Updates in Regenerative Medicine

Apr 03
0

Update In Regenerative Medicine

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What’s new in the STEM today?!

The Queen’s Royal Jelly 

Royal jelly is a viscous substance honeybees produce to feed their larvae. In the beehive hierarchy, the queen bee gives birth to larvae who then go on to either become workers (females that work around the hive) or drones (males who mate with the queen). Once the queen dies, worker bees select the fittest larvae and feed them royal jelly, facilitating one larva’s growth into a strong and extremely fertile queen bee. So what’s in this magical potion? Researchers at Stanford, identified royalactin as the key ingredient of royal jelly that seems to stimulate dramatic cell growth.

What does this mean?!

By adding royalactin to embryonic stem cells (cells that can turn into any kind of cell), they were able to stay pluripotent for a greater length of time, about 20 generations to be exact. In other words, the original cells were able to differentiate many more times than the average stem cell, keeping them youthful for longer! When will they start selling royalactin in anti-aging creams??

Read the full article https://www.medicalnewstoday.com

Snap, Crackle, CRISPR

The globe is in outcry regarding the legal and ethical implications of a Chinese doctor’s experiment on IVF twins, Lulu and Nana. While these twin girls came into the world as healthy as any other baby, it simply cannot be ignored that their DNA was tampered with just 9 months prior. The doctor paired the fathers’s sperm (who was positive for HIV) with the mother’s egg via an IVF procedure, but using CRISPR (a gene editing tool), was able to send in extra protein instructions with the sperm into the egg. These “instructions” directed CRSIPR to edit out the HIV genes in the sperm. Despite these twins being born healthy and lacking the HIV genes (they would have inherited from their father), the controversy is imminent. While CRISPR is widely used, its off-target effect is well-documented, meaning it has a habit of editing the wrong genes. In a clinical setting, this can make for some very bad outcomes. This kind of hereditary gene editing also has implications based around consent and personhood, further fuelling the international uproar regarding this experiment. Interestingly, now, the infamous Chinese doctor is no where to be found. 
Read more here https://www.zdnet.com

Some Vogue-standard modeling

Bioengineers at Harvard have used a novel pull-spinning technique to bring together polyester and gelatin fibers to form a human heart ventricle scaffold. The aligned nanofibers allow for the cultured human cardiomyocytes (heart muscle cells), derived from stem cells, to be aligned so they contract and conduct just like natural heart cells. The researchers were also able to create a bio-reactor for the ventricle to be contained in, allowing for long-term study of drug impacts and disease progression.
What does this mean?!
This in vitro heart model allows us to research the heart outside of the  body. In the  future, patient stem cells can be used to build heart models that share the patient’s genetic background and replicate features of their heart, further progressing the field of personalized medicine. Someone set up a photoshoot with these models!!
Brought to you by CARRM @Western

Sep 03
3

Breakthrough in MS treatment using stem cells

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Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an acquired inflammatory autoimmune disease of the central nervous system that causes degeneration of myelin sheaths. Patients typically present with relapsing and remitting symptoms such as fatigue, lack of coordination, visual problems, partial or complete paralysis, and bladder/bowel incontinence. This condition has a significant impact on quality of life and current treatment options are limited.

A recent study conducted in 2016 showed promising results for the effectiveness of stem cells as an early treatment option for patients suffering from MS. In a clinical trial by Dr. Harold Atkins and Dr. Mark S. Freedman of The Ottawa Hospital, immunoablation and autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (IAHSCT) were used on 24 patients with aggressive, relapsing MS. They were able to mobilize hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) from the patient’s bone marrow by using cyclophosphamide (immunosuppressant drug) and filgrastim (HSC-proliferating drug). HSCs were collected by peripheral vein leucopheresis, purified, and frozen. Chemotherapy drugs were then used to eliminate the patient’s immune cells and previously harvested HSCs were transplanted back into patients via autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant for transformation into new immune cells.

None of the patients enrolled in the study experienced clinical relapses and 70% experienced no further disease progression. Furthermore, no subjects developed new inflammatory lesions within the brain or required medical therapy. This study shows that MS patients treated with IAHSCT have the potential to regain mobility and live a better quality of life. It should be emphasized that this treatment is only used in severe cases, as there is a high risk for contraction of infection due to the elimination of the patient’s original immune cells.

As with most research developments in the field of regenerative medicine, IAHSCT for the treatment of MS still requires further investigation. Nonetheless, this study is a sign of progress and yet another example of stem cells making an appearance in the clinical world. Neurological disorders such as MS can be debilitating and cause physical, emotional and financial burden for patients. Advancements in stem cell-based therapies can potentially help clinicians expand their treatment options and slow progression of these harmful diseases.

For the full-length article on The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute website, please visit: http://www.ohri.ca/newsroom/newsstory.asp?ID=786

Post authored by the CARRM@Guelph chapter.

REFERENCE:

Atkins H, Bowman M, Allan D, Anstee G, Arnold D, Bar-Or A et al. Immunoablation and autologous haemopoietic stem-cell transplantation for aggressive multiple sclerosis: a multicentre single-group phase 2 trial. The Lancet. 2016;388(10044):576- 585.

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