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NRL News Advances in Adult Stem Cells Continue More and more advances are being made in the use of adult stem cells, which do not harm the donor. Reports from researchers are adding to the evidence that embryonic stem cells, which require the deaths of unborn children, will not lead to the most effective future medical treatments. The past months have seen several breakthroughs: •The Australian Stem Cell Centre at Monash University announced June 10 that it is the first in the country to work with “induced pluripotent stem cells” (iPS cells), according to The Age. The cells are reprogrammed from human skin cells, and are just beginning to be cultivated in the Australian laboratory. “The reason why we’re so interested in these cells, is that these cells have the capacity to turn into any cell type in the human body,” researcher Dr. Andrew Laslett told Australian Broadcasting Corporation News. “We would hope that maybe they would be able to be used in sort of an off the shelf product, having been turned into different cells in the body, that could be used to treat people in a hospital setting.” •Researchers in Chicago and Texas have discovered an enzyme inhibitor that helps stem cells from umbilical cord blood find their way to bone marrow to treat blood cancers, including myeloma, lymphoma, and leukemia, according to PhysOrg.com. The enzyme inhibitor could “increase the transplant efficiency of umbilical cord blood and ultimately make transplant safer and available to all patients who require this treatment,” PhysOrg.com reported. •Scientists at Schepens Eye Research Institute at Harvard have found molecules that may help stem cells already in a patient’s brain transform into nerve cells and heal damage. Researcher Dr. Dong Feng Chen “believes that tapping the brain’s dormant, but intrinsic, ability to regenerate itself is the best hope for people suffering from brain-ravaging diseases such as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease or traumatic brain or spinal cord injuries,” according to PhysOrg.com. •Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles reported in the May 1 Stem Cells that they have reprogrammed mouse skin cells into cardiovascular cells. “The finding is the first to show that induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells, which don’t involve the use of embryos or eggs, can be differentiated into the three types of cardiovascular cells needed to repair the heart and blood vessels,” according to a UCLA press release. •Another team in Massachusetts has reprogrammed mouse skin cells to become neural cells. These reprogrammed cells were shown to improve Parkinson’s disease symptoms in rats, Technology Review reported. The cells “migrate nicely into the brain and mature in the brain,” researcher Marius Wernig told Technology Review. “They adopt functions of mature neurons.” •Orthopedic surgeons are using cells from a patient’s bone marrow to regrow bone. “I think [the procedure] has applications to some challenges that might have previously cost patients their leg,” Dr. George Muschler of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio told ABC News, “because we didn’t have a way to heal their bone.” The federal government plans to create the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine, which would use the techniques to treat injured veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, ABC News reported. •Researchers in Texas have discovered that immune system cells called “natural killer” cells found in umbilical cord blood can treat leukemia in mice, according to Asian News International (ANI). “Cord blood is a promising source of natural killer cells because the NK cells have enhanced sensitivity to stimulation, decreased potential to cause graft-versus-host disease and are available from cord banks throughout the country and world,” Patrick Zweidler-McKay of the Anderson Cancer Center told ANI. •Once suffering a fatal skin disease, Nate Liao, 2, of Minneapolis, has been successfully treated by a transplant from donated umbilical cord blood, according to the Pioneer Press. The disease is caused by a missing collagen protein, which makes the skin blister and even rub off and makes the lining of the gastrointestinal tract extremely delicate. The donated cells are now producing collagen. “Maybe we can take one more disorder off the incurable list,” said Dr. John Wagner told the Star Tribune. “It’s not often that it feels like you hit a home run in medical research, but this one feels like it.” •Pamela Newton of Baltimore may be the first person to be cured of sickle cell anemia by a bone marrow transplant from a donor who was not a perfect match, according to the Baltimore Sun. Sickle cell is a disease of the red blood cells, and is often fatal. Doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital made two changes to the usual treatment: they did not destroy all of the existing bone marrow, which makes the procedure less toxic to the patient, and used donated cells that were only half-matched. They then gave Newton a drug that does not affect the donated stem cells, but allows them to establish a new immune system, the Sun reported. |