USING STEM CELLS, SCIENTISTS JUST SUCCESSFULLY GREW A KIDNEY ORGANOID FOR THE FIRST TIME

Stem cell science has been a highly controversial topic over the years, but it may be well on its way to revolutionizing the high fatality rate expected for those on waitlists for vital organ donations. Stem cells have been particularly successful in this research because they can be scientifically bred into nearly any type of cell that occurs in the body. This key component means that crucial organs grown from stem cells would make urgent transplants viable without having to wait for donors that match a particular blood type or demographic bracket.

Since most humans can live with just one functioning kidney instead of two, transplants are often sourced from within family units or from personal relations when a patient is in urgent need. Unfortunately, that still doesn’t change the fact that, on average, 21 people die every day waiting for organ transplants because waitlists are too long or patient-donor matches can’t be found in time, according to the American Transplant Foundation.

Like the many systems that make up the human body, most organs use complex systems to successfully serve their intended function. Due to this complexity, scientists haven’t quite figured out how to grow fully functional kidney quite yet, but with the help of stem cells, researchers have recently managed to grow organoid tissue that resembles a kidney in early development.

To brush up on your biology, keep in mind that the kidneys function as a sort of filtration system for the blood. The intricate system of tubular structures (called nephrons) that make up a healthy human kidney is incredibly complex in nature, since it combines U-shaped loops, mostly straight tubes, and interconnecting pieces to complete the system. Until now, scientists have faced the prohibitive challenge of growing all these different nephrons from the same initial batch of stem cells.

In the lab, researchers discovered that stem cells developed into different shaped nephrons, collecting ducts, and other elements of healthy kidney organs, based on their exposure to specific signaling molecules. By controlling the amount of time a any section of a single stem cell source was exposed to these molecules, the scientists were able to develop a kidney organoid that doesn’t resemble a fully developed human kidney, but instead looks more like a kidney that would develop in a fetus during the first trimester of pregnancy.

It looks like it will be a long time before scientists can grow fully functional, healthy human organs for transplant, all from stem cells. Nonetheless, these newly-developed organoids resemble kidney function closely enough that researchers will be able to use the stem-cell grown tissue samples to test pharmaceuticals, further study kidney function and related diagnoses, and even develop therapeutic solutions for diseases and specific pathogens.

Source : http://goo.gl/jcBMFs

Now We Can Grow Kidney Structures from Stem Cells

Two research teams in the last two months have published studies on kidney structures grown from stem cells, which might be a step toward personalized replacement organs grown from patients’ own cells.

“We have converted skin cells to stem cells and developed a highly efficient process to convert these stem cells into kidney structures that resemble those found in a normal human kidney,” biologist Ryuji Morizane of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, lead author of a new study in the journal Nature Biotechnology, said in a statement.

Earlier this year, a team of Australian medical researchers lead by Minoru Takasato also succeeded in growing nephron organoids from stem cells in the lab. They published their results in the journal Nature.

Certain chemical signals can trigger stem cells to develop into specialized cells, or differentiate. In recent years, scientists have discovered ways to induce stem cells to differentiate into heart, liver, nerve, and pancreas cells. To grow kidney structures, Morizane and his team used genetic techniques to develop skin cells into stem cells, which they then developed into what are called “precursor cells,” a type of stem cell that’s only partially differentiated. These precursor cells developed into kidney cells and assembled themselves into structures that looked much like those found in real, live kidneys.

The results of their work are organoids, three dimensional organ structures grown in a lab, which are very similar to kidney structures called nephrons. Morizane and his colleagues published their work in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

Nephrons are the basic working structures in you kidneys; they filter excess water, salts, and harmful substances out of your blood and turn them into urine. Each kidney has about a million nephrons, which sounds like a lot — but it’s a finite supply. Once you lose nephrons to disease or injury, your body can’t replace them.

You Could Grow Your Own Kidney Transplant... Someday

That’s what happens to patients with chronic kidney disease, for instance. Between 9% and 11% of adults in the U.S. are gradually losing kidney function to chronic kidney disease caused by diabetes, inflammation, infection, or other problems. For most of these patients, the best options are dialysis and, in some cases, kidney transplants.

Donor kidneys are in short supply, however, and transplants come with some risk. Morizane and his colleagues hope that their research will be a step toward one day growing replacement kidneys from patients’ own cells - and idea that has long been a popular theme in discussions about stem cell research. They’ve grown nephron-like structures, not whole kidneys, but Morizane says it’s a step in the right direction.

“We’re hopeful that this finding will pave the way for the future creation of kidney tissues that could function in a patient and eliminate the need for transplantation from a donor,” said Morizane in a statement. If it comes to pass, such a breakthrough could help doctors and patients work around the short supply of donor organs, and it could make transplants less dangerous for patients. One of the biggest challenges of organ transplantation - besides finding a compatible donor in the first place - is keeping the body from rejecting the new organ as a foreign invader. A kidney grown from the patient’s own cells wouldn’t set off the immune system’s alarms, so rejection wouldn’t be an issue.

New Tools for Studying Kidney Disease

Of course, that optimistic future is still a long way off. In the short term, these lab-grown organoids are more likely to help researchers study kidney development and test new drugs for safety and effectiveness.

Many drugs used to treat diseases elsewhere in the body are harmful to the kidneys, whose role in filtering harmful substances out of the blood leaves them especially vulnerable to toxicity. Organoids like those developed by Takasato’s team and Morizane’s team could give medical researchers a new way to test new drugs’ effects on kidney structures in the lab.

They could also help create working models of kidney diseases in the lab, on which medical researchers could test potential treatments.

Because the development of these organoids from stem cells is so similar to the development of real kidney structures during gestation, they also offer a good way for researchers to study how kidney abnormalities develop in the womb, which could one day lead to better treatments or even prevention.

Source : http://goo.gl/7K5V1T

THE NEW HOPES OF HAIR LOSS TREATMENT WITH CELLS

If you think, it is difficult to regain the hair once lost, and if you have tried all the methods to get back your lost hair but in vain then be ready to witness the new revolution in the field of hair loss treatment. One of the most common types of hair loss is baldness of male-pattern affecting men around the globe. Presently, hair transplant is the most advanced hair loss treatment used for reducing baldness, and is considered safe as well. However, this kind of treatment cannot attain regrowth of hair.

Scientists have announced that now it is possible to treat baldness completely with the help of stem cell treatment, which can aid in growing new hair with stem cells. Studies now predicts that stem cells can treat baldness by activating progenitor cells of stem cells. Earlier scientists separated dermal papilla cells, and cultured them, but these became less effective when cells begins to reproduce. Scientists are now trying to produce papillae from the stem cells to shun this problem. Once this kind of hair loss treatment is fully developed it will offer unlimited source of stem cells derived from a patient and then these will be transplanted. Limited availability of existing follicles of hair will not be a problem then.

In the recent years, discoveries and research suggest that stem cells have the capability of differentiating cell types straight from varied germ layers. A number of studies have shown positive results, which seemed directly related to stem cell quantity. When the stem cells derived from the patient in transplanted again in the patient, these can help in repairing the tissues by generating new mesenchymal cells, like cartilage, tendons, bone, connective tissues, nerve, muscle, fat and even hair Follicles. As far as stem cell treatment in India is concerned, Giostar is the one of the renowned institutes offering various stem cell treatments. Some of the stem cell treatment in India that Giostar offers includes type-1 diabetes, Leukemia, Crohns, Cander, Alzeimer’s disease and many others. 

Conquering Arthritis: From Herbs To Stem Cells

This article is the fourth in a series of educational pieces by Alexandra R. Bunyak, MD; she is the founder of the innovative regenerative medicine practice BOUNDLESS, a sports, spine, and arthritis care clinic in Encinitas.

Arthritis is an ancient degenerative condition — evidence of its ravages can be found in all animals dating back to the dinosaurs — but the most modern of scientific knowledge and techniques are being used to manage and even conquer its effects.

Strategies from herbal therapies to the latest stem cell treatment are helping people decrease symptoms, improve function, and delay or avoid joint replacement surgery.

What is arthritis and what are the different types?

Arthritis is defined as pain, stiffness, and inflammation of the joints. There are two main categories of arthritis:

1. Inflammatory arthritis (ex: rheumatoid arthritis): a set of less common conditions causing severe inflammation of multiple joints at once and associated with systemic autoimmune disease, and

2. Degenerative arthritis (osteoarthritis): characterized by damage to the cartilage, instability of the joint, milder inflammation, and bony overgrowth of one or a few of joints. The majority of my patients have this more common type of arthritis.

Is surgery the only option for osteoarthritis?

Today we are no longer limited to passively waiting for the arthritis to reach severe enough proportions to require joint replacement. Additionally, many joints do not have an effective replacement option at this time.

Recent advances in arthritis treatment allow us to help stabilize the joints, decrease inflammation, and stimulate regrowth of cartilage, potentially slowing arthritis progression and improving pain and function for years.

What are the best natural/holistic approaches for arthritis?

There are many things you can do yourself to improve your arthritis symptoms:

1. Engage in physical activity: shown to improve joint stability, decrease abnormal stresses by improving muscular control, improve nutritional supply to the joints, and control weight and inflammation.

2. Diet plays a key role: make sure you eat an anti-inflammatory diet rich in necessary nutrients for joint health.

3. There are a multitude of anti-inflammatory supplements on the market, including tumeric, ginger, boswellia, glucosamine, and flavocoxids, that help reduce inflammation without the side effects of pharmaceutical anti-inflammatories such as Advil.

In addition, there are many natural/holistic approaches that are available to you with the help of your integrative/regenerative musculoskeletal physician:

1. Conservative options, including heel wedges and bracing, biomechanical evaluation and correction, mind/body approaches, therapeutic laser therapy, topical anti-inflammatories, and nutritional testing/optimization

2. Minimally invasive therapies and regenerative injections, including your own growth factors and adult stem cells to boost the health and stability of your joints.

What are regenerative injections and how do they work?

Regenerative injections, including prolotherapy, platelet rich plasma injections, and adult stem cell therapies, are thought to work by naturally stimulating your own systems of healing and regeneration. Research has shown that these treatments can regrow cartilage and increase the stability of a joint.

Of these, fat-derived stem cell therapies appear to be the most effective in moderate to severe arthritis, helping over 90 percent of arthritis sufferers appreciate relief of pain and improvement of function for years.

How do I know which regenerative approach I should choose?

Each regenerative treatment has strengths and weaknesses, and each patient needs to be evaluated individually to craft the best treatment plan. At BOUNDLESS, we offer multiple regenerative options, including both bone marrow and fat-derived stem cell treatments, allowing us to help each patient achieve their best result.

source by : https://goo.gl/mAE9ah

Scientists Hope Stem Cells Will Help The Blind See Again

Surgeons in London have implanted derivatives of embryonic stem cells into the retina of a patient with macular degeneration in an attempt to restore her sight and reverse the damage of a disease that affects an estimated 10% of people over the age of 65.

Doctors at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London carried out the surgery last month on a 60-year-old woman who suffers from wet macular degeneration. It’s an age-related condition in which deformed blood vessels leak fluid or blood onto the eye, robbing the patient of sight in the center of their field of vision.

Surgeons implanted healthy retinal pigment epithelium cells grown from the stem cells—which have the potential to become any cell in the body—of donated human embryos. It will take at least three months to determine whether the patient has regained her sight and how long any improvement will last. Nine more patients are scheduled to have the surgery, in a trial funded by the drug company Pfizer.

Doctors are hopeful that the treatment could prove a breakthrough for sufferers of age-related macular degeneration, the chief cause of blindness in people over 60.

It could also be adapted to treat dry macular degeneration, in which the eye’s light-sensitive cells slowly break down. Wet macular degeneration is less common—just 10% of diagnosed cases—but brings on blindness much more swiftly. It’s believed responsible for 90% of legal blindness in the US. Currently, there’s no cure for either form.

The Moorfields trial was the first of its kind in the UK and one of several experiments around the world on the use of stem cells to cure blindness.

Earlier this year, scientists in Korea injected stem-cell-derived cells into the eyes of four patients with macular degeneration, three of whom saw improvement in their vision. Trials in the US and UK have used stem cells to halt loss of vision caused by a condition known as Stargardt’s disease, with success.

Source : http://goo.gl/bcxpXE