Potential use of Excellagen to repair prenatally diagnosed birth defects using mesenchymal stem cells

Main Category: Stem Cell Research
Article Date: 14 Aug 2013 - 2:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Potential use of Excellagen to repair prenatally diagnosed birth defects using mesenchymal stem cells

Cardium Therapeutics has reported on a research collaboration with researchers at Boston Children's Hospital, to assess the medical utility of Excellagen® as a delivery scaffold to seed autologous mesenchymal fetal stem cells for ex-vivo engineering of tissue grafts for transplantation into infants to repair prenatally diagnosed birth defects.

Autologous mesenchymal fetal stem cells are derived prenatally from infants with a medical defect requiring life-saving tissue repairs. These stem cells are sourced from amniotic fluid, the placenta or umbilical cord blood. The stem cells are then seeded into a scaffold to promote the growth of an engineered tissue graft. These grafts will potentially be used to surgically repair, either in the fetus or immediately following birth, certain prenatally diagnosed birth defects that could include congenital diaphragmatic hernia, tracheal and chest wall defects, bladder extrophy and various cardiac anomalies. Preliminary pre-clinical research has confirmed that Excellagen collagen homogenate maintains mesenchymal fetal stem cell viability. Additional proof of concept studies are currently underway.

"Boston Children's team has made remarkable progress in the field of tissue regeneration and surgical repair of prenatally diagnosed congenital defects. We believe that Excellagen has an opportunity serve as a delivery platform in the field of stem cell therapy and we look forward to continuing to work with the Boston Children's team to help make their innovative therapeutic vision a new standard of care, and potentially advance stem cell therapies toward commercialization," stated Christopher J. Reinhard, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cardium. "Excellagen was specifically designed to support advanced biologics and this new application further highlights its potential versatility as an important delivery agent for a variety of innovative therapeutic applications."

Cardium's FDA-cleared Excellagen is an aseptically-manufactured, quaternary fibrillar Type I bovine collagen homogenate that is configured into a staggered array of three-dimensional, triple helical, telopeptide-deleted, tropocollagen molecules. This linear array forms a flowable, biocompatible and bioactive structural matrix that can promote chemotaxis, cellular adhesion, migration and proliferation to stimulate tissue formation. The Excellagen homogenate represents a new product delivery platform that allows for the potential development of a portfolio of advanced tissue regeneration therapeutic opportunities that could include anti-infectives, antibiotics, peptides, proteins, small molecules, DNA, stem cells, differentiated cells and conditioned cell media.

Excellagen is a syringe-based, professional-use, pharmaceutically-formulated 2.6% fibrillar Type I bovine collagen homogenate that functions as an acellular biological modulator to activate the wound healing process and significantly accelerate the growth of granulation tissue. Excellagen's FDA clearance provides for very broad labeling including partial and full-thickness wounds, pressure ulcers, venous ulcers, diabetic ulcers, chronic vascular ulcers, tunneled/undermined wounds, surgical wounds (donor sites/graft, post-Mohs surgery, post-laser surgery, podiatric, wound dehiscence), trauma wounds (abrasions, lacerations, second-degree burns and skin tears) and draining wounds. Excellagen is intended for professional use following standard debridement procedures in the presence of blood cells and platelets, which are involved with the release of endogenous growth factors. Excellagen's unique fibrillar Type I bovine collagen homogenate formulation is topically applied through easy-to-control, pre-filled, sterile, single-use syringes and is designed for application at only one-week intervals.

There have been important, positive findings reported by physicians using Excellagen as part of Cardium's physician sampling, patient outreach and market "seeding" programs. In several case studies, physicians reported a rapid onset of the growth of granulation tissue in a wide array of wounds, including non-healing diabetic foot ulcers (consistent with the results of Cardium's Matrix clinical study), as well as pressure ulcers, venous ulcers and Mohs surgical wounds. In certain cases, rapid granulation tissue growth and wound closure have been achieved with Excellagen following unsuccessful treatment with other advanced wound care approaches. From a dermatology perspective, a previously unexplored vertical market, remarkable healing responses have been observed following Mohs surgery for patients diagnosed with squamous and basal cell carcinomas, including deep surgical wounds extending to the periosteum (a membrane that lines the outer surface of bones). Additionally, because of the easy-use and platelet activating capacity, physicians have been employing Excellagen in severe non-healing wounds at near-amputation status, in combination with autologous platelet-rich plasma therapy and collagen sheet products. These case studies and positive physician feedback provide additional support of Excellagen's potential utility as an important new tool to help promote the wound healing process. Excellagen case studies are available at http://www.excellagen.com/surgical-wounds.html.

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.
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Liver function regenerated and survival extended in mice with hepatic failure using human stem cell-derived hepatocytes

Main Category: Liver Disease / Hepatitis
Also Included In: Stem Cell Research
Article Date: 30 Jul 2013 - 0:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Liver function regenerated and survival extended in mice with hepatic failure using human stem cell-derived hepatocytes

Researchers have generated functional hepatocytes from human stem cells, transplanted them into mice with acute liver injury, and shown the ability of these stem-cell derived human liver cells to function normally and increase survival of the treated animals. This promising advance in the development of cell-based therapies to treat liver failure resulting from injury or disease relied on the development of scalable, reproducible methods to produce stem cell-derived hepatocytes in bioreactors, as described in an article in Stem Cells and Development, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Stem Cells and Development website.

Massoud Vosough and coauthors demonstrate a large-scale, integrated manufacturing strategy for generating functional hepatocytes in a single suspension culture grown in a scalable stirred bioreactor. In the article "Generation of Functional Hepatocyte-Like Cells from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells in a Scalable Suspension Culture" the authors describe the method used for scale-up, differentiation of the pluripotent stem cells into liver cells, and characterization and purification of the hepatocytes based on their physiological properties and the expression of liver cell biomarkers.

David C. Hay, MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University of Edinburgh, U.K., comments on the importance of Vosough et al.'s contribution to the scientific literature in his editorial in Stem Cells and Development entitled "Rapid and Scalable Human Stem Cell Differentiation: Now in 3D." The researchers "developed a system for mass manufacture of stem cell derived hepatocytes in numbers that would be useful for clinical application," creating possibilities for future "immune matched cell based therapies," says Hay. Such approaches could be used to correct mutated genes in stem cell populations prior to differentiation and transplantation, he adds.

"The elephant in the room for stem cell therapy rarely even acknowledged let alone addressed in the literature is that of scalable production of cells for translational application," says Editor-in-Chief Graham C. Parker, PhD, research professor, Carman and Ann Adams Department of Pediatrics, Wayne State University School of Medicine. "Baharvand's groups' landmark publication not only demonstrates but exquisitely describes the methodology required to scale up stem cell populations for clinical application with a rigor to satisfy necessary manufacturing standards."

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Liebert, Mary Ann. "Liver function regenerated and survival extended in mice with hepatic failure using human stem cell-derived hepatocytes." Medical News Today. MediLexicon, Intl., 30 Jul. 2013. Web.
30 Jul. 2013. APA

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'Liver function regenerated and survival extended in mice with hepatic failure using human stem cell-derived hepatocytes'

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Using The 80:20 Rule For Your Physical Fitness

Definition: The 80/20 Rule

The 80/20 rule can also be acknowledged as the Pareto Principle or Pareto's Law. This rule essentially describes the 80% of the outcome produced from your 20% effort.

Using 80/20 for Heath

If this involves your physical fitness, the Pareto Principle only denotes your 80% of health, weight reduction, and performance originated from your 20% of dieting and exercise. The 80% creation of your wellbeing depends on your 20% lifestyle modification efforts.

The 20% input is essential to keep the body healthy and fit. This principle trained us that achieving health can be done for everyone as lengthy once we focus our 20% in our time and effort to attain it. It may be a simple factor to attain when we concentrate on small things that may affect our wellness considerably.

The 80/20 Rule to Diet

It's possible to use the 80/20 rule to diet by concentrating on food habits that may greatly affect their own health. Including counting the amount you eat, selecting the correct quantity of food to eat or perhaps constraint yourself from night time snack. The Pareto Principle shows you to definitely be conscious with the foods you eat since the 20% effort of calorie counting will greatly lead for your 80% weight reduction.

Diet is important to wellness. The 80% of the body's health originates from the 20% consumption of healthy meals and well-balanced diet.

The 80/20 Rule to workout

Busy and also have virtually no time for exercise? Many people see exercise as something difficult to maintain due to hectic schedule and busy existence. The 80/20 rule can best solution your dilemma. Based on this rule you can begin using the 20% of the effort. Add a good 20-half an hour exercise in your daily programs. Wish to lose individuals belly fats? Then start concentrating on abs exercises. Spend couple of minutes to complete crunches. It's easy to realize your 80% final results are weight reduction and flat tummy.

Achieving a sculpted is possible whenever you apply this rule inside your exercises and day to day activities.

Although you will find lots of things to consider if this involves health, the 80/20 rule can help you cope with specific factors which has important effect around the totality from the outcome. Ease your worry by concentrating on the little things that may create large alternation in your state of health. Remember, your 20% lifestyle habits will lead for your 80% of all around health.

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