StemCell Therapy

A veterinary physician, colloquially called a vet, shortened from veterinarian (American English, Australian English) or veterinary surgeon (British English), is a professional who practices veterinary medicine by treating disease, disorder, and injury in non-human animals.

In many countries, the local nomenclature for a veterinarian is a regulated and protected term, meaning that members of the public without the prerequisite qualifications and/or licensure are not able to use the title. In many cases, the activities that may be undertaken by a veterinarian (such as treatment of illness or surgery in animals) are restricted only to those professionals who are registered as a veterinarian. For instance, in the United Kingdom, as in other jurisdictions, animal treatment may only be performed by registered veterinary physicians (with a few designated exceptions, such as paraveterinary workers), and it is illegal for any person who is not registered to call themselves a veterinarian or prescribe any treatment.

Most veterinary physicians work in clinical settings, treating animals directly. These veterinarians may be involved in a general practice, treating animals of all types; they may be specialized in a specific group of animals such as companion animals, livestock, zoo animals or equines; or may specialize in a narrow medical discipline such as surgery, dermatology or internal medicine.

As with other healthcare professionals, veterinarians face ethical decisions about the care of their patients. Current debates within the profession include the ethics of certain procedures believed to be purely cosmetic or unnecessary for behavioral issues, such as declawing of cats, docking of tails, cropping of ears and debarking on dogs.

The word veterinary comes from the Latin veterinae meaning "working animals". "Veterinarian" was first used in print by Thomas Browne in 1646.[1]

The term "veterinarian" is used in North America and other countries using predominantly American English, whereas in the United Kingdom, and countries which are formerly part of the British Empire or are part of the Commonwealth of Nations tend to use the term veterinary surgeon.[citation needed]

The first veterinary college was founded in Lyon, France in 1762 by Claude Bourgelat.[2] According to Lupton, after observing the devastation being caused by cattle plague to the French herds, Bourgelat devoted his time to seeking out a remedy. This resulted in his founding a veterinary college in Lyon in 1761, from which establishment he dispatched students to combat the disease; in a short time, the plague was stayed and the health of stock restored, through the assistance rendered to agriculture by veterinary science and art."[3]

The Odiham Agricultural Society was founded in 1783 in England to promote agriculture and industry,[4] and played an important role in the foundation of the veterinary profession in Britain.[5] A 1785 Society meeting resolved to "promote the study of Farriery upon rational scientific principles.

The professionalization of the veterinary trade was finally achieved in 1790, through the campaigning of Granville Penn, who persuaded the Frenchman, Benoit Vial de St. Bel to accept the professorship of the newly established Veterinary College in London.[4] The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons was established by royal charter in 1844.

Veterinary science came of age in the late 19th century, with notable contributions from Sir John McFadyean, credited by many as having been the founder of modern Veterinary research.[6]

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Veterinary physician - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ranked third in the nation among colleges of veterinary medicine by U.S. News & World Report, NC States College of Veterinary Medicine is a driving force in veterinary innovation. From our leadership in understanding and defining the interconnections between animal and human health, to groundbreaking research in areas like equine health, and our commitment to training the next generation of veterinary health professionals, we are dedicated to advancing animal and human health from the cellular level through entire ecosystems.

Learn more about what we do

The following article by Tracey Peake, reprinted from The Abstract: NC States research blog,concerns research by neurobiologist Troy Ghashghaei of the Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences in NC States College of Veterinary Medicine.

A common protein, when produced by specialized barrier cells in the brain, could help protect the brain from damage due to aging. This protein MARCKS may act as both a bouncer and a housekeeping service, by helping clear away proteins and keeping the cell barrier intact, and its absence in these cells weakens their ability to serve as a barrier and transport system for cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the brain.

Your brain doesnt just sit in your skull like play-doh in its plastic case. Its surrounded and cushioned by CSF, a clear, colorless fluid produced in the brain that circulates nutrients and chemicals taken from blood throughout the brain. CSF also removes waste products and sends them back out to the bloodstream for disposal.

Like blood, CSF only circulates through certain channels. Ependymal cells are the specialized cells that serve as both the barrier to keep the CSF running through its channels and as the transport system that moves various molecules between the brain and the CSF.

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NC State College of Veterinary Medicine

New Shelter Medicine Program Goes Mobile in Surgery Unit

Cats and dogs in several Kansas communities are getting help to become more adoptable thanks to free surgeries provided by Kansas State University veterinary students involved in a new shelter medicine rotation. Started during summer 2015, the new two-week shelter medicine rotation introduces fourth-year veterinary students to the specialty by spending ten-days on the road visiting around seven shelters, which may have different missions and levels of resources.

This months issue of the official newsletter of the Beef Cattle Institute includes the following stories and more: International Food Group Tours Kansas Feedlots, Graduate Student Receives Top Award, BCI Cofounds Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, plus a Producer Spotlight, Rural Practitioner and current research profile.

Learn how the KSVDL and CEEZAD are taking on efforts to contain canine and avian influenza viruses with tests and vaccines; discover the new study being conducted by the Center for Outcomes Research and Education supported by a USDA grant, and see how an alumnus Dr. Kelly Lechtenberg helped support the Center of Excellence for Vector-Borne Diseases with a gift of BSL-2 laboratory space. All this and more in this months issue.

A U.S. patent has been awarded to a Kansas State University technology that quickly detects the early stages of cancer before physical symptoms ever appear. Dr. Deryl L. Troyer, professor of anatomy and physiology collaborated with Dr. Stefan H. Bossmann, professor of chemistry; and Dr. Matthew Basel, postdoctoral fellow in anatomy and physiology, in developing a nanoplatform technology to detect human cancer cells and tumors in the beginning stages.

Mosquito season is arriving early thanks to recent weather patterns, which means it's time to start prevention measures a little sooner not only for humans, but also for susceptible pets. "Our weather patterns have been quite abrupt and with the moisture that we've had, coupled with the really warm temperatures, mosquitoes are really taking off," said Dr. Elizabeth Davis, professor and section head of equine medicine and surgery.

The College of Veterinary Medicine Announces its Class of 2019 -

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College of Veterinary Medicine | Kansas State University

"Animal hospital" redirects here. For the BBC television show, see Animal Hospital.

Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, disorder and injury in animals other than humans. The scope of veterinary medicine is wide, covering all animal species, both domesticated and wild, with a wide range of conditions which can affect different species.

Veterinary medicine is widely practiced, both with and without professional supervision. Professional care is most often led by a veterinary physician (also known as a vet, veterinary surgeon or veterinarian), but also by paraveterinary workers such as veterinary nurses or technicians. This can be augmented by other paraprofessionals with specific specialisms such as animal physiotherapy or dentistry, and species relevant roles such as farriers.

Veterinary science helps human health through the monitoring and control of zoonotic disease (infectious disease transmitted from non-human animals to humans), food safety, and indirectly through human applications from basic medical research. They also help to maintain food supply through livestock health monitoring and treatment, and mental health by keeping pets healthy and long living. Veterinary scientists often collaborate with epidemiologists, and other health or natural scientists depending on type of work. Ethically, veterinarians are usually obliged to look after animal welfare.

The Egyptian Papyrus of Kahun (1900 BCE) and Vedic literature in ancient India offer one of the first written records of veterinary medicine. (See also Shalihotra) ( Buddhism) First Buddhist Emperor of India edicts of Asoka reads: "Everywhere King Piyadasi (Asoka) made two kinds of medicine () available, medicine for people and medicine for animals. Where there were no healing herbs for people and animals, he ordered that they be bought and planted."

The first attempts to organize and regulate the practice of treating animals tended to focus on horses because of their economic significance. In the Middle Ages from around 475 CE, farriers combined their work in horseshoeing with the more general task of "horse doctoring". In 1356, the Lord Mayor of London, concerned at the poor standard of care given to horses in the city, requested that all farriers operating within a seven-mile radius of the City of London form a "fellowship" to regulate and improve their practices. This ultimately led to the establishment of the Worshipful Company of Farriers in 1674.[3]

Meanwhile, Carlo Ruini's book Anatomia del Cavallo, (Anatomy of the Horse) was published in 1598. It was the first comprehensive treatise on the anatomy of a non-human species.[4]

,

The first veterinary college was founded in Lyon, France in 1762, by Claude Bourgelat.[5] According to Lupton, after observing the devastation being caused by cattle plague to the French herds, Bourgelat devoted his time to seeking out a remedy. This resulted in his founding a veterinary college in Lyon in 1761, from which establishment he dispatched students to combat the disease; in a short time, the plague was stayed and the health of stock restored, through the assistance rendered to agriculture by veterinary science and art."[6]

The Odiham Agricultural Society was founded in 1783, in England to promote agriculture and industry,[7] and played an important role in the foundation of the veterinary profession in Britain. A founding member, Thomas Burgess, began to take up the cause of animal welfare and campaign for the more humane treatment of sick animals.[8] A 1785 Society meeting resolved to "promote the study of Farriery upon rational scientific principles.

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Veterinary medicine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You can view a list of potential veterinary career paths here.

Whether they're pets, livestock or working animals, animals matter to individuals and society. Every community needs veterinary professionals to provide animal health care, but veterinarians also do many other kinds of jobs. They make sure the nation's food supply is safe. They work to control the spread of diseases. They conduct research that helps both animals and humans. Veterinarians are at the forefront of protecting the public's health and welfare.

Besides medical skills, veterinarians often take a holistic approach to human well-being and animal welfare that, combined with communications and problem-solving skills, makes veterinarians uniquely qualified to fulfill a variety of roles. Many veterinarians, of course, provide care for companion animals through private medical practices, but veterinarians are also involved in promoting the health and welfare of farm animals, exotic animals, working animals (like those in the equine industry), and those that need a healthy environment in which to thrive, whether that environment is a rain forest, a desert or even the ocean.

Outside of companion animal practice, the largest employer of veterinarians in the United States is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service, but veterinarians are found throughout government in roles where they contribute to public health, the environment, and even homeland security, as well as working in research and public policy.

Many veterinarians are engaged in work at the intersection of both human and animal health. For example, veterinarians play an important role in food safety, where epidemiological research is crucial to forecasting the threat of food-borne diseases and outbreaks. They work to keep cattle and other food animals healthy by developing and testing various farm control methods that help to detect, limit, and prevent the spread of food that might be contaminated by salmonella, E coli or other pathogens. And theyre often on the front lines of surveillance where their extensive medical training can help them to detect and treat the outbreak of diseases that have the potential to make the jump from animals to humans.

Unmet needs for veterinary expertise exist in some sectors of veterinary medicine, such as public health, biomedical research, and food safety. To help address the lack of veterinarians in biomedical research, the AAVMC is a co-sponsor of the Merial Veterinary Scholars Program. The program's mission is to expose veterinary medical students in their first or second year of veterinary school to biomedical research and career opportunities in research. The program culminates in the Merial NIH National Veterinary Scholars Symposium, where veterinary students participating in the program gather from all over the United States and Canada to present their research findings and share experiences from their various programs.

Learn more about how to embark on a path that will lead to a veterinary medical career on our Students, Applicants and Advisors portal.

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Careers in Veterinary Medicine

Stem Cell Popularity in Veterinary Medicine (Frank Reilly)
At the 2013 International Hoof-Care Summit in Cincinnati, Ohio, Frank Reilly, DVM, discusses the popularity behind stem cells.

By: AFJTV

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Stem Cell Popularity in Veterinary Medicine (Frank Reilly) - Video

Stem Cells the Nephilim Chuck Missler 2 6
From:Jesus IsraelViews:1 0ratingsTime:10:01More inNews Politics

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Stem Cells the Nephilim Chuck Missler 2 6 - Video

Stem Cells the Nephilim Chuck Missler 1 6
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SCMOM 2012_AlloSource
AlloSource, a non-profit organization, offers more than 200 types of precise bone, skin, soft-tissue and custom-machined allografts for use in life-saving and life-enhancing medical procedures. The world #39;s leader in fresh cartilage tissue and skin allografts, the company developed a cleansing process for fresh tissue grafts that does not destroy live cells. Most recently, AlloSource created a technique to recover mesenchymal stem cells from cadaveric adipose tissue, which led to the development of its own stem cell product, AlloStem® Stem Cell Bone Growth Substitute. AlloSource is registered with the FDA, accredited by the American Association of Tissue Banks and is compliant with all applicable state regulations and with the ISO 9001:2008 standard. http://www.allosource.org Presenter: Kevin Cmunt, Executive Vice President, AlloSourceFrom:AllianceRegenMedViews:2 1ratingsTime:14:35More inScience Technology

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SCMOM 2012_DiscGenics
DiscGenics trade; is a development stage spinal therapeutics company using adult human disc-derived stem cells and tissue engineering techniques to treat patients debilitated by degenerative disc disease (DDD). Back pain is the second most common reason to visit one #39;s doctor, and costs an estimated $100 billion in diagnosis, management, and lost productivity each year. From our patented culture method comes the Discophere trade;, a therapeutic cluster of stem/progenitor cells that have been shown to differentiate and excrete the biological components needed to regenerate an intervertebral disc. http://www.discgenics.com Presenter: Flagg Flanagan, CEO, DiscGenicsFrom:AllianceRegenMedViews:4 1ratingsTime:10:00More inScience Technology

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SCMOM 2012_Juventas Therapeutics
Juventas Therapeutics is a privately held, clinical-stage biotechnology company developing factor-based regenerative therapies to treat life-threatening diseases. The company #39;s lead product, JVS-100 encodes Stromal cell-Derived Factor-1 (SDF-1) which has been shown to protect and repair tissue following ischemic injury by recruiting the body #39;s own stem cells to the damaged tissue, preventing cell death and promoting new blood vessel growth. Through activating natural stem cell based repair pathways within the patient, we eliminate the cost and complexity associated with current cellular therapies. Juventas is currently enrolling two Phase II clinical trials to test therapy efficacy in heart failure and critical limb ischemia patients. http://www.juventasinc.com Presenter: Rahul Aras, President and CEO, Juventas TherapeuticsFrom:AllianceRegenMedViews:10 1ratingsTime:15:10More inScience Technology

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Public release date: 15-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Veronika Sexl veronika.sexl@vetmeduni.ac.at 43-125-077-2910 University of Veterinary Medicine -- Vienna

So-called Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma (ALCL) is even less attractive in real life than it is on paper. It is a highly aggressive type of lymphoma that generally occurs in children and young adults and that has to date proven extremely difficult to treat. It has long been known that ALCL patients frequently show a genetic alteration (a translocation) that causes expression of nucleophosmin-anaplastic lymphoma kinase (NPM-ALK), a gene known to be capable of giving rise to cancer. But how the NPM-ALK gene works has to date remained largely a matter of conjecture.

Working in a mouse model for lymphoma, Karoline Kollmann in Veronika Sexl's group at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna and colleagues in the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Cancer Research and the Medical University of Vienna were able to show that the development of lymphoma is absolutely dependent on the "Platelet derived growth factor receptor B" (PDGFRB), a protein already associated with the growth of other types of tumour. They demonstrated that the effect was direct, with NPM-ALK stimulating the production of the transcription factors JUN and JUNB, which bind to and activate the PDGFRB promoter. And importantly they were able to show that inhibition of PDGFRB with the drug imatinib was able to extend dramatically the survival of mice with this kind of lymphoma.

In human patients, ALCL is traditionally treated with crizotinib, a drug that directly inhibits the NPM-ALK protein. The major problem is that the patients tend to relapse and their chances of survival are extremely poor. Based on the results from the imatinib tests in mice it seemed conceivable that the use of this drug might improve the prognosis of patients who do not or no longer respond to crizotinib therapy. The scientists obtained ethical approval and informed consent to attempt imatinib treatment of an ALCL patient who had not responded to conventional chemotherapy and had relapsed after transplantation of stem cells. Remarkably, the patient improved immediately upon imatinib treatment: after ten days he was in complete remission and he is still alive and again working 22 months later.

The idea of inhibiting PDGFRB in ALCL is novel and potentially of great therapeutic importance. Kollmann is naturally extremely excited by the implications of the results. "The patient had essentially run out of options and would have died a long time ago. But thanks to the indications from our mouse work that inhibiting PDGFRB could prevent growth of this type of tumour he is still alive. This new type of therapy could significantly prolong patient survival."

Intriguingly, the researchers have also found that PDGRFB is also present in ALCL patients without the translocation that leads to NPM-ALK expression. Whether the PDGRFB protein is required for the development of tumours in such patients is not yet clear but it is possible that a combined crizotinib / imatinib therapy might be more widely applicable, providing hope for patients suffering from other types of lymphoma.

The paper "Identification of PDGFR blockade as a rational and highly effective therapy for NPM-ALK driven lymphomas" by Daniela Laimer, Helmut Dolznig, Karoline Kollmann, Paul W. Vesely, Michaela Schlederer, Olaf Merkel, Ana-Iris Schiefer, Melanie R. Hassler, Susi Heider, Lena Amenitsch, Christiane Thallinger, Philipp B. Staber, Ingrid Simonitsch-Klupp, Matthias Artaker, Sabine Lagger, Stefano Pileri, Pier Paolo Piccaluga, Peter Valent, Katia Messana, Indira Landra, Thomas Weichhart, Sylvia Knapp, Medhat Shehata, Maria Todaro, Veronika Sexl, Gerald Hfler, Roberto Piva, Enzo Medico, Bruce A. Riggeri, Mangeng Cheng, Robert Eferl, Gerda Egger, Josef M. Penninger, Ulrich Jaeger, Richard Moriggl, Giorgio Inghirami and Lukas Kenner is published in the current issue of "Nature Medicine". The first four authors contributed equally to the work.

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Abstract of the scientific article online (full text for a fee or with a subscription): http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nm.2966

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Of mice and men

GREEN BAY, WI--A breakthrough in veterinary medicine In Green Bay. Two dogs recover amazingly well after receiving stem cell transplants at Packerland Veterinary Center two months ago. They are the first vet clinic in Wisconsin to perform the procedure.

It's a story that gives hope to pet owners all over the country. Stem cells are taken out of the dog's fatty tissue, harvested, then injected into problem areas leaving the dogs completely healed.

"We couldn't take him on walks. He just laid around a lot," said German Shepherd, DeNiro's owner, Keith Noskowiak.

"We'd hear whimpering overnight. She'd take a few steps and she would sit down," said Luther Kortbein, Shadow's owner, another German Shepherd.

But now the dogs have a whole new life. Until two months ago. DeNiro suffered from severe arthritis.

Shadow. suffered from hip dysplasia. The owners were at their wits end. DeNiro's thought he may even have to put his beloved German Shepherd down.

"We felt we had a decision to make with his quality of life and being in pain we didn't want him to be in pain," said Noskowiak.

Shadow's owner was willing to try anything to cure her.

"Whatever the cost needed to get this done we were willing to do," said Kortbein.

Then Packerland Veterinary Center offered them stem cell therapy. The dog's own stem cells are extracted, then injected back into the bloodstream joints.

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New Procedure Saves Dogs Lives

With its world-renowned biomedical engineering program, School of Medicine and School of Veterinary Medicine, the University of California, Davis, brings a constellation of expertise to bear on the field of bone regeneration and repair.

Here are some of the UC Davis scientists engaged in bone-repair research:

Professor A. Hari Reddi holds the Lawrence Ellison Chair in Orthopedics at UC Davis. He has studied bone regeneration for more than 40 years and joined the faculty at UC Davis in 1997. His laboratory at the National Institutes of Health was the first to purify bone morphogenetic protein in the 1980s. His laboratory is studying the role of bone morphogenetic proteins in tissue engineering and regeneration of articular cartilage, with an eye toward helping patients with osteoarthritis. Although initially thought of in relation to bone, these proteins are now shown to be involved in brain, cartilage, kidney, lung, tooth and nerve differentiation as well as in heat regulation and iron metabolism, Reddi says. He has proposed changing the name to "body morphogenetic proteins" in view of their versatile role in the human body.

"BMPs are one of the most exciting chapters in modern developmental biology," he says.

More information: http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/ctrr/research/reddi.html

Understanding the healing and regeneration of cartilage is the aim of the Musculoskeletal Bioengineering Laboratory led by Professor Kyriacos Athanasiou, chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at UC Davis. Cartilage forms the hard covering at the ends of bones. Tissues such as the knee meniscus have to deal with demanding loads but show little or no ability to regenerate by themselves.

Athanasiou's lab aims to understand the healing processes of cartilage, and to augment those processes through tissue engineering. Their approach uses both biomechanical techniques and bioactive agents and signals. They are also interested in stem cell technologies to repair cartilage and connective tissue.

The team has partnered with surgeons at the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital to regrow jawbones for dogs that have lost part of their jaw due to cancer or injury. The technique uses a sponge-like scaffolding impregnated with bone morphogenetic protein, which is inserted into the space where the bone was removed. The growth-promoting protein stimulates the dogs remaining jawbone to grow new bone cells, eventually filling the entire defect and integrating with the native bone.

More information: http://www.bme.ucdavis.edu/athanasioulab/

Kent Leach, associate professor of biomedical engineering, is working with matrix materials that encourage the growth of new bone from stem cells. With funding from The Hartwell Foundation, he is working on treatments that could be used in babies with craniosynostosis, a condition where the bones of the skull fuse too early. In a project funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, Leach is studying a gel-like matrix that can be seeded with adult stem cells from fat and used to heal bone fractures more rapidly.

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Bone repair research at UC Davis

Public release date: 24-Apr-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Dr Boris Kovacic Boris.Kovacic@vetmeduni.ac.at 43-125-077-5622 University of Veterinary Medicine -- Vienna

Although people generally talk about "cancer", it is clear that the disease occurs in a bewildering variety of forms. Even single groups of cancers, such as those of the white blood cells, may show widely differing properties. How do the various cancers arise and what factors determine their progression? Clues to these two issues, at least for leukaemias, have now been provided by Boris Kovacic and colleagues at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna (Vetmeduni Vienna). The results are published in the current issue of the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine and have extremely important consequences for the treatment of a particularly aggressive type of leukaemia.

It is well known that many types of cancer arise as a result of a mutation within a cell and prevailing wisdom has held that the stage of differentiation of this cell determines exactly what form of cancer develops. For example, it was believed that so-called chronic myeloid leukaemia or CML arises from bone marrow stem cells, while a different type of leukaemia, known as B-cell acute lymphoid leukaemia or B-ALL, results from B-cell precursors. This belief has been spectacularly refuted by the latest results from Boris Kovacic and colleagues in the Vetmeduni Vienna's institutes of Animal Breeding and Genetics and of Pharmacology and Toxicology.

The researchers have now shown that both CML and B-ALL arise from the most primordial kind of blood cell (long-term haematopoietic stem cells), although the pathways by which the diseases progress are different. The usual causes of CML and B-ALL are two highly related versions of the same oncogene, BCR/ABL. If the primordial blood cells are transformed or made potentially cancerous by a particular version of BCR/ABL, for technical reasons termed BCR/ABLp210, the result is chronic myeloid leukaemia or CML. The long-term haematopoietic stem cells remain and act as the dreaded cancer stem cells, or CSCs, which ensure that the disease persists. Curing chronic myeloid leukaemia requires the complete elimination of the CSCs. However, if the long-term haematopoietic stem cells are transformed by a related version of BCR/ABL, BCR/ABLp185, the result is a highly aggressive form of leukaemia, B-ALL. The finding that B-ALL actually originates from the same stem cells as CML was both unexpected and highly provocative.

Kovacic and colleagues have shown further that B-ALL only develops if the transformed stem cell is exposed to a particular growth factor, interleukin-7. If interleukin-7 is present (it usually is), the transformed long-term haematopoietic stem cells undergo a differentiation step to CSCs, which in this case correspond to pro-B cells. If interleukin-7 is absent during the initial phase of transformation, B-ALL cannot develop.

In other words, two distinct types of cell are involved in leukaemia development, the primordial cells (also termed the cells of origin of cancer) and the cancer stem cells that cause the disease to progress. Unless the CSCs are eliminated, fresh cancer cells can arise at any time and the leukaemia will recur. The problem is that current leukaemia therapies are not designed to target CSCs. The primordial CSCs in CML are highly quiescent and thus difficult to target. In contrast, the CSCs in B-ALL are abundant and have a high turnover rate, which makes them susceptible to treatment. Treatment of B-ALL may thus succeed in eliminating most CSCs but if even a single cell remains intact it is likely that the patient will relapse, possibly with an even more aggressive form of leukaemia. "A therapy that targets the bulk of tumour cells will not work," as Kovacic succinctly summarizes his results. "To treat B-ALL successfully it will be necessary for us to learn much more about the development of the disease. A combined therapy is required, so future work should aim at developing drugs that target the long-term haematopoietic stem cells from which B-ALL is derived."

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The paper "Diverging fates of cells of origin in acute and chronic leukemia" by Boris Kovacic, Andrea Hoelbl, Gabriele Litos, Memetcan Alacakaptan, Christian Schuster, Katrin M. Fischhuber, Marc A. Kerenyi, Gabriele Stengl, Richard Moriggl, Veronika Sexl and the late Hartmut Beug is published in the current issue of the journal "EMBO Molecular Medicine" (2012, Vol. 4 pp. 283-297).

The work was initiated at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) and was performed together with groups at the Medical University of Vienna and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Cancer Research in Vienna.

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Leukaemia cells have a remembrance of things past

Public release date: 28-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Evan Lerner elerner@upenn.edu 215-573-6604 University of Pennsylvania

PHILADELPHIA Treatments for childhood cancers are increasingly successful with cure rates approaching 80%, but success often comes with a downside for the surviving men: the cancer treatments they received as boys can leave them sterile as adults. Now, a research team led by Ralph Brinster of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine has completed a 14-year experiment that gives hope for a technique that could restore their fertility.

Brinster is the Richard King Mellon Professor of Reproductive Physiology at Penn Vet and was recently awarded the National Medal of Science for his lifetime of research on the genetics of the mammalian germline, the cells that give rise to sperm and eggs.

In his most recent research, Brinster collaborated with fellow members of the Department of Animal Biology at Penn Vet, with members of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at Penn's Perelman School of Medicine and with the Penn Bioinformatics Core.

Their study was published in the journal Human Reproduction.

For males, fertility begins with spermatogonial stem cells, which are present at birth, embedded in the basement membrane of the testes' seminiferous tubules. As a boy approaches puberty, these cells begin to make daughter cells that eventually become sperm. While they normally continue this process throughout a post-pubescent man's life, factors like radiation and chemotherapy drugs can destroy them, rendering him sterile.

About 1 in 3 boys surviving childhood cancer will be in danger of having severely decreased fertility as an adult; as many as 1 in 5,000 men of reproductive age currently suffer this serious quality-of-life problem as a result. Adult men who undergo cancer treatment that might damage their fertility can preemptively freeze their sperm, an option not available to pre-pubescent boys. But if a sample of a boy's spermatogonial stem cells could be extracted and preserved before cancer treatment and re-implanted after the boy reached adulthood, this fertility problem could be circumvented.

"There are a number of places, including at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia," Brinster said, "that are already freezing cells for patients to use later, with the expectation that the necessary culture system and implantation techniques will be developed. A logical question for patients to ask is, How do we know that, after 10 years or more of being stored, these cells are any good? That's what our study addresses."

The techniques for extracting these cells and re-implanting them have been developed, so a critical question for researchers was whether spermatogonial stem cells could survive the decade-plus period they might need to remain frozen.

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Penn research points to new way of preserving fertility for boys undergoing cancer treatment

24-02-2012 17:04 Dr.Mark Newkirk is once again on the cutting edge of medicine. Newkirk Family Veterinarians now offer STEM CELL THERAPY for pets. Dr. Mark Newkirk combines traditional medicine and surgery with Holistic Alternatives to access the best of both worlds. As a Veterinarian, Dr. Newkirk has been serving Southern New Jersey for over 25 years. He is extensively trained in medicine and surgery and also is skilled in the care of exotic pets such as reptiles and birds. Dr. Newkirk is also one of only 5 doctors in the country currently undergoing training by the nationally renowned Dr. Martin Goldstein, the author of "The Nature of Animal Healing", and founder of immuno-augmentative therapy for animals, a true alternative cancer therapy. Dr. Newkirk is a member of American Holistic Veterinary Medical Society, the American Veterinary Medical Association, New Jersey Veterinary Medical Association and the Colorado Veterinary Medical Association. For more information check out Stem Cell Therapy on The Animal Planet's dogs 101 http://www.youtube.com

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Stem Cell Therapy at Newkirk Family Veterinarians - Hunter's Story - Video

Scientists grow a rat lung in the laboratory

By LAURAN NEERGAARD (AP) – 4 days ago

WASHINGTON — It's an early step toward one day building new lungs: Yale University researchers took apart and regrew a rat's lung, and then transplanted it and watched it breathe.

The lung stayed in place only for an hour or two, as the scientists measured it exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide much like a regular lung — but also spotted some problems that will take more research to fix.

Still, the work is a step in the science fiction-sounding hunt for ways to regenerate damaged lungs — although lead researcher Dr. Laura Niklason cautions that it may be 20 or 25 years before a build-a-new-organ approach is ready for people.

The work was reported online Thursday in the journal Science.

Nearly 400,000 people die of lung diseases each year in the U.S. alone, according to the American Lung Association, and lung transplants are far too rare to offer much help.

But how to replicate these spongy organs? Niklason's team stripped an adult rat's lung down to its basic structural support system — its scaffolding — to see if it's possible to rebuild rather than starting completely from scratch.

First, they essentially washed away the different kinds of cells lining that lung. It gradually faded from a healthy red to a white structure of mostly collagen and other connective tissue that maintained the shape and stretchiness of the original lung, even the tubes where airways would be.

This scaffolding is like a universal donor that shouldn't pose rejection problems, said Niklason: "Your collagen and my collagen are identical."

The researchers put the lung scaffolding into a bioreactor, an incubator-style container designed to mimic the environment in which fetal lungs develop, with fluid pumping through them.

Then they injected a mixture of different lung cells taken from a newborn rat. In the bioreactor, those cells somehow migrated to the right spots and grew air sacs, airways and blood vessels.

In short-term implants in four different rats, engineered lungs replaced one of the animals' native lungs and proved 95 percent as efficient at exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide, Niklason said.

However, among the problems she spotted were small clots that formed inside the engineered lung, a sign that the new cells hadn't grown a thick enough cover in some places.

The biggest challenge: For this approach ever to work without a person's body rejecting the new tissue, scientists would need to use a recipient's own cells, Niklason explained. But there isn't a way yet to cull the kind of personalized stem cells that would be needed, meaning stem cell research must improve first, she said.

This overall approach also worked in a 2008 University of Minnesota experiment that grew a beating rat heart, and Minnesota researcher Dr. Doris Taylor welcomed the Yale lung work.

Separately in Science, a Harvard University team coated a flexible chip with layers of living lung cells, creating a laboratory tool that mimics some of the action of a breathing human lung. The goal: To replace some of the animal studies needed to test how lungs react to environmental toxins or inhaled drugs.

Online: http://www.sciencemag.org

At three years old, Justin, a German Shepherd-cross, seems too young to be afflicted with osteoarthritis.

But his early life, marred by abuse, left Justin with arthritis, hip dysplasia, flesh-eating disease and a cracked molar. “He is a big mess. A lot of people would euthanize him, but I don’t want to give up on him,” said Jamie Lee, a Vancouverite who adopted Justin nine months ago from an animal rescue group.

The mission to relieve Justin’s pain brought Ms. Lee to the frontier of veterinary medicine: stem-cell therapy.

It’s one of the holistic practices, including raw food, acupuncture and massage, showcased at The Petnership Project Tradeshow and Lecture Series in Vancouver on Saturday.

Justin broke one of his legs as a puppy, but his owners never took him to the vet. The injury resulted in osteoarthritis that spread to his other limbs.

The specialist said they could try an implant to relieve the pain, but there was a high risk that failure could lead to amputation, Ms. Lee said.

Instead, Ms. Lee decided to try an innovative treatment called stem-cell therapy, a procedure that extracts cells from the animal’s fat and moves them into the injured area to jump-start healing.

The procedure took less than 48 hours, even though the fat was shipped to a San Diego-based company called Vet-Stem. The company extracts cells from the fat tissue and sends back a needle to be inserted into the pet’s source of pain.

Ms. Lee said Justin’s mobility has gradually increased by 50 per cent after the surgery. Now the pooch, who could barely walk, can stroll for an easy 30 minutes.

But pain relief doesn’t come cheap: Ms. Lee spent around $4,000 to get treatment for all four of Justin’s joints.

The average treatment cost runs between $1,200 and $1,500, said Loridawn Fawcett of Vancouver’s The Healing Place, who advised Justin’s treatment. The treatment only has to be done once, unless there is a new injury, she said.

Results can take up to three months, said Dr. Fawcett, adding the success rate is 80 per cent.

Most dogs have the therapy to treat arthritis, but it can help heal fractures, tendon-ligament injuries and liver disease, said Dr. Fawcett.

This therapy goes beyond stem-cell treatments available for humans in Canada, which require adult stem cells to be taken from a donor’s bone marrow. Research into whether humans can successfully harvest and use their own stem cells for regenerative therapy is ongoing, but is not yet approved.

While it may be exciting, Thomas Koch of the Ontario Veterinary College cautions the science behind the therapy is not proven. The cells may have a therapeutic effect, he said, but scientists don’t know exactly how or why.

“The marketing is trumping the science and it’s obviously feeding off the hope and hype in the whole area of regenerative medicine,” said Dr. Koch. Still, the procedure seems safe in terms of infection because patients are receiving their own cells, he said, adding that there is still a risk people are paying for ineffective therapy.

It was worth it for Justin, said Ms. Lee.

She advises other pet owners considering the option to do some research, get a full blood test and consult with their vet about whether stem cell therapy is the right choice for their pet.

“If something goes wrong in surgery, you cannot go back,” said Ms. Lee. “With stem-cell therapy, what’s the worst that can happen? You pay more money.”