康盛人生臍帶血庫 9月份講座

萬能幹胞製人工心肌 為「人工心臟」鋪路

港大李嘉誠醫學院幹細胞及再生醫學研究組總監李登偉及其研究團隊，獲研資局撥款6000萬元，利用5年時間研發「萬能幹細胞」製造「人工心臟」技術和安全性，為未來將「人工心臟」移植至人體鋪路。（尹錦恩攝）

為「人工心臟」鋪路

【明報專訊】研資局早前撥出約2.5億元作主題研 究，其中6000萬元撥作研究「萬能幹細胞複製人類心臟」。項目統籌港大李嘉誠醫學院幹細胞及再生醫學研究組總監李登偉指出，現已可透過培育「萬能幹細 胞」，以一個月時間製造出一條直徑1毫米的心肌，期望利用5年時間加強研究，為長遠製造首個「人工心臟」並移植人體鋪路。

李登偉說，人體器官各由不同細胞組成，其中腦部和心臟細胞無法增生。以心臟為例，若病人患上中風、心血管閉塞等疾病，將導致大量心臟細胞壞死，令其他細胞的工作量大增導致心衰竭，理論上只有器官移植才能根治問題，因此近年科學家致力研究「人工心臟」。

獲6000萬元研發

過 去10年，科學界利用病人的皮膚抽取細胞，培育出人工誘導的「萬能幹細胞」，並將之培育成不同器官的細胞。李登偉說，最新技術已成功將1000萬個心肌細 胞，利用生物工程技術，將細胞放入預先準備的「生物框架」，將細胞整齊排列並固定位置，砌成一條長幾毫米、直徑1毫米的心肌，並與正常心肌一樣可收縮心跳 及傳送心電；連同培育細胞的時間，約需1個月才能製造一條心肌。

他表示，現時成功在實驗室製造心肌，不等於已可造出「人工心臟」，以及立即移植至人體，「今次希望能解決製造『人工心臟』的一連串問題，包括研究如何確保人工心臟移植入人體後不會出現排斥問題，以至『人工心臟』的耐用性、安全可靠度等」。

研究團隊正着手設計「人工心臟」的藍圖，包括如何大規模培育不同器官的細胞，以至將細胞排列成器官亦是一大難題，研究團隊將在研究過程中改善現有儀器，甚至研發新儀器解決大量生產的問題。

現時幹細胞治療法只有骨髓移植一種，其他所謂幹細胞仍未廣為醫學界認同。李登偉估計，單是通過美國食品及藥物管理局審批，可能需時5至10年，現階段難以評估實際何時有望應用在人體身上。

資料來源: 明報, 新浪網 (2011年7月27日)

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Lab-made organ implanted for first time

This is the artificial trachea, covered in the patient's cells.

(CNN) -- For the first time, a patient has received a synthetic windpipe that was created in a lab with the patient's own stem cells and without using human donor tissue, researchers said Thursday.

Previous lab-generated transplants either used a segment of donor windpipe or involved tissue only, not an organ.

In a laboratory in London, scientists created a trachea, which is a tube-like airway that connects at the voice box and branches into both lungs.
On June 9, doctors implanted this synthetic windpipe into a 36-year-old man with late-stage tracheal cancer at Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm. The patient is doing well and is expected to be released from the hospital Friday, said Dr. Paolo Macchiarini, professor of regenerative medicine there.

Tracheal cancers are extremely rare, accounting for less than 1% of all cancers.
After the patient's initial diagnosis in 2008, he had exhausted every treatment available, including chemotherapy, radiation and surgery, Macchiarini said. The patient, an Eritrean who had been studying in Iceland, is the subject of a BBC documentary airing Thursday in Sweden.
His tumor had almost blocked his windpipe, doctors said.

Rather than waiting for a transplant, his doctors suggested growing an organ. Scientists created a Y-shaped framework for the new trachea, modeling it after the specific shape of the patient's windpipe.

The form was made of polymers that had a spongy and flexible texture. Stiff rings around the tube mimicked the structure of a human trachea.

The form was then bathed in a solution containing the patient's stem cells "to get the cells to grow on the sponge material," said David Green, president of Harvard Bioscience. Stem cells can divide and turn into a range of cell types, including those in organs.

His company worked on the stem cell solution, which is seen as a pink liquid in the photo at left. The purpose was to "seed" the synthetic windpipe -- as you would seed a new lawn -- to grow on the structure.

"Stem cells from the own patient were growing inside and outside," Macchiarini said. "This structure was becoming a living structure."

The stem cells were given physical or chemical cues to create the desired type, Green said.
Once the cells were thriving on the form, the artificial trachea was implanted into the patient.
His body accepted the new trachea, and he even had a cough reflex two days after the surgery, Macchiarini said.
Three years ago, Macchiarini made headlines by implanting an artificial trachea created from donor tissue combined with stem cells from the recipient, Claudia Castillo, whose windpipe had been damaged by tuberculosis.

"The results were quite good, but unfortunately we were still dependent" on organ donation, which can take months, Macchiarini said.

Creating the synthetic structure for the trachea in the current case took 10 to 12 days, compared with waiting months for an organ donor, Macchiarini said.

Earlier this year, regenerative medicine scientists at Wake Forest University School of Medicine reported that they had engineered five urethras between March 2004 and July 2007.

They had used a small piece of each patient's own tissue from the bladder, then grew the cells in a lab onto a mesh scaffold shaped like a urethra.

This area of research remains somewhat controversial in medicine, because critics say this could lead to human cloning.

But Macchiarini said making these first artificial organs viable in patients opens doors for future transplants through the relatively new field of regenerative medicine.

"It's a beautiful international collaboration," he said about the recent effort that involved doctors and researches in Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. "If scientists and clinicians work together, we can help humanity."

Source: CNN, 7th July 2011

Study gives hope to patients with genetic disease

Aussie study brings hope to a Templeton family
AMY CLASS

Anahera Inns, 4, with baby brother Tiaki aged
4 months. Blood from his umbilical cord
may one day help Anahera'scystic fibrosis.

Templeton toddler Anahera Inns endures a daily fight to rid her lungs of thick, sticky mucus.

Anahera has cystic fibrosis (CF), a genetic lung disease that cannot be cured.

However, a University of Melbourne faculty of medicine study aims to prove that stem-cell-rich umbilical cord blood can treat cystic fibrosis by regenerating lung cells.

Melbourne University medical genetics professor Bob Williamson said the project would eventually use

sibling's cord blood to treat children with cystic fibrosis (CF).

"Sibling cord blood has a one-in-four chance of being a perfect match that will not be rejected by the immune system of the child living with CF," he said.

Progress was slow, since it was essential to prove cells were safe to use in the lung, but the research was "positive", he said. However, a breakthrough on the research could be several years away.

New Zealand cord-blood stem-cell banking facility CordBank had since offered free sibling cord-blood banking to families who had a child with CF, he said.

"Because CordBank has come on board with the project, we are ensuring that affected families are banking precious sibling cord blood now, so they are ready when a breakthrough comes."

With the assistance of CordBank, the Inns family was able to collect the cord blood from Anahara's youngest brother, Tiaki, who was born in February.

The family were given free collection and storage for the next 18 years.

The blood is collected after a baby is born, before the mother's placenta is delivered. It must be transported to Auckland quickly for processing and storage.

So far, seven New Zealand families have taken up the CordBank offer.

Cystic Fibrosis Association of New Zealand chief executive Kate Russell said cystic fibrosis "is an expensive illness and families with a CF child can be placed under severe financial strain".

"People would be surprised at what the Government does not fund in terms of the most basic medical equipment and support for these families," she said.

Cecileah Inns said her daughter had "as normal a life as possible".
The toddler endured vigorous physiotherapy and was nebulised daily to help with lung drainage, she said.

"She's articulate and brave - a right little character. She doesn't know any different."
Anahera enjoyed being a "bossy" big sister to her brothers Mika, 3, and Tiaki, four months, neither of whom has cystic fibrosis.

 Source: The Press, 4th July, 2011

 

Jun 16, 2011

First patients enroll in US stem cell trials on blindness

WASHINGTON - THE first clinical trials that examine the use of stem cells to treat two forms of blindness are ready to begin now that patients have been enrolled, a US company announced on Thursday.

A total of 24 patients have entered two separate trials at an eye institute in California, said representatives from the Massachusetts-based Advanced Cell Technology.

ACT was cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration several months ago to begin clinical trials of human embryonic stem cells to treat a form of juvenile blindness known as Stargardt's disease and dry age-related macular degeneration.

Now that patients have been enrolled, the trials aim to check the safety of the treatment before moving on to see whether the therapy can help stop vision loss.

'These trials mark a significant step toward addressing what is one of the largest unmet medical needs of our time, treatments for otherwise untreatable and common forms of legal blindness,' said lead investigator Steven Schwartz at University of California Los Angeles Jules Stein Eye Institute.

Dry age-related macular degeneration is the most common form of irreversible vision loss in people over age 55. There is currently no cure for the disease, which affects around 10 to 15 million Americans and another 10 million people in Europe, the company said. -- AFP

 Source: The Strait Times, 16 Jun 2011

CordLife首宗臍帶血幹細胞治療腦麻痺女童Georgia訪港

本港每 1,000名初生嬰兒中，就有一至兩人因大腦受損患上腦麻痹，影響身體活動及肌肉協調，嚴重者更會因併發症死亡。腦麻痹是不治之症，以往只可靠藥物或手術 紓緩肌肉痙攣情況；近年外國臨床研究發現，將臍帶血注入患者體內，可製造幹細胞刺激腦神經細胞系統，甚至可以修復受損位置，改善腦麻痹引發的症狀。　記 者：袁慧妍

澳洲籍的小女孩 Georgia今年四歲，因母親生產時不順利，導致腦部缺氧，腦組織受損，出生後證實患上腦麻痹。她因為不能控制四肢肌肉，故身體經常抽搐，一日可發作多 達 50次，並出現嚴重的食道逆流。 Georgia的母親 Louise憶述，女兒出生初期經常手腳僵硬，因身體疼痛，終日大哭；對光線、聲音也很敏感，更無法集中精神進行物理治療。

Louise稱，得知 女兒病情後十分徬徨，後來有腦科醫生建議嘗試用臍帶血醫治腦麻痹，她決定放手一博，「幸好為 Georgia儲存了臍帶血，那時只當買一份特別的保險，沒想過會有用」。兩年前 Georgia獲安排到新加坡接受治療，成為新加坡首宗用臍帶血幹細胞治療腦麻痹個案。治療後兩個月其情況已有改善，懂得控制頭部，比以前開朗，也會嘗試 跟着音樂發出不同聲音，現在更是一名愛笑好動的小女孩。

Georgia的治療過程是將臍帶血以靜脈注射方式，由手臂注射入體內，過程約需半小時。一般情況下，可於 6至 12個月內見成效，但療效可以更早出現。中大醫學院腦外科也計劃開展本地的臍帶血治療腦麻痹研究。

或可治療腦退化

港大人類幹細胞中央培植室首席科學主 任陳國強表示，當臍帶血幹細胞進入需要治療的位置時，會轉化成所需的細胞，協助修復傷患處，甚至刺激本來的細胞生長， 05年至今全球有逾百名腦麻痹患者，成功接受臍帶血治療；美國有臨床報告顯示，未來臍帶血有望用作治療腦退化症及柏金遜症。

資料來源: 蘋果日報 (2011年6月13日)