News for Researchers
Team Reveals Molecular Competition Drives Adult Stem Cells to Specialize (Phys)
(Kansas City, MO) Adult organisms harbor adult stem cells some of which renew and others which differentiate differentiate.
Researchers Seek ‘Safety Lock’ Against Tumor Growth After Stem Cell Transplantation (Medical XPress)
(Yokohama, Japan) Induced pluripotent stem cells promoting functional recovery after spinal cord injury in rodents.
Cytori Halts Stem Cell Study Due to Adverse Events (Business Week)
(San Diego, CA) Cytori therapeutics halted trials of stem cell therapy for heart failure after 3 patients developed blood flow problems.
Japanese Stem-Cell Scientist Yoshiki Sasai Commits Suicide (WSJ)
(Tokyo, Japan) Japanese stem cell scientist commits suicide after presenting a flawed stem cell study resulting in retraction of his publications.
International Stem Cell Corp Launches Stroke Program With Tulane (CNN)
(Carlsbad, CA) International Stem Cell Corporation launched a new stroke program in collaboration with Tulane University to examine neural stem cell transplantation in a preclinical rodent model.
Implanted Induced Neuron Stem Cells (iNSC) Become Part of the Brain (WWWEN)
(Luxemberg City, Luxemberg) Scientists have grafted neurons reprogrammed from skin cells into the brains of mice and have demonstrated long-term stability.
Quiescent HSCs Shown to Accumulate DNA Damage
(Boston, Mass.) – Researchers led by Isabel Beerman of the Departmentof Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard have demonstrated that quiescent hematopoietic stem cells accumulate DNA damage over time. This contradicts previously held assumptions that some blood stem cells in the bone marrow stay quiescent (i.e. do not divide) for long periods of time in order to avoid DNA damage.
Chinese Scientists Test MSCs for Neural Inflammatory Modulation
(Guangzhou, China) – Scientists at the Neurosurgery Institute of the Southern Medical University have demonstrated that mesenchymal stem cells can modulate the inflammatory and immunes responses of neural tissue.
Microglia are the primary immunocompetent cells in brain tissue and microglia-mediated inflammation is associated with the pathogenesis of various neuronal disorders. Recently, many studies have shown that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) display a remarkable ability to modulate inflammatory and immune responses through the release of a variety of bioactive molecules, thereby protecting the central nervous system.
Previously, we reported that MSCs have the ability to modulate inflammatory responses in a traumatic brain injury model and that the potential mechanisms may be partially attributed to upregulated TNF-alpha stimulated gene/protein 6 (TSG-6) expression. However, whether TSG-6 exerts an anti-inflammatory effect by affecting microglia is not fully understood. In this study, we investigated the anti-inflammatory effects of MSCs and TSG-6 in an in vitro lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced BV2 microglial activation model. We found that MSCs and TSG-6 significantly inhibited the expression of pro-inflammatory mediators in activated microglia.
Pigs’ Bladder Helps Patients’ Stem Cells Grow Missing Muscles (Voa News)
(Pittsburgh, PA) Porcine bladder tissue used to help a human patient regrow muscle that he lost following an injury.