Overview of Stem Cell Therapy at New Jersey Pain Management Clinics
http://nj-pain.com/treatments/stem-cell-procedure/ Stem Cell Therapy falls under regenerative medicine, and it is now a reality in musculoskeletal medicine. This includes stem cells being...
By: New Jersey Pain Network
See more here:
Overview of Stem Cell Therapy at New Jersey Pain Management Clinics - Video
A Winnipeg-based company that has touted its ability to improve the lives of Multiple Sclerosis patients through stem cell therapy is now under the microscope after allegations of fraud from a client.
The CEO of Regenetek Research Inc. has been collecting thousands of dollars from Canadian patients looking for help. Some of the patients are now questioning the research and credentials of the man they know as Dr. Doug.
One of them is Lee Chuckry, 47. He has been living with MS for nearly two decades.
MS just keeps progressing, thats what it does. Hopefully I could stop it. That was my ultimate goal, Chuckry said in an interview with CTV News.
His efforts led him to Regenetek, and its CEO: Doug Broeska.
In testimonials, MS patients attributed miraculous medical improvement to experimental stem cell therapy. For $35,000, Regenetek patients were flown to India for the procedure.
Chuckry was one of the participants. But when he returned home, he says his symptoms worsened.
When he started digging deeper, he said, he found the doctor hed put his faith in wasnt what he claimed to be.
Im going to call Doug a con artist, Chuckry said. You are preying on people who are desperate. They are looking for hope of any sort.
Chuckry and at least one other patient have gone to the RCMP. They allege Broeska, who claims to hold a PhD and a Bachelor of Science, is a fraud who is operating as a medical researcher without proper credentials.
Read the original post:
Winnipeg company offering stem cell therapy is fraudulent, MS sufferer alleges
A stem cell capable of regenerating both bone and cartilage has been identified in bone marrow of mice. The discovery by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) is reported today in the online issue of the journal Cell.
The cells, called osteochondroreticular (OCR) stem cells, were discovered by tracking a protein expressed by the cells. Using this marker, the researchers found that OCR cells self-renew and generate key bone and cartilage cells, including osteoblasts and chondrocytes. Researchers also showed that OCR stem cells, when transplanted to a fracture site, contribute to bone repair.
"We are now trying to figure out whether we can persuade these cells to specifically regenerate after injury. If you make a fracture in the mouse, these cells will come alive again, generate both bone and cartilage in the mouse--and repair the fracture. The question is, could this happen in humans," says Siddhartha Mukherjee, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine at CUMC and a senior author of the study.
The researchers believe that OCR stem cells will be found in human bone tissue, as mice and humans have similar bone biology. Further study could provide greater understanding of how to prevent and treat osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, or bone fractures.
"Our findings raise the possibility that drugs or other therapies can be developed to stimulate the production of OCR stem cells and improve the body's ability to repair bone injury--a process that declines significantly in old age," says Timothy C. Wang, MD, the Dorothy L. and Daniel H. Silberberg Professor of Medicine at CUMC, who initiated this research. Previously, Dr. Wang found an analogous stem cell in the intestinal tract and observed that it was also abundant in the bone.
"These cells are particularly active during development, but they also increase in number in adulthood after bone injury," says Gerard Karsenty, MD, PhD, the Paul A. Marks Professor of Genetics and Development, chair of the Department of Genetics & Development, and a member of the research team.
The study also showed that the adult OCRs are distinct from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which play a role in bone generation during development and adulthood. Researchers presumed that MSCs were the origin of all bone, cartilage, and fat, but recent studies have shown that these cells do not generate young bone and cartilage. The CUMC study suggests that OCR stem cells actually fill this function and that both OCR stems cells and MSCs contribute to bone maintenance and repair in adults.
The researchers also suspect that OCR cells may play a role in soft tissue cancers.
Story Source:
The above story is based on materials provided by Columbia University Medical Center. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Visit link:
Bone stem cells shown to regenerate bones, cartilage in adult mice
VIDEO:A stem cell capable of regenerating both bone and cartilage has been identified in bone marrow of mice. The discovery by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) is reported... view more
NEW YORK, NY (January 15, 2015) - A stem cell capable of regenerating both bone and cartilage has been identified in bone marrow of mice. The discovery by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) is reported today in the online issue of the journal Cell.
The cells, called osteochondroreticular (OCR) stem cells, were discovered by tracking a protein expressed by the cells. Using this marker, the researchers found that OCR cells self-renew and generate key bone and cartilage cells, including osteoblasts and chondrocytes. Researchers also showed that OCR stem cells, when transplanted to a fracture site, contribute to bone repair.
"We are now trying to figure out whether we can persuade these cells to specifically regenerate after injury. If you make a fracture in the mouse, these cells will come alive again, generate both bone and cartilage in the mouse--and repair the fracture. The question is, could this happen in humans," says Siddhartha Mukherjee, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine at CUMC and a senior author of the study.
The researchers believe that OCR stem cells will be found in human bone tissue, as mice and humans have similar bone biology. Further study could provide greater understanding of how to prevent and treat osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, or bone fractures.
"Our findings raise the possibility that drugs or other therapies can be developed to stimulate the production of OCR stem cells and improve the body's ability to repair bone injury--a process that declines significantly in old age," says Timothy C. Wang, MD, the Dorothy L. and Daniel H. Silberberg Professor of Medicine at CUMC, who initiated this research. Previously, Dr. Wang found an analogous stem cell in the intestinal tract and observed that it was also abundant in the bone.
"These cells are particularly active during development, but they also increase in number in adulthood after bone injury," says Gerard Karsenty, MD, PhD, the Paul A. Marks Professor of Genetics and Development, chair of the Department of Genetics & Development, and a member of the research team.
The study also showed that the adult OCRs are distinct from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which play a role in bone generation during development and adulthood. Researchers presumed that MSCs were the origin of all bone, cartilage, and fat, but recent studies have shown that these cells do not generate young bone and cartilage. The CUMC study suggests that OCR stem cells actually fill this function and that both OCR stems cells and MSCs contribute to bone maintenance and repair in adults.
The researchers also suspect that OCR cells may play a role in soft tissue cancers.
###
Read the original here:
Bone stem cells shown to regenerate bone and cartilage in adult mice
January 16, 2015
This is a schematic of the head of a femur (the thigh bone), showing OCR stem cells in red and the growth of bone (green), cartilage and stromal cells. (Credit: Mike Barnett/Columbia University Medical Center)
Brett Smith for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online
Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) have announced the discovery of a new stem cell in mice that is capable of regenerating both bone and cartilage, according to a new report in the journal Cell.
The study team found the new cells by following the activity of a protein called Gremlin1. When they transplanted the cells, called osteochondroreticular (OCR) stem cells, to a fracture site they saw that the cells aided in bone repair.
We are now trying to figure out whether we can persuade these cells to specifically regenerate after injury, said Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, assistant professor of medicine at CUMC and co-author of the new study. If you make a fracture in the mouse, these cells will come alive again, generate both bone and cartilage in the mouseand repair the fracture. The question is, could this happen in humans?
The researchers predicted that OCR stem cells will eventually be found in humans because we have a biological makeup similar to that of mice. The CUMC team said they were optimistic that their work could eventually lead to treatments for bone-degenerative diseases like osteoporosis and osteoarthritis in addition to therapy for bone fractures.
Our findings raise the possibility that drugs or other therapies can be developed to stimulate the production of OCR stem cells and improve the bodys ability to repair bone injurya process that declines significantly in old age, said Dr. Timothy C. Wang, another co-author and professor of Medicine at CUMC.
These cells are particularly active during development, but they also increase in number in adulthood after bone injury, added co-author Dr. Gerard Karsenty, a professor of genetics and development at CUMC.
The Columbia researchers were also able to show that the adult OCRs are unlike mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which lead to bone growth during adolescence and in adulthood. Scientists presumed that MSCs were the source of all skeletal system cells, but the latest research has revealed that these cells do not produce fresh bone and cartilage. The Columbia study implies that OCR stem cells serve this function and that both OCR stems cells and MSCs bring about bone repair in adults.
Link:
Mice stem cells capable of regenerating bone, cartilage
Osteoarthritis is a common condition seen in older people in which the tissue between joints becomes worn down, causing severe pain. In what could be an important development for people who suffer from it, U.S. researchers have isolated stem cells in adult mice that regenerate both worn tissue, or cartilage, and bone.
For the past decade, researchers have been trying to locate and isolate stem cells in the spongy tissue or marrow of bones of experimental animals.
x
The so-called osteochondroreticular, or OCR, cells are capable of renewing and generating important bone and cartilage cells.
Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center in New York identified these master cells in the marrow. When grown in the lab and transplanted back into a fracture site in mice, they helped repair the broken bones.
Siddhartha Mukherjee, the study's senior author, said similar stem cells exist in the human skeletal system.
The real provocative experiment or the provocative idea is being able to do this in humans being able to extract out these stem cells from humans and being able to put them back in to repair complex fracture defects or osteoarthritis defects, said Mukherjee.
He noted that children have more bone stem cells than adults, which may explain why the bones of young people repair more easily than fractures in adults.
Mukherjee said the next step is to try to identify the OCR cells in humans and attempt to use them to repair complex bone and cartilage injuries.
Once cartilage is injured or destroyed in older people, as in osteoarthritis, Mukherjee said it does not repair itself.
Read more:
Bone Stem Cells Regenerate Bone, Cartilage in Mice
Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
By: Mary Agnes Welch and Melissa Martin
Posted: 01/16/2015 3:00 AM | Comments:
News that a Winnipeg man falsified his credentials and charged chronically ill people thousands of dollars to participate in a questionable clinical trial has prompted health officials, regulators and police to pass the buck.
Meanwhile, Doug Broeska and his associates, including a Winnipeg physician, are in Trinidad this week preparing to open a new stem-cell clinic.
So far, at least three people have filed complaints with the RCMP about Broeska and his Winnipeg firm, Regenetek Research. The earliest complaints were filed in the summer of 2013 in Alberta and Manitoba. Another complaint was lodged in Saskatchewan last month.
RCMP would not say whether they are actively investigating Broeska and Regenetek. The three people who lodged the complaints told the Free Press they have not been contacted since their initial contact with RCMP.
In the last three years, Regenetek charged about 70 people as much as $45,000 for stem-cell treatment in India that Broeska claimed would halt the progress of multiple sclerosis and, more recently, Lou Gehrig's disease.
"Each and every one of over 60 patients in the trial has demonstrated significant functional improvement with enduring effect," Broeska wrote on his website. "Many have returned to complete health without symptoms, and some have been declared 'disease-free' by their neurologist."
But, a Free Press investigation found at least half a dozen patients experienced no improvement after travelling to India. And Broeska overstated the ethical approvals awarded to his clinical trial and falsified his credentials, claiming to have a PhD when he does not. In December, the Indian hospital where the stem-cell treatments are performed asked Broeska to step down as principal investigator, claiming he was putting patient safety at risk.
Go here to see the original:
Agencies mum on Regenetek
Japanese research also report the stem cells have effect on natural killer cells and monocyte function
Putnam Valley, NY. (Jan. 16th, 2015) - Stem cells derived from human amnion have for some time been considered promising for cell therapies because of their ease of access, ability to differentiate, and absence of ethical issues. Now, a Japanese research team has found that stem cells derived from human female amnion also have immunosuppressive activity and that the addition of antibodies to specific factors can enhance their immunosuppressive potential.
The study will be published in a future issue of Cell Transplantation and is currently freely available on-line as an unedited early e-pub at: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct/pre-prints/content-CT-1273_Li_et_al.
The amniotic membrane is a tissue of fetal origin comprised of three layers. It is thought that there is a special immunologic mechanism protecting the fetus, so researchers were interested in finding out what immunological properties might reside in - and be extractable from - amnion cells.
"The human amniotic membrane contains both epithelial cells and mesenchymal cells," said study co-author Dr. Toshio Nikaido, Department of Regenerative Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Toyama, Toyoma, Japan. "Both kinds of cells have proliferation and differentiation characteristics, making the amniotic membrane a promising and attractive source for amnion-derived cells for transplantation in regenerative medicine. It is clear that these cells have promise, although the mechanism of their immune modulation remains to be elucidated."
In this study, amnion-derived cells exerted an inhibitory effect on natural killer cells (NKs) and induced white blood cell activation. The researchers reported that the amnion-derived cells saw increases in interleukin-10 (IL-10).
"We consider that IL-10 was involved in the function of amnion-derived cells toward NK cells," explained Dr. Nikaido. "The immunomodulation of amnion-derived cells is a complicated procedure involving many factors, among which IL-10 and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) play important roles."
Naturally occurring prostaglandins, such as PGE2, have important effects in labor and also stimulate osteoblasts to release factors that stimulate bone resorption by osteoclasts. PGE2 also suppresses T cell receptor signaling and may play a role in resolution of inflammation.
The use of antibodies against PGE2 and IL-10 removed the immunosuppressive effects of the amnion-derived cells by increasing natural killer cell cytotoxicity. This implies that these two factors are contributing elements to the immunosuppressive abilities of amnion-derived cells.
"Soluble factors IL-10 and PGE2 produced by amnion-derived cells may suppress allogenic, or "other" related immune responses," concluded Dr. Nikaido. "Our findings support the hypothesis that these cells have potential therapeutic use. However, further study is needed to identify the detailed mechanisms responsible for their immodulatory effects. Amnion-derived cells must be transplanted into mouse models for further in vivo analysis of their immunosuppressive activity or anti-inflammatory effects."
Read this article:
Stem cells derived from amniotic tissues have immunosuppressive properties
A previously unknown type of cell regenerates mouse lung tissue killed by the flu virus, according to a new study led by UC San Francisco scientists. In addition to its possible relevance to the hundreds of thousands of annual human deaths from flu, the work points toward a potential strategy for treating other forms of acute lung injury, as well as the cellular damage seen in end-stage pulmonary fibrosis.
The World Health Organization estimates that as many as 500,000 people per year die from influenza. But surprisingly little is known about how human lungs react to severe flu infections, in part because lung tissue from humans who die from flu is difficult to obtain for research, according to UCSFs Hal Chapman, MD, professor of medicine and senior author of the new study.
The lining of hollow organs, such as the lungs and those that make up the gastrointestinal tract, is composed of a thin layer of cells known as epithelia, as is the surface of skin. The skin and gut heal rather quickly because they constantly regenerate epithelial cells and slough them off, but the turnover of epithelial cells in the lung is very slow, Chapman said, and lung injury caused by acute infections or by chronic disease is a pressing health problem.
It has generally been believed that surviving mature epithelial cells are the first responders following injury to the epithelial lining. But in the new study, led by postdoctoral fellow Andrew Vaughan, PhD, and published in the advance online edition of Nature on Dec. 24, infection with the flu virus instead activated a tiny population of cells in the mouse lung that were distinct from any mature epithelial cells.
After activation, these cells, dubbed LNEPs (lineage-negative epithelial stem/progenitor cells), greatly expanded in number and became remarkably mobile, Vaughan said, rapidly migrating to sites of injury. Once there, they began to differentiate into normal epithelial cells.
Moreover, when the researchers transplanted LNEPs they had isolated from the lungs of healthy mice into the lungs of mice infected with influenza, the cells differentiated into appropriate types of epithelial cells depending on the transplant location, and they integrated appropriately into lung tissue. These experiments demonstrated that LNEPs are multipotent like stem cells, they have the capacity to transform into a range of cell types.
The scientists demonstrated that the proliferation of LNEPs is driven by signals from a protein called Notch, which governs cell growth in almost all animals. During development, a period of rapid cell proliferation, Notch eventually shuts down, prompting cells to differentiate into the range of distinctive cell types that make up various tissues. In the flu-infected mice, however, Notch signaling could sometimes remain activated, which hampered the formation of normal epithelium by LNEPs.
In the transplant experiments, for example, regions of the lung with high levels of Notch signaling formed honeycomb-like cysts of a sort seen in patients with advanced idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and in scleroderma, an autoimmune disease of connective tissue. When the researchers examined human lung tissue from IPF and scleroderma patients containing such cysts, they observed both high levels of Notch signaling and cells that bore markers also seen in mouse LNEPs, which suggests that some features of advanced lung disease may reflect a regenerative process gone awry.
It remains to be seen whether its a workable strategy to transplant human LNEPs into injured regions of the lung to repair damage from disease or infection, Chapman said, and it will be crucial to better understand how to tamp down Notch signaling to control the process.
Treating lung injury using LNEPs would require more than just obtaining and transplanting the cells, he said. Youd also have to manipulate the milieu so that you get the sort of engraftment you want, and I think thats true of any organ in which youre trying to regenerate tissue.
Visit link:
New Type of Cell Found to Repair Lung Injury in Mice
DAVIS (CBS13) Researchers at UC Davis say they are one step closer to finding a cure for HIV in a breakthrough study for millions around the world living with the virus.
At 60 years old, Paul Curtis looks like the picture of health.
I exercise, eat well get a lot of rest, he said.
But 30 years ago, Curtis was diagnosed as HIV-positive. Doctors told him he might have a year to live, but hes proven them wrong.
With this disease, its imperative that you take the medications consistently, Curtis said.
He relies on medication daily. At one point he took more than 40 pills a day. And he cant miss a dose.
The virus mutates rapidly when you miss doses, he said.
Hes one of millions worldwide waiting for a cure. Previous studies have come close, but none have proven to fight off the virus with stem cell therapy.
Dr. Joe Anderson says he has developed genetically modified human stem cells, which have resisted infection in mice.
When we infected the mice that had these HIV-resistant that had these HIV-resistant immune cells in them, we saw that HIV infection was blocked, he said.
See original here:
Stem Cell Treatment Has UC Davis A Step Closer To HIV Cure