An American man living in Germany appears to have been free of both leukemia and the virus that causes AIDS since he had a stem cell transplant for his leukemia three years ago.
German researchers report in the medical journal Blood that the transplant patient now shows no sign of having leukemia or HIV, suggesting that the transplant cured him.
But scientists warn that the case does not have practical implications for the treatment of millions of HIV patients worldwide.
Doctors say that the stem cell donor had a rare gene mutation that protects him from being infected with the AIDS virus.
The patient, Timothy Ray Brown, had his own immune system weakened by high doses of chemo-therapy and had stopped anti-viral therapy to treat AIDS.
In 2007 a doctor in Berlin performed a bone marrow transplant on him, using stem cells from the HIV resistant donor.
The intervention is very risky and potentially deadly. But doctors say that after three years, the so-called “Berlin patient” shows no trace of either HIV or leukemia.
HIV researches say even though the procedure is too dangerous and therefore not widely applicable, it gives hope that a cure for HIV infections can be found.
Harvard scientists say they were able to reverse signs of aging in mice by tweaking a gene which protects cells from the harmful, cumulative effects associated with growing old.
Scientists say they have reversed age-related degeneration in mice, resulting in an improvement in the rodents' fertility and the growth of new brain tissue. But it could be some time before the technique might be used in humans.
Fountain of youth
Scientists at HarvardUniversity's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston report they were able to reverse signs of aging in mice by tweaking a gene that protects cells from the harmful, cumulative effects associated with growing old.
The gene is involved in the production of structures at the tips of DNA chromosomes called telomeres.
Telomeres are like the plastic caps on the ends of shoe laces that keep them from becoming frayed. In the case of chromosomes, the telomeres protect the strands of DNA from environmental assaults such as chemical and radiation exposure.
But every time a cell divides, its telemeres shorten, eventually leading to DNA damage and aging.
In studies with mice, researchers switched off the telomerase gene and watched the rodents rapidly develop age-related impairments.
Eternally young?
However, when they turned the genes back on on, the animals' declines reversed.
"Their fertility was restored. We also saw a big effect on the lining of the intestines and as well as in the brain, which was a little bit unexpected," says lead researcher Mariela Jaskelioff. "We actually saw a decrease in the size of the brains of these mice with premature aging. And we could reverse these by reactivating telomerase."
The mice in the study were at an age equivalent of an 80- or 90-year-old human. Researchers restored them to middle age by turning on the telomerase gene.
Despite the encouraging results, the genetic manipulation is not the secret to eternal youth for humans. Jaskelioff says the telomerase gene is involved in the growth of both normal and cancerous cells.
"The fear is that in humans, adult humans, we accumulate mutations all through our lifetimes," she says. "And if we were to reactivate telomerase in cells that have malignant mutations, then the propensity to develop cancer would probably be exacerbated."
However, according to Jaskelioff, it might be possible to stimulate the telomerase gene for short periods of time in people with a rare disorder which causes premature aging.
Scientists describe how they reversed aging in mice in an article published in the journal Nature Medicine.
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 12 -- Men with type 1 diabetes ( juvenile onset diabetes) may be able to grow their own insulin- producing cells from their testicular tissue, a new study suggests.
The research was conducted by Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC), according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), which published the study findings on Sunday.
The research team took one gram of tissue from human testes and produced about 1 million stem cells in the laboratory. These cells showed many of the biological markers that characterize normal beta islet cells.
They then transplanted those cells into the back of immune deficient diabetic mice, and were able to decrease glucose levels in the mice for about a week, demonstrating the cells were producing enough insulin to reduce hyperglycemia.
While the effect lasted only week, newer research has shown the yield can be substantially increased, said the study's lead investigator, G. Ian Gallicano, Ph.D.
The researchers accomplished this feat without use of any of the extra genes now employed in most labs to turn adult stem cells into a tissue of choice, according to the report.
The study is a proof of principle that human spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) extracted from testicular tissue can morph into insulin-secreting beta islet cells normally found in the pancreas, the report said.
"No stem cells, adult or embryonic, have been induced to secrete enough insulin yet to cure diabetes in humans, but we know SSCs have the potential to do what we want them to do, and we know how to improve their yield," said Gallicano, an associate professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Director of the Transgenic Core Facility at GUMC.
Given continuing progress, Gallicano said his strategy could provide a unique solution to treatment of individuals with type 1 diabetes.
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Asians are beginning to warm up to the idea of using their own stem cells to treat a host of illnesses such as heart disease, cystic fibrosis or leukemia. Some parents are preserving their babies' umbilical cords, hoping that as technology advances their children can use the umbilical blood to cure future illnesses.
It is a nightmare for parents to hear their child has developed a disease that requires a bone marrow transplant. For instance, patients with leukemia, a type of blood cancer, sometimes have a hard time finding a bone marrow match.
Scientists say the umbilical cord that attaches a baby to its mother is a rich source of stem cells, which can treat diseases like leukemia. They can be collected immediately after birth and stored in freezers by companies such as Cordlife, which operates cord blood banks in Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, India and the Philippines. If a child needs it, doctors can retrieve cord blood for treatment.
"We're seeing an explosion umbilical cord blood banking as a source of biological insurance for parents in Asia and their children," said Andrew Wu, Cordlife's technical and laboratory director.
Scientists around the world are finding new ways to use cord blood stem cells to treat problems such as spinal cord damage, diabetes, cerebral palsy and heart disease.
At Cordlife, parents pay about $4,000 to keep their children's cord blood for 18 years.
"I'm most excited to see the use of stem cell in therapy becoming a standard of care, where clinicians when they look at a disease would ask, 'What's my stem cell option in terms of therapy? How I can look to stem cells to treat this disease or regenerate this organ or to combat this tumor?'" Wu said.
Asia appears striding toward the use of stem cells for treatment.
Dr. Supachai Chaithiraphan, a professor emeritus of Thailand's Mahidol University and director of the cardiac center at Chao Phya hospital in Bangkok, conducted a clinical trial in 2004 that injected stem cells derived from human blood to treat people with end-stage heart disease.
"Eighty percent showed improvement in terms of New York Heart Association classification and also the Canadian [Cardiac Society] angina classification. So we feel that this group of patients can derive benefit from their own stem cell therapy," Supachai said.
In Asia, there are fewer regulations regarding the use of stem cells than in the United States, which encourages research and clinical uses.
In the U.S., the use of stem cells has been controversial because of ethical concerns over the use of embryonic stem cells - derived from early-stage embryos that develop from human eggs fertilized in a laboratory. Under President Bush, the government limited funding to a few batches of stem cell lines. But the Obama administration has since relaxed those rules.
However, cord blood storage appears to be increasing in the U.S. A new national cord blood bank has been established at Duke University in the state of North Carolina.
Some practitioners, such as Wu worry that Asia's lax regulations may lead to inflated expectations and false promises.
"A lot still needs to go into building this understanding and building appropriate regulations around the use of these stem cells so that the industry as a whole can develop within a legal framework that not only benefits the companies but most importantly benefits the clinicians and the patients at the end of the day," Wu said.
Poor medical facilities in some developing Asian nations also hold back use of stem cells.
But Supachai says in time, stem cell therapy will be more accessible.
"I would foresee that in the near future more doctors would come to realize that this cell therapy is really of help to certain number of patients with certain diseases, in particular heart disease," Supachai said.
The World Health Organization estimates that about 20 million people worldwide will die from cardiovascular disease annually by 2015. The number of people in developing nations suffering from heart disease is expected to rise as incomes increase.
