Professor Songtao Shi, principal investigator on the project, said the presence of hydrogen sulfide produced by the cells governs the flow of calcium ions. The essential ions activate a chain of cellular signals that results in osteogenesis, or the creation of new bone tissue, and keeps the breakdown of old bone tissue at a proper level. Story Source: Stem cells in bone marrow need to produce hydrogen...

“This study brings us back to the fundamental idea that there are many reasons that cancer cells can be aggressive,” explains senior author Bradley Bernstein, MD, PhD, of MGH Pathology and the MGH Cancer Center. “Just as normal cells with the same genome differentiate into many different cell types, a single tumor characterized by specific genetic mutations can contain many different...

The analysis appears in the April 8 issue of Neurology. Importantly, the effects of these cells on functional recovery were robust regardless of the dosage, the time the MSCs were administered relative to stroke onset or the method of administration. (The cells helped even if given a month after the event and whether introduced directly into the brain or injected via a blood vessel.) In an earlier...

Story Source: In the study, published this week in Science, the team demonstrated the method in mice in which the nerves that supply muscles in the hind legs were injured. They showed that the transplanted stem cell-derived motor neurons grew along the injured nerves to connect successfully with the paralyzed muscles, which could then be controlled by pulses of blue light. “We custom-tailored...

“We now know that a small group of pancreatic cancer stem cells are responsible for re-growing a tumor after therapy,” he said. “These stem cells are hardy and difficult to kill. Therefore, even if the bulk of the tumor has been killed after treatment, the pancreatic cancer stem cells remain and will eventually regrow a tumor and may even migrate to a different location in the body...

The research, “Combined hydrogels that switch human pluripotent stem cells from self-renewal to differentiation“ is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). “Our new combination of hydrogels is a first. It allows dense tissue structures to be produced from human pluripotent stem cells (HPSC) in a single step process never achieved before. The discovery...

Even when ALL cells made up 40 percent of the cell mixture being cultured, they were entirely eliminated in 26 days of culture. The above story is based on materials provided by Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Sadri-Ardekani performed the work with researchers at the University of Amsterdam and Avicenna Research Institute in Tehran, Iran, before...

Story Source: The novel approach of creating ‘mini hearts’ may help to solve a chronic widespread disease. Chronic venous insufficiency is one of the most pervasive diseases, particularly in developed countries. Its incidence can reach 20 to 30 percent in people over 50 years of age. It is also responsible for about 2 percent of health care costs in the United States. Additionally, sluggish...