Stem cells reach standard for use in drug development

Drug development for a range of conditions could be improved with stem cell technology that helps doctors predict the safety and the effectiveness of potential treatments

2013-06-11

(Press-News.org) Drug development for a range of conditions could be improved with stem cell technology that helps doctors predict the safety and the effectiveness of potential treatments.

Medical Research Council scientists at the University of Edinburgh have been able to generate cells in the laboratory that reach the gold standard required by the pharmaceutical industry to test drug safety.

The researchers used stem cell technology to generate liver cells – which help our bodies to process drugs.

They found that the cells were equally effective, reaching the same standard, as cells from human liver tissue currently used to assess drug safety.

These human cells used in drug testing are in short supply and vary considerably due to different donors. As a result they are not an ideal source for drug development.

The stem cell based technique developed in Edinburgh, addresses these issues by offering a renewable production of uniform liver cells in the laboratory.

Dr David Hay of the Medical Research Council (MRC) Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, said: "Differing genetic information plays a key role in how patients' livers process drugs. We are now able to efficiently produce human liver cells in the laboratory from different people which model the functional differences in human genetics."

Researchers hope to generate liver cells, containing different DNA to reflect the genetic variations in metabolism found in the population that could be used to help identify differences in response among patients to certain drugs. The laboratory-generated liver cells could also be used to screen certain drugs that need close monitoring, to optimise patient treatment.

Scientists are working with Edinburgh BioQuarter, with a view to forming a spin-out company to commercialise the research.

### The research is published in the journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine. It involved collaboration between the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, the MRC Centre for Inflammation Research and the School of Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh with Bristol-Myers Squibb.

The research received funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Edinburgh BioQuarter and in kind support from Bristol-Myers Squibb.

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

American Chemical Society podcast: The first caffeine-'addicted' bacteria

2013-06-11

The latest episode in the American Chemical Society's (ACS') award-winning Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions podcast series describes bacteria that are "addicted" to caffeine in a way that promises practical uses ranging from decontamination of wastewater to bioproduction of medications for asthma. Based on a report by Jeffrey Barrick, Ph.D., and colleagues in the journal ACS Synthetic Biology, the new podcast is available without charge at iTunes and from http://www.acs.org/globalchallenges. Some people may joke about living on caffeine, but scientists now have ...

Background mortality rates key to accurate reporting of vaccine safety risks

2013-06-11

San Diego, CA, June 11, 2013 – In a study using the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD), investigators analyzed four years of data and determined that background mortality rates (rates of death irrespective of cause) are crucial in interpreting the numbers of deaths following vaccination. The VSD mortality rate following immunization is lower than the general US population mortality rate, and the causes of death are similar. These background rates can be used in communications to the public about vaccine safety risks, reports the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Public ...

Why is my baby hospitalized? Many moms in under-developed countries don't know the answer

2013-06-11

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Mothers in low-income countries may not understand why their babies are hospitalized after delivery, putting sick newborns at higher risk of health problems and death after being released from the hospital, a new study shows. Forty percent of participating mothers in Ghana with sick infants had no understanding of why their child was in the hospital and another 28 percent had only partial understanding, according to the University of Michigan Health System study that appears in Paediatrics and International Child Health Journal. One-third of the women ...

Wood not so green a biofuel

2013-06-11

Using wood for energy is considered cleaner than fossil fuels, but a Dartmouth College-led study finds that logging may release large amounts of carbon stored in deep forest soils. The results appear in the journal Global Change Biology-Bioenergy: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcbb.12044/abstract Global atmospheric studies often don't consider carbon in deep (or mineral) soil because it is thought to be stable and unaffected by timber harvesting. But the Dartmouth findings show deep soil can play an important role in carbon emissions in clear-cutting and ...

Understanding the heart's rhythm

2013-06-11

The heart's regular rhythm is crucial to the delivery of oxygenated blood and nutrients to all the organs of the body. It is regulated by a bundle of cells called "the pacemaker," which use electrical signals to set the pace of the heart. Dysfunction in this mechanism can lead to an irregular heartbeat, known as arrhythmia, and often necessitates the implantation of an artificial pacemaker. Previously, scientists found that many cases of inherited arrhythmias originating in the pacemaker could be attributed to functional defects in the channels responsible for the flow ...

Fetal neuromaturation associated with mother's exposure to ddt and other environmental contaminants

2013-06-11

A study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has for the first time found that a mother's higher exposure to some common environmental contaminants was associated with more frequent and vigorous fetal motor activity. Some chemicals were also associated with fewer changes in fetal heart rate, which normally parallel fetal movements. The study of 50 pregnant women found detectable levels of organochlorines in all of the women participating in the study—including DDT, PCBs and other pesticides that have been banned from use for more than ...

How preferences of patients can be determined

2013-06-11

It is more important to patients suffering from depression that they show a noticeable response to treatment in the first place than being completely cured. It is exactly the opposite in physicians treating people with this disease: they consider remission to have higher priority than response. This is the result of a pilot project carried out by the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) together with external experts. Using the example of depression, IQWiG tested whether the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method is in principle suitable ...

You're so vain: U-M study links social media and narcissism

2013-06-11

ANN ARBOR—Facebook is a mirror and Twitter is a megaphone, according to a new University of Michigan study exploring how social media reflect and amplify the culture's growing levels of narcissism. The study, published online in Computers in Human Behavior, was conducted by U-M researchers Elliot Panek, Yioryos Nardis and Sara Konrath. "Among young adult college students, we found that those who scored higher in certain types of narcissism posted more often on Twitter," said Panek, who recently received his doctorate in communication studies from U-M and will join ...

Females fend off gut diseases

2013-06-11

EAST LANSING, Mich. --- At least among mice, females have innate protection from certain digestive conditions, according to a new Michigan State University study. While it's tricky to draw conclusions for human health, the findings could eventually help scientists better understand and treat the 1.4 million Americans suffering from inflammatory bowel diseases, or IBD. Crohn's disease and colitis, the two most common forms of IBD, involve abnormal functioning of the immune system that can damage the digestive tract, causing inflammation, diarrhea, constipation, abdominal ...

Telephone counseling plus physician advice key to motivating breast cancer survivors to exercise

2013-06-11

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Telephone-based counseling, when combined with physician advice, can help breast cancer survivors become more physically active, which can improve quality of life and lessen the side effects of cancer treatment, according to new research from The Miriam Hospital. Researchers say women who received exercise advice from their surgeon or oncologist, followed by three months of telephone support, reported 30 more minutes of physical activity per week than patients who received exercise advice and follow-up calls about their general health. The findings, ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

The Lancet: Plastic pollution is an underrecognised threat to health, experts warn as they launch a project to track plastics’ health impacts and monitor progress

The Lancet Countdown on Health and Plastics to track impact of plastic production and pollution on human health

Announcing The Lancet Countdown on Health and Plastics

Study unexpectedly finds living in rural, rather than urban environments in first five years of life could be a risk factor for developing type 1 diabetes