(Press-News.org) Boston, Mass., Oct. 3, 2013 – In a paper in Cell Stem Cell, a team led by researchers in the Boston Children's Hospital's Stem Cell Transplantation Program reports a new approach for turning induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) into hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells for in vivo disease modeling.
With this strategy—which they call re-specification—the team, including Sergei Doulatov, PhD, and George Daley, MD, PhD, of Boston Children's, may have overcome technical barriers to generating blood disease-specific animal models from the thousands of iPSC cell lines now sitting in laboratory freezers around the world.
The main advantage of the technique lies in the raw material. The research team started with iPSCs that had already been directed to grow into myeloid progenitors, which are more closely related to the desired blood progenitors than skin or other fully differentiated cell types commonly used in stem cell experiments.
The researchers then used a select set of transcription factors to turn back the molecular clock just a little on these committed myeloid cells, turning them into blood progenitors that readily engrafted and differentiated when transplanted into mice.
The re-specification technique could help generate the large number of engraftable cells needed to create animal models from iPSCs generated from human patients suffering a range of blood disorders, such as anemias, thalassemia or sickle cell disease.
###
The study was supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer, Doris Duke Medical Foundation, the Helen Hay Whitney Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Boston Children's Hospital is home to the world's largest research enterprise based at a pediatric medical center, where its discoveries have benefited both children and adults since 1869. More than 1,100 scientists, including seven members of the National Academy of Sciences, 13 members of the Institute of Medicine and 14 members of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute comprise Boston Children's research community. Founded as a 20-bed hospital for children, Boston Children's today is a 395-bed comprehensive center for pediatric and adolescent health care grounded in the values of excellence in patient care and sensitivity to the complex needs and diversity of children and families. Boston Children's is also the primary pediatric teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. For more information about research and clinical innovation at Boston Children's, visit: http://vectorblog.org.
Researchers unveil method for creating 're-specified' stem cells for disease modeling
2013-10-03
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Old remedy shows promise as new chemo drug for bladder cancer
2013-10-03
MAYWOOD, Il. – An old home remedy called ipecac syrup, once stocked in medicine cabinets in case of accidental poisoning, is showing promise as a new chemotherapy drug for bladder cancer.
Years ago, ipecac syrup was used to induce vomiting in poisoning cases. Now a Loyola University Medical Center study has found that the active ingredient of ipecac syrup effectively inhibits the growth of bladder cancer cells, especially when combined with a standard chemotherapy drug.
The study by corresponding authors Kimberly Foreman, PhD, Gopal Gupta, MD, and colleagues is published ...
No kissing or singing in the rain
2013-10-03
Since remote times humans have been interested in the weather and have used different strategies to predict bad storms. Some of these strategies rely on the observation that in anticipation of storms, birds fly at low heights and cows lie down. Some people even claim to feel their bones ache. These and other similar accounts have been reported but not scientifically tested.
In a paper entitled Weather Forecasting by Insects: Modified Sexual Behaviour in Response to Atmospheric Pressure Changes, the group of Dr José Maurício Simões Bento at University of São Paulo (College ...
Insects modify mating behavior in anticipation of storms
2013-10-03
Insects modify calling and courting mating behavior in response to changes in air pressure, according to results published October 2 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Ana Cristina Pellegrino and José Maurício Bento, University of São Paulo, and colleagues from other institutions. The bugs' ability to predict adverse weather conditions may help them modify their mating behavior during high winds and rain, reducing risk of injury or even death.
Researchers studied mating behavior changes in the curcurbit beetle, the true armyworm moth, and the potato aphid under falling, ...
Depression may increase your risk of Parkinson's disease
2013-10-03
MINNEAPOLIS -- People who are depressed may have triple the risk of developing Parkinson's disease, according to a study published in the October 2, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
"Depression is linked in other studies to illnesses such as cancer and stroke," said study author Albert C. Yang, MD, PhD, with Taipei Veterans General Hospital in Taipei, Taiwan. "Our study suggests that depression may also be an independent risk factor for Parkinson's disease."
Researchers analyzed the medical records of 4,634 ...
Scientists find insect DEET receptors, develop safe alternatives to DEET
2013-10-03
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Insects are repelled by N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide, also known as DEET. But exactly which olfactory receptors insects use to sense DEET has eluded scientists for long.
Now researchers at the University of California, Riverside have identified these DEET-detecting olfactory receptors that cause the repellency — a major breakthrough in the field of olfaction.
Further, the team of researchers has identified three safe compounds that mimic DEET and could one day be used to prevent the transmission of deadly vector-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue, ...
International study shows efficacy of new gastric cancer drug
2013-10-03
Barcelona, 03 October 2013. This international trial, published in The Lancet, is one of the largest phase III trials in second-line treatment of gastric cancer. Standard care for advanced gastric cancer, known as first-line treatment, is based on chemotherapy, but it only offers a median survival of 8 to 10 months.
The trial investigated the use of ramucirumab, an antibody developed to treat solid tumours that targets Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-2 (VEGFR-2), a key receptor in the angiogenesis process. It showed that ramucirumab effectively inhibits a ...
Newly identified biomarkers help predict outcome in deadly lung disease
2013-10-03
New Haven, Conn. – A Yale-led study has identified a gene expression profile that can predict outcomes and lead to better treatment for one of the most lethal lung diseases, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The study appears in Science Translational Medicine.
IPF causes progressive scarring of the lungs, leading to cough, shortness of breath, and potentially death. In most cases, the cause cannot be identified, and there is no cure other than a lung transplant. While some patients experience a progressive course that leads to death within one to two years, others ...
Long-term cognitive impairment too common after critical illness
2013-10-03
Patients treated in intensive care units across the globe are entering their medical care with no evidence of cognitive impairment but oftentimes leaving with deficits similar to those seen in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) or mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) that persists for at least a year, according to a Vanderbilt study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The study, led by members of Vanderbilt's ICU Delirium and Cognitive Impairment Group, found that 74 percent of the 821 patients studied, all adults with respiratory failure, cardiogenic ...
High-dose statins reduce gum inflammation in heart disease patients
2013-10-03
WASHINGTON (Oct. 2, 2013) — Statins, commonly prescribed medications for lowering cholesterol, also reduced inflammation associated with gum disease in a new study published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The study suggests that steps taken to reduce gum disease may also reduce inflammation in the arteries and vice versa.
"Periodontal disease is characterized by chronic gum inflammation and affects approximately 50 percent of the U.S. adult population," said Ahmed Tawkol, MD, co-director of the Cardiac Imaging Trials Program at Massachusetts ...
McMaster lab develops new tuberculosis vaccine
2013-10-03
Hamilton, ON (Oct. 2, 2013) -- A tuberculosis vaccine developed at McMaster University offers new hopes for the global fight against tuberculosis.
"We are the first to have developed such a vaccine for tuberculosis," said Dr. Fiona Smaill, professor and chair of the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster. She led the phase one clinical study published today in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
The vaccine, based on a genetically modified cold virus, was developed in the lab of Zhou Xing, professor ...