Category : News

Home/Archive by Category "News" (Page 3)

New stem cell therapy in dogs — a breakthrough in veterinary medicine

Dogs have been faithful human companions ever since their domestication thousands of years ago. With various improvements in veterinary medicine in the past decades, their life expectancy has increased. However, an unfortunate side effect of this longevity, much like in humans, has been an increase in the occurrence of chronic and degenerative conditions.

Continue Reading

Hematopoietic stem cell transplants may provide long-term benefit for people with MS

A new study shows that intense immunosuppression followed by a hematopoietic stem cell transplant may prevent disability associated with multiple sclerosis (MS) from getting worse in 71% of people with relapsing-remitting MS for up to 10 years after the treatment. The research is published in the January 20, 2021, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study also found that in some people their disability improved over 10 years after treatment. Additionally, more than half of the people with the secondary progressive form of MS experienced no worsening of their symptoms 10 years after a transplant.

Continue Reading

Hope for children with rare heart condition: novel stem cell therapy to save the day

In a new study, scientists at Okayama University isolated cardiac stem cells and assessed their potential use as regenerative therapy in young patients with cardiac defects. They confirmed the safety and effectiveness of their proposed treatment in early-phase trials and even identified the mechanism through which the stem cells improved cardiac function. Based on these preliminary findings, they hope to proceed to larger clinical trials and move towards pharmaceutical approval in the future.

Continue Reading

Brain stem cells divide over months

Scientists have been able to observe the way stem cells in the adult brains of mice divide over the course of months to create new nerve cells. Their study shows that brain stem cells are active over a long period, and thus provides new insights that will feed into stem cell research.

Continue Reading

Obesity impairs immune cell function, accelerates tumor growth

A new study in mice finds that a high-fat diet allows cancer cells to outcompete immune cells for fuel, impairing immune function and accelerating tumor growth. Cancer cells do so by rewiring their metabolisms to increase fat consumption. Blocking this rewiring enhances anti-tumor immunity. The findings suggest new strategies to target cancer metabolism and improve immunotherapies.

Continue Reading

Stem cell transplantation: Undesirable rejection mechanism identified

In the treatment of leukemia, stem cell transplantation subsequent to chemotherapy and radiation can often engender severe adverse inflammatory reactions – especially in the skin or in the gut, since these so-called barrier organs are more frequently affected. Up until now, the reason for this was unclear. A team of researchers has now identified an immune mechanism that is partially responsible for this.

Continue Reading

Unraveling a mystery surrounding embryonic cells

Last year, researchers identified the early origins of neural crest cells — embryonic cells in vertebrates that travel throughout the body and generate many cell types — in chick embryos. Now the researchers have used a human model to figure out when neural crest cells acquire distinctive molecular and functional attributes.

Continue Reading