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Can a bodys own stem cells help heal a heart?

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If you skin your knee, your body makes new skin. If you donate a portion of your liver, whats left will grow back to near-normal size. But if you lose a billion heart cells during a heart attack, only a small fraction of those will be replaced. In the words of Ke Cheng, an associate professor of regenerative medicine at N.C. State, The hearts self-repair potency is very limited.

Cheng has designed a nanomedicine he hopes will give the heart some help. It consists of an engineered nanoparticle that gathers the bodys own self-repair cells and brings them to the injured heart tissue.

In this case, the self-repair cells are adult stem cells. A stem cell is a very rich biological factory, Cheng said. Stem cells can become heart muscle, or they can produce growth factors that are beneficial to the regrowth of heart muscle.

After a heart attack, dying and dead heart cells release chemical signals that alert stem cells circulating in the blood to move to the injured site. But there just arent very many stem cells in the bloodstream, and sometimes they are not sufficiently attracted to the injured tissue.

Matchmakers with hooks

The nanomedicine Cheng designed consists of an iron-based nanoparticle festooned with two different kinds of hooks one kind of hook grabs adult stem cells, and the other kind of hook grabs injured heart tissue. Cheng calls the nanomedicine a matchmaker, because it brings together cells that can make repairs with cells that need repairs.

The hooks are antibodies that seek and grab certain types of cells. Because the antibodies are situated on an iron nanoparticle, they and the stem cells theyve grabbed can be physically directed to the heart using an external magnet. Cheng calls the nanomedicine MagBICE, for magnetic bifunctional cell engager.

The magnet is a first pass to get the iron-based particles and antibodies near the heart. Once there, the antibodies are able to identify and stick to the injured heart tissue, bringing the stem cells right where they need to go. Using two methods of targeting the magnet and the antibodies improves the chances of being able to bring a large number of stem cells at the site of injury.

In addition to providing a way to physically move the stem cells to the heart, the iron nanoparticles are visible on MRI machines, which allows MagBICE to be visualized after its infused into the bloodstream.

Cheng doesnt foresee much toxicity from the nanomedicine unless someone is allergic or particularly sensitive to iron. In fact, the iron-based nanoparticle that forms the platform for the antibodies is an FDA-approved IV treatment for anemia.

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Can a bodys own stem cells help heal a heart?

Alamon: Head and heart, heart and mind

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IN THE past couple of days, I have had the interesting but schizoprenic experience of straddling two seemingly separate worlds engaged in the same task of knowledge production.

Just over the weekend, I was at General Santos City to attend the annual Philippine Sociological Society Conference. It was a happy occasion for a community of practitioners engaged in problematizing social realities to come together and discuss developments in the discipline.

Yesterday (October 20), I was at the launching of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines book Kidlap: A Selection on their experiences working with the lumads and the rural poor in Northern Mindanao. The RMP represents a unique community among the religious and laity who are engaged in the same task of confronting the same social realities -- albeit with divergent methods and shockingly difficult results.

I cannot help but contemplate on the differences of these two worlds. Sociologys history in the country cannot be divorced from the benevolent assimilation goals of our colonial masters and the kind of academic work that is still dominant in various universities in the country still take their cue from the contemporary currents in the field from abroad. The language within the discipline remains steep in positivist science -- a belief that what is knowable about the world, are the only things that can be measured.

There is also a parallel development among young sociologists who have turned their backs on the modern traditions of the discipline and instead adopt the pessimism emanating from the so-called post-political condition. They actually represent the mirror-image of the positivist sociologist who argue that what is true is what is measurable but this time around, they eschew truths completely and suspend themselves in an esoteric language whose hallmark is a deep political agnosticism and undecidability.

The result of these tendencies within the discipline of Sociology is a myopic appreciation of the truth as is the case with positivists and the failure to recognize the enduring social truths of our time as is the case among those who align themselves with the postmodern persuasion. Both fortify Sociologys place in the ivory tower of the academe divorced from the realities of our time that of systemic human suffering and the systemic ways of social movements to end it.

I am glad that within the discipline there are also those who are aware of Sociologys limitations and have sought to free themselves from the blinders that university culture imposes. They are often the pariahs of the discipline, they are denied tenure, or expunged to the margins of academic life. But for this set, these trappings of academic careerism are not the goals of doing sociological work. And their inspiration are not the heralded erudite professors in the field or their fidelity to positivist method, but those who are beyond the walls of the ivory tower yet engage in bravely confronting harsh social realities and seek ways to change it.

I believe that the work that Rural Missionaries of the Philippines does as documented in the book Kidlap that was launched yesterday, together with those that stand with them in the social movement to end human suffering, represent groups that actually live out the ideals of Sociology as an emancipatory discipline even if they do not recognize themselves as sociologists. In fact, I am even brave enough to argue that they are doing more relevant sociological work than most of us who are in the field.

Driven by Christian compassion instead of the indexical parameters ingrained in academic work, they brave state persecution and dangerous working conditions to know the truth among the poorest of the poor and the most historically marginalized - the lumads of Mindanao. More importantly, they empower these communities through their livelihood programs and alternative schools without eliding the issue of historical injustice and the system that similarly victimizes the peasants, workers, moros, women and children in this benighted land of ours.

What I bring with me in my own sociological work after editing the book the said book is the intellectual and should I say spiritual reward as I turn to organizations like RMP and the work they do for inspiration. They prove to me that there need not be a dichotomy between head and heart, heart and mind. That in our shared drive to understand the painful realities of our times, compassion towards others particularly the poorest of the poor is an illuminating resource.

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Alamon: Head and heart, heart and mind

Shopping for an egg donor: Is beauty, brains, or health most important?

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

20-Oct-2014

Contact: Kathryn Ryan kryan@liebertpub.com 914-740-2100 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News @LiebertOnline

New Rochelle, NY, October 20, 2014When it comes to picking an egg donor, until recent years, recipients tended to prefer someone with a similar appearance. Donor trait choices are changing, though, and which traits are now more preferable and why is the focus of "Beauty, Brains or Health: Trends in Ovum Recipient Preferences," an article published in Journal of Women's Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Journal of Women's Health website at http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/jwh.2014.4792 until November 20, 2014.

Homero Flores, MD and coauthors from Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (New York, NY) reviewed the requests of ovum donor recipients over a 5-year period and assessed their preferences for donor traits, categorizing them by appearance, ethnicity, intellect, ability, and mental health. The authors documented statistically significant increases and decreases in the different categories over the years, with more "practical traits" that would improve offspring's overall quality of life tending to increase compared to "self-reflective" traits.

"As social acceptance of ovum donation has increased, and donor selection has become more sophisticated, couples are changing their preferences for what donor characteristics they value most for their future offspring," says Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Women's Health, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA, and President of the Academy of Women's Health.

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About the Journal

Journal of Women's Health, published monthly, is a core multidisciplinary journal dedicated to the diseases and conditions that hold greater risk for or are more prevalent among women, as well as diseases that present differently in women. The Journal covers the latest advances and clinical applications of new diagnostic procedures and therapeutic protocols for the prevention and management of women's healthcare issues. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Journal of Women's Health website at http://www.liebertpub.com/jwh. Journal of Women's Health is the official journal of the Academy of Women's Health and the Society for Women's Health Research.

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Shopping for an egg donor: Is beauty, brains, or health most important?

Interleukin-27: Can a cytokine with both pro & anti-inflammatory activity make a good drug target?

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

20-Oct-2014

Contact: Kathryn Ryan kryan@liebertpub.com 914-740-2100 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News @LiebertOnline

New Rochelle, NY, October 20, 2014Interleukin-27 (IL-27), a member of the interleukin family of cytokines that help regulate the immune system, has a mainly anti-inflammatory role in the body, and its dysfunction has been implicated in autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Crohn's disease. More recently, IL-27's proinflammatory activity and role in chronic inflammatory diseases is becoming increasingly clear, and a new Review article that explores the potential to target a range of diseases that share common IL-27-activated mechanisms is presented in Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research (JICR), a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the JICR website until November 20, 2014.

Christopher Wynick, Carlene Petes, and Katrina Gee, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada, explain how IL-27 can contribute to the control of both anti- and proinflammatory responses depending on the predominant type of immune response elicited in the body, the disease type, and the disease severity. They focus primarily on the proinflammatory activity of the cytokine in the article "Interleukin-27 Mediates Inflammation During Chronic Disease".

"IL-27 is emerging as a significant determinant of the character of inflammatory response and this review provides an important perspective," says Co-Editor-in-Chief Thomas A. Hamilton, PhD, Chairman, Department of Immunology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Ohio.

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About the Journal

Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research (JICR), led by Co-Editors-in-Chief Ganes C. Sen, PhD, Chairman, Department of Molecular Genetics, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and Thomas A. Hamilton, PhD, Chairman, Department of Immunology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published monthly online with Open Access options and in print that covers all aspects of interferons and cytokines from basic science to clinical applications. JICR is an official journal of the International Cytokine & Interferon Society. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research (JICR) website.

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Interleukin-27: Can a cytokine with both pro & anti-inflammatory activity make a good drug target?

MD Anderson Cancer Center's Guillermina Lozano and David Piwnica-Worms Elected to Institute of Medicine

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Editors Note: This release is being resent. An earlier version contained an incorrect listing of all Institute of Medicine members currently at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Newswise Two leaders at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have been elected to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies in recognition of their contributions to medical science and health care.

Election of Guillermina Lozano, Ph.D., chair of the department of genetics, and David Piwnica-Worms, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the department of cancer systems imaging by members of the elite institution was announced today by the IOM.

Membership in the Institute of Medicine is powerful recognition by outstanding peers of the impact Dr. Lozano and Dr. Piwnica-Worms have had as researchers and leaders in advancing our understanding and treatment of cancer, said Ethan Dmitrovsky, M.D., provost and executive vice president at MD Anderson.

Their election demonstrates the remarkable achievements of Guillermina Lozano, a recognized leader in the field of cancer genetics and David Piwnica-Worms, an exceptional scientist who excels at translating molecular research to the clinic where it directly helps our patients, Dmitrovsky said.

Membership in the IOM recognizes people who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.

Lozano, a leader in deciphering the physiological relevance of the p53 tumor suppressor pathway, discovered the importance of p53 inhibitors, Mdm2 and Mdm4, in development and tumorigenesis. She illuminated cell cycle arrest and senescence as wild-type p53 tumor suppressive mechanisms, and defined mutant forms of p53 activities in tumorigenesis.

Piwnica-Worms was a founder of the field of molecular imaging. He pioneered strategies with genetically encoded luminescent reporters, PET reporters, and activatable peptides to enable visualization of cell biology, signaling pathways, protein processing and drug action within cells and living animals in vivo, as well as translating these into the clinic.

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MD Anderson Cancer Center's Guillermina Lozano and David Piwnica-Worms Elected to Institute of Medicine