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Cell Research News – What’s to Follow?

Posted in Acute lymphocytic leukemia, Acute myelocytic leukemia, Bone marrow derived cells, CANCER BIOLOGY & Innovations in Cancer Therapy, Cell Biology, Circulating Progenitor Cells, Competition in regenerative stem cell science, Conference Coverage with Social Media, Developmental biology, Drug Toxicity, Frontiers in Cardiology and Cardiovascular Disorders, Gene Regulation, Genome Biology, Hematopoiesis, Human Immune System in Health and in Disease, Innovations in Neurophysiology & Neuropsychology, Lymphoma, Pharmaceutical Analytics, Pharmaceutical Drug Discovery, Pharmacologic toxicities, Regenerative Biology and Medicine, Signaling & Cell Circuits, Stem Cells for Regenerative Medicine, Systemic Inflammatory Response Related Disorders, Technology Transfer: Biotech and Pharmaceutical, Translational Effectiveness, Translational Research, Translational Science, Uncategorized, tagged bone-marrow transplant, chemical and biological engineering, chemotherapeutic toxicity, Chemotherapy, ESC, ESC helper cell, hematopoietic progenitor cells, HSCs, Hydogel, immune rejection, restricted local delivery, Zebrafish model on August 26, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Cell Research News – What’s to Follow?

Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP, Reporter

Leaders in Pharmaceutical Intelligence

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2014/08/26/larryhbern/Cell_Research_News_-_What’s_to_Follow?

Stem Cell Research ‘Holy Grail’ Uncovered, Thanks to Zebrafish

By Estel Grace Masangkay

With help from the zebrafish, a team of Australian researchers has uncovered how
hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) renew themselves.

HSCs refers to stem cells present in the blood and bone marrow that are used
for the replenishment of the body’s supply of blood and immune cells –

in transplants for leukemia and myeloma.
Stem cells have the potential to transform into vital cells
including muscle, bone, and blood vessels.

Understanding how HSCs form and renew themselves has potential application in the
treatment of

spinal cord injuries
degenerative disorders
diabetes.

Professor Peter Currie, of the Australian Regen Med Institute at Victoria’s Monash
University, led a research team to discover a crucial part of HSC’s development. Using
a high-resolution microscopy, Prof. Curie’s team

caught zebrafish embyonic SCs on film as they formed.
the researchers were studying muscle mutations in the aquatic animal.

“Zebrafish make ESCs in exactly the same way as humans do, but their embryos and
larvae develop free living, but the larvae are both free swimming and transparent, so one could see every cell in the body forming, including ESCs,” explained Prof. Currie.

The researchers noticed in films that a

‘buddy cell’ came along to help the ESCs form.

Called endotome cells,

they aided pre-ESCs to turn into ESCs.

Prof. Currie said that endotome cells act as helper cells for pre-ESCs ,

helping them progress to become fully fledged stem cells.

The team not only

identified some of the cells and signals
required for ESC formation, but also
pinpointed the genes required
for endotome formation in the first place.

The next step for the researchers is to

locate the signals present in the endotome cells
that trigger ESC formation in the embryo.

This may provide clues for developing

specific blood cells on demand for blood-related disorders.

Professor Currie also pointed out the discovery’s potential for

correcting genetic defects in the cell and
transplanting them back in the body to treat disorders.

The team’s work was published in the international journal Nature.

Jell-O Like Biomaterial Could Hold Key to Cancer Cell Destruction

by Estel Grace Masangkay

Scientists from Penn State University reported that a biomaterial made of tiny
molecules was able to attract and destroy cancer cells.

Professor Yong Wang and bioengineering faculty at Penn State, built the
tissue-like biomaterial to accomplish what chemotherapy could not –

kill every cancer cell without leaving
the possibility of a recurrence.

Prof. Wang and team built polymers

from tiny molecules called monomers. They
then wove the polymers into 3D networks

called hydrogels. Hydrogel is soft and flexible,
like Jell-O, and it contains a lot of water, and

can be safely put into the body, unlike

other implants that the body often tries

to get rid of through the immune response.

“We want to make sure the materials we are using are compatible in the body.”

The researchers

attached aptamers to the hydrogels,
which release bio-chemical signal-only molecules
that draw in cancer cells.

Once attracted, the cancer cells are entrapped in the Jell-O-like substance.

What happens next is

an oligonucleotide binds to the protein-binding site of the aptamer
and triggers the release of anticancer drugs at the proper time.

“Once we trap the cancer cells, we can deliver anticancer drugs

to that specific location to kill them.

This technique would help avoid the need for systemic medications that kill not only cancer cells, but normal cells as well. Systemic chemotherapy drugs

make patients devastatingly sick and possibly
leave behind cancer cells to wreak havoc another day

If our new technique has any side effects at all, it would be only local side
effects and not whole-body systemic side effects,” explained Prof. Wang.

The initial results of the research were published by Prof. Wang in the
Journal of the American Chemical Society in 2012. Prof. Wang also shared
the latest results of his work at the Society for Biomaterials Meeting &
Exposition in April this year.