Old Mice Made "Young"—May Lead to Anti-Aging Treatments

Stem cell injections prolonged lives of rapidly aging mice.

Christine Dell'Amore

National Geographic News

Published January 6, 2012

Aging mice can be made "young" again, according to findings one scientist initially found unbelievable.

The key is muscle-derived stem cells, which—like other stem cells—are unspecialized cells that can become any type of cell in the body.

When injected with muscle stem cells from young mice, older mice with a condition that causes them to age rapidly saw a threefold increase in their life spans, said study co-author Johnny Huard, a stem-cell expert at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Pittsburgh.

(See "Liposuction Fat Turned Into Stem Cells, Study Says.")

"I've been doing science for the last 20 years," Huard said. What "makes the story so amazing is that in the beginning, I didn't believe the result," he said.

"I bet that we mixed up the animals—you know, scientists are always skeptical."

"Tired" Stem Cells Reenergized

The study mice were genetically engineered to have a condition similar to a rare human syndrome called progeria, in which children age quickly and die young. (Learn more about the human body.)

The fast-aging mice typically die around 21 days after birth, far short of a normal mouse's two-year life span.

When scientists looked at the muscle stem cells of the fast-aging mice, they found what Huard called "tired" stem cells, which don't divide as quickly.

The team then examined mice that had aged normally and found their stem cells were similarly defective.

Curious if these deficient stem cells contribute to aging, Huard and colleagues injected stem cells from young, healthy mice into the fast-aging mice about four days before the older animals were expected to die.

To Huard's astonishment, the treated mice lived an average of 71 days—50 more than expected, and the equivalent of an 80-year-old human living to be 200, he said.

Not only did the animals live longer, they also seemed healthier, the scientists found.

(See "Drug Could Make Aging Brains More Youthful?")

Mysterious Secretions Make Cells Young

The "drastic" results bore out with repeated experiments, leaving the scientists to wonder how exactly the stem cells were working their magic, Huard said.

To find out, the team "tagged" stem cells injected into the fast-aging mice with a genetic marker that tracked where the cells went inside the body. Surprisingly, the team found only a few stem cells in the mouse organs, squashing a theory that the introduced cells were repairing organ tissues.

The scientists went back to the lab to test another idea: that stem cells secrete some kind of mysterious anti-aging substance.

The team put stem cells from the fast-aging mice on one side of a flask and stem cells from normal, young mice on the other side. The two sides were separated by a membrane that prevented the cells from touching.

Within days, the aging stem cells began acting "younger"—in other words, they began dividing more quickly.

"We can conclude that probably normal stem cells secrete something we don't know that seems to improve the defects in those aging stem cells," Huard said.

"If we can identify that, we have found an anti-aging protein that is going to be important" for people, said Huard, whose study appeared January 3 in the journal Nature Communications. http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v3/n1/full/ncomms1611.html

Stem-Cell Research "Intriguing" but Preliminary

But other scientists are cautious about how soon the discovery may help people delay the aging process or treat age-related disease.

"They did a beautiful job of showing that, when they put the muscle stem cells in [the mice], they improved function," said Justin Lathia, an assistant professor of cell biology at the Cleveland Clinic's Lerner Research Institute.

But as far as people go, it's still not clear what exactly stem cells do in the body, as well as what the mysterious stem cell secretion really is, Lathia emphasized.

Jeremy Rich, chair of the department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, also pointed out that the study is limited to muscle stem cells. That means the research can't be generalized to include all stem cell types, which are often very different from each other.

Paul Frenette, a stem cell and aging expert at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, called the research "intriguing," but said one of the messages for "patients is not to get too excited."

"You see all these clinics that are popping up all over the world—even in New York—where they're injecting stem cells" into people to treat disease, even though such therapies have not been proven.

"I don't think people should run to the clinic right now to have injections of stem cells to live longer."

(See "'Stem Cell Tourists' Go Abroad for Unproven Treatments.")

Stem Cell Therapy to Help People "Age Well"?

Indeed, study co-author Huard noted that before any human anti-aging trials can begin, scientists need to repeat the experiment in normally aging mice to show whether these mice also live longer.

If that turns out to be true, Huard could imagine a scenario in which some of a person's stem cells are harvested at about age 20 and then injected back into his or her body at around age 50 or 55.

Stem cell therapies do already exist for conditions such as incontinence and heart problems, so he thinks "we're not that far [from applying] this approach clinically down the road."

But Huard warned that such a treatment would not mean a 55-year-old will suddenly look and feel 25 again.

"The goal of doing this research is not to [be like a] movie star with a ton of money [who wants to] look great for the rest of their lives," he said.

"The goal is, if you delay aging, maybe you can delay Alzheimer's or cardiovascular problems."

In other words, he said, such stem cell treatments would help people "age well."

SOURCE

Researchers create spinal cord connectors from human stem cells, heralding breakthrough

By Amar Toor posted Nov 23rd 2011 10:03AM

It's taken many years and more than a bit of brainpower, but researchers at the University of Central Florida have finally found a way to create neuromuscular connectors between muscle and spinal cord cells, using only stem cells. Led by bioengineer James Hickman, the team pulled off the feat with help from Brown University Professor Emeritus Herman Vandenburgh, who collected muscle stem cell samples from adult volunteers. After close examination, they then discovered that under the right conditions, these samples could be combined with spinal cord cells to form connectors, or neuromuscular junctions, which the brain uses to control the body's muscles. UCF's engineers say the technique, described in the December issue of the journal Biomaterials, marks a major breakthrough for the development of "human-on-a-chip" models -- systems that simulate organ functions and have the potential to drastically accelerate medical research and drug development. These junctions could also pay dividends for research on Lou Gehrig's disease or spinal cord injuries, though it remains unclear whether we can expect to see these benefits anytime soon.

Source

The jab that will let you grow a new knee: Stem-cell treatment could end the agony of arthritis

By Fiona Macrae

Last updated at 8:37 AM on 4th October 2011

A jab that helps arthritis sufferers ‘grow’ new knee or hip joints is being developed by British experts.

Given in a person’s 40s or 50s, just as arthritis begins, the injection could remove the need for hip or knee replacements in some cases.

Arthritis Research UK, which is part-funding a £6million project to develop the jab, said it could ‘revolutionise’ the treatment of osteoarthritis, the most common form of the condition.

It is caused by wear and tear of cartilage that helps our joints take the strain of bending, lifting, gripping and kneeling, and affects more than eight million Britons.

With no cure, painkillers and physiotherapy are the main forms of treatment. Joint replacement surgery can help, but it is a complicated and lengthy process and is not successful in every case.

This means it is usually seen as the last resort and many patients struggle on in pain for years before getting the operation.

The new technique, which could be in use within five years, will harness the power of stem cells – ‘master cells’ that can turn into other cell types – in patients who are still in their prime.

Scientists already know how to turn stem cells into cartilage and can regrow small pieces of the cushioning material inside joints.

But the amounts currently replaced are tiny – less than an eighth of an inch.

The new project brings together stem cell and arthritis experts and surgeons from four universities and hospitals to work out how to regrow enough cartilage for an entire joint.

In future, someone whose cartilage is wearing away could go to hospital to have a sample of stem cells drawn from their bone marrow, fat or muscle.

The cells would then be fed a cocktail of vitamins and chemicals that trick them into becoming cartilage cells.

These would be injected into the patient’s joint on a second visit to shore up the ailing knee or hip.

Another possibility being investigated is ‘switching on’ a person’s stem cells when they are still inside their joints, so they can be turned into cartilage without leaving the body.

Andrew McCaskie, professor of orthopaedic surgery at Newcastle University, which will lead the research, said: ‘Every patient has their own “repair kit”.

‘Whereas joint replacement uses metal and plastic to replace the severely damaged joint, we’re trying to treat at an earlier stage and assist the body to repair itself.’

Professor Alan Silman, medical director of Arthritis Research UK, said the ease of the technique should make it possible to treat people while they were still relatively young.

He added: ‘One of the problems is that it is often felt that people have to “earn” their joint replacements.

‘We have people with osteoarthritis cope with years of pain and disability before they reach the point where surgery becomes a viable option.

‘Osteoarthritis starts in a person’s 40s or 50s, so if there is a treatment that works relatively simply and is affordable, it could be given earlier.’

He said the stem cell treatment was likely to be cheaper for the NHS, which spends around £1billion a year on knee replacement surgery alone.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2044914/The-jab-let-grow-new-knee-Stem-cell-treatment-end-agony-arthritis.html?ITO=1490

Neostem - NBS

This message didn't last on iHub NNVC - off topic. I put it here for the record. Marasco is the link between these two companies in that he is involved with monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) involved in virus and vaccine issues and NanoViricides is involved with viruses for sure and Marasco is the chairman of the Advisory Board at Neostem.

Posted by: nanopatent In reply to: None Date:1/16/2010 9:19:40 AM Post #26854 of 26856 FWIW and FYI here's a new (to me) stock of interest: NBS, Neostem Inc. It has stem cells, Wayne Marasco as Chairman of the Advisory Board - mentioned on the NNVC board re monoclonal antibodies - China and recent news: http://www.scribd.com/doc/25277323/Neostem-Inc-Corporate-Profile http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=NBS I am following it - haven't bought any, yet. A bright future? Perhaps - stem cells certainly do. Ref: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=45585375

Growing Cartilage From Stem Cells

Article Date: 22 Oct 2009 - 6:00 PDT

Damaged knee joints might one day be repaired with cartilage grown from stem cells in a laboratory, based on research by Professor Kyriacos Athanasiou, chair of the UC Davis Department of Biomedical Engineering and his colleagues.

Using adult stem cells from bone marrow and skin as well as human embryonic stem cells, Athanasiou and his group have already grown cartilage tissue in the lab. Now they are experimenting with various chemical and mechanical stimuli to improve its properties.

Cartilage is one of the very rare tissues that lacks the ability to heal itself. When damaged by injury or osteoarthritis, the effects can be long-lasting and devastating.

"If I cut a tiny line on articular cartilage (the cartilage that covers the surfaces of bones at joints), it will never be erased," Athanasiou said. "It's like writing on the moon. If I go back to look at it a year later, it will look exactly the same."

Work that Athanasiou's group began in the early 1990s at Rice University has resulted in the only FDA-approved products for treatment of small lesions on articular cartilage. (In total, Athanaisou's patents have resulted in 15 FDA-approved products.)

"This will be live, biological cartilage that will not only fill defects, but will potentially be able to resurface the entire surface of joints that have been destroyed by osteoarthritis," Athanasiou said. Currently, joint replacements using metal and plastic prosthetics are the only recourse for the one in five adults who will suffer major joint damage from osteoarthritis.

Source:
Andy Fell
University of California - Davis

Source

Nanomagnets Guide Stem Cells To Damaged Tissue

ScienceDaily (Oct. 22, 2009)

Microscopic magnetic particles have been used to bring stem cells to sites of cardiovascular injury in a new method designed to increase the capacity of cells to repair damaged tissue, UCL scientists have announced.

The cross disciplinary research, published in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Interventions, demonstrates a technique where endothelial progenitor cells – a type of stem cell shown to be important in vascular healing processes – have been magnetically tagged with a tiny iron-containing clinical agent, then successfully targeted to a site of arterial injury using a magnet positioned outside the body.

Following magnetic targeting, there was a five-fold increase in cell localisation at a site of vascular injury in rats. The team also demonstrated a six-fold increase in cell capture in an in vitro flow system (where microscopic particles are suspended in a stream of fluid and examined to see how they behave).

Although magnetic fields have been used to guide cellular therapies, this is the first time cells have been targeted using a method directly applicable to clinical practice. The technique uses an FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) approved agent that is already used to monitor cells in humans using MRI (magnetic resonance imaging).

Dr Mark Lythgoe, UCL Centre for Advanced Biomedical Imaging, the senior author on the study, said: "Because the material we used in this method is already FDA approved we could see this technology being applied in human clinical trials within 3-5 years. It's feasible that heart attacks and other vascular injuries could eventually be treated using regular injections of magnetised stem cells. The technology could be adapted to localise cells in other organs and provide a useful tool for the systemic injection of all manner of cell therapies. And it's not just limited to cells – by focusing tagged antibodies or viruses using this method, cancerous tumours could be much more specifically targeted"

Panagiotis Kyrtatos, also from the UCL Centre for Advanced Biomedical Imaging and lead researcher of the study, added: "This research tackles one of the most critical challenges in the biomedical sciences today: ensuring the effective delivery and retention of cellular therapies to specific targets within the body.

"Cell therapies could greatly benefit from nano-magnetic techniques which concentrate cells where they are needed most. The nano-magnets not only assist with the targeting, but with the aid of MRI also allow us to observe how the cells behave once they're injected."

This work was supported by public and charitable funding from the UCL Institute of Child Health (Child Health Research Appeal Trust), The British Heart Foundation, the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

---

Journal reference:

1. Panagiotis G. Kyrtatos, Pauliina Lehtolainen, Manfred Junemann-Ramirez, Ana Garcia-Prieto, Anthony N. Price, John F. Martin, David G. Gadian, Quentin A. Pankhurst, Mark F. Lythgoe. Magnetic Tagging Increases Delivery of Circulating Progenitors in Vascular Injury. JACC Cardiovascular Interventions, 2009; 2 (8): 794 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcin.2009.05.014

Adapted from materials provided by University College London.

Source

Stem cell vaccine for cancer step nearer

The medical holy grail of an anti-cancer jab has moved a step closer after scientists developed a potential vaccine made from stem cells.

By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent
Published: 7:30AM BST 08 Oct 2009

Anti-cancer jab a step closer Photo: REUTERS

Researchers have engineered stem cells to mimic some characteristics of cancer that when injected trick the body into building up a natural immunity to the disease.

The work focuses on colon cancer but the scientists believe it could be widened to provide a "universal cancer vaccine".

The novel approach by scientists in America and China is based on the principle that stem cells and cancer cells share many characteristics.

The theory is similar to a normal vaccine which mimics the disease it is vaccinating against and so builds up natural immunity.

Then when the patient is exposed to, or in danger of developing, the actual disease the body is ready to fight back.

Dr Zihai Li, of the University of Connecticut Stem Cell Institute, said the findings opened up a whole new model approach to cancer research.

"Cancer and stem cells share many molecular and biological features", he said.

"By immunising the host with stem cells, we are able to fool the immune system to believe that cancer cells are present and thus to initiate a tumour-combating immune programme.

The immunologist's colleague Dr Bei Liu, added: "Although we have only tested the protection against colon cancer, we believe that stem cells might be useful for generating an immune response against a broad-spectrum of cancers, thus serving as a universal cancer vaccine."

The latest research is the first to use human stem cells to vaccinate against cancer.

The team witnessed a 'dramatic' decline in tumour growth within the immunised mice.

The findings published in the journal Stem Cell, come just two months after scientists found a link between bacteria and many cases of colon cancer.

The breakthrough also pointed the way to vaccines or drugs to fight the disease, one of the most common forms of cancer in Britain. More than 37,000 people are diagnosed with colon cancer every year in Britain

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore believed that they have uncovered how the bacteria could be a trigger for cancer.

Dr Julie Sharp, Cancer Research UK's science information manager, said: "This is an interesting study and suggests a new approach to cancer vaccines – however scientists will need to test these ideas in clinical studies before we know if this approach can be used to treat cancer patients."

Source

Stem cells which 'fool immune system' may provide vaccination for cancer

October 8th, 2009

Scientists from the United States and China have revealed the potential for human stem cells to provide a vaccination against colon cancer, reports a study published in Stem Cells.

This discovery, led by experts in immunology, Dr. Bei Liu and Dr. Zihai Li, builds upon a century old theory that immunizing with embryonic materials may generate an anti-tumour response. However, this theory has never before been advanced beyond animal research so the discovery that human stem cells are able to immunize against colon cancer is both new and unexpected.

"This finding potentially opens up a new paradigm for cancer vaccine research," said Dr. Zihai Li. "Cancer and stem cells share many molecular and biological features. By immunizing the host with stem cells, we are able to 'fool' the immune system to believe that cancer cells are present and thus to initiate a tumor-combating immune program."

The research is the first of its kind to implicate the role of human stem cells in vaccinating against colon cancer, and represents collaboration between the prestigious laboratories of Dr. Zihai Li and stem cell expert Dr. Renhe Xu at the University of Connecticut Stem Cell Institute.

The team vaccinated laboratory mice with human embryonic stem (hES) cells and discovered a consistent immune response against colon cancer cells. The team witnessed dramatic decline in tumor growth within the immunized mice. This revealed that immunized mice could generate a strong anti-tumour response through the application of hES cells.

The team also discovered that while natural embryonic stem cells are able to provide a response, artificially induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) are not. This is significant as it challenges the theory that iPSC are the same as hES cells and may replace them at the forefront of stem cell research.

"Although we have only tested the protection against colon cancer, we believe that stem cells might be useful for generating an immune response against a broad-spectrum of cancers, thus serving as a universal cancer vaccine." " concluded Dr. Bei Liu.

Source