All Articles Tagged As: stem cells

Stem cell indicator should boost bowel cancer survival rates (8/27/2008)

Scientists have developed a more accurate way of identifying aggressive forms of bowel cancer, which should improve both treatment and survival. ...> Full Article

Childhood brain tumor traced to normal stem cells gone bad (8/12/2008)

An aggressive childhood brain tumor known as medulloblastoma originates in normal brain "stem" cells that turn malignant when acted on by a known mutant, cancer-causing oncogene ...> Full Article

Scientists Replicate Diseases in the Lab with New Stem Cell Lines (8/11/2008)

A set of new stem cell lines will make it possible for researchers to explore ten different genetic disorders-including muscular dystrophy, juvenile diabetes, and Parkinson's disease-in a variety of cell and tissue types as they develop in laboratory cultures. ...> Full Article

Herceptin targets breast cancer stem cells (7/12/2008)

HER2 gene causes cancer stem cells to multiply, spread ...> Full Article

Models help scientists understand brain cancer (6/27/2008)

Transplanting brain cancer cells directly into similar tissues of immune-deficient mice created a model for the disease that preserved the brain tumor stem cells from which the cancers derived ...> Full Article

Adult stem cell findings offer new hope for Parkinson's cure (6/8/2008)

Research released today provides evidence that a cure for Parkinson's disease could lie just inside the nose of patients themselves. ...> Full Article

Researchers Expand Natural Killer Cells In Cord Blood To Fight Leukemia (5/20/2008)

Researchers have found a therapy that effectively kills human leukemia cells in mice using natural killer cells from umbilical cord blood. ...> Full Article

Eliminating Germline Lengthens Fly Lifespan, Study Shows (4/26/2008)

Biologists have found that eliminating germline stem cells, the cells that make eggs and sperm, lengthens the life of fruit flies and alters the insects' insulin production ...> Full Article

Researchers Detail Chemotherapy's Damage to the Brain (4/25/2008)

A commonly used chemotherapy drug causes healthy brain cells to die off long after treatment has ended and may be one of the underlying biological causes of the cognitive side effects - or "chemo brain" - that many cancer patients experience. ...> Full Article

Ovarian Cancer Stem Cells Identified, Characterized and Cloned, Leading to More Effective Treatment (4/21/2008)

Researchers have identified, characterized and cloned ovarian cancer stem cells and have shown that these stem cells may be the source of ovarian cancer's recurrence and its resistance to chemotherapy. ...> Full Article

Main contact a clue in the battle against cancer (4/19/2008)

By cutting off the nutritional supply to tumours through treacherous blood vessels, it will perhaps be possible to gain ground in the battle against cancer. ...> Full Article

Secrets of cellular signaling shed light on new cancer stem cell therapies (4/13/2008)

By revealing the inner workings of a common cell-to-cell signaling system, biologists have uncovered new clues about mysterious and contentious creatures called cancer stem cells. ...> Full Article

Cancer stem cells created with technique developed (4/12/2008)

With a bit of genetic trickery, researchers have turned normal skin cells into cancer stem cells, a step that will make these naturally rare cells easier to study. ...> Full Article

Uterine Stem Cells Create New Neurons That Can Curb Parkinson's Disease (4/1/2008)

The injection of uterine stem cells trigger growth of new brain cells in mice with Parkinson's disease ...> Full Article

Mobile Cancer Stem Cells - The Real Bad Guy? (3/31/2008)

New Model of Metastasis Formation Presented ...> Full Article

Coming soon: Cell therapies for diabetes, cancer? (3/24/2008)

Therapies using stem cell transplants are advancing promising treatments for such conditions as Alzheimer's Disease, neurological diseases and spinal cord injury, and heart disease. Now, scientists think that stem cell transplants may ultimately benefit those who suffer from diabetes or cancer. However, important questions need answers: Given the shortage of human pancreatic islet tissue, can stem cells be used to provide insulin cells that can be stored and secreted from a bioartifical pancreas? Can islet cells be frozen for long periods of time, retain their integrity and be transplanted? If tumors contain cancer stem cells, how can the stem cells be targeted and destroyed to provide improved therapies? ...> Full Article

Researchers Pursue Multiple Approaches to Preventing and Treating Type 1 Diabetes (3/3/2008)

Type 1 diabetes, formerly called insulin-dependent diabetes, juvenile diabetes or childhood-onset diabetes, affects 1 to 2 million people in the U.S. and millions more worldwide. In this country, it is second only to asthma as the most common chronic disease in children. However, it may begin at any age, when for yet-unknown reasons, a person's immune system mistakenly attacks beta cells that produce insulin. Patients with this type of diabetes are dependent for life on insulin injections or insulin medications. ...> Full Article

BRCA1 mutation linked to breast cancer stem cells (2/3/2008)

Research sheds light on why women with this gene mutation have higher risk of breast cancer ...> Full Article

Elusive Pancreatic Stem Cells Found In Mice (1/28/2008)

Just as many scientists had given up the search, researchers have discovered that the pancreas does indeed harbor stem cells with the capacity to generate new insulin-producing beta cells. ...> Full Article

Cell division studies hint at future cancer therapy (1/23/2008)

When a cell's assets get divided between daughter cells, Dr. Quansheng Du wants to make sure both offspring do well. ...> Full Article

Stem cell research aims to tackle Parkinson's disease (1/21/2008)

New ways to grown brain cells in the laboratory could eventually provide a way to treat Parkinson's disease ...> Full Article

Leukaemia-causing cells found (1/20/2008)

Scientists have discovered the cancer 'stem cells' that cause acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, the most common form of childhood cancer. A report of the research, which was led by Oxford University scientists, has been published in the journal Science. ...> Full Article

researchers find key to stopping cancer in its tracks (1/12/2008)

Researchers have discovered a key process that may be involved in the spread of cancer by studying the growth of human embryonic stem (ES) cells. ...> Full Article

The construction of heart modelling leads path to new therapies (1/10/2008)

Heart disease is still a major killer, especially in the western world, but new therapies based on stem cells and other techniques could now be imminent. Progress is being held back however by the difficulty testing new therapies on human heart tissue, with animal models being only of limited value owing to differences in structure and activity. The only solution in the absence of real human models is to create computerised "in-silico" models that simulate the real heart and enable possible drugs and therapies to be tested without risk to people. Although this is still some way off becoming a reality, substantial progress has been made, and the next steps were plotted at a major workshop held recently by the European Science Foundation (ESF). ...> Full Article

Immature Brain Cell Errors May Promote Brain Tumor Growth (1/9/2008)

In experiments done in lab and animal studies, a breakdown in proper cell development has been shown to cause brain-specific stem cells to become starter seeds for aggressive brain tumors called glioblastoma multiforme, according to research from a team of researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Institute of Neurological Disease and Stroke (NINDS), parts of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). ...> Full Article

Cancer Stem Cells: Know Thine Enemy (12/24/2007)

Stem cells-popularly known as a source of biological rejuvenation-may play harmful roles in the body, specifically in the growth and spread of cancer. Amongst the wildly dividing cells of a tumor, scientists have located cancer stem cells. Physician-scientists from Weill Cornell Medical College are studying these cells with hopes of combating malignant cancers in the brain. ...> Full Article

Scientists Report Ability to Identify and Repress Breast Cancer Stem Cells in Mouse Tissue (12/21/2007)

An approach based on the manipulation of microRNAs ...> Full Article

High-Dose Chemotherapy, Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation Shows Little or No Survival Benefit as Adjuvant Therapy for Node-Positive Breast Cancer (12/18/2007)

Definitive Study Reviewed 15 Randomized Studies of Controversial Treatment ...> Full Article

New Marker To Identify Cancer Stem Cells Discovered (12/16/2007)

Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have found a marker that can be used to identify stem cells in breast tumors, suggesting a potential simple test that could help determine the best treatment for breast cancer. ...> Full Article

Researchers Continue Studies Using Bone Marrow Stem Cells to Treat Heart Attacks (12/14/2007)

Doctors at Emory University, in clinical studies with heart attack patients, are continuing to learn more about how those patients' own bone marrow stem cells (progenitor cells) may be used to improve heart function. ...> Full Article

Gentler Chemotherapy Before Blood Stem Cell Transplant Causes Long-Term Complete Remission in Relapsed Follicular Lymphoma Patients (12/13/2007)

Treating relapsed follicular lymphoma patients with a milder chemotherapy regimen before they receive a blood stem cell transplant from a donor resulted in long-term complete remission for 45 of 47 patients in a clinical trial, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report at the 49th annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology Meeting in Atlanta. ...> Full Article

Replacing The Cells Lost In Parkinson Disease (12/8/2007)

Parkinson disease (PD) is caused by the progressive degeneration of brain cells known as dopamine (DA) cells. ...> Full Article

New marker identifies cancer stem cells (12/7/2007)

Marker corresponds to worse outcomes, could help determine treatments ...> Full Article

Stem-Cell Transplant Increases Oxygen In Damaged Heart (11/30/2007)

Scientists have determined that stem cells transplanted into a damaged heart can increase the presence of oxygen at the site of injury, suggesting that such transplants might someday be used as therapy after heart attacks and for other diseases characterized by a lack of oxygen. ...> Full Article

Stem cell transplant can grow new immune system in certain mice (11/27/2007)

Researchers have taken a small but significant step, in mouse studies, toward the goal of transplanting adult stem cells to create a new immune system for people with autoimmune or genetic blood diseases. ...> Full Article

Stem Cell Injection Protects Against Nerve Cell Death After Stroke, Study Suggest (11/26/2007)

Scientists have tested the capabilities of cellular therapy for ischemic stroke treatment on rats. It has turned out that intravenous transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells restores cerebrum blood supply and protects its nerve cells from death. ...> Full Article

Imaging Stem Cell Division Helps Identify Cancer Treatment Targets (11/19/2007)

Using a novel method for seeing the division of stem cells in real time, Duke University Medical Center researchers believe they have identified an unexpected way to interfere with the uncontrolled cell growth that is characteristic of cancer. ...> Full Article

Stomach stem cell discovery could bring cancer insights (10/5/2007)

Researchers identify rare population of progenitor cells in mouse stomachs, paving way for learning origins of tumors ...> Full Article

Cancer cells enlist adult stem cells to promote metastasis (10/5/2007)

Study shows that a cancer cell's metastatic powers are not intrinsic to the cell itself, rather they may be influenced by the signals the cancer cell experiences from stromal cells in the context of the primary tumor. ...> Full Article

Stem cells could be a key factor in cancer (10/4/2007)

One day in the not too distant future, stem cells could help repair diseased tissue and may become a therapeutic tool of excellence to treat Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, hepatitis and Parkinson's disease. However, there is a more pressing reason to study stem cells: some types of cancer are known to originate from these cells and they may even be the root cause of all cancers. ...> Full Article

Residual fetal cells in women may provide protection against breast cancer (10/2/2007)

Fetal cells that persist in a woman's body long after pregnancy - a common occurrence known in scientific circles as fetal microchimerism - in some cases may reduce the woman's risk of breast cancer. ...> Full Article

Stem Cells Show Promise For Treating Huntington's Disease (9/26/2007)

Paying close attention to how a canary learns a new song has helped scientists open a new avenue of research against Huntington's disease -- a fatal disorder for which there is currently no cure or even a treatment to slow the disease. ...> Full Article

To Evade Chemotherapy, Some Cancer Cells Mimic Stem Cells (9/20/2007)

Anti-cancer treatments often effectively shrink the size of tumors, but some might have an opposite effect, actually expanding the small population of cancer stem cells believed to drive the disease, according to findings presented today in Atlanta, Georgia at the American Association for Cancer Research's second International Conference on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development. ...> Full Article

Stem cell research leads to key discovery for Fragile X Syndrome (9/11/2007)

An important finding has been made by McMaster researchers about Fragile X Syndrome (FXS), a sex-linked genetic disorder that affects approximately one in 4,000 males and one in 6,000 females. ...> Full Article

Neural stem cell study reveals mechanism that may play role in cancer (9/8/2007)

In the dynamic world of the developing brain, neural stem cells give rise to neurons deep within the brain's fluid-filled ventricles. These newborn neurons then migrate along the stem cell fibers up to the neocortex, the seat of higher cognitive functions. Now, scientists have discovered a key mechanism of this migration - one that may also play an important role in other developmental processes and diseases, including cancer. ...> Full Article

AIDS Interferes with Stem Cells in the Brain (8/17/2007)

Discovery links mechanism for HIV/AIDS dementia, possibly other neurological disorders, with known cancer "checkpoint" pathway ...> Full Article

Human stem cells help monkeys recover from Parkinson's (8/15/2007)

The same treatment might work in humans ...> Full Article

Newly Created Cancer Stem Cells Could Aid Breast Cancer Research (8/14/2007)

In some ways, certain tumors resemble bee colonies, says pathologist Tan Ince. Each cancer cell in the tumor plays a specific role, and just a fraction of the cells serve as "queens," possessing the unique ability to maintain themselves in an unspecialized state and seed new tumors. These cells can also divide and produce the "worker" cells that form the bulk of the tumor. ...> Full Article

Cancer Stem Cells Created By Two Signalling Pathways (8/4/2007)

The linking of two signalling pathways in the cells of liver tumours has a clear influence on their malignancy. Activation of the platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) messenger molecule is decisive for this linking. This results related to the development of liver cancer was generated during a current project by the Austrian Science Fund FWF and has been published in the Journal Oncogene. When the signalling pathways in liver tumour cells have been linked together, these cells develop the characteristics of cancer stem cells, which are in principal resistant to chemotherapy. This new understanding of the signalling pathways involved unlocks potential for the future development of modified therapies. ...> Full Article

Stem Cell Therapy Rescues Motor Neurons In ALS Model (8/2/2007)

In a study that demonstrates the promise of cell-based therapies for diseases that have proved intractable to modern medicine, a team of scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison has shown it is possible to rescue the dying neurons characteristic of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a fatal neuromuscular disorder also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. ...> Full Article

Extracting Eggs From Pre-pubertal Cancer Patients Brings Hope For Future Fertility (7/7/2007)

Scientists in Israel have been able to obtain and freeze eggs from the ovarian tissue of girls as young as 5 years old, the 23rd annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology was told today (Tuesday 3 July). Dr. Ariel Revel, from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel, said that the growing number of survivors of childhood cancers meant that such techniques would become increasingly important in preserving fertility in young patients. ...> Full Article

Turning Stem Cells Taken from Fat Tissue into Personalized, Cancer-Targeted Therapeutics (7/5/2007)

Researchers in Slovakia have been able to derive mesenchymal stem cells from human adipose, or fat, tissue and engineer them into "suicide genes" that seek out and destroy tumors like tiny homing missiles. This gene therapy approach is a novel way to attack small tumor metastases that evade current detection techniques and treatments, the researchers conclude in the July 1 issue of Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. ...> Full Article

Researchers Detect Small Set of Cancer Stem Cells That Are Similar To Normal Stem Cells and Appear To Thwart Anti-Cancer Agents (6/20/2007)

Current cancer therapies often succeed at initially eliminating the bulk of the disease, including all rapidly proliferating cells, but are eventually thwarted because they cannot eliminate a small reservoir of multiple-drug-resistant tumor cells, called cancer stem cells, which ultimately become the source of disease recurrence and eventual metastasis. ...> Full Article

Cancer Stem Cells Can Go It Alone (6/13/2007)

At the heart of most, if not all cancers, lie a handful of wayward stem cells that feed the ever growing tumor mass, but their scarcity make it difficult for scientists to study them. Now, times of plenty may lie ahead as a breast cancer cell line - established long ago - turned out to behave a lot like cancer stem cells. ...> Full Article

Loss of Stem Cells Correlates with Premature Aging in Animal Study (6/9/2007)

Researchers at the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute of the University of Pennsylvania have found that deleting a gene important in embryo development leads to premature aging and loss of stem cell reservoirs in adult mice. This gene, ATR, is essential for the body's response to damaged DNA, and mutations in proteins in the DNA damage response underlie certain types of cancer and other disorders in humans. This work appears in the inaugural issue of Cell Stem Cell. ...> Full Article

Aging Stem Cells In Mice May Hold Answers To Disease Of The Aged (6/8/2007)

As stem cells in the blood grow older, genetic mutations accumulate that could be at the root of blood diseases that strike people as they age, according to work done in mice by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. ...> Full Article

Stem Cell Coaxed Into Becoming Insulin Producing Cells (5/31/2007)

University of Alberta researchers are the first in the world to transform embryonic stem cells into insulin-producing cells, an achievement that could one day lead to an endless source of islet cells for Type 1 diabetics. ...> Full Article

Stem Cells May Mimic Cancer Cells (5/26/2007)

Call it the cellular equivalent of big glasses, a funny nose and a fake mustache. ...> Full Article

Stem Cells Provide Clues To Cancer Spread (5/25/2007)

Scientists have made an important discovery in understanding how cancers spread in what could lead to new ways of beating the disease. ...> Full Article

Possible New Therapy to Stop The Spreading Of Tumors (5/24/2007)

Scientists in Portugal and Germany report of research that suggest a new therapy to control the spread of tumour cells to new tissues, a process known as metastasis and that is associated with high risk of a fatal outcome. The research, to appear in 'Human Molecular Genetics', describe how the chaotic, increased motility of some tumour cells, known to be crucial for metastases, can be linked to the aberrant activation of a molecule called epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). It also shows how inhibition of this activation reverts high motile cells into a normal benign pattern of motility. The research suggests that EGFR inhibitors, which are readily available in the market, could be a potential new therapy in the control of metastases in some type tumours. ...> Full Article

Students Invent Protective Pouch to Enhance Cell Therapy (5/21/2007)

Johns Hopkins undergraduates have invented a device to improve cell therapy for diabetes patients by anchoring transplanted insulin-producing cells inside a major blood vessel. ...> Full Article

Pediatric Cancer Stem Cell Identified: Understanding The Origin Of ERMS (5/20/2007)

As published in the June 1 issue of Genes & Development, Dr. Leonard Zon (Children's Hospital Boston) and colleagues have identified the cancer stem cell for rhabdomyosarcoma, the most common soft-tissue sarcoma of childhood. ...> Full Article

Agent Protects Cells From Lethal Effects Of Radiation Even If Given After Exposure (5/16/2007)

No drugs exist to protect the public from the high levels of radiation that could be released by a "dirty" bomb or nuclear explosion. Such excessive exposure typically causes death within weeks as the radiation kills blood cells vital to clotting and fighting infection, along with the stem cells needed to replenish their supply. But now researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report they have developed an agent that protects cells from the lethal effects of radiation, regardless of whether it is given before or after exposure. ...> Full Article

Beta Cells Create Themselves Instead Of Via Stem Cells (5/9/2007)

Diabetes researchers, investigating how the body supplies itself with insulin, discovered to their surprise that adult stem cells, which they expected to play a crucial role in the process, were nowhere to be found. Many researchers had proposed that adult stem cells develop into insulin-producing cells, called beta cells, in the pancreas. ...> Full Article

Adult Stem Cells May Have Smarts To Guard Against Cancer (4/20/2007)

Some bewildering behavior seen in the stem cells of muscles has led researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine to an unexpected discovery that could explain why cancer isn’t more common. ...> Full Article

Cancer-Initiating Stem Cells Taking a Larger Role in Cancer Treatment (4/20/2007)

Recent discoveries about the role of stem cells in cancer have altered the landscape of cancer research. With each new study, scientists are learning more about cancer-initiating properties of stem cells at organ sites and throughout the body. Increasingly, stem cells are examined as the cause - and potential target of treatment - for many, if not all, cancers. ...> Full Article

Dendritic Cells May Be Key To Reversing Diabetes (4/15/2007)

When the body’s own immune system begins to assault the cells in the pancreas responsible for producing insulin, the result is type 1 diabetes. Now, researchers studying the immune system’s dendritic cells in mice have found a way to stop the destruction and help revive and maintain the population of insulin-producing β cells, a discovery that could lead to a lasting cure. ...> Full Article

Type 1 Diabetes Cured Using Bone Marrow Stem Cells (4/12/2007)

Type 1 Diabetics have been cured with a new treatment that rebuilds their immune system, according to a new research study. ...> Full Article

Immune response to cancer stem cells may dictate cancer’s course (3/29/2007)

Although stem cells hold incredible promise in the fight against certain diseases, in cancer they’re anything but helpful. In fact, mounting evidence is showing that a tumor’s growth and spread may depend on “cancer stem cells,” which comprise only a very small subset of the tumor. Now, a new study shows that immunity to cancer stem cells may help protect people with a precancerous condition from developing the full-blown disease, and that these cells could be an important target for cancer vaccines. ...> Full Article

Cancer stem cell hypothesis in breast cancer challenged (3/15/2007)

But scientists identify promising cellular targets for new therapies ...> Full Article

New Cell Type Identified in Cancer Development (3/14/2007)

Scientists have discovered a new type of cell that appears to play a role in the development of cancer – a highly volatile, precancerous stem cell that can either remain benign or become malignant, depending upon environmental cues. ...> Full Article

Cancer is a stem cell issue (2/28/2007)

There is an urgent reason to study stem cells: stem cells are at the heart of some, if not all, cancers. Mounting evidence implicates a clutch of rogue stem cells brandishing ‘epigenetic’ marks as the main culprits in cancer. Wiping out tumours for good, some biologists believe, depends on uprooting these wayward stem cells. ...> Full Article

British Doctors begin trials for heart stem cell therapy (11/8/2006)

British doctors launch a clinical trial to determine if an injection of stem cells within 5 hours of a heart attack will repair damage to the heart muscle. ...> Full Article

Creating Stem Cells from testes (4/3/2006)

US Researchers at PrimeGen Biotech have developed a method of transforming germ cells (found in the testes and ovaries) into stem cells in humans. Previously this method had only been performed on mice germ cells by Gerd Hasenfuss of Georg-August-University in Goettingen, Germany. ...> Full Article