Stem Cell from blood New technique promises to be easier, cheaper and faster .

Blood drawn with a simple needle stick can be coaxed into producing stem cells that may have the ability to form any type of tissue in the body, three independent papers report in the July 2 Cell Stem Cell. The new technique will allow scientists to tap a large, readily available source of personalized stem cells.

Because taking blood is safe, fast and efficient compared to current stem cell harvesting methods, some of which include biopsies and pretreatments with drugs, researchers hope that blood-derived stem cells could one day be used to study and treat diseases — though major safety hurdles remain.

The findings “represent a huge and important progression in the field,” stem cell biologist Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Japan and the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease in San Francisco, Calif., writes in a commentary appearing in the same issue of the journal.

Three research groups used similar methods to prod certain immune cells in human blood to become induced pluripotent stem cells. Because they are reprogrammed adult cells, these stem cells share many of the same regenerative abilities as true embryonic stem cells but may not have as much versatility in the kinds of mature cells they can become. But induced pluripotent cells are harvested from adults and so don’t face the same ethical mires posed by embryo-derived stem cells. And as techniques for manipulating induced pluripotent cells improve, some researchers think they may be just as useful.

The new studies accomplished the reprogramming feat by using viruses to deliver a four-gene cocktail that reverts the cells to a naïve state in which any developmental path is open. In theory at least, these induced pluripotent stem cells could go on to form neurons in the brain, muscle cells in the leg or beating heart cells.

Scientists’ manipulations turned the stem cells in the new studies into several types of mature blood cells, including infection-fighting T cells. What’s more, all the groups showed that a batch of the stem cells implanted into mice developed into the three main types of progenitor cells found in human embryos. In embryos, these progenitor cells give rise to different tissues.

More research is needed to determine whether these cells can be further coaxed to form fully functional tissue, says Rudolf Jaenisch of MIT and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Mass., who led one of the studies. The concern is that if these cells retain traces of memory from their previous lives as blood cells, they may not be good at forming other tissue types.

Past studies have induced other kinds of mature cells to form stem cells. The most common source has been adult skin cells called fibroblasts, which have been manipulated into stem cells and then neurons (SN: 2/27/10, p. 5). But harvesting fibroblasts is harder than drawing blood, requiring surgery and sutures. What’s more, inducing fibroblasts to form stem cells can take about a month in the lab, during which mutations can accumulate. The new blood cell techniques can be completed in a few days.

Stanford University stem cell biologist Marius Wernig points out that the new method is still less efficient than the fibroblast technique. “But with improving technology, this cell type could very well replace the skin fibroblasts currently mostly used to generate induced pluripotent stem cells from patients,” Wernig says.

Researchers are still a long way off from transplanting such stem cells or their mature offspring into people safely. The viruses used to deliver genes into the cells may have unintended consequences, and the cells’ long-term behavior is still unknown.

But even if the cells won’t be put directly into patients, Jaenisch says that the new method “opens up access to enormous resources of collected cells from patients” that can be used to study diseases. For example, lab experiments with cells from these collections might be used to study why motor neurons from people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis die, or how healthy liver cells respond to a promising but potentially toxic drug.


http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/60751/title/Stem_cells_from_blood_a_huge_milestone

Reprogrammed Human Blood Cells Show Promise for Disease Research

 Cells from frozen human blood samples can be reprogrammed to an embryonic-stem-cell-like state, according to Whitehead Institute researchers. These cells can be multiplied and used to study the genetic and molecular mechanisms of blood disorders and other diseases.
The research is reported in the July 2 issue of Cell Stem Cell.

To date, most cellular reprogramming has relied on skin biopsy or the use of stimulating factors to obtain the cells for induction of pluripotency. This work shows for the first time that cells from blood samples commonly drawn in doctor's offices and hospitals can be used to create induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells.


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100701131207.htm

Using blood as a cell source of iPS cells has two major advantages.

"Blood is the easiest, most accessible source of cells, because you'd rather have 20 milliliters of blood drawn than have a punch biopsy taken to get skin cells," says Judith Staerk, first author of the Cell Stem Cell paper and a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Whitehead Founding Member Rudolf Jaenisch.

Also, blood collection and storage is a well established part of the medical system.

"There are enormous resources -- blood banks with samples from patients -- that may hold the only viable cells from patients who may not be alive anymore or from the early stage of their diseases," says Jaenisch, who is also a professor of biology at MIT. "Using this method, we can now resurrect those cells as induced pluripotent stem cells. If the patient had a neurodegenerative disease, you can use the iPS cells to study that disease."

iPS cells are reprogrammed from an adult state to an embryonic stem-cell-like state by inserting four reprogramming genes into the adult cells' DNA. These reprogramming factors convert the adult cells, with defined cell functions, into much more flexible iPS cells. iPS cells can then be nudged to divide repeatedly or turn into almost any cell type found in the body, allowing scientists to create large amounts of the specific cells needed to study a disease, such as dopamine-producing neurons for Parkinson's disease research.

Unlike other cell types, human blood cells had proven extremely difficult to convert into iPS cells. Working with frozen blood samples similar to those found in a blood bank, Staerk found that she could convert the blood cells by inserting a "cassette" of the reprogramming factors end to end, rather than inserting each of the factors separately.

Not all of the cells in the blood samples were converted to iPS cells. Blood is composed of red cells that carry oxygen throughout the body, white cells that are part of the immune system, and platelets that clot the blood after an injury. Because red blood cells and platelets lack nuclei containing DNA, they cannot be converted to iPS cells. The only white bloods cells converted to iPS cells were T cells and a few myeloid cells. B cells failed to reprogram, most likely because the experiment's environment lacked the chemicals needed for successful B-cell conversion.

Staerk is particularly interested in using these iPS cells to study blood diseases.

"With this method, you could reprogram blood samples from patients where the underlying cause of their diseases is not known, and get cell numbers large enough to screen for genetic factors and study the molecular mechanisms underlying the blood disorders," she says. "That's a big advance, especially if the patient is not alive anymore and new material cannot be obtained."

This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP).

Rudolf Jaenisch's primary affiliation is with Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, where his laboratory is located and all his research is conducted. He is also a professor of biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Friday, June 3, 2011
Researchers of the Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch have discovered a specific molecule that enables embryonic stem cells to differentiate into diverse cell types and thus to be pluripotent.

E-cadherin was up till now primarily known for its role in mediating cell-cell adhesion as a kind of “intracellular glue”.

If E-cadherin is absent, the stem cells lose their pluripotency. The molecule also plays a crucial role in the reprogramming of somatic cells (body cells) into pluripotent stem cells.

Daniel Besser, Prof. Walter Birchmeier and Torben Redmer from the MDC, a member of the Helmholtz Association, used mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) in their stem cell experiments.

In a first step they showed that the pluripotency of these stem cells is directly associated with the cell-adhesion molecule E-cadherin. If E-cadherin is absent, the stem cells lose their pluripotency.

In a second step the researchers investigated what happens when somatic cells that normally neither have E-cadherin nor are pluripotent are reprogrammed into a pluripotent stem cell state.

In this reprogramming technique, somatic cells are converted into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).

The MDC researchers found that in contrast to the original cells, the new pluripotent cells derived from mouse connective tissue contained E-cadherin.

“Thus, we have double proof that E-cadherin is directly associated with stem-cell pluripotency. E-Cadherin is necessary for maintaining pluripotent stem cells and also for inducing the pluripotent state in the reprogramming of somatic cells,” said Besser.

The findings were published online EMBO Journal 27 May 2011.

 

© 2011 NKDC Media Solutions

Source: The NewKerala.com

I wonder if this method would be helpful in triggering fetal hg production in thal...?

Anschutz Medical Campus researchers discover new process to cultivate adult blood cells
By Margaret Jackson
The Denver Post
POSTED: 06/06/2011 01:00:00 AM MDT
UPDATED: 06/06/2011 09:39:32 AM MDT


Research assistant Patti Estes with Taiga Biotechnologies prepares stem cells for an experiment at the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora last week. Taiga estimates that it could create new adult blood cells for trials on humans within five years. (Craig F. Walker, The Denver Post)
Researchers on the Anschutz Medical Campus have discovered a scientific process that could make blood drives a thing of the past.

Yosef Refaeli and Brian Turner, co-founders of Taiga Biotechnologies Inc., have developed a new method in which they use their proprietary blood stem-cell lines from cord blood to generate mature, adult red blood cells in the lab in 14 days.

The blood stem-cell lines are cultured in tissue-culture dishes with a special mixture that supports stem-cell growth and placed in an incubator that aims to mimic conditions in the human body. Typically, the mixture has salts and nutrients that enable cells to grow in a dish.

"All cells need a special kind of media to grow in the lab," Refaeli said. "We have devised a special kind of media that either supports blood stem-cell growth in a dish for extended periods of time or enables us to push them to develop into red blood cells."

Taiga has already performed tests on mice and estimates the blood is less than five years from clinical trials on humans. Refaeli expects those trials will progress quickly, depending on the regulatory environment.

"Some patients require one blood transfusion every day, so you quickly realize whether the blood cells are working," Turner said.

Meanwhile, Taiga will work on figuring out how to make large amounts of cells in the lab in clinically relevant numbers.

If Taiga is successful, the implications could be huge.

It would ensure the blood supply is easily replenished, its shelf life is longer and it is not contaminated with infectious diseases. The blood type produced would be O negative, the universal donor type.

"Every day they take a blood transfusion off the shelf, they're playing Russian roulette," Refaeli said. "Mismatching blood is the biggest danger in hospitals."

Human blood has a shelf life of 28 days. However, the first 10 days after it's drawn are spent testing it for pathogens,


A colony of blood stem-cell lines is seen through a microscope. Stem cells are put in an incubator aimed to mimic the conditions in the human body to spur new cell growth. (Craig F. Walker, The Denver Post)
effectively giving medical professionals just 18 days to use it.
"If you use it as little as one day past its expiration, the risk of infection doubles," Refaeli said. "This technology extends the shelf life to 120 days."

The ability to make blood would be of enormous benefit to the military. Forty percent of all field casualties occur within the first hour of injury, and roughly half of those are because blood wasn't available fast enough, said Refaeli, who envisions a mobile laboratory that could grow blood and be put on the front lines in military conflicts.

It also would benefit some cancer patients, such as those with multiple myeloma who need more than one unit of blood a day for at least a year.

Hospitals and emergency rooms nationwide need about 40,000 units of blood daily to treat patients with cancer and other diseases, for organ-transplant recipients and to help save the lives of accident/trauma victims, according to AABB, an international, nonprofit association representing people and institutions involved in transfusion medicine and cellular therapies.

In 2006, more than 30 million blood components were transfused, according to AABB. With an aging population and advances in medical treatments and procedures requiring blood transfusions, the demand for blood continues to increase.

About 38 percent of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood, but less than 10 percent does so annually, according to AABB.

The concept of developing an unlimited supply of blood is nothing new. Over the past few years, scientists around the world have tried a number of methods.

Canadian scientists have transformed human skin into blood. If a patient's own skin is used, it would eliminate the risk of their body's immune system rejecting blood from a donor. They expect to complete testing whether the blood cells can be safely transferred into humans by 2012, and the blood could be available in hospitals in a few years.

Scottish cell biologist Marc Turner has been trying to grow O-negative blood from human embryonic stem cells. Unlike Taiga's use of stem cells from cord blood, the use of embryonic stem cells is controversial in the United States.

Still, no one has come up with a method that is approved for widespread use.

"Over my career in blood banking, I have heard literally hundreds of times if project X works out, you're going to be out of business," said Dr. Joe Chaffin, medical director and vice president of medical affairs for the Bonfils Blood Center. "But for now, it's more than safe to say that we are still in business and will remain so for the foreseeable future."

Last fall, Taiga received three National Institutes of Health grants totaling $1.7 million. One grant is being used to grow red blood cells; the second is to cultivate universal-donor stem cells; the third is to test a novel approach to HIV vaccination.

In January, Refaeli and Turner turned down $30 million from a San Francisco Bay Area investor because they don't want to move the company out of Colorado.

But equipping their lab with the equipment needed to continue their research is challenging.

"This facility is simply not set up to support startups the way they do in the Bay Area," Refaeli said. "We're under intense pressure to move."

Anschutz Medical Campus researchers discover new process to cultivate adult blood cells
By Margaret Jackson
The Denver Post
POSTED: 06/06/2011 01:00:00 AM MDT
UPDATED: 06/06/2011 09:39:32 AM MDT


Research assistant Patti Estes with Taiga Biotechnologies prepares stem cells for an experiment at the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora last week. Taiga estimates that it could create new adult blood cells for trials on humans within five years. (Craig F. Walker, The Denver Post)
Researchers on the Anschutz Medical Campus have discovered a scientific process that could make blood drives a thing of the past.

Yosef Refaeli and Brian Turner, co-founders of Taiga Biotechnologies Inc., have developed a new method in which they use their proprietary blood stem-cell lines from cord blood to generate mature, adult red blood cells in the lab in 14 days.

The blood stem-cell lines are cultured in tissue-culture dishes with a special mixture that supports stem-cell growth and placed in an incubator that aims to mimic conditions in the human body. Typically, the mixture has salts and nutrients that enable cells to grow in a dish.

"All cells need a special kind of media to grow in the lab," Refaeli said. "We have devised a special kind of media that either supports blood stem-cell growth in a dish for extended periods of time or enables us to push them to develop into red blood cells."

Taiga has already performed tests on mice and estimates the blood is less than five years from clinical trials on humans. Refaeli expects those trials will progress quickly, depending on the regulatory environment.

"Some patients require one blood transfusion every day, so you quickly realize whether the blood cells are working," Turner said.

Meanwhile, Taiga will work on figuring out how to make large amounts of cells in the lab in clinically relevant numbers.

If Taiga is successful, the implications could be huge.

It would ensure the blood supply is easily replenished, its shelf life is longer and it is not contaminated with infectious diseases. The blood type produced would be O negative, the universal donor type.

"Every day they take a blood transfusion off the shelf, they're playing Russian roulette," Refaeli said. "Mismatching blood is the biggest danger in hospitals."

Human blood has a shelf life of 28 days. However, the first 10 days after it's drawn are spent testing it for pathogens,


A colony of blood stem-cell lines is seen through a microscope. Stem cells are put in an incubator aimed to mimic the conditions in the human body to spur new cell growth. (Craig F. Walker, The Denver Post)
effectively giving medical professionals just 18 days to use it.
"If you use it as little as one day past its expiration, the risk of infection doubles," Refaeli said. "This technology extends the shelf life to 120 days."

The ability to make blood would be of enormous benefit to the military. Forty percent of all field casualties occur within the first hour of injury, and roughly half of those are because blood wasn't available fast enough, said Refaeli, who envisions a mobile laboratory that could grow blood and be put on the front lines in military conflicts.

It also would benefit some cancer patients, such as those with multiple myeloma who need more than one unit of blood a day for at least a year.

Hospitals and emergency rooms nationwide need about 40,000 units of blood daily to treat patients with cancer and other diseases, for organ-transplant recipients and to help save the lives of accident/trauma victims, according to AABB, an international, nonprofit association representing people and institutions involved in transfusion medicine and cellular therapies.

In 2006, more than 30 million blood components were transfused, according to AABB. With an aging population and advances in medical treatments and procedures requiring blood transfusions, the demand for blood continues to increase.

About 38 percent of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood, but less than 10 percent does so annually, according to AABB.

The concept of developing an unlimited supply of blood is nothing new. Over the past few years, scientists around the world have tried a number of methods.

Canadian scientists have transformed human skin into blood. If a patient's own skin is used, it would eliminate the risk of their body's immune system rejecting blood from a donor. They expect to complete testing whether the blood cells can be safely transferred into humans by 2012, and the blood could be available in hospitals in a few years.

Scottish cell biologist Marc Turner has been trying to grow O-negative blood from human embryonic stem cells. Unlike Taiga's use of stem cells from cord blood, the use of embryonic stem cells is controversial in the United States.

Still, no one has come up with a method that is approved for widespread use.

"Over my career in blood banking, I have heard literally hundreds of times if project X works out, you're going to be out of business," said Dr. Joe Chaffin, medical director and vice president of medical affairs for the Bonfils Blood Center. "But for now, it's more than safe to say that we are still in business and will remain so for the foreseeable future."

Last fall, Taiga received three National Institutes of Health grants totaling $1.7 million. One grant is being used to grow red blood cells; the second is to cultivate universal-donor stem cells; the third is to test a novel approach to HIV vaccination.

In January, Refaeli and Turner turned down $30 million from a San Francisco Bay Area investor because they don't want to move the company out of Colorado.

But equipping their lab with the equipment needed to continue their research is challenging.

"This facility is simply not set up to support startups the way they do in the Bay Area," Refaeli said. "We're under intense pressure to move."

Contact 0583578380 for cord blood banking in Saudi Arab

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stem-cells-Banking-Saudi-Arab/1540420332862282?ref=hl