Posts

Monoclonal antibody drug superior to chemotherapy for superior acute lymphoblastic leukemia

The study, led by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, randomly assigned 405 patients 18 years or older to groups receiving either blinatumomab or chemotherapy. Overall survival was significantly longer in the blinatumomab group with median survival of 7.7 months versus four months for those on chemotherapy. Remission rates within 12 weeks after treatment began were higher in the blinatumomab group with complete remission rates of 34 percent reported in this group versus 16 percent for those on chemotherapy. The study also showed that patients treated with blinatumomab had a lower rate of adverse effects. While the prognosis for newly diagnosed ALL has improved over the last three decades with intensive chemotherapy regimens resulting in complete remission rates of 85 to 90 percent and long-term survival rates of 30 to 50 percent, most adult patients with the B-cell precursor ALL, the most common form, ultimately relapse and die from disease complications. The accepte...
Post a Comment
Read more

Scientists create artificial mouse 'embryo' from stem cells for first time

Image
This picture exhibits stem cell-modeled mouse embryo at 96 hours (left); Mouse embryo cultured in vitro for 48 hours from the blastocyst stage (proper). The crimson half is embryonic and the blue extra-embryonic. Credit score: Sarah Harrison and Gaelle Recher , Zernicka-Goetz Lab, College of Cambridge Scientists on the College of Cambridge have managed to create a construction resembling a mouse embryo in tradition, utilizing two varieties of stem cells -- the physique's 'grasp cells' -- and a 3D scaffold on which they will develop. Understanding the very early levels of embryo improvement is of curiosity as a result of this information could assist clarify why greater than two out of three human pregnancies fail presently. As soon as a mammalian egg has been fertilised by a sperm, it divides a number of occasions to generate a small, free-floating ball of stem cells. The actual stem cells that can ultimately make the longer term ...
Post a Comment
Location: United States
Read more

Vitamin C effective in targeting cancer stem cells

Vitamin C is up to ten times more effective at stopping cancer cell growth than pharmaceuticals such as 2-DG, according to scientists in Salford, UK. The research, published in  Oncotarget , is the first evidence that Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) can be used to target and kill cancer stem cells (CSCs), the cells responsible for fuelling fatal tumours. Dr Michael P. Lisanti, Professor of Translational Medicine at the University of Salford, said: "We have been looking at how to target cancer stem cells with a range of natural substances including silibinin (milk thistle) and CAPE, a honey-bee derivative, but by far the most exciting are the results with Vitamin C. "Vitamin C is cheap, natural, non-toxic and readily available so to have it as a potential weapon in the fight against cancer would be a significant step." Cancer stem-like cells are thought to be the root cause of chemotherapy resistance, leading to treatment failure in patients with advanced disease and ...
Post a Comment
Location: United States
Read more

Stem cell reprogramming factor controls change in cellular energy generation

However, while the genetic factors responsible for reprogramming are well known, the mechanisms underlying the responses to induced gene expression changes are not as clear. Now, research led by the University of Tsukuba has solved the mystery surrounding one of the reprogramming factors, KLF4. The study was published in  Stem Cell Reports . KLF4 together with other reprogramming transcription factors is used in the lab to force the expression of genes in somatic cells (adult non-germline cells) in the development of iPSCs. Somatic cells generate their energy in an oxygen-fueled process called oxidative phosphorylation, which takes place in the mitochondria, also known as cellular powerhouses. In contrast, stem cells have small mitochondria and use glycolysis as an alternative biochemical pathway to generate energy. This series of reactions can be anaerobic, so more suited to their typically low-oxygen environment, but also provides the supply of metabolic intermediates nec...
Post a Comment
Location: United States
Read more

Neuroscientists pinpoint key gene controlling tumor growth in brain cancers

To enhance understanding of how glioma cancer stem cells (GCSCs) reproduce and how they affect patient survival, investigators spent three years analyzing the genetic makeup of more than 4,000 brain tumors. During their investigation, they identified the gene, called ZEB1, that regulates tumor growth. The investigators' analysis suggests that brain cancer patients who don't have the gene tend to have lower survival rates. "Patients without the gene in their tumors have more aggressive cancers that act like stem cells by developing into an uncontrollable number of cell types," said John Yu, MD, vice chair of neurosurgical oncology in the Department of Neurosurgery and senior author of the study. "This new information could help us to measure the mutation in these patients so that we are able to provide a more accurate prognosis and treatment plan." Brain cancer occurs when cancer cells -- also called malignant cells -- arise in the brain tissue. This ye...
Post a Comment
Location: United States
Read more

The intestine has a reservoir of stem cells that are resistant to chemotherapy

Image
After Chemotherapy , these cells change their behaviour, change into lively and regenerate all cell varieties within the gut (in inexperienced). Credit score: Franscisco Barriga, IRB Barcelona The gut has a excessive price of mobile regeneration as a result of put on and tear originated by its operate degrading and absorbing vitamins and eliminating waste. The complete cell wall is renewed as soon as per week roughly. This explains why the gut holds a lot of stem cells in fixed division, thereby producing new cell populations of the varied varieties current on this organ. Researchers on the Institute for Analysis in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) headed by ICREA investigator Eduard Batlle, head of the Colorectal Most cancers Laboratory, have found a brand new group of intestinal stem cells with very totally different traits to these of the plentiful and lively stem cells already recognized on this organ. Carried out in collaboration with the Centro ...
Post a Comment
Location: United States
Read more

Study helps explain how zebrafish recover from blinding injuries

"This work opens up new ideas for therapies for blinding diseases and has implications for the broader field of regenerative medicine," said Tom Greenwell, Ph.D., NEI program officer for retinal neuroscience. For years, vision scientists have studied zebrafish to understand their retinal regenerative capacity. Zebrafish easily recover from retinal injuries that would permanently blind a person. Early studies in zebrafish led to the idea that dying retinal cells release signals that trigger support cells in the retinal called Muller glia to dedifferentiate -- return to a stem-like state -- and proliferate. However, recent studies in the mouse brain and pancreas suggest GABA, a well-characterized neurotransmitter, might also play an important role in regeneration, distinct from its role in communicating local signals from one neuron to the next. Scientists studying a part of the brain called the hippocampus found that GABA levels regulate the activity of neural stem cell...
Post a Comment
Location: United States
Read more