Archive for the ‘Bone Marrow Stem Cells’ Category

ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) -- Medical officials are talking about a breakthrough clinical trial that could help the heart repair itself.

On Tuesday afternoon, Mayo Clinic and Cardio3 BioSciences officials outlined an FDA-approved clinical trial to be carried out in the United States. A similar trial has already been underway in Europe.

Cardio3 CEO Christian Homsy said stem cells are a major part of this heart-healing process. "What we do is take cells from a patient and we reprogram those cells to become cardiac reparative cells. Those cells have the ability to come and repair the heart." Those stem cells would come from the bone marrow of patients who suffer from heart failure.

This treatment is the result of a Mayo Clinic discovery. In Mayo's breakthrough process, stem cells that are harvested from a cardiac patient's bone marrow undergo a guided treatment designed to improve heart health in people suffering from heart failure.

Cardio3 officials said a manufacturing facility will be the first thing that is needed for this clinical trial, and the rest of the details like staffing will follow.

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Trial to use stem cells to repair heart

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

19-Aug-2014

Contact: Sarah McDonnell s_mcd@mit.edu 617-253-8923 Massachusetts Institute of Technology

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- MIT chemical engineers have devised a new implantable tissue scaffold coated with bone growth factors that are released slowly over a few weeks. When applied to bone injuries or defects, this coated scaffold induces the body to rapidly form new bone that looks and behaves just like the original tissue.

This type of coated scaffold could offer a dramatic improvement over the current standard for treating bone injuries, which involves transplanting bone from another part of the patient's body a painful process that does not always supply enough bone. Patients with severe bone injuries, such as soldiers wounded in battle; people who suffer from congenital bone defects, such as craniomaxillofacial disorders; and patients in need of bone augmentation prior to insertion of dental implants could benefit from the new tissue scaffold, the researchers say.

"It's been a truly challenging medical problem, and we have tried to provide one way to address that problem," says Nisarg Shah, a recent PhD recipient and lead author of the paper, which appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week.

Paula Hammond, the David H. Koch Professor in Engineering and a member of MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and Department of Chemical Engineering, is the paper's senior author. Other authors are postdocs M. Nasim Hyder and Mohiuddin Quadir, graduate student Nomie-Manuelle Dorval Courchesne, Howard Seeherman of Restituo, Myron Nevins of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and Myron Spector of Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Stimulating Bone Growth

Two of the most important bone growth factors are platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2). As part of the natural wound-healing cascade, PDGF is one of the first factors released immediately following a bone injury, such as a fracture. After PDGF appears, other factors, including BMP-2, help to create the right environment for bone regeneration by recruiting cells that can produce bone and forming a supportive structure, including blood vessels.

Efforts to treat bone injury with these growth factors have been hindered by the inability to effectively deliver them in a controlled manner. When very large quantities of growth factors are delivered too quickly, they are rapidly cleared from the treatment site so they have reduced impact on tissue repair, and can also induce unwanted side effects.

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Engineering new bone growth

By Estel Grace Masangkay

With help from the zebrafish, a team of Australian researchers has uncovered how hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) renew themselves, considered by many to be the holy grail of stem cell research.

HSCs are a significant type of stem cell present in the blood and bone marrow. These are needed for the replenishment of the bodys supply of blood and immune cells. HSCs already play a part in transplants in patients with blood cancers such as leukemia and myeloma. The stem cells are also studied for their potential to transform into vital cells including muscle, bone, and blood vessels.

Understanding how HSCs form and renew themselves has potential application in the treatment of spinal cord injuries, degenerative disorders, even diabetes. Professor Peter Currie, of the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute at Victorias Monash University, led a research team to discover a crucial part of HSCs development. Using a high-resolution microscopy, Prof. Curies team caught HSCs on film as they formed inside zebrafish embryos. The discovery was made while the researchers were studying muscle mutations in the aquatic animal.

Zebrafish make HSCs in exactly the same way as humans do, but whats special about these guys is that their embryos and larvae develop free living and not in utero as they do in humans. So not only are these larvae free-swimming, but they are also transparent, so we could see every cell in the body forming, including HSCs, explained Prof. Currie.

While playing the film back, the researchers noticed that a buddy cell came along to help the HSCs form. Called endotome cells, they aided pre-HSCs to turn into HSCs. Prof. Currie said, Endotome cells act like a comfy sofa for pre-HSCs to snuggle into, helping them progress to become fully fledged stem cells. Not only did we identify some of the cells and signals required for HSC formation, we also pinpointed the genes required for endotome formation in the first place.

The next step for the researchers is to locate the signals present in the endotome cells that trigger HSC formation in the embryo. This can help scientists make different blood cells on demand for blood-related disorders. Professor Currie also pointed out the discoverys potential for correcting genetic defects in the cell and transplanting them back in the body to treat disorders.

The teams work was published in the international journal Nature.

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Stem Cell Research Holy Grail' Uncovered, Thanks to Zebrafish

Since Maria Buhl's son was diagnosed with leukemia in 1995, she has looked for a way to make a difference with the bone marrow donor registry.

In September, the Delmar resident's vision will be realized when the Guilderland YMCA and the Guilderland Public Library pair up to host a Be the Match Bone Marrow Donor Drive. Joining the donor registry is as simple as getting a cheek swab and filling out paperwork.

According to the website http://bethematch.org, one in 500 people who sign up become donors in one of two ways: Peripheral blood stem cell donation or bone marrow donation. A PBSC donor receives injections of a medication that increases the number of blood-forming cells in their bloodstream. In a procedure a bit more complicated than a standard blood donation, blood is drawn from one arm and passed through a machine that separates out the blood-forming cells. The remaining blood is then returned through the other arm.

In bone marrow donations, which are done in a hospital operating room under anesthesia, needles are used to withdraw liquid marrow from the back of the pelvic bone.

Most donors are able to return to work, school and other activities within a week after donation, according to bethematch.org.

While at Albany Medical Center during her son's treatment, Buhl noticed a flier about a bone marrow drive in Albany. She registered and promptly forgot about it. Her son never needed a transplant, but she wanted to be able to help someone else. Buhl's son is now 21 and healthy. It wasn't until September 2013, 18 years later, that Buhl received an email saying she was a potential donor.

"I was overwhelmed with emotions and read the email at work so I had to excuse myself for a minute," she said.

A few days later, Buhl called the registry to confirm her identity and asked how they still had her information. The registry is so dedicated to tracking donors, they purchase any public records of people who fall off the grid, Buhl said.

In December 2013, she received another email telling her she would not need to donate, because the patient either found a better match, no longer was eligible for a match or decided not to pursue the treatment.

"I was so energized by being chosen that I felt deflated once I wasn't needed anymore," she said. "But who knows what will happen in the future?"

Excerpt from:
Hope runs deep

Ruxolitinib (trade name: Jakavi) has been approved since August 2012 for the treatment of adults with myelofibrosis. In an early benefit assessment pursuant to the Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products (AMNOG), the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) examined whether this new drug offers an added benefit over the appropriate comparator therapy specified by the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA).

According to the results, there is an indication of considerable added benefit in comparison with "best supportive care" (BSC) because ruxolitinib is better at relieving symptoms. Moreover, a hint of an added benefit with regard to survival can be derived from the dossier. Its extent is non-quantifiable, however.

Bone marrow is replaced by connective tissue

Myelofibrosis is a rare disease of the bone marrow, in which the bone marrow is replaced by connective tissue. As a consequence of this so-called fibrosis, the bone marrow is no longer able to produce enough blood cells. Sometimes the spleen or the liver takes over some of the blood production. Then these organs enlarge and can cause abdominal discomfort and pain. The typical symptoms also include feeling of fullness, night sweats and itching. Some patients with myelofibrosis develop leukemia.

Stem cell transplantation is currently the only option to cure myelofibrosis. The drug ruxolitinib aims to relieve the symptoms of myelofibrosis.

G-BA specifies appropriate comparator therapy

Ruxolitinib is an option for patients with so-called primary or secondary myelofibrosis whose spleen is already enlarged (splenomegaly) or who have other disease-related symptoms.

The G-BA specified "best supportive care" (BSC) as appropriate comparator therapy. BSC means a therapy that provides the patient with the best possible, individually optimized, supportive treatment to alleviate symptoms and improve quality of life. This also includes adequate pain therapy.

Relevant study ongoing until 2015

In its assessment, IQWiG could include one randomized controlled trial (RCT) conducted in 89 centres in Australia, Canada and the United States (COMFORT-I). The 309 patients in total were either treated with ruxolitinib plus BSC or with placebo plus BSC.

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Ruxolitinib for myelofibrosis: Indication of considerable added benefit

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Newswise A new study by Barbara Beltz, the Allene Lummis Russell Professor of Neuroscience at Wellesley College, and Irene Sderhll of Uppsala University, Sweden, published in the August 11 issue of the journal Developmental Cell, demonstrates that the immune system can produce cells with stem cell properties, using crayfish as a model system. These cells can, in turn, create neurons in the adult animal. The flexibility of immune cells in producing neurons in adult animals raises the possibility of the presence of similar types of plasticity in other animals.

We have been suspicious for some time that the neuronal precursor cells (stem cells) in crayfish were coming from the immune system, Beltz wrote. The paper contains multiple lines of evidence that support this conclusion, in addition to the experiments showing that blood cells transferred from a donor to a recipient animal generate neurons.

Beltz, whose research focuses on the production of new neurons in the adult nervous system, uses the crustacean brain as the model system because the generations of precursor cells are spatially segregated from one another. According to Beltz, this separation is crucial because it allowed the researchers to determine that the first generation precursors do not self-renew. For the Developmental Cell study, the cells of one crayfish were labeled and this animals blood was used for transfusions into another crayfish. They found that the donor blood cells could generate neurons in the recipient.

In many adult organisms, including humans, neurons in some parts of the brain are continually replenished. While this process is critical for ongoing health, dysfunctions in the production of new neurons may also contribute to several neurological diseases, including clinical depression and some neurodegenerative disorders.

Beltz notes, of course, that it is difficult to extrapolate from crayfish to human disease. However, because of existing research suggesting that stem cells harvested from bone marrow also can become neural precursors and generate neurons, she says it is tempting to suggest that the mechanism proposed in crayfish may also be applicable in evolutionarily higher organisms, perhaps even in humans.

Prior studies conducted in both humans and mice and published about a decade ago, showed that bone marrow recipients who had received a transplant from the opposite gender had neurons with the genetic signature of the opposite sex. The implication was that cells from the bone marrow generated those neurons. However, it is currently thought that neuronal stem cells in mammals, including humans, are self-renewing and therefore do not need to be replenished. Thus, these findings have not been interpreted as contributing to a natural physiological mechanism.

Every experiment we did confirmed the close relationship between the immune system and adult neurogenesis, Beltz said. Often when one is doing research, experiments can be fussy or give variable results. But for this work, once we started asking the right questions, the experiments worked first time and every time. The consistency and strength of the data are remarkable.

Our findings in crayfish indicate that the immune system is intimately tied to mechanisms of adult neurogenesis, suggesting a much closer relationship between the immune system and nervous system than has been previously appreciated, said Sderhll. If further studies demonstrate a similar relationship between the immune system and brain in mammals, these findings would stimulate a new area of research into immune therapies to target neurological diseases.

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Blood Cells Generate Neurons in Crayfish; Could Have Implications for Treatment of Neurodegenerative Disorders

Melbourne researchers have revealed the critical importance of highly specialized immune cells, called natural killer cells, in killing melanoma cells that have spread to the lungs.

These natural killer cells could be harnessed to hunt down and kill cancers that have spread in the body.

The team, from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, also found natural killer cells were critical to the body's rejection of donor bone marrow transplants and in the runaway immune response during toxic shock syndrome.

The discoveries came after the team showed that a protein called MCL-1 was crucial for survival of natural killer cells, in research published today in the journal Nature Communications. The discovery will help to determine how natural killer cells can be manipulated to fight cancers and other disorders.

Dr Nick Huntington, Dr Priyanka Sathe and Ms Rebecca Delconte from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute said MCL-1 could be a target for boosting or depleting natural killer cell populations to treat disease. Natural killer cells are immune predators, scouring the body in search of foreign invaders such as viruses, and sensing changes in our own cells that are associated with cancer.

Dr Huntington said the team showed natural killer cells were needed to fight off invading tumor cells that had spread past the original cancer site.

"We discovered MCL-1 is absolutely essential for keeping natural killer cells alive," Dr Huntington said. "Without natural killer cells, the body was unable to destroy melanoma metastases that had spread throughout the body, and the cancers overwhelmed the lungs."

"Knowing how important natural killer cells are for detecting and destroying cancer cells as they spread suggests they would be a good target for boosting immune defenses to treat cancer."

Natural killer cells are present in high frequency in our blood and patrol the body's 'frontlines' -- the lungs, intestines, mucous membranes and skin -- to detect and destroy diseased cells. However these predatory natural killer cells are a double-edged sword.

Dr Huntington said the team showed natural killer cells also played a role in death from toxic shock (sepsis), and in rejecting bone marrow transplants.

Link:
Immune cell discovery could help to halt cancer spread

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When Isaac Patterson awoke one Saturday morning last month to find his father resting on the couch, the 7-year-old was curious.

The previous day, his father had undergone surgery to donate bone marrow, and Isaac had questions.

Read more from the original source:
Race gathers money, recruits for bone-marrow donations

The bodys natural killer cells, as their Hollywood-style name suggests, are key to the immune system. They are programmed to hunt out and destroy foreign and diseased cells. But they dont always identify their targets. When this happens, diseases such as cancer can set in.

But a team of researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research have worked out what the group of highly specialised killer cells need to function at their best. Its a protein called MCL-1.

Immunologist Nick Huntington said the protein was effectively a switch which could turn the killer cells on or off.

The discovery, outlined on Thursday in the journal Nature Communications, opens the way for new drug treatments to tame the spread of a range of diseases, including cancer.

It could also assist patients who undergo donor stem cell or bone marrow transplants - because by manipulating the killer cells switch, foreign bodies such as stem cells could go unchallenged by the bodys immune system.

"Its the only protein which does this in the cell, Dr Huntington said. It needs to be turned on for the cell to survive and when its turned off the cell will die.

While aware of the existence of the MCL-1 protein and its importance at a fundamental level, scientists were previously unaware of its role in natural killer cell function. With colleagues Priyanka Sathe and Rebecca Delconte, Dr Huntington established its role.

That knowledge will prove useful for the development of new drugs to treat cancers.

Potential benefits include reduced side effects from treatment, as the killer cells only target foreign, diseased or cancerous cells, unlike chemotherapy which targets healthy cells as well.

Being able to manipulate the switch of the natural killer cells could also mean scientists can reduce the size of the cancer, once detected.

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Scientists discover killer cells' ''on switch''

The Only Way Is Essex star launched appeal to find his mother a donor Kym Norris, 54, was diagnosed with blood cancer after feeling lethargic and going to the doctors for tests She is in hospital undergoing intensive chemotherapy twice a day Doctors revealed last week a bone marrow transplant is her best hope Bobby is urging people to sign the bone marrow register to find a donor He is backing blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan's campaign Save A Stranger's Life and launched a Twitter appeal #SaveBobbysMum 27-year-old has also started a Just Giving page to support Anthony Nolan

By Lizzie Parry For Mailonline

Published: 05:03 EST, 13 August 2014 | Updated: 10:01 EST, 13 August 2014

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TOWIE star Bobby Cole Norris has revealed his mother needs a life-saving bone marrow transplant after she was diagnosed with leukaemia.

The 27-year-old launched a desperate plea to find a donor - his mother's 'best hope' of beating the vicious disease.

Bobby, an only child, said he is devastated having always been very close to his mother Kym, 54, a dental receptionist.

He said: 'My mum means the world to me and I love her to the moon and back.

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TOWIE's Bobby Cole Norris' pleas for bone marrow donor after mother's leukaemia diagnosis

Infusing stem cells into the brain may help boost recovery after a stroke, according to a pilot study by Imperial College London.

Scientists believe the cells encourage new blood vessels to grow in damaged areas of the brain.

They found most patients were able to walk and look after themselves independently by the end of the trial, despite having suffered severe strokes.

Larger studies are needed to evaluate whether this could be used more widely.

In this early trial - designed primarily to look at the safety of this approach - researchers harvested stem cells from the bone marrow of five people who had recently had a stroke.

'Independent living'

They isolated particular types of stem cells - known as CD34+. These have the ability to stimulate the growth of new blood vessels.

They were infused directly into damaged sections of the brain, via the major artery that supplies this area.

Scientists monitored the patients for six months, charting their ability to carry out everyday activities independently.

Four of the five patients had suffered particularly severe strokes - resulting in the loss of speech and marked paralysis down one side of the body.

Continue reading here:
'Stem Cells Show Promise In Stroke Recovery'

A pilot study undertaken by researchers from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Imperial College London has shown promise in rapid treatment of serious strokes. The study, the first of its kind published in the UK, treated patients using stem cells from bone marrow.

Imagine a perfectly ordinary beginning to your day, say burned toast, no matching pair of socks and the usual damp commute to work. Except at some point through the usual minutiae you suffer a massive stroke. If you dont die outright, you may soon afterwards. Even supposing you survive those first days or weeks, the chance of your life resuming its comforting tedium is impossibly remote. You may need assistance for the rest of your shortened life.

According to the Stroke Association, about 152,000 people suffer a stroke in the UK alone each year. However, the five patients treated in the recent Imperial College pilot study all showed improvements. According to doctors, four of those had suffered the most severe kind of stroke, which leaves only four percent of people alive or able to live independently six months after the event. All four of the patients were alive after six months.

A particular set of CD34+ stem cells was used, as they help with the production of blood cells and blood vessels lining cells. These same cells have been found to improve the effects of stroke in animals, and they assist in brain tissue and blood growth in the affected areas of the brain. The CD34+ cells were isolated from samples taken from patients bone marrow and then infused into the affected area via an artery that leads to the brain, using keyhole surgery.

The innovative stem cell treatment differs from others in one important way: patients are treated within seven days of their stroke, rather than six months hence. The stroke sufferers all recorded improvements in terms of clinical measures of disability, despite four of the five having suffered the most severe kind of stroke.

It's still early days for the research, and much more will need to be done to expand clinical trials, but eventually it is hoped that a drug may be developed that can be administered to stroke sufferers as soon as they are admitted to hospital. This could ameliorate longer term effects and allow for speedier recovery and a faster entry into therapy.

A paper detailing the research was published in journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine.

Source: Imperial College London

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Stem cell stroke therapy shows promise after first human trial

5 stroke victims were treated with stem cells extracted from bone marrow Treatment triggers rapid regeneration of damaged brain cells Patients regained power of speech and use of their arms and legs More than 150,000 people have a stroke in England every year Treatment is at early stage and needs years of testing Imperial College London scientists says it shows 'great potential'

By Ben Spencer

Published: 09:25 EST, 8 August 2014 | Updated: 19:30 EST, 8 August 2014

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Five people who had suffered severe strokes (illustrated) regained the power of speech and mobility thanks to a radical new treatment

Stroke patients have shown remarkable signs of recovery after they were given a radical new treatment.

Five people who had suffered severe strokes regained the power of speech, use of their arms and legs and improved cognition after just six months, according to British research published today.

The three men and two women, aged between 45 and 75, were treated with stem cells extracted from their own bone marrow in the first experiment of its kind.

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Hope for stroke victims after radical stem cell treatment enables patients to move and talk again

Brain damage caused by strokes could be repaired through the use of stem cells in a discovery that may revolutionise treatment, a study has suggested.

Researchers at Imperial College London found that injecting a patient's stem cells into their brain may be able to change the lives of the tens of thousands of people who suffer strokes each year.

Their results have been called "one of the most exciting recent developments in stroke research".

Doctors said the procedure could become routine in 10 years after larger trials are conducted to examine its effectiveness.

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Researcher Dr Paul Bentley, from the college's Department of Medicine, said: "Currently, the main form of treatment is an unblocking of the blood vessel, and that only helps one-third of the patients who are treated and only 10 per cent are eligible anyway. So we said, 'What about the other 90 per cent?' "

The team targeted patients who had suffered severe strokes involving a clot in a blood vessel in the middle of the brain. Typically, there is a high mortality rate in these patients and those who survive are often severely disabled, unable to walk, talk, feed or dress themselves. The experimental procedure was carried out on five such patients, aged 40 to 70, all of whom showed improvement over the following six months, and three were living independently.

Dr Madina Kara, a neuroscientist at the Stroke Association, said: "This is one of the most exciting recent developments in stroke research. However, it's still early days in stem cell research, but the findings could lead to new treatments for stroke patients in the future.

"In the UK, someone has a stroke every three and a half minutes, and around 58 per cent of stroke survivors are left with a disability."

The experimental procedure involved harvesting the patient's own bone marrow, which was then sent to a specialist laboratory so specific stem cells, called CD34+, could be selected. The patient then has a wire inserted into the area of the brain damage. Once there, the stem cells are released and the wire retracted. During the trials the whole process took half a day, but it is hoped that with refinement it could be reduced.

See the original post here:
Stem cell hope for stroke victims

"So we said what about the other 90 per cent?"

The team targeted patients who had suffered massive strokes involving a blood clot in the blood vessel in the middle of the brain. Typically there is a high mortality rate in these patients and those who survive are often severely disabled, are unable to walk, talk, feed or dress themselves.

The experimental procedure was carried out on five patients aged between 40 and 70, all of whom showed improvement over the following six months and three were living independently.

More than 152,000 people suffer a stroke in England per year and the research team said that the new procedure could eventually help most of them.

Dr Madina Kara, a neuroscientist at The Stroke Association, said: Previous studies have shown that a type of stem cell, called CD34+ cells, shows promise to aid stroke recovery. These latest results suggest that this type of treatment could be administered safely and were looking forward to seeing the outcomes of further studies to see exactly how they are aiding recovery.

This is one of the most exciting recent developments in stroke research; however, its still early days in stem cell research but the findings could lead to new treatments for stroke patients in the future.

"In the UK, someone has a stroke every three and half minutes, and around 58 per cenrt of stroke survivors are left with a disability.

"One of the few existing treatments which can limit brain damage caused by stroke is thrombolysis. However, this drug can only be used to treat strokes caused by blood clots and must be administered within the first 4.5 hours after a stroke. There is an urgent need for alternative treatments to help prevent the debilitating impact of stroke."

The experimental procedure involves several stages, first the patient's own bone marrow is harvested, which was then sent to a specialist laboratory so the specific stem cells, called CD34+ can be selected.

Then the patient undergoes a procedure in which a wire is inserted into a vein in the neck and up into the area of brain damage. Once there the stem cells are released and the wire retracted.

See more here:
Hope for future treatment of thousands of stroke sufferers from stem cells

NEW DELHI: Union health minister Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday called upon citizens to voluntarily register themselves as bone marrow donors to help enhance the chances of patients with blood cancer and other blood-related diseases get genetically compatible donors.

"Unlike blood donation, in the case of unrelated donor, the chances are one in a million that a donor's Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) will match with the needy patient's. Therefore, there is a requirement of having millions of registered donors," Vardhan said while speaking at the launch of a "Public Initiative of Bone Marrow Donation" at All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) here.

A willing donor can register himself at the Asian Indian Donor Marrow Registry (AIDMR) at AIIMS. He will have to undergo an initial test done for which 10 ml of blood is taken. The test is called HLA typing.

In case they turn out to be HLA match for the needy patient, they will be requested to donate their bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cells to patients of blood-cancer and other disorders, he said.

Vardhan said the health ministry will soon start a facility for the bone marrow donation in Safdurjung Hospital, which will intensify the initiative for bone marrow donation in the country.

"There is a need for the NGOs and several other health organisations to spread awareness in the society to curb all kinds of myths and superstitions that deter the individuals from being donors, which is a noble cause," he said.

On the occasion, Vardhan registered himself as a bone marrow donor and gave his blood sample for the HLA testing.

"One should at least understand that for the patients suffering from blood-related diseases like blood cancer, leukaemia, thalassemia, anaemia and many other diseases, a simple commitment to donate bone marrow can save a patient's life at the cost of nothing," Vardhan told IANS.

The AIDMR at AIIMS has set a target of registering 100,000 bone marrow donors in the first year and expand the register up to half a million donors in the next five years.

Vardhan also called for donation of body organs and cadavers, which can save life of the needy patients, and also serve the purposes of medical research.

Link:
India needs more bone marrow donors: Health minister Harsh Vardhan

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan Wednesday called upon citizens to voluntarily register themselves as bone marrow donors to help enhance the chances of patients with blood cancer and other blood-related diseases get genetically compatible donors.

"Unlike blood donation, in the case of unrelated donor, the chances are one in a million that a donor's Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) will match with the needy patient's. Therefore, there is a requirement of having millions of registered donors," Vardhan said while speaking at the launch of a "Public Initiative of Bone Marrow Donation" at All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) here.

A willing donor can register himself at the Asian Indian Donor Marrow Registry (AIDMR) at AIIMS. He will have to undergo an initial test done for which 10 ml of blood is taken. The test is called HLA typing.

In case they turn out to be HLA match for the needy patient, they will be requested to donate their bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cells to patients of blood-cancer and other disorders, he said.

Vardhan said the health ministry will soon start a facility for the bone marrow donation in Safdurjung Hospital, which will intensify the initiative for bone marrow donation in the country.

"There is a need for the NGOs and several other health organisations to spread awareness in the society to curb all kinds of myths and superstitions that deter the individuals from being donors, which is a noble cause," he said.

On the occasion, Vardhan registered himself as a bone marrow donor and gave his blood sample for the HLA testing.

"One should at least understand that for the patients suffering from blood-related diseases like blood cancer, leukaemia, thalassemia, anaemia and many other diseases, a simple commitment to donate bone marrow can save a patient's life at the cost of nothing," Vardhan told IANS.

The AIDMR at AIIMS has set a target of registering 100,000 bone marrow donors in the first year and expand the register up to half a million donors in the next five years.

Vardhan also called for donation of body organs and cadavers, which can save life of the needy patients, and also serve the purposes of medical research.

More here:
India needs more bone marrow donors: Harsh Vardhan

The decision to donate her baby's cord blood was "a no-brainer," said Michael's mother, Megan Kuttler of West Conshohocken. "If it could help somebody else, of course I wanted to."

Most expectant parents in the Philadelphia region do not have that opportunity.

"Women want to donate, but we can't afford to collect it," said Dennis Todd, CEO at Community Blood Services in Montvale, N.J. The agency - one of only 21 public cord-blood banks in the nation that provide units for transplants - receives an average of five calls or e-mails a week from expectant parents asking how they can contribute their baby's cord blood for the greater good.

The answer is almost always, "Sorry, but you can't."

"It's tough to do a good deed," said Frances Verter, director of the nonprofit Parent's Guide to Cord Blood Foundation.

Unless a woman delivers at one of the relatively few hospitals affiliated with a public cord-blood bank, her options are limited.

The Carolinas Cord Blood Bank, part of Duke University, is one of the few public banks that will send collection kits to qualified donors.

Only the most motivated women donate this way.

To do it, the mother has to fill out forms, request a kit, and ask the person who delivers her baby to take an online certification course and collect six vials of maternal blood as well as the baby's cord blood. Then the mother has to ship the package within 48 hours to the lab.

What is surprising is that so many are willing to do it. Duke can't fill all the requests it receives.

The rest is here:
Umbilical-cord stem cells valuable, but usually wasted

Following the death of their colleague Marlon Layne, members of the marketing firm Ogilvy and Mather started a campaign to get the word out about the prevalence of blood cancers and the need for more diversity within the donor pool. Over the past three years they've raised nearly $42,000 for the cause and signed up around 160 new donors to the Be the Match Registry.

"I cant change the past but I can ensure that in the future nobody else like Marlon has to be waiting for a marrow registrant from somebody whos of their same race," said Ogilvy & Mather Marketing Analytics Associate Director Omari Jinaki.

But Jinaki says he has noticed a level of hesitancy to participate within the Black community.

"That is rooted, clearly, in hundreds of years of history of being misguided and misrepresented and underrepresented by the systems that are supposed to protect us," said Jinaki.

There's also a lack of awareness of the need within the Latino and Asian communities and lingering misconceptions the donation process- many believing it's painful with significant recovery time.

"The process has changed in the way one donates bone marrow. 75 percent of the time it's just like a blood donation," said Icla Da Silva Foundation President Airam Da Silva.

Depending on the recipient's need- most can now donate via a peripheral blood stem cell or PBSC.

For five days before donation, the donor is injected with filgrastim, which moves more blood-forming cells out of the marrow into the blood stream. The drug can cause head or joint aches and fatigue.

"On the fifth day the donor goes to the blood bank or to the hospital, they donate blood from one arm, the blood goes through a apheresis machine where it separates the bone marrow cells and the rest of the blood goes back on the other arm," said Da Silva.

You can also donate through a surgical procedure- with general or regional anesthesia. Doctors use hollow needles to draw liquid marrow from the back of the pelvic bone. Donors are usually sent home the same or the following day and feel some soreness for around a week after the procedure.

Link:
Group Raising Awarness about Need for Bone Marrow Donors

SINGAPORE - Singapore's life-saving Bone Marrow Donor Programme celebrated its 100th donor and new patron, Minister for Law and Foreign Affairs K Shanmugam, on Thursday.

Get the full story from The Straits Times.

Here is the statement from the Bone Marrow Donor Programme:

The Bone Marrow Donor Programme (BMDP) celebrates 21 years of saving lives through an extraordinary gift of kindness and generosity as ordinary Singaporeans commit to helping a fellow human being.

As bone marrow transplants become the preferred treatment for a wide number of blood related diseases such as leukaemia and lymphoma, the new BMDP Patron, Minister K Shanmugam, Minister for Law and Foreign Affairs and MP for Nee Soon GRC gave an award to the 100th Singaporean bone marrow donor, Lim Yun Song a 27 year-old Engineer and NTU graduate. This was in recognition of the commitment he and all the other bone marrow donors have made in a purely voluntary capacity to give of themselves a priceless gift of bone marrow (blood stem cells) to save the life of a stranger.

The BMDP manages Singapore's only registry of bone marrow donors and can literally be the last chance of survival for patients with terminal blood-related illnesses. Sadly, though, the chance of finding a donor whose DNA profile is a match to the patient is an alarming 1 in 20,000. With Singapore's unique and rapidly changing demographic, it is more important than ever to recruit more volunteers to join the registry and make sure that each patient is given this last chance of survival.

In conjunction with the 21st anniversary and office inauguration, the BMDP shared a number of significant milestones achieved in recent months.

In addition to reaching the 100th local donor, the number of local donors identified as a patient match increased from 38 in 2012 to 73 last year and year-to-date 64 donors were called up for Confirmatory Typing.

In tandem, the number of volunteers actually going through to make their life-saving donation has increased from seven in the whole of 2013, to nine in the first half of this year with more scheduled.

Minister Shanmugam says, "Bone marrow donors are heroes. They are given a chance to help a fellow human being through a simple yet selfless act of kindness - and they take it. This opportunity is available to everyone but so few rise to the challenge and I hope that more young people - the future of Singapore - will be inspired by what we are seeing here today and will sign up as volunteer bone marrow donors. I'm honoured to join the BMDP as their Patron, and look forward to working with them to build our community of heroes".

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Bone marrow donor programme celebrates 100 donors and new patron

MONTREALA Quebec womans desperate online plea for a compatible stem-cell donor in her bid to fight cancer a second time is shedding light on the lack of minorities on official lists in Canada and abroad.

Mai Duong finds herself battling leukemia again and doctors say they would like to proceed with a transplant of bone marrow or cord blood stem cells within a month.

But Duong, 34, has discovered that locating the right person can be a needle-in-a-haystack challenge, particularly for those who are from a non-Caucasian background.

This is a global problem, Duong, who is of Vietnamese origin, said in an interview from her room at Montreals Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital.

We cant do a scavenger hunt every time someone has this type of problem.

Duong, who returned home a few days after being interviewed, said a recent bone marrow biopsy showed no signs of cancer. She will now begin four weeks of maintenance chemotherapy, which is given in lower doses to assist in prolonging a remission.

The mother of a 4-year-old girl, Duong successfully fought off acute leukemia in 2013 with chemotherapy. She had to terminate a 15-week pregnancy to undergo the treatment. Duong was in remission until a blood test revealed leukemia had returned this past May.

Seventy per cent of people who had that type of leukemia were just cured with chemotherapy, and unfortunately Im in the 30 per cent, she said.

The diagnosis and a lack of a match in her family have touched off a mad scramble to find a fellow Vietnamese donor. An online campaign has taken that hunt global.

I have cancer, I had a relapse, I dont have a bone marrow (donor) these are things I cannot change, Duong said. So I said, what can I do about it?

Visit link:
Quebec womans leukemia battle highlights need for minority bone marrow and stem cell donors

By Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press Published Saturday, August 2, 2014 8:56AM EDT

MONTREAL -- A Quebec woman's desperate online plea for a compatible stem-cell donor in her bid to fight cancer a second time is shedding light on the lack of minorities on official lists in Canada and abroad.

Mai Duong finds herself battling leukemia again and doctors say they would like to proceed with a transplant of bone marrow or cord blood stem cells within a month.

But Duong, 34, has discovered that locating the right person can be a needle-in-a-haystack challenge, particularly for those who are from a non-Caucasian background.

"This is a global problem," Duong, who is of Vietnamese origin, said in an interview from her room at Montreal's Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital.

"We can't do a scavenger hunt every time someone has this type of problem."

Duong, who returned home a few days after being interviewed, said a recent bone marrow biopsy showed no signs of cancer. She will now begin four weeks of maintenance chemotherapy, which is given in lower doses to assist in prolonging a remission.

The mother of a four-year-old girl, Duong successfully fought off acute leukemia in 2013 with chemotherapy. She had to terminate a 15-week pregnancy to undergo the treatment. Duong was in remission until a blood test revealed leukemia had returned this past May.

"Seventy per cent of people who had that type of leukemia were just cured with chemotherapy and unfortunately I'm in the 30 per cent," she said.

The diagnosis and a lack of a match in her family has touched off a mad scramble to find a fellow Vietnamese donor. An online campaign has taken that hunt global.

See the rest here:
Cancer fight shows lack of minorities on donor lists

Health and Medicine for Seniors

Aging Immune System May Get Kick-Start from Discovery of Molecular Defect

Old stem cells are not just sitting there with damaged DNA ready to develop cancer, as it has long been postulated

"The decline of stem-cell function is a big part of age-related problems. Achieving longer lives relies in part on achieving a better understanding of why stem cells are not able to maintain optimal functioning."

Emmanuelle Passegu, PhD

July 31, 2014 - There's a good reason seniors over 60 are not donor candidates for bone marrow transplantation. The immune system ages and weakens with time, making the elderly prone to life-threatening infection and other maladies, and a UC San Francisco research team now has discovered a reason why.

"We have found the cellular mechanism responsible for the inability of blood-forming cells to maintain blood production over time in an old organism, and have identified molecular defects that could be restored for rejuvenation therapies," said Emmanuelle Passegu, PhD, a professor of medicine and a member of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCSF.

Passegu, an expert on the stem cells that give rise to the blood and immune system, led a team that published the new findings online July 30, 2014 in the journal Nature.

Blood and immune cells are short-lived, and unlike most tissues, must be constantly replenished. The cells that must keep producing them throughout a lifetime are called "hematopoietic stem cells."

Through cycles of cell division these stem cells preserve their own numbers and generate the daughter cells that give rise to replacement blood and immune cells. But the hematopoietic stem cells falter with age, because they lose the ability to replicate their DNA accurately and efficiently during cell division, Passegu's lab team determined.

See more here:
Aging Immune System May Get Kick-Start from Discovery of Molecular Defect

By Amy Norton HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, July 30, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Babies born with so-called "bubble boy" disease can often be cured with a stem cell transplant, regardless of the donor -- but early treatment is critical, a new study finds.

Severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), as the condition is medically known, actually refers to a group of rare genetic disorders that all but eliminate the immune system. That leaves children at high risk of severe infections.

The term "bubble boy" became popular after a Texas boy with SCID lived in a plastic bubble to ward off infections. The boy, David Vetter, died in 1984 at the age of 12, after an unsuccessful bone marrow transplant -- an attempt to give him a functioning immune system.

Today, children with SCID have a high chance of survival if they receive an early stem cell transplant, researchers report in the July 31 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

In the best-case scenario, a child would get stem cells -- the blood-forming cells within bone marrow -- from a sibling who is a perfect match for certain immune-system genes.

But that's not always an option, partly because kids with SCID are often their parents' first child, said Dr. John Cunningham, director of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation at the University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital. He was not involved in the study.

In those cases, doctors typically turn to a parent -- who is usually a "half" match, but whose stem cells can be purified to improve the odds of success. Sometimes, stem cells from an unrelated, genetically matched donor can be used.

The good news: Regardless of the donor, children with SCID can frequently be cured, according to the new findings. But early detection and treatment is vital.

"These findings show that if you do these transplants early -- before [the age of] 3.5 months, in a child without infection -- the results are really quite comparable to what you have with a matched sibling," said lead researcher Dr. Richard O'Reilly, chief of the pediatric bone marrow transplant service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

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Early Stem Cell Transplant Vital in 'Bubble Boy' Disease

"Bubble boy" David Vetter lived in a protective environment designed by NASA engineers. He died of complications after receiving a bone marrow transplant in 1984, at the age of 12. Baylor College of Medicine Photo Archives

Babies born with so-called "bubble boy" disease can often be cured with a stem cell transplant, regardless of the donor -- but early treatment is critical, a new study finds.

Severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), as the condition is medically known, actually refers to a group of rare genetic disorders that all but eliminate the immune system. That leaves children at high risk of severe infections.

The term "bubble boy" became popular after a Texas boy with SCID lived in a plastic bubble to ward off infections. The boy, David Vetter, died in 1984 at the age of 12, after an unsuccessful bone marrow transplant -- an attempt to give him a functioning immune system.

15 Photos

Immune disorder forced David Vetter to live in bubble - but breakthroughs from his story now enable similar kids to live free

In the best-case scenario, a child would get stem cells -- the blood-forming cells within bone marrow -- from a sibling who is a perfect match for certain immune-system genes.

But that's not always an option, partly because kids with SCID are often their parents' first child, said Dr. John Cunningham, director of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation at the University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital. He was not involved in the study.

In those cases, doctors typically turn to a parent -- who is usually a "half" match, but whose stem cells can be purified to improve the odds of success. Sometimes, stem cells from an unrelated, genetically matched donor can be used.

The good news: Regardless of the donor, children with SCID can frequently be cured, according to the new findings. But early detection and treatment is vital.

See the article here:
Early stem cell transplant may cure "bubble boy" disease