Combining antibodies, iron nanoparticles and magnets steers stem cells to injured organs

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Study published in Nature Communications details targeted nanomedicine therapy to regenerate heart muscle injured by heart attack

LOS ANGELES Researchers at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute infused antibody-studded iron nanoparticles into the bloodstream to treat heart attack damage. The combined nanoparticle enabled precise localization of the body's own stem cells to the injured heart muscle.

The study, which focused on laboratory rats, was published today in the online peer reviewed journal Nature Communications. The study addresses a central challenge in stem cell therapeutics: how to achieve targeted interactions between stem cells and injured cells.

Although stem cells can be a potent weapon in the fight against certain diseases, simply infusing a patient with stem cells is no guarantee the stem cells will be able to travel to the injured area and work collaboratively with the cells already there.

"Infusing stem cells into arteries in order to regenerate injured heart muscle can be inefficient," said Eduardo Marbn, MD, PhD, director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, who led the research team. "Because the heart is continuously pumping, the stem cells can be pushed out of the heart chamber before they even get a chance to begin to heal the injury."

In an attempt to target healing stem cells to the site of the injury, researchers coated iron nanoparticles with two kinds of antibodies, proteins that recognize and bind specifically to stem cells and to injured cells in the body. After the nanoparticles were infused into the bloodstream, they successfully tracked to the injured area and initiated healing.

"The result is a kind of molecular matchmaking," Marbn said. "Through magnetic resonance imaging, we were able to see the iron-tagged cells traveling to the site of injury where the healing could begin. Furthermore, targeting was enhanced even further by placing a magnet above the injured heart."

The Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute has been at the forefront of developing investigational stem cell treatments for heart attack patients. In 2009, Marbn and his team completed the world's first procedure in which a patient's own heart tissue was used to grow specialized heart stem cells. The specialized cells were then injected back into the patient's heart in an effort to repair and regrow healthy muscle in a heart that had been injured by a heart attack. Results, published in The Lancet in 2012, showed that one year after receiving the stem cell treatment, heart attack patients demonstrated a significant reduction in the size of the scar left on the heart muscle.

Earlier this year, Heart Institute researchers began a new study, called ALLSTAR, in which heart attack patients are being infused with allogeneic stem cells, which are derived from donor-quality hearts.

The process to grow cardiac-derived stem cells was developed by Dr. Marbn when he was on the faculty of Johns Hopkins University. Johns Hopkins has filed for a patent on that intellectual property and has licensed it to Capricor, a company in which Cedars-Sinai and Dr. Marbn have a financial interest. Capricor is providing funds for the ALLSTAR clinical trial at Cedars-Sinai. Recently, the Heart Institute opened the nation's first Regenerative Medicine Clinic, designed to match heart and vascular disease patients with appropriate stem cell clinical trials being conducted at Cedars-Sinai and other institutions.

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Combining antibodies, iron nanoparticles and magnets steers stem cells to injured organs

Ukraine NATO Membership Bid: Former Ukrainian PM Tymoshenko initiates NATO membership vote – Video

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Ukraine NATO Membership Bid: Former Ukrainian PM Tymoshenko initiates NATO membership vote
Ukraine #39;s former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has initiated the process of holding a referendum in the country on NATO membership. Russia has called Ukrai...

By: UKRAINE TODAY

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Ukraine NATO Membership Bid: Former Ukrainian PM Tymoshenko initiates NATO membership vote - Video

Despite NATO Ukraine is still alone

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Editor's note: Marcin Zaborowski is director of the Polish Institute of International Affairs and a member of the group of experts appointed by the NATO Secretary General to consider the alliance's strategy in the run-up to the Newport summit. Follow him on Twitter @MaZaborowski. The views expressed in this commentary are solely the author's.

(CNN) -- The recent NATO summit in Newport, Wales was initially meant to prepare the alliance for the post-Afghanistan era and pooling of resources at the time of defense cuts, known in NATO lingua as "smart defense."

However, as often happens, the summit agenda was hijacked by more current and dramatic developments: the rise of ISIS in Iraq and Russia's push into Ukraine. Both these developments have reminded NATO that its core business -- the defense of its member states -- needs to be returned to the center of the alliance's agenda.

Marcin Zaborowski

Russia's annexation of Crimea and continued push into the south-east of Ukraine -- a NATO partner country -- has inevitably provoked fear amongst Ukraine's neighbors, all of whom have relatively fresh memories of Russian domination.

These countries -- Poland and the Baltic states in particular -- made sure that the Ukrainian crisis would be at the center of the Newport agenda.

This happened in two ways. The Central East European allies asked for measures that would reassure them by confirming NATO's engagement in the face of Russian aggression. In addition, the show of solidarity with Ukraine became a major focus of the summit, which was attended by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

The outcome of the Newport summit has met these allies' expectations, at best, halfway.

NATO's failure to send a clear signal to Russia by supporting Ukraine represents in itself a grave threat to the alliance's Central East European members -- who may be next on the list of potential Russian targets. Marcin Zaborowski

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Despite NATO Ukraine is still alone

NSA Academy – Video

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NSA Academy
Get to know your NSA Academy Faculty for 2014 - 2015. Find how they found their way to Professional Speaker, the best (and worst) advice they received starting out, and why it is so important...

By: National Speakers Association

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NSA Academy - Video

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US Whistleblower Edward Snowden Didn't Raise Concerns Internally: NSA

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File photo of US whistleblower Edward Snowden.

NSA Associate Director for Policy and Records David Sherman said that the agency had launched a "comprehensive" investigation after media reports were published about classified NSA spy programs based on information leaked by Snowden.

"The search did not identify any email written by Mr Snowden in which he contacted agency officials to raise concerns about NSA programs."

Searches for the emails included the records from the agency's Office of General Counsel, Office of the Inspector General and Office of the Director of Compliance.

The findings contradict Snowden's claim in an interview with NBC News in May that he did raise concerns through "internal channels" within the NSA and was told to "stop asking questions" before ultimately deciding to leak the secret files.

Sherman, who has worked with the NSA since 1985, has the authority to classify information as "top secret."

The NSA made its declaration in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by VICE News against the NSA earlier this year.

The only relevant communication uncovered was a previously released email between Snowden and the Office of General Counsel inquiring about material in a training course he had completed.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, said at the time that the exchange "poses a question about the relative authority of laws and executive orders - it does not register concerns about NSA's intelligence activities."

Snowden has suggested that there was more communication than that single email, telling The Washington Post at the time that the "strangely tailored and incomplete" release "only shows the NSA feels it has something to hide."

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US Whistleblower Edward Snowden Didn't Raise Concerns Internally: NSA

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Alexander on Senate Democrats effort to change First Amendment and Limit Free Speech – Video

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Alexander on Senate Democrats effort to change First Amendment and Limit Free Speech
U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander today spoke on the Senate Floor on his opposition to Senate Democrats #39; effort to change the U.S. Constitution to give politician...

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Alexander on Senate Democrats effort to change First Amendment and Limit Free Speech - Video

Vlog: Homeless Guy Sets Up His Bitcoin Wallets and Shops Overstock – Video

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Vlog: Homeless Guy Sets Up His Bitcoin Wallets and Shops Overstock
acumagnet.wordpress.com/2014/09/10/my-experience-with-bitcoin-transactions-so-far-signing-up-for-first-time/ I first chose Blockchain as my Bitcoin wallet, then looked at Overstock.com and...

By: Travis Heinze

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Vlog: Homeless Guy Sets Up His Bitcoin Wallets and Shops Overstock - Video