More on Hwang and South Korea

More on Hwang and South Korea

Latest developments: Seoul National University will investigate the human cloning study. A Reuters story says that Hwang requested the study himself so as to put an end to speculation and doubt. The International Herald Tribune gives a different picture of this issue, not saying anything about whether or not Hwang requested the inquiry though it does discuss the scientific question (were the clones reported as being from multiple lines actually just from two?). An AP story in ABC News (Australian Broadcasting, not American) reports that Hwang left the hospital and returned to the lab, but was rehospitalized later. Chosun Ilbo reports that research has been impeded by Hwang’s absence from his lab.

New Drug Used In Stem Cell Transplantation

New Drug Used In Stem Cell Transplantation

The makers of the drug Mozobil issued a lengthy press release today describing the results of the drug in treatment of patients with cancer. The drug is designed to cause the stem cells in bone marrow to rapidly move into the blood stream.

The press release gives some useful information on stem cell transplantation, which I quote here:

Approximately 45,000 stem cell transplantations are performed yearly worldwide (IBMTR/ABMTR 2003). Stem cells used to be collected from patients using an invasive procedure called bone marrow transplant. This technique is now being replaced by a new procedure called peripheral blood stem cell transplant (PBSCT). In this procedure, stem cells are collected from the circulating blood for transplantation. Prior to collection, patients are given G-CSF which causes stem cells in the body to multiply. The objective of this procedure is to get as many stem cells as possible into the circulating blood where they can be collected.

The drug study was done in a compassionate use program, where patients can receive a promising drug for treatment prior to full FDA approval. (For more on compassionate use as related to cancer, and other cancer treatments, see http://www.cancerguide.org/offprotocol.html.) One part of cancer treatment is to collect blood stem cells prior to undergoing chemotherapy which suppresses the body’s ability to make blood cells. When the chemotherapy is concluded, the patients then receive their own previously collected blood stem cells back. The patients in this study were ones who had previously been unable to generate enough stem cells for successful post-chemo transplantation. Use of the drug Mozobil caused most of the patients (73%) to generate enough stem cells for collection.

Additionally, it is possible that the use of the drug helps the immune system recover faster after the transplant.

The press release has a lot of technical details and statistics if you are interested in knowing more.

Protein Identified in Heart Muscle Development

Protein Identified in Heart Muscle Development

An Austrian study has identified the protein SPARC as important to the formation of heart muscle tissue. The press release from the Austrian Science Fund says,

The protein has a significant effect on the activity of the genes that are responsible for the emergence of heart cells from initially undifferentiated embryonic stem cells. The results of this project, carried out at the Medical University of Vienna, may enable heart cells to be grown for use in cell therapy for heart attack patients.

The study was done on “embroid bodies,” which are aggregates of embryonic stem cells. When the embroid bodies were treated with the SPARC protein, they differentiated into heart muscle tissue more quickly than the ones not treated with the protein. The protein works by causing the expression of particular genes crucial to heart development.

Adult Stem Cells Used for Vascular Injury

Adult Stem Cells Used for Vascular Injury

This news is from a press release from the company (Aldagen, Inc.) that isolated the stem cells. So there is emphasis on the fact that their stem cells were used than what they did, although the study results are important.

At any rate, researchers transplanted adult stem cells derived from human bone marrow into mice who had had their femoral artery tied to reduce blood flow. The mice who were treated with the stem cells had improved blood flow and vascular function compared to the control group. The stem cell company is hoping to initiate clinical trials in about six months.