A promising new approach to the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has been discovered by a team of researchers. In their report, the investigators have identified a crucial dysfunction in blood cell development that underlies AML and show that inhibiting the action of a specific enzyme prompts the differentiation of leukemic cells, reducing their number and decreasing their ability to propagate...

A study in mice combining two inhibitor drugs for treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia has revealed potential for not only stopping the disease completely, but also significantly lowering the cost for treatment.

Researchers, by tracking a molecular marker that has been shown to increase in white blood cells as people age, have uncovered clues that suggest that stem cell transplant is linked to a marked increase in the ‘molecular age’ of these immune cells in a group of patients with blood cancer.

An easy and efficient way to coax human pluripotent stem cells to regenerate bone tissue has been identified by researchers: feed them adenosine, a naturally occurring molecule in the body. The stem-cell-derived bone tissue helped repair cranial bone defects in mice without developing tumors or causing infection. The work could lead to regenerative treatments for patients with critical bone defects...

Researchers have found a better way to purify liver cells made from induced pluripotent stem cells. This new methodology could facilitate progress toward an important clinical goal: the treatment of patients with disease-causing mutations in their livers by transplant of unmutated liver cells derived from their own stem cells.

Melatonin, a hormone produced in the human brain, appears to suppress the growth of breast cancer tumors. “This work establishes the principal by which cancer stem cell growth may be regulated by natural hormones, and provides an important new technique to screen chemicals for cancer-promoting effects, as well as identify potential new drugs for use in the clinic,” Trosko said. The brain...

By assigning a barcode to stem cells, researchers have made it possible to monitor large blood cell populations as well as individual blood cells, and study the changes over time. Among other things, they discovered that stem cells go through different stages where their ability to restore immune cells varies. The new findings provide important information for the research and treatment of leukemia...

A link between telomeres and a molecular signaling cascade called the Wnt pathway has been identified by researchers, which may point to a treatment option for dyskeratosis congenita patients. Dyskeratosis congenita, or DC, is a rare, inherited disease for which there are limited treatment options and no cure.

The researchers solved this problem by developing markers to label the cells of interest and then testing different enzymes and other reagents to draw them out of tissues. A new study in animal models, led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), suggests that the eye’s lacrimal glands can be repaired by injecting a kind of regenerative “progenitor” cell. The findings...

Scientists have found exciting, new functions of the protein angiogenin that play a significant role in the regulation of blood cell formation, important in bone marrow transplantation and recovery from radiation-induced bone marrow failure. Since current bone marrow transplantations have significant limitations, these discoveries may lead to important therapeutic interventions to help improve the...