Progenics News

Cord blood stem cells may restore hearing

admin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:08:38 +0000

HOUSTON, Jan. 20 (UPI) – U.S. researchers are undergoing a phase I safety study using a child’s umbilical cord blood stem cells to try to restore hearing loss.

Dr. James Baumgartner, sponsor of the study and guest research collaborator at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Medical School, said the yearlong study will follow 10 children, ages 6 weeks to 18 months, who have sustained post-birth hearing loss. Children who are deaf as a result of a genetic anomaly or syndrome are not eligible for the test.

“Children only have 18 months to acquire language skills and, if a child does not hear well, they will not acquire the language skills to speak normally,” Baumgartner said in a statement.

The children will undergo a series of blood tests, hearing and speech tests and magnetic resonance imaging that will view the tracts that send signals from the inner ear to the brain.

Researchers will obtain and process the patients’ stored cord blood for treatment and the stem cells will be given to the patients via IV infusion and patients will be observed for several hours in the hospital.

Patients will return to the hospital to repeat all tests except the MRI at one month and one year, and all tests

with an MRI at six months.

“This study is exciting because it might offer a non-surgical option for some children with profound hearing loss,” Baumgartner said. “More importantly, this is the first treatment with the potential to restore normal hearing.”

Umbilical cord holds key to heart repair: Study

admin — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 18:17:51 +0000

Source: http://www.torontosun.com/2011/10/13/umbilical-cord-holds-key-to-heart-repair-study

Umbilical cord holds key to heart repair: Study

QMI AGENCY

FIRST POSTED: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2011 10:22 AM EDT | UPDATED: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2011 10:23 AM EDT

New research out of the University of Bristol suggests stem cells from human umbilical cords could be used to treat heart attack victims.

“Our research suggests that in the future, stem cells derived from cord blood bank facilities might be used for repair after a heart attack,” said lead author Raimondo Ascione.

Following a heart attack, doctors may use a patient’s own stem cells to help repair the damaged heart muscle. But that technique is limited because aging and other risk factors can make the patient’s cells non-functional.

In a new study, published in the journal Stem Cell Reviews & Reports, U.K. scientists took cells from umbilical cord blood, expanded them sevenfold and grew them into cardiac muscle cells.

“There has been interest for some time in the potential use of blood from the umbilical cord as a source of stem cells for therapy in a variety of diseases. This study has shown for the first time that it’s possible to turn cord blood stem cells into cells that look like heart muscle, in the lab,” said Dr. Jeremy Pearson, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation,

“The results are encouraging, but there are still lots of questions to answer before we’ll know whether these cells can be used successfully for heart repair in patients.”

Cord Blood Cures Baby’s Grapefruit-Sized Tumor

admin — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 18:53:23 +0000

By Jessica Ryen Doyle

Published March 29, 2011| FoxNews.com

Jamie Page and her husband, Ben, discussed the issue of banking their newborn’s cord blood so frequently before the birth that they finally decided if they didn’t do it, it might be the biggest regret they ever had.

“Medical advances change so quickly. Who knows when this child is 10, 20 years old if she’ll need it,” Page said. “It’s a great medical backup to have.”

It turns out the Pages, who live in Schaumburg, Ill., were absolutely right to save the cord blood.

Page had a normal pregnancy and her daughter, Harlow, was born seemingly healthy on March 19, 2008. But after two weeks, the Pages noticed she was crying a lot and seemed uncomfortable – and it just got worse.

“We were told it was probably just colic, to try different formulas, different ways of putting her to bed,” Page said. “At first I thought they were right. We must have tried six or seven different types of formula and we put gas drops in it, but she was pulling at her stomach . . . I just couldn’t put my finger on what it was.”

Ben, Harlow and Jamie Page

When Harlow was just 3 months old, her stomach became distended and she stopped having wet diapers. The Pages ended up in the emergency room, and tests revealed every parent’s worst nightmare: A grapefruit-sized mass was blocking Harlow’s kidney. Doctors quickly inserted a catheter and did a biopsy, which was sent out to several pathologists across the country.

“We were in the hospital for five or six days, letting her kidneys recover, and it was the craziest thing,” Jamie Page said. “In two days, we got four different pathologies – they all had different diagnoses. It resembled different cancers, but nothing they had ever seen before.”

There were no answers for the Pages – doctors didn’t know how to treat Harlow’s cancers, or what her prognosis was. A few pediatric oncologists in nearby Chicago decided it resembled a rare brain cancer, and it should be treated as such – so chemotherapy was the best protocol.

“We were so scared,” Page said. “My dad went through chemo for lung cancer, and it made him much more sick than helping him, we didn’t want to torture her. We just wanted her to be comfortable. At the time, doctors said she only had a few weeks to a few months to live.”

Ultimately, it was Harlow who decided for her parents. Her smile, despite how sick she was, made her parents think, ‘How can we not give this little girl a chance to fight?’

That’s when the Pages asked their doctors about a stem cell transplant. But the doctors were surprised – few families have their own supply of cord blood, they said, and it’s hard to find a match.

That’s when things started looking up for Harlow Page.

The Future of Medicine
After three rounds of chemotherapy, the doctors decided the tumor had shrunk enough for them to go in and remove it surgically, but when they cut Harlow’s abdomen open, the tumor was completely gone.

“We went in thinking she might’ve needed a hysterectomy,” Page said. “All she had left was scar tissue. They called in more surgeons to make sure they were looking in the right place. We were thrilled.”

Because the tumor was so aggressive, a stem cell transplant made sense – it was Harlow’s best option of ensuring that the tumor did not grow back. Still, she would need a double transplant.

The Pages met with the hospital’s stem cell transplant team, which included Alexis Baby, a pediatric nurse practitioner.

“As of right now, there is a good prognosis,” Baby said about Harlow. “As each year passes, there is a big step toward relapse-free survival.”

So after five days of intense chemo – at higher rates than previously given – Harlow’s current cells were killed off. On the sixth day, she rested in an isolation room and on the seventh, they started the infusion. By this time, Harlow was 9 months old.

She spent 25 days in isolation to avoid any germs, but got to go home for two weeks before coming back to the hospital for her second round. Because she didn’t have enough of her own stem cells for that round, doctors had harvested her blood earlier and used that.

“As grueling as it was, she was getting her own stem cells,” Page said. “She didn’t need to be on anti-rejection pills like other kids. Some families had to worry about host vs. graft disease. We had enough concerns without worrying about her fighting her own body.”

Cord blood stem cells that are saved at birth are collected from the baby’s umbilical cord with a syringe – and the child does not feel a thing, unlike painful bone marrow extractions. Parents send the cells to a cord blood bank of their choice, where the cells can be stored indefinitely.

The price for banking cord blood varies depending on the company, but the procedure costs around $2,000 to $3,000 (this depends on whether or not you’ve saved the baby’s cord blood tissue), plus an annual storage fee of about $125.

However, if you feel cord blood banking is too expensive an option for you, Baby urges parents to donate their newborn’s cord blood to a public bank, so it can be available for someone else who might need it.

“Otherwise, it’s medical waste, and it’s just thrown away,” Baby said. “There is an option to donate it, but a lot of people don’t know about that, so it’s really unfortunate.”

Science has shown that cord blood stem cells are smarter than average cells: Once they are reinfused into the body, the cells migrate to the injured spot and immediately start the healing process.

Other advantages to using cord blood cells – besides not worrying about rejection – include the fact that the cells are younger and have not yet been exposed to any chemical or environmental factors, Baby said.

Doctors are constantly researching how cord blood can treat patients. Studies are being conducted on cord blood stem cells and their effects on brain injuries, Type I diabetes, neurology and cardiology – and that’s just the tipping point. Doctors think cord blood could be the future of medicine.

Harlow was released from the hospital in February 2009 – almost one year after she was born. Her parents had to literally teach her to swallow and eat again, because she had been nauseous for so long and had skipped solid foods. But by June 2009, she stopped taking all medications, and in September of that year, she was allowed to start attending day care.

Harlow has no recollection of being sick, and is a typical 3-year-old: She loves dancing, singing, gymnastics and watching her favorite movie, “101 Dalmatians.”

“I want to encourage other parents to save their child’s cord blood,” Page said. “I tell all our families and friends it’s the cheapest life insurance you’ll ever buy, and it’s an amazing opportunity for your child. To look at her, you’d never know, which is the best part of all.”

Click here to read a full parent’s guide to storing your child’s cord blood stem cells and tissue.

Human umbilical cord blood cells accelerate diabetic wound healing

admin — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 14:04:42 +0000

Korean scientists have found that transplanting human umbilical cord blood-derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) ‘significantly accelerate’ wound closure in diabetic mouse models.

February 23, 2011 – Washington

Korean scientists have found that transplanting human umbilical cord blood-derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) ‘significantly accelerate’ wound closure in diabetic mouse models.

Diabetes is often associated with impaired wound healing, according to study’s corresponding author, Wonhee Suh of the CHA University Stem Cell Institute.

“EPCs are involved in revascularization of injured tissue and tissue repair,” said Suh.

“Wounds associated with Diabetes that resist healing are also associated with decreased peripheral blood flow and often resist current therapies.

“Normal wounds, without underlying pathological defects heal readily, but the healing deficiency of diabetic wounds can be attributed to a number of factors, including decreased production of growth factors and reduced revascularization,” he said.

For the study, the researchers transplanted EPCs into an experimental group of mice modeled with Diabetes-associated wounds, but did not transplant EPCs into a control group.

They found that the EPCs “prompted wound healing and increased neovascularization” in the experimental group.

“The transplantation of EPCs derived from human umbilical blood cells accelerated wound closure in diabetic mice from the earliest point,” said Suh.

The researchers found that growth factors and cytokines (small proteins secreted by specific cells of the immune system) were “massively produced” at the wounded skin sites and contributed to the healing process.

The study has been published in the current issue of Cell Transplantation.

ANI

Cord blood cell transplantation provides improvement for severely brain-injured child

admin — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 20:07:45 +0000

Contact: David Eve
cellmedicinect@gmail.com
Cell Transplantation Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair

Tampa, Fla. (Dec. 22, 2010) –In three monthly injections, researchers transplanted neurally-committed, autologous cord blood derived cells tagged with iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIO) into the lateral cerebral ventricle of a 16-month old child with severe global hypoxic ischemic brain injury. The study, published in the current issue of Cell Medicine 1(2) and now freely available online at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/cm

found through MRI tracking that the primary injected and tagged cells persisted in that brain hemisphere for more than four months. By six months, the severely impaired child showed some slight improvement over a former vegetative state.

“Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy remains one of the most devastating conditions in children, resulting in brain atrophy and persistent functional neurological impairment,” said Dr. Krystyna Domanska-Janik, corresponding author.

According to Dr. Domanska-Janik, they transplanted cord blood neural cells by repeated injection into lateral cerebral ventricle as the method appeared to be superior to intravascular injections because there would be a more “local modulating outcome.”

“The capacity of cells to home to damaged sites in the central nervous system is crucial,” said Dr. Domanska-Janik. “Our study found that transplantation of patient self-donor (autologous), neurally-committed cord blood cells is feasible, well tolerated, and safe.”

Once more, the transplanted cells were easily assessed by MRI for four months.

“Despite signs of neurological improvement noticed by the parents and neurologists after cell transplantation, this one case does not allow us to predict the true efficacy of such a treatment and further studies are needed,” she added.

The research team did suggest that six months post-transplantation, the child’s diagnosis of a ‘vegetative state’ was no longer justified as the boy began responding to his mother’s voice by smiling and a 50 percent reduction in his rate of seizures was achieved.

According to Dr. Paul Sanberg, executive director of the Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair at the University of South Florida, and executive editor of Cell Medicine, this case report is potentially important.

“This first step in the use of autologous stem cells as a treatment for neonatal ischemic brain repair in the clinic provides a guardedly optimistic report for future studies,” said Dr. Sanberg. “Of course, further and more comprehensive studies, with a larger patient population, are required to confirm its potential efficacy.”

###

Contact: Prof. Krystyna Domanska-Janik, Neuro Repair Dept. Mossakowski Medical Research Centre, 5 Pawinskiego str, 02-106 Warsaw, Poland. Email: kd-j@cmdik.pan.pl

Citation: Jozwiak, S.; Habich, A.; Kotulska, K.; Sarnowska, A.; Kropiwnicki, T.; Janowski, M.; Jurkiewicz, E.; Lukomska, B.; Kmiec, T.; Walecki, J.; Roszkowski, M.; Litwin, M.; Oldak, T.; Boruczkowski, D.; Domanska-Janik, K. Intracerebroventricular Transplantation of Cord Blood-Derived Neural Progenitors in a Child With Severe Global Brain Ischemic Injury. Cell Medicine 1(2):71-80; 2010.

The editorial offices for Cell Medicine are at the Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair, College of Medicine, the University of South Florida. Contact, David Eve, PhD. at cellmedicinect@gmail.com

News Release by Randolph Fillmore, Florida Science Communications www.sciencescribe.net

Stem cells offer hope in CP battle

admin — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:10:52 +0000

Duke professor receives FDA authorization to start clinical trials

Premium content from Triangle Business Journal – by James Gallagher

Date: Monday, June 28, 2010, 12:00am EDT – Last Modified: Thursday, June 24, 2010, 10:13am EDT

Durham – A Duke University physician believes the key to curing, or at least lessening the severity of, cerebral palsy lies within cord blood stem cells, and she has begun a clinical trial to find out if that is true.

Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg, director of Duke’s Pediatric Bone Marrow and Transplant program and director of the Carolinas Cord Blood Bank, has begun a U.S. Food and Drug Administration-authorized random clinical trial to see if cord blood stem cells have the ability to cure or lessen spastic cerebral palsy in children aged 1 to 6. It is among a handful of FDA-authorized clinical trials regarding stem cells in the U.S.

The study, which is funded through a $10.2 million grant from the Robertson Foundation, has the potential to provide hope to people with cerebral palsy and their families as well as to open new doors or establish protocols for the use and gathering of stem cells.

Cerebral palsy, or CP, is a disorder that affects a person’s ability to move and maintain balance and posture. It is most often caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain, usually before or during birth, that results in damage to the portion of the brain that controls muscle tone.

The condition limits movement of arms and legs, can force people to use walkers or wheelchairs and can make it difficult for people to swallow or speak. Many patients need full-time care, and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2003 that the cost of treating CP totaled $921,000 over a person’s lifetime.

“We don’t have a cure right now, and if stem cell treatment could be a cure or improve symptoms early on and keep them from getting that bad would be huge,” says Dr. Anne Schmidt, medical director for United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Birmingham in Alabama.

The goal of the clinical trial, says Kurtzberg, is as much about finding a treatment for cerebral palsy as it is about finding out what cord blood can do. She is looking to see if the cells will reduce inflammation in the brain, produce new hormones to repair damaged brain cells or evolve into new brain cells to replace the damaged ones.

And, she says, the work could encourage more parents to bank their child’s cord blood in private cord blood banks or could lead to public cord blood banks changing their policies to assure a child’s blood is held long enough to treat that child, if needed, before the blood is donated for other uses.

“This is a very important question to answer,” she says of the trial. “If cord blood does help with cerebral palsy, more families may want to bank their cord blood.”

Cord blood comes from the umbilical cord when a child is born. In the past 10 years or so, there has been a concerted effort to collect that blood for its stem cells. Some of that blood is donated to public cord blood banks for use in other patients and research, while some of it is held in private cord blood banks for the use of that person later on. Storing cord blood in a private bank can cost hundreds to thousands of dollars.

The bulk of the banking so far has been done at public sites, says Kurtzberg.

Already, parents of children with CP have sought out these treatments, often traveling to countries such as China, Mexico and some countries in Europe in hopes that these treatments work, says Dr. James Carroll, chief of pediatric neurology at the Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine. Carroll, who has studied stem cell therapies in animals, also is conducing an FDA-authorized clinical trial using cord blood to treat cerebral palsy.

Even Kurtzberg has used the cord blood cell therapy to treat patients with CP and has found that they improved. However, she says, cerebral palsy patients often improve on their own, and this blind clinical trial will better determine whether the cord blood or something else caused that improvement.

For this trial, Kurtzberg is looking to study the effects on children with spastic cerebral palsy between the ages of 1 and 6 and who have their own cord blood.

The age limitations are set for two reasons. First, it is impossible to definitively diagnose cerebral palsy before the age of 1. And second, there are a limited number of cord blood cells that can be collected, and beyond the age of 6 a child grows too large for the number of cord blood cells available.

Reporter e-mail: jgallagher@bizjournals.com.