girl health blog 27

The Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI) scientists provided the experimental expertise to test Cynata Therapeutics' induced pluripotent stem cell-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in a model of experimental asthma. Induced pluripotent stem cells are a type of pluripotent stem cell that can be generated directly from adult cells; they have the ability to be differentiated into a variety of tissue types and, in this case, MSCs that can regenerate damaged lung tissue. Lead researchers Associate Professor Chrishan Samuel and Dr Simon Royce tested the efficacy of the MSCs on three key components of asthma in a preclinical model of chronic allergic airways disease: inflammation; airway remodeling (structural changes that occur in lungs as a result of prolonged inflammation); and airway hyperresponsiveness (the clinical symptom of asthma). The study, published in the  FASEB Journal , found that the MSCs could effectively reduce inflammation, reversed signs of airway r...

They have also identified two distinct stem-cell like populations from which relapse can arise in different patients in this aggressive cancer that they previously showed starts in blood stem cells in the bone marrow. The findings -- published today in  Nature  -- provide significant insights into cell types fated to relapse and can help accelerate the quest for new, upfront therapies, says Dr. Dick, a Senior Scientist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, and Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto. He holds the Canada Research Chair in Stem Cell Biology and is Director of the Cancer Stem Cell Program at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research. This study was primarily undertaken by post-doctoral fellow Dr. Liran Shlush and Scientific Associate Dr. Amanda Mitchell. "For the first time, we have married together knowledge of stem cell biology and genetics -- areas that historically have often been operating as se...

Haploid human embryonic stem cells. Credit score: Azrieli Heart for Stem Cells and Genetic Analysis at Hebrew College Stem cell analysis holds big potential for drugs and human well being. Specifically, human embryonic stem cells (ESCs), with their potential to show into any cell within the human physique, are important to the longer term prevention and therapy of illness. One set or two? Diploid versus haploid cells A lot of the cells in our physique are diploid, which suggests they carry two units of chromosomes -- one from every father or mother. Till now, scientists have solely succeeded in creating haploid embryonic stem cells -- which include a single set of chromosomes -- in non-human mammals akin to mice, rats and monkeys. Nonetheless, scientists have lengthy sought to isolate and replicate these haploid ESCs in people, which might permit them to work with one set of human chromosomes versus a combination from each dad and mom. This milestone was...

Utilizing x-ray crystallography, Joshua-Tor's crew has captured the equal of freeze-frames of enzymes known as TUTases in two totally different modes. In a single mode (LEFT), the TUTase enzyme (consisting of pink and blue/inexperienced subunits surrounded by a dotted line) provides a single uridine ("U") nucleotide to a precursor of the micro RNA let-7 (purple and orange helix). The addition of a single "U" results in the manufacturing of a mature let-7 micro RNA, in flip supporting the method by which a stem cell differentiates right into a specialised cell. In its different mode (RIGHT) a TUTase enzyme associates with a protein known as Lin28, resulting in the addition of 30 "U"s to a let-7 precursor. This targets it for destruction - important for stem cells to retain their capability to proliferate indefinitely. The TUTases are potential targets in most cancers cells, which appear to accumulate the stem-like capability to prolifera...

That is a pc mannequin of the folded DNA chromosomes from a single cell. Credit score: Dr Csilla Varnai Shifting genes about may assist cells to answer change in keeping with scientists on the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, UK and the Weizmann Institute, Israel. Altering the situation of a gene inside a cell alters its exercise. Like mixing music, totally different areas could make a gene 'louder' or 'quieter', with louder genes contributing extra actively to the lifetime of a cell. Opposite to expectations, this newest examine reveals that every gene would not have an excellent location within the cell nucleus. As an alternative, genes are at all times on the transfer. Printed within the journal  Nature , researchers examined the organisation of genes in stem cells from mice. They revealed that these cells regularly remix their genes, altering their positions as they progress although totally different phases. This work, which has additionall...

In a newly published study, Cleveland Clinic researchers have identified a specific molecular pathway that plays a key role in the link between a high-fat diet and tumor growth in the colon. In the July 6 issue of  Stem Cell Reports , the team showed in pre-clinical models that cancer stem cell growth in the colon was enhanced by a high-fat, Western diet. Cancer stem cells are a subset of resilient, aggressive malignant cells that are believed to be partially responsible for spread and recurrence of cancer. Furthermore, when the researchers blocked the JAK2-STAT3 cellular signaling pathway, a widely studied pathway known to promote tumor growth, the spike in cancer stem cell growth caused by the high-fat diet declined. This study provides more insight into how the JAK2-STAT3 pathway is linked to diet-related cancer. Pinpointing the exact mechanism can help researchers develop therapeutics to counteract the negative effects of a Western diet on colorectal cancer. Colore...

"It's important in the context of cell therapies for people to cure these diseases or regenerate tissues that are no longer functional," said senior author Samuel I. Stupp, director of Northwestern's Simpson Querrey Institute for BioNanotechnology and Board of Trustees Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Chemistry, Medicine and Biomedical Engineering. The study was published in  Nature Communications . Cells in our bodies are constantly being signaled with many types of instructions coming from proteins and other molecules present in the matrices that surround them. For example, these can be cues for cells to express specific genes so they can proliferate or differentiate into several types of cells leading to growth or regeneration of tissues. One of the marvels of this signaling machinery is the built-in capacity in living organisms to make signals stop and re-start as needed, or to switch off one signal and activate a different one to orchestrate ...

"Metastatic brain tumors -- often from lung, breast or skin cancers -- are the most commonly observed tumors within the brain and account for about 40 percent of advanced melanoma metastases. Current therapeutic options for such patients are limited, particularly when there are many metastases," says Khalid Shah, MS, PhD, director of the Center for Stem Cell Therapeutics and Imaging (CSTI) in the BWH Department of Neurosurgery, who led the study. "Our results are the first to provide insight into ways of targeting multiple brain metastatic deposits with stem-cell-loaded oncolytic viruses that specifically kill dividing tumor cells." In their search for novel, tumor-specific therapies that could target multiple brain metastases without damaging adjacent tissues, the research team first developed different BRAF wild type and mutant mouse models that more closely mimic what is seen in patients. They found that injecting patient-derived, brain-seeking melanoma cells...

Transplants of neural stem cells may be used to deal with mind accidents, however the best way to get them to the appropriate location? UC Davis researcher Min Zhao and Junfeng Feng, a neurosurgeon at Ren Ji Hospital, Shanghai, confirmed that they will steer transplanted stem cells (inexperienced, in inset on proper) to 1 a part of a rat's mind utilizing electrical fields. Credit score: Junfeng Feng Electrical fields can be utilized to information neural stem cells transplanted into the mind in the direction of a selected location. The analysis, revealed July 11 within the journal  Stem Cell Reviews , opens potentialities for successfully guiding stem cells to restore mind injury. Professor Min Zhao on the College of California, Davis Faculty of Medication's Institute for Regenerative Cures research how electrical fields can information wound therapeutic. Broken tissues generate weak electrical fields, and Zhao's analysis has proven how these elect...

Hormone alternative therapies, or drugs containing feminine hormones, might assist most cancers to unfold. Credit score: © Ivelin Radkov / Fotolia Hormone alternative therapies, or drugs containing feminine hormones that substitute these now not produced by the physique, usually are prescribed to cut back the results of menopausal signs in ladies. Analysis has indicated that ladies who take hormone alternative therapies have a better incidence of breast most cancers. Now, researchers on the College of Missouri have linked pure and artificial progestins to the physique's manufacturing of specialised most cancers cells that act like stem cells in people. Findings may assist scientists goal these uncommon cells that proliferate in breast cancers and metastasize elsewhere, and should assist clinicians determine immunotherapies to fight the unfold of the illness. "In earlier research, we now have proven that each pure and artificial progestins speed up the ev...