The Future is Bright for Stem Cell Treatments
Considering the many emerging research studies on possible cord blood and cord tissue stem cell use, the future of stem cell treatments is very bright. Only the surface has been scratched when it comes to discovering the potential of these cells to treat diseases and disorders. New technologies that allow for the expansion of cord blood cells means that effective autologous therapy will be achievable well into adulthood. Additionally, research has shown that cord blood stem cells can also be effectively used for regeneration or repair, of non-hematopoietic tissues, such as the repair of joint damage through cartilage regeneration. Studies have also demonstrated that these cells are effective at modulating/reducing inflammation, and in the treatment of neurological disorders (ie. ALS, Alzheimer’s Disease, Stroke) that can occur later in life. Keeping up with the latest news inspires hope in the future.
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Stem cell research is currently a subject of keen interest for major research institutions.
According to a study by Johns Hopkins researchers, specially engineered "helper cells" transplanted along with stem cells can dole out growth factors to increase the stem cells' endurance. The study is believed to be the first to test the helper-cell tactic, which hopefully someday will help to overcome a major barrier to successful stem cell transplants.
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New research by UC Davis centers on regenerating tissue to repair damaged neural tissue.
Stem cell technology has long offered the hope of regenerating tissue to repair broken or damaged neural tissue. Findings from a team of UC Davis investigators have brought this dream a step closer by developing a method to generate functioning brain cells that produce myelin.
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Getting Closer to a Stem Cell Therapy for Parkinson's Disease
HSCI scientists have developed new ways to identify, grow, sort, and transplant the dopamine-producing cells that are lost in Parkinson’s disease. Additionally, they have learned how to identify and remove unwanted cells prior to transplantation, such as cells that produce cerebrospinal fluid.
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Two-year-old gets windpipe made from her own stem cells
Two-year-old Hannah Warren was born without a windpipe and has been unable to talk, swallow, or eat on her own. Her only hope was an artificial windpipe; an experimental device. Her medical team custom-designed a new windpipe using tiny plastic fibers. It was then bathed in stem cells taken from Hannah's bone marrow to promote tissue growth.
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Cord Blood-Derived Stem Cells – a New Therapeutic Option for Brain Disorders?
One particular challenge has been to force cord blood stem cells to become anything other than a blood cell. Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in collaboration with scientists in Barcelona, Spain, have succeeded in coaxing stem cells to become neurons, a groundbreaking step in the treatment of traumatic brain injury.
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Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells: Prime Source for Transplants and Future Regenerative Medicine
The 5th ITERA Life-Sciences Consortium Symposium showcased the progress of stem cell research and promising therapeutic applications. Thanks to solid scientific data, researchers confirmed that umbilical cord blood stem cells are one of the prime sources to be used in current stem cell transplants, ongoing research and future regenerative medicine.
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Transplantation of porcine umbilical cord matrix mesenchymal stem cells in a mouse model of Parkinson's disease
A study compared mesenchymal stem cells derived from umbilical cord matrix (UCM-MSCs) with bone marrow (BM-MSCs) of miniature pigs on their phenotypic profiles and ability to differentiate in vitro into osteocytes, adipocytes and neuron-like cells. This study further evaluated the therapeutic potential of UCM-MSCs in a mouse Parkinson's disease model.
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Improvement in Cardiac Function following Transplantation of Human Umbilical Cord Matrix-Derived Mesenchymal Cells
Human umbilical cord mesenchymal cells (hUCM) can be easily obtained and processed in a laboratory. These cells may be considered as a suitable source in the repair of heart failure diseases.The findings demonstrated the potential therapeutic use of huCM in treatment of heart failure conditions.
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Umbilical cord holds key to heart repair: Study
In a new study, published in the journal Stem Cell Reviews & Reports, U.K. scientists took cells from umbilical cord blood, expanded them sevenfold and grew them into cardiac heart muscles. Their research suggests that stem cells derived from cord blood banks might be used for repair after a heart attack.
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Hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells, generation of induced pluripotent stem cells and isolation of endothelial progenitors from 21- to 23.5 year cryopreserved cord blood
Cryopreservation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) is crucial for cord blood (CB) banking and transplantation. We evaluated recovery of functional HPC cryopreserved as mononuclear or unseparated cells for up to 23.5 years compared with prefreeze values of the same CB units.
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