Comments on Spinal Muscular Atrophy Research News: Not completely related to SMA but an article about...

Rebuilding the brain’s circuitry Healthy neurons c...

2011-11-26T18:40:57.552-06:00

Rebuilding the brain’s circuitry
Healthy neurons can integrate into diseased areas

Repair at the cellular-level of the hypothalamus — a critical and complex region of the brain that regulates phenomena such as hunger, metabolism, body temperature, and basic behaviors such as sex and aggression — indicates the possibility of new therapeutic approaches to even higher-level conditions such as spinal cord injury, autism, epilepsy, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), Parkinson’s disease, and Huntington’s disease.

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/11/rebuilding-the-brain%E2%80%99s-circuitry/

Maybe this will help MDA, FSMA, SMAF etc...and all...

2011-11-22T16:27:57.598-06:00

Maybe this will help MDA, FSMA, SMAF etc...and all the companies produce results versus promises and conferences..

A first -- lab creates cells used by brain to control muscle cells

IMAGE: Dr. Hickman has been working on this project for more than a decade.
Click here for more information.

University of Central Florida researchers, for the first time, have used stem cells to grow neuromuscular junctions between human muscle cells and human spinal cord cells, the key connectors used by the brain to communicate and control muscles in the body.

The success at UCF is a critical step in developing "human-on-a-chip" systems. The systems are models that recreate how organs or a series of organs function in the body. Their use could accelerate medical research and drug testing, potentially delivering life-saving breakthroughs much more quickly than the typical 10-year trajectory most drugs take now to get through animal and patient trials.

"These types of systems have to be developed if you ever want to get to a human-on-a-chip that recreates human function," said James Hickman, a UCF bioengineer who led the breakthrough research. "It's taken many trials over a number of years to get this to occur using human derived stem cells."

"Right now we rely a lot on animal systems for medical research but this is a pure human system," Guo said. "This work proved that, biologically, this is workable."

Besides being a key requirement for any complete human-on-a-chip model, such nerve-muscle junctions might themselves prove important research tools. These junctions play key roles in Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, in spinal cord injury, and in other debilitating or life threatening conditions. With further development, the team's techniques could be used to test new drugs or other treatments for these conditions even before more expansive chip-based models are developed.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/uocf-af-112211.php

UW scientists grow stem cells that integrate into ...

2011-11-21T19:35:08.116-06:00

UW scientists grow stem cells that integrate into brain
Research shows them sending, receiving messages from other cells

But the new work at UW suggests the idea may be poised to make the transition from theory to reality.

"They have shown real function of neurons. This means they really can play a role in neural repair," said Arshak Alexanian, an associate professor in the department of neurosurgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin, who did not participate in the UW study.

"We are getting similar results," Alexanian said, indicating that he has been working along similar lines, only using "neural-like cells" that had been reprogrammed from adult stem cells found in the bone marrow. The advantage to using the reprogrammed adult stem cells is that they would come from the patient, removing the risk of rejection.

When scientists reprogram cells, they change them from one type to another, a trick that can be accomplished through a variety of methods. Alexanian used synthetic molecules to change the cells.

Recent preliminary results from his lab have shown that the human neural-like cells, when grown in culture with human neurons, form connections and behave like the neurons we're born with.

The Medical College researcher has been transplanting these lab-made human neurons into the injured spinal cords of rats. While the rats experience some regeneration of cells without any treatment at all, Alexanian said the transplanted cells spur significant improvement, allowing rats to move formerly immobile hind legs.

Weick said the embryonic stem cells are more reliable than the reprogrammed equivalents and can be coaxed into neurons with greater success.

http://www.jsonline.com/features/health/uw-scientists-grow-stem-cells-that-integrate-into-brain-ji34n0j-134271268.html

New muscle repair gene discovered The project'...

2011-11-20T14:38:40.115-06:00

New muscle repair gene discovered

The project's joint directors, Professor Markus Schuelke from the NeuroCure Clinical Research Center and the Department of Neuropediatrics of the Charité, and Professor Colin A. Johnson from the Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine, University Leeds, emphasized the relevance of the new methods for genomic analysis. They commented: "These methods enable us to sequence hundreds or even thousands of genes at the same time for an affordable price. This enables clinicians and researchers to discover novel genetic defects even in single patients. This is good news for families with unsolved rare genetic disorders. Many affected patients and their parents, who often have a "diagnostic Odyssey" behind them, may now hope that the cause of their disease will be found in the near future."

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-muscle-gene.html

Is Canada ready for human trials on stem cell ther...

2011-11-17T20:36:26.872-06:00

Is Canada ready for human trials on stem cell therapy?

As desperation leads patients to experimental treatments overseas, a leading neurosurgeon says it’s time

Kowalski kept up with the latest research, attending conferences and chatting with scientists about their work in stem cells. As time went by, and treatments failed to materialize in North America, he got increasingly frustrated. Two years after his accident, he went to Taiwan, where an experimental “nerve cocktail” was injected into his spine. Five years later, he went to Beijing and received an embryonic stem cell transplant. Neither treatment, which cost about $20,000 each, made much of a difference, he says. He kept waiting. “Five years came and went, and then 10.” It’s now been 11 years, and Kowalski still uses a wheelchair. “It seems incomprehensible that we can fix rats in a lab and fly rovers to Mars,” he says, “but we can’t regenerate some nerves in my spine.”

Dr. Michael Fehlings, medical director of the Krembil Neuroscience Centre at Toronto Western Hospital, makes his case in the October issue of Neurotherapeutics. Cell therapies shouldn’t be “stalled at the animal model stage,” he writes. No rat, pig or monkey can perfectly mimic the human condition; after years of working on these animals in the lab, we should pursue “focused, safe and ethical” trials in humans. All new therapies carry their risks. Stem cells “can make anything, but that’s also the danger,” he told Maclean’s in an interview. If they were to grow out of control, these cells could potentially turn into cancer. One argument for moving forward is to stop patients like Kowalski from making desperate trips overseas. “I’m not in favour of medical tourism,” Fehlings says. If patients receive stem cell treatments, “it should be in a carefully regulated clinical trial, with fully informed consent, and they shouldn’t be charged.” After all, we still don’t know if these treatments will work. “We’re hopeful,” Fehlings says, “but there’s a difference.”

http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/11/16/taking-a-chance-on-a-miracle/

Time goes fast ..make sure your funding venues tha...

2011-11-16T11:52:27.102-06:00

Time goes fast ..make sure your funding venues that aren't compromised by profit oriented partners...this shows the patient does not come first!

Stem-cell trials halted over funding concerns

New patients will no longer be enrolled but the progress of those already involved, who were each injected with around two million cells, will be followed.

Geron said stem cells "continue to hold great medical promise" but the decision was taken after a "strategic review" of costs.

Daniel Heumann, a board member of the Christopher and Dana Reeves Foundation which aims to cure spinal cord injury by funding new paths of research, said: "I'm disgusted. It makes me sick. To get people's hopes up and then do this for financial reasons is despicable. They are treating us like lab rats."

Read more: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/technology/Stem+cell+trials+halted+over+funding+concerns/5719316/story.html#ixzz1dtLJBf2H

We'll see....the disappointing thing is everyt...

2011-11-15T23:04:19.403-06:00

We'll see....the disappointing thing is everything comes down to money....so whoever is close to you that has a medical impairment or severe disability is left to suffer...I see a lot of people getting juiced up over this gern failure...hopefully the rights get transferred to a country that cares more about the patients than the money...sick world!

CALIFORNIA STEM CELL’S HANS KEIRSTEAD WEIGHS IN ON GERON NEWS

CSC’s Hans Keirstead added, ‘As the stem cell sector has grown, and treatments for diseases with significantly larger markets are becoming a reality, the financial rationale for Geron’s approach has weakened. The market size for spinal cord injury is simply too small, and could not support the cost of development.’

CSC has several cell-based therapeutic programs targeting large and strategic markets. Its motor neuron program is in active IND status, targeting the motor neuron diseases Spinal Muscular Atrophy and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Its cancer program is in phase 2 trials, targeting malignant melanoma. Combined, the prospective markets for these indications are approximately US$3 billion.

‘The contribution of Geron’s spinal cord injury program to the stem cell field can not be overstated’, said Keirstead, ‘As the first such stem cell program approved by the FDA, it established precedent for the field and allowed all others to follow at reduced risk to sponsor companies.’

In the years since Geron began its clinical trial, the stem cell therapy market has grown by approximately 600%. ‘Geron brought us here’, said Keirstead, ‘New, and financially viable treatments will now lead this field to the next stage.’

http://www.californiastemcell.com/cgi-bin/pressrel?20111115