治疗白血病等血液病的最有效方法是造血干细胞移植，即寻找配型的骨髓或造血干细胞进行异体移植。然而，寻找配型骨髓十分困难，且存在免疫排斥反应和致瘤风险。
中国科学院生物物理研究所研究员、博士生导师殷勤伟带领的研究组经过多年探索，寻找到了一种将脂肪间充质干细胞向造血干细胞定向分化的技术方法。利用这种方法，取出白血病患者身体中10到20毫升脂肪，经过45天培育可获得足量的人工造血干细胞，再输回患者自身体内，即可达到相当于骨髓移植的治疗效果，且没有异体移植的免疫排斥风险。而且，利用这种方法也可以达到生产人造血浆的目的。
据了解，这种世界首创的新方法已进入临床试验阶段。研究人员期望，经过一至三年的试验改进，这种方法在血液病治疗中取得初步成果，并在未来五到十年获得普遍应用。
The scientists at the Genome Institute of Singapore and the Institute of Molecular Biology, both units of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, found that a specific type of stem cells in the lungs known as the distal airway stem cells (DASCs) are involved in forming new alveoli to replace and repair damaged lung tissue.
Alveoli are tiny air sacs in the lungs where oxygen and carbon dioxide are exchanged in the blood.
The research provides "a firm foundation for understanding lung regeneration," the agency said.
The team did the research by cloning adult stem cells taken from three different parts of the lungs, nasal epithelial stem cells, tracheal airway stem cells and distal airway stem cells.
Despite the three types of cells being nearly 99 percent genetically identical, the team made the surprising observation that only DASCs formed alveoli when cloned in vitro.
"We are the first researchers to demonstrate that adult stem cells are intrinsically committed and will only differentiate into the specific cell type they originated from," said Wa Xian, principal investigator at the Institute of Molecular Biology.
The research was jointly led by Wa and Frank McKeon from the Genome Institute of Singapore in collaboration with scientists at the National University of Singapore, and clinicians at the
天宫一号的成功发射，圆了古代中国的飞天梦。《西游记》里，众妖女想吃唐僧肉，为的是要独占唐僧美丽的干细胞，使自己更加抚媚，长生不老。在三国时代，老贼董卓天命之年，仍能驾驭美女貂蝉，后劲十足；其子吕布沉迷烟酒女色，仍能傲视群雄，力战三英，据说是靠喝童男童女的尿液，吸取其中的干细胞生长因子，消除疲劳，恢复精力。热衷韩式整形的高丽人，又悄悄从中国东北“进口”大量胚胎胶囊，用于保健养颜抗衰老。在东南亚的一些国家，新入伍的新兵，要为国家元首和元首夫人定期鲜血，其中的道理就是用年轻的细胞，代替老化的细胞，以健康的细胞修复病变的细胞，实现养生保健抗衰老的目的。
上个世纪末，由美国威斯康星大学科学家发明的胚胎干细胞技术，被权威的《时代》、《科学》杂志评为十大科技成果的首位。2009年1月13号，美国FDA批准将胚胎干细胞用于治疗临床脊髓损伤，同年3月9号，奥巴马发布针对干细胞研究的13505号行政令"Removing Barriers to Responsible Research Involving Human Stem Cells." ，人类进入了胚胎干细胞治疗的新时代。2009年11月17日，中美两国元首在北京发表联合声明，“双方同意就卫生健康领域进一步开展联合研究，包括干细胞联合研究等。”，开创了两国干细胞技术合作的新篇章。2009年3月，留美十年的国际著名干细胞治疗专家郭品正博士，携九项干细胞技术，在山东武圣生物科技有限公司，建立了我国第一个全数字化干细胞分离培养实验室；在解放军总医院（301医院）、美国太平洋医疗集团北京天坛普华医院、吉林大学联谊医院、浙江绿城医院开始干细胞的临床应用。
Stem cells extracted from human ovaries can be used to generate egg cells to be applied in infertility treatment, said researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital as quoted by media reports Monday.
Lead researcher Dr. Jonathan Tilly said: "The discovery of oocyte precursor cells in adult human ovaries, coupled with the fact that these cells share the same characteristic features of their mouse counterparts that produce fully functional eggs, opens the door for development of unprecedented technologies to overcome infertility in women and perhaps even delay the timing of ovarian failure."
According to the research team, a rooted belief is that women are born with a complement of egg cells that must last throughout life.
The research was funded largely by the National Institutes of Health in
Tilly co-founded a company, OvaScience Inc., trying to develop the findings into fertility treatments.
An American man living in
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
The intervention is very risky and potentially deadly. But doctors say that after three years, the so-called “
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.
Tags: Germany, HIV, US
Posted in "Europe"干细胞移植消除了男子的艾滋病毒
杭州蓝翔生物科技有限公司, 干细胞研究所 郭品正 翻译
生活在德国的美国男子似乎已经同时治愈了白血病和艾滋病病毒，他三年前为治疗白血病做了干细胞移植。
德国研究人员在医学杂志血液学上报告说，移植病人现在没有显示出有白血病或艾滋病毒的迹象，这表明已经通过（干细胞）移植治愈了。
但科学家警告说，此案不具备为全世界数百万患者的艾滋病毒治疗的实际意义。
医生说，干细胞捐献者有一种罕见的基因突变，突变能保护被感染艾滋病病毒。
病人，蒂莫西瑞布朗（Timothy Ray Brown），自身的免疫系统因大剂量的化疗而遭到削弱，已经停止了抗病毒疗法来治疗艾滋病。
2007年在柏林的医生对他进行了骨髓移植手术，使用的干细胞来自于对艾滋病毒有抵抗力的供体。
干预是非常危险和潜在致命的。但医生说，三年后，所谓的“柏林病人“没有显示出任何艾滋病毒或白血病的痕迹。
艾滋病毒的研究说，即使该程序是太危险了，不能得到广泛的应用；但它给了希望—治愈艾滋病毒感染方法可以找到。
标签：德国，艾滋病病毒，美国
张贴在欧洲
标签：德国，艾滋病病毒，美国
张贴在“欧洲”
Elderly mice restored to middle age
Jessica Berman |
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
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.
