Stem cells - Articles - Page 4

Cancer

H. pylori induces stomach cancer by disrupting stem cell marching orders

July 28, 2023

Colonization of the stomach by the bacterium Helicobacter pylori can cause gastric cancer by secreting the CagA oncoprotein. Now, a Japanese laboratory has discovered that CagA disrupted Wnt/PCP signaling and altered the polarity in which the squamous cells of the developing gastric epithelium are arranged, causing the hyperproliferation of the stem cells.

Cancer

IPSirius targets cancer stem cells with iPSC-based vaccine

July 5, 2023

By Cormac Sheridan

IPSirius SAS, an early stage French immuno-oncology firm, hopes to obtain a clinical trial authorization from the U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Products Agency next year, to enable it to move its novel therapeutic cancer vaccine into a first-in-human trial in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer.

Day 4 embryoid showing an inner epiblast-like domain that has apico-basal polarity

Drug Design, Drug Delivery & Technologies

New human embryonic models bring hope for insights, but also lots of brouhaha

June 28, 2023

By Mar de Miguel

The development of an embryo in its early stages involves a series of processes in which cells interact and organize to form tissues. In humans, these stages are studied with animal models, stem cells and cell aggregates that mimic natural development phases, or with human embryos, depending on their availability and a strict protocol. Now, in back-to-back papers published online in Nature, scientists from Yale University and the University of Cambridge have two new embryonic models formed from human stem cells to study development after embryo implantation in the uterus.

Cardiovascular

Advances in regenerative medicine for cardiovascular repair

June 23, 2023

By Mar de Miguel

Over the past decade there has been much research into the use of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) as a cell therapy to regenerate tissue and treat heart disease. Now, one researcher has narrowed the focus down to treating heart disease not with whole cells, but with mitochondria derived from iPSCs. Gentaro Ikeda, a researcher at the Department of Medicine at Stanford University, has worked on generating extracellular vesicles (EVs) containing mitochondria from pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes and administering these to restore the functionality of the myocardium in a porcine model of an infarct.

Drug Design, Drug Delivery & Technologies

Molecular changes reveal distinct phases in iPSCs that explain their pluripotency

June 21, 2023

By Mar de Miguel

Several developmental biology and regenerative medicine laboratories that use cellular reprogramming techniques presented their latest results on the differences in the states of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) during a Plenary Session on “Epigenetic regulation of distinct cell states” at the Annual Meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), in Boston from June 14 to 17, 2023.

Concept art for "cancer cells destroyed by oncogenic virus"

Immuno-oncology

Engineered stem cell immunotherapy to treat brain metastatic melanoma

June 12, 2023

A group of scientists from the Center for Stem Cell and Translational Immunotherapy, Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School have developed an antitumor immunotherapy that uses oncolytic viruses and stem cells for the treatment of metastatic brain melanoma.

3D illustration of the Anakinra molecular structure

Hematologic

Edited blood stem cells dampen disordered inflammation

June 8, 2023

By Anette Breindl

Researchers have ameliorated both monogenic and complex inflammation-driven diseases through transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells with an inserted IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA) gene. The team showed that in animal models the transplanted cells worked better than monoclonal antibodies to reduce symptoms in systemic autoinflammatory diseases (SAIDs), a group of childhood-onset, lifelong diseases that vary in severity depending on the underlying mutation, but can be life-threatening.

Genetic/Congenital

Ex vivo autologous gene therapy risk leaves room for improvement

May 22, 2023

By Mar de Miguel

Gene therapy technology makes it possible to select diseased or mutated cells from a patient, modify them in the laboratory and reintroduce them to the body to treat different disorders. This is known as ex vivo autologous gene therapy. The difference with allogeneic cell techniques is whether the donor is oneself (autologous) or a compatible person (allogeneic), which would provide healthy cells that do not need genetic modification.

Endocrine/Metabolic

Giving yeast cells aging indecision increases longevity

May 4, 2023

By Mar de Miguel

Cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a yeast used as a model for human mitosis, age in two ways. Both genomic instability and the decline of mitochondria cause cells to degenerate and die. The choice of one type or another depends on a network of genes that can be adjusted by bioengineering.