Minneapolis, MN - Old school immunology divided responses into Th1 (inflammatory, intracellular responses) and Th2 (antibody mediated, extracellular responses). Classical autoimmune diseases such as Type 1 Diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis were considered primarily Th1 type diseases. More recently, the "dogma" of Th1/Th2 immunity has been subjected to numerous...
Kyoto, Japan – The concept of each tissue containing resident stem cells is not new. For example, it is known that in the liver, hepatic epithelial cells expressing common markers for hepatic and stem cells such as CD90, CD44 and CD29 act as precursors, capable of generating new hepatic tissue following injury (Khuu et al. Epithelial cells...
Stockholm, Sweden - Otitis media (ear infection) occurs in many young children and sometimes results in perforation of the tympanic membrane. Although surgical treatments are available for perforated membranes, these are quite painful. In a recent study embryonic stem cells were used to accelerate healing of experimentally damaged tympanic membranes (Rahman et al. Healing time, long-term...
Seoul, Korea - Mesenchymal stem cells are utilized primarily for treatment of inflammatory conditions, for example the 2 clinical trials by Osiris therapeutics that are currently in Phase III are both treating graft versus host disease and Crohn's Disease...inflammatory conditions. The potent ability of mesenchymal stem cells to assist in tissue healing through...
Seoul, Korea - Despite introduction of phosphodiesterase V inhibitors such as Viagra for the treatment of erectile dysfunction, many patients remain unresponsive due to underlying endothelial and/or smooth muscle abnormalities in the corpus cavernosum and vessels supplying it. Mesenchymal stem cells offer the possibility of treatment for erecticle dysfunction due to their ability to...
Milan, Italy - Stem cells are currently being considered for numerous conditions afflicting humanity. Stem cell therapy of cancer is very interesting since it offers two possibilities: The first to use the stem cells as a "trojan horse" to carry a toxic payload to the tumor; and the second, to use the stem cell to produce factors that would induce the tumor to differentiate so as to lose...
Naples, Italy - Since the majority of chronic human diseases are associated with multifactorial causes and multifactorial mechanisms, the ability of a monotherapeutic intervention to evoke long term benefit seems, at least theoretically, not realistic. The field of therapeutic angiogenesis has often been critized for the utilization of only single angiogeneic approaches clinically, while in...
Genoa, Italy - The ability of mesenchymal stem cells to suppress immune response is well known. However, the mechanisms associated with such immune suppression are still being elucidated. While it is known that mesenchymal stem cells are clinically effective at inhibiting graft versus host disease, the mechanism of this activity may...
Genoa, Italy - As more and more clinical data emerges in the area of stem cells, there will come a time when the medical community starts to appreciate aspects of stem cells that have little to do with regeneration. One such aspect is the ability of stem cells to perform functions such as immune modulation. A recent study (Gerdoni et al. Mesenchymal stem cells effectively modulate...
Atlanta, Georgia - There are currently numerous clinics utilizing stem cell therapies for a wide variety of indications ranging from ALS to autism. These stem cells are usually cord blood derived, or autologous bone marrow cells. Although little mechanistic work has been performed, the clinical use of stem cells is associated with patients having favorable...