK industry in a very vulnerable position in the short term. Unless the situation changes the industry will contract and the progress needed to develop important cell therapies will be adversely affected.”

via Stem Cell Innovation At Risk In UK, Studies Find.

1. Adult stem cells are relatively smart and will go to their "designated organ" and repair what needs repairing (some "spilling" occurs).


2. Nano technology will make them Einstein-ian.


3. And magnets will control where they go like the slot cars I used to have as a kid.

So, the bottom line is...

you can get stem cells to go ANYWHERE YOU NEED THEM in the human body...

except for

INTO A PATIENT THAT NEEDS THEM IN THE US!

Sorry Farrah. Tough luck. -dg

Bone-repairing stem cell jab hope

Page last updated at 12:39 GMT, Monday, 6 April 2009 13:39 UK

By Michelle Roberts

It may be possible to control stem cells with a magnet

Doctors may soon be able to patch up damaged bones and joints anywhere in the body with a simple shot in the arm.

A team at Keele University is testing injectible stem cells that they say they can control with a magnet.

Once injected these immature cells can be guided to precisely where their help is needed and encouraged to grow new cartilage and bone, work on mice shows.

The aim is to treat patients with injuries and arthritis the UK National Stem Cell Network conference heard.

The ultimate aim is to repair cartilage and bone

Professor Alicia El Haj

Keele University

Professor Alicia El Haj, working with Professor John Dobson, also of Keele University, says the technology, patented by Magnecell, could be tested in humans within five years.

It would provide a way to treat disease without invasive surgery or powerful drugs.

The injection would use the patient's own stem cells, harvested from their bone marrow.

These mesenchymal cells would be treated in the lab to give them a coating of minute magnetic particles.

Use in scans

These same magnetic nanoparticles are already approved in the US where they are routinely used as an agent to make MRI scans clearer to read.

Targeted magnetic fields could then move the cells around the body to the desired place and switch them into action without the need for drugs or other biochemical triggers.

Professor Al Haj said: "The ultimate aim is to repair cartilage and bone. We have been able to grow new bone in mice. Now we will look at whether we can repair damaged sites in goats.

"We should be able to move to human trials within five years."

Meanwhile, experts at the University of Southampton, led by Professor Richard Oreffo, have treated four patients with hip joint problems using stem cell therapy.

The technique combines the patients own bone marrow stem cells with donor bone cells to patch-repair damaged bones that would otherwise need treatment with metal plates and pins.

They say it is only a matter of years before their method could be used routinely to treat some of the 60,000 people who fracture a hip in the UK each year.

via BBC NEWS | Health | Bone-repairing stem cell jab hope.

This is great news from my alma mater...but they have been treating MI with adult stem cells successfully in thailand, germany, china for almost 10 yrs now.  Catch UP! -dg

ACC: Stem Cell Treatment May Help Repair MI Damage

By Todd Neale, Staff Writer, MedPage Today, Published: April 02, 2009

Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Earn CME/CE credit

ORLANDO, April 2 -- An infusion of autologous bone marrow progenitor cells may improve outcomes for patients who suffer a severe myocardial infarction, a phase I study suggested.

Action Points:

* Explain to interested patients that the findings come from a phase I study, which is designed to assess safety and feasibility, not efficacy.

* Note that this study was published as an abstract and presented as a poster at a conference. These data and conclusions should be considered to be preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Patients who received the highest doses of enriched CD34+ endothelial progenitor cells in the affected vessel had increased perfusion of the infarct at six months (P=0.01), according to Arshed Quyyumi, M.D., of Emory University in Atlanta.

This is the first study to find a dose response when using enriched progenitor cells to repair damage following an MI severe enough to cause ventricular remodeling, he said at the American College of Cardiology meeting here...

via Medical News: ACC: Stem Cell Treatment May Help Repair MI Damage - in Meeting Coverage, ACC from MedPage Today.

ScienceDaily (Apr. 2, 2009) — A new study finds previously unidentified fibrocartilage-forming progenitor cells in degenerating, diseased human cartilage, but not in cartilage from healthy joints. The research, published in the April 3rd issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell, provides valuable insights into the reparative potential of cartilage and may lead to development of regenerative therapies for arthritis.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is an incurable degenerative disease caused by a progressive deterioration of the cartilage that cushions and protects joints. "OA is the most common musculoskeletal disease in the elderly and is likely to be the fourth-leading cause of disability by the year 2020," explains senior study author Dr. Nicolai Miosge from Georg August University in Goettingen, Germany. "This is our motivation for the further exploration of OA treatment options, including regenerative cell biological therapy."...

via Diseased Cartilage Harbors Unique Migratory Progenitor Cells.

I look forward to hearing how she handled the embryonic rejection issues and the tendency to form tumors. -dg

WMU News

Alumna discusses embryonic stem cell research

April 2, 2009

KALAMAZOO--Western Michigan University graduate Jacqueline Kueh, a doctoral student in England, returns to WMU to discuss her research in spinal cord repair and in embryonic stem cells at noon Wednesday, April 8, in Kirsch Auditorium of the Fetzer Center.

A doctoral candidate at the University College London Institute of Neurology, Kueh will address two separate lines of her research in "Pluripotency of Embryonic Stem Cells and New Developments in Spinal Cord Repair."

After graduating from WMU in 2003, Kueh returned to her native Southeast Asia and did research at both the National University of Singapore, under the direction of Dr. Ariff Bongso, a pioneer in human embryonic stem cell research, and at the Genome Institute of Singapore. In 2006, she began her doctoral studies at University College London, where she works under Dr. Geoffrey Raisman, a pioneer in spinal cord repair.

Originally from Malaysia, Kueh began her undergraduate studies at Sunway College. She graduated summa cum laude from WMU with a bachelor's degree in biomedical sciences. While at WMU, she was a Phi Kappa Phi Scholar and was one of the original Monroe-Brown Research Scholars in 2002. She also was active in the Malaysian Student Organization and worked in 2003 as a freshman orientation leader.

For more information about Kueh's presentation, contact Dr. David Huffman at david.huffman@wmich.edu or (269) 387-2865.

Media contact: Thom Myers, (269) 387-8400, thom.myers@wmich.edu

WMU News
Office of University Relations
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5433 USA
(269) 387-8400
www.wmich.edu/wmu/news

via WMU News - Alumna discusses embryonic stem cell research.